#88 - A Chat from Down Under with Joel Rasmussen

SSOC intern Joel Rasmussen flew all the way from Adelaide, Australia to join the Barbell Logic podcast, en route to a Starting Strength seminar in Wichita Falls. While he was in town, Matt and Scott chatted with him about establishing a home gym out of his garage in Adelaide, his coaching experience as an intern with SSOC, and how he managed to rehab his "stuffed" back.

Joel discovered strength training first with the Stronglifts 5x5 program, but he found himself frequently injured due to poor lifting technique. He eventually looked into Starting Strength as a resource to fix his form, which led to signing up with Starting Strength Online Coaching as a client. Joel made excellent progress with SSOC, but unfortunately suffered a freak back injury when he fell off a ladder while doing handiwork around the house. He sustained multiple grade 3 herniations in his lumbar spine. He experienced severe back pain, lost sensation in his foot, and exhibited "foot drop." Joel went to the doctor for imaging and treatment; they told him to expect a lengthy rehab process with continuous pain, at least six months.

Undaunted, Joel soldiered on with his training, and after consulting another SSOC coach and DPT, Will Morris, he was able to creatively use partial pulls and other loaded movements to regain most of his strength, and in a much shorter time period than the doctor had advised. His experience with back injury recovery has informed his coaching practice and given him the confidence to overcome future setbacks in his training.

Joel now coaches out of his home in Adelaide as well as handling online clients at SSOC. You can contact him about coaching at [email protected]

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