Rock Solid Resilience: An Evidence Based Guide to Preventing Injury, Optimizing Strength, and Enhancing Performance

Train strong for a lifetime without training hurt.

Pain is a poor coach, yet the common advice “if it hurts, don’t do it” leaves lifters feeling stuck, confused, and unsure if you can continue training.

Rock Solid Resilience teaches you to build a unique resistance training program based on how you move, your stage of training, and your individual goals―all so you can reduce injury risk, manage pain, and build the resilience to strength train for a lifetime.

This practical guide equips you with knowledge about how injuries happen and what you can do to prevent them before they interrupt your training. Instead of forcing yourself through pain, you’ll learn to determine whether an injury can heal with rest, if adjustments can be made to movements, load, or volume to safely keep going, or if you should consult a medical professional.

A guided self-assessment helps you identify your strengths and vulnerabilities, allowing you to match your training approach to the proper difficulty level and progression. Overviews of foundational movements―including squats, deadlifts, pushes, and pulls―are broken down with variations and joint-friendly options, making them safer and more effective for specific needs:

• 6 variations on the squat with modification tips to protect the knees, back, and hips
• 10 variations on pressing and pulling movements that protect the shoulders, upper back, and chest
• 18 variations of core movements for building stability and strength, and enable progression for other exercises
• 34 warm-ups, level-up, and accessory exercises that provide progressions and regressions to avoid plateaus, support improved movement quality, and deliver results

 

Create a personalized program that prioritizes injury prevention, allowing you to challenge yourself without constantly being set back by pain.

Three sample workouts are included, ready to use or to adapt to meet your own needs, experience level, and injury history.

Rock Solid Resilience isn’t a short-term program; it’s a lifelong strategy for lifting strong, confident, and pain-aware. Learn to listen to your body and train for strength for decades to come.
 

Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.

Dean Somerset is a personal trainer and certified exercise physiologist who specializes in postrehabilitation fitness. He has worked with clients recovering from joint replacements, sports injuries, spinal cord injuries, cancer, and cardiac surgery. He also trains healthy individuals—in person and virtually—to help them reach their strength, flexibility, and fitness goals. Somerset has developed and taught courses and seminars all around the world on the topics of postrehabilitation fitness, mobility, hip and shoulder health, client assessment, and core training. He has also written for and been featured in Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Bodybuilding.com, and T Nation. Somerset has presented on numerous occasions for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and canfitpro and is a contributor to Developing the Core, Second Edition, and NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training, Third Edition.

Dan Pope, DPT, is a physical therapist and strength coach with over 20 years of experience in getting strength and fitness athletes out of pain and returning them to a high level of performance. He is also the owner of Fitness Pain Free, a continuing education company that has helped thousands of other coaches and clinicians learn how to do the same. He has also been blessed to be able to travel around the world, speaking on the topics of injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Pope is a big believer in practicing what he preaches; he has been a CrossFit regional qualifier, a strongman national champion, and a collegiate pole vaulter.