Strongman Benedikt Magnússon suffered a partial hamstring tear during deadlift training a few weeks ago. Magnússon, who currently holds the raw deadlift world record of 460.4 kg/1,015 lb, posted the injury on his YouTube channel.
The tear didn’t actually occur during a deadlift set, but rather beforehand when he was jumping around getting pumped up for his workout — check out the injury at the 12:26 mark in this video.
Magnusson had been focused on Giants Live World Deadlift Championships taking place in Wembley, England on July 6th, but since the injury he’s had to focus his efforts on rehabbing his hamstring.
Getting healthy is more important than ever for Magnusson because last month he posted that he wants to pull 528kg at the World Deadlift Championships. This means he’s got two months to get back in shape and shatter the world record set by Eddie Hall by 28 kilograms. Now the question remains, is that possible with his injury?
That being said, Magnusson is dialed in fully to his hamstring rehab.
In his video he not only shows the audience some of his staple hamstring building exercises, but also talks through the movements.
In the video, he starts off with deadlifts using a narrower stance and really tries to focus on not flexing his hamstring. He then moved onto different resistance training exercises, like hamstring curls. Here’s a full breakdown of how professional strongman Magnusson is rehabbing his partially torn hamstring.
- Narrow stance deadlift: Helps take the strain off the hamstrings.
- Skipping the first rep on deadlift: Focus on not flexing the hamstring.
- Single leg hamstring curls: Allows for single hamstring activation. Emphasis on deliberate reps.
- Hamstring curls: Pushing for full range of motion in order to get the blood flow going. Don’t want the hamstring to grow weak.
- Trap bar variation with shrug machine: A good workout for the quads, and not much strain on the hamstrings.
Since the injury Magnusson has dropped down in weight.
“Really enjoying being down in body weight again, I feel a lot better,” Magnusson said in the video. He also talks about how being down in size has allowed him to be narrower in his stance which has made the deadlift feel better because it takes the majority of the pressure off of it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUc6E9SB5V6/
It is no secret that having strong hamstrings is a crucial component when it comes to movements like the deadlift, and we have previously covered simple ways to test if your hamstrings are in good standing. So, even despite the hiccup for Magnusson in training a few weeks ago, we’re remaining optimistic about Magnusson’s progress with his rehab.
Feature image from @benni_magnusson Instagram page.
