I recently came across a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine that showed that over an 18-year period, an estimated 970,801 weight-training-related injuries presented in emergency rooms around the country.  That’s an average of 53,934 injuries per year…nationwide.

Based on the market research from back when we wrote Maximum Strength, about 23 million Americans lift weights for exercise – meaning that one out of every 426 people who lifts weights actually gets jacked up enough during a training session that he/she has to to go the hospital.

Now, I’ll be honest: while I have seen people do some INSANELY STUPID stuff in commercial gyms, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything that warranted a trip to the hospital.  Obviously, I’ve lived a bit of a sheltered life in owning Cressey Performance for the past three years and working in either private training facilities or college weight rooms since 2003, but one would think that I could have come up with at least ONE gruesome story.  Alas, nothing comes to mind…not even a goofy laugh while benching.

So, I’m counting on you, my loyal and entertaining readers, to provide me with some good stories in the comment section below.  What outlandish stuff have you seen in gyms that has landed some schmuck in the emergency room?