Safety Third

Dr Travis Taylor, Baen SF author and with two TV shows to his credit, used to joke “safety third”. This goes in line with an observation Mike Rowe made at one of the few TED talks worth a damn about the dangerous conditions. Two reasons – one, while safety should be a concern, it’s truly not the first concern if you’re going to get something done. Just driving is fraught with potential danger. Second, everyone’s so used to hearing “safety first” they tune it out.

Anyway, there are nevertheless things that are incredibly stupid to do.

Like use a smith machine (from the Didact).

I’m not alone in injuring myself in a Smith Machine. A guy that I worked with about ten years ago told me after I injured myself about how he blew out his knee while “squatting” about 600lbs in a Smith Machine in his gym. He had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance and had to undergo surgery and extensive rehabilitation- and all because of that one damned machine.

Moving past the fact that the Smith Machine is so bloody stupid and dangerous, let us be very clear about one thing: there is no such thing as a “squatting machine”, a mistake that the article makes several times.

A Smith Machine is not a “squatting machine”, it’s a death trap. Don’t use it. Do squats where they are supposed to be done.

And that is in precisely one place.

It is the holiest of holies, the crucible of pain, the forge of body and will. It is the squat rack.

Read it, or weep.