WORK IT OUT
PT, 24, SNAPS her hip after ‘common gym mistake’ felt like ‘someone was tearing her leg off’
Read for tips to exercise safely and avoid injury - as PT warns of dangers of social media exercise routines
A PERSONAL trainer has warned of the dangers of a common gym mistake after she snapped her right hip bone - leaving her "crying with every single step" due to the pain.
Kristina Schmidt, 24, started incorporating barbell hip thrusts into her gym routine in an attempt to grow her glutes, after seeing her favourite fitness influencers raving about the exercise.
12
12
12
12
But after quickly working her way up to lifting 140kg in March 2023, the 24-year-old developed agonising pain in her right hip that "felt like someone was tearing her leg off".
At one point the pain became so bad that Kristina was left "crying with every single step" and was eventually unable to walk.
Kristina visited her doctor and had an MRI scan before being referred to hospital.
Footage shows her performing the high-impact thrusts that, over time, caused a stress fracture.
Read more on gym accidents
Doctors believe lifting too heavy a weight with incorrect form lead to the agonising injury.
After being struck down with blood poisoning when her fractured hip became infected, Kristina underwent surgery to clean the wound and needed a three-month course of antibiotics.
Now, Kristina wants to warn others about the dangers of "ego lifting" to prevent others going through the same ordeal.
Kristina, from Malibu, California, US, said: "I wanted to look cool in front of my power-lifting gym friends.
Most read in Health
"The most I could lift was 140kg for eight repetitions and I would usually do two sets of that, but that was with horrible form and not properly engaging my glutes.
"If I'd been able to lift it up properly then it would have been impressive but I was just swinging it up.
PE-teaching mum paralysed while doing squat in gym - as barbell slips and snaps her bac
"In January I was only lifting 110-120kg and then by March it was already up to 140kg, which in hindsight was probably way too fast. It was too much."
In March Kristina, who was studying at Hokkaido University in Japan, went on a day out with pals and started struggling to walk due to the pain in her hip.
Kristina said: "I remember going on a car trip with my friends and I couldn't walk.
"I was crying with every single step, my hip felt like someone was trying to tear my leg off.
"It was a horrible pain, I couldn't stop crying and my friend had to carry me into the house.
"Doctors said I had a stress fracture with small cracks in multiple places around the neck of my femur and hip joint.
12
12
12
"They said this was likely caused by repeatedly overloading my hip over time with too many heavy weights and incorrect form.
"The space between my hip bone and femur shrank so much that my bones were grinding on each other.
"I then got a bacterial infection that settled in my hip - the weakest and most compromised part of my body at the time - caused the synovial fluid in my hip joint to turn orange, and resulted in septic arthritis and borderline blood poisoning.
"I needed surgery to clean out the joint and after that I was on crutches and still couldn’t walk for weeks.
"I was put on antibiotics for months, which destroyed my gut microbiome, weakened my immune system, and triggered a domino effect of other health issues."
'Slow burn'
Kristina started working out at the gym in 2021 and implemented the booty-building move into her routine around 18 months later, after being inspired by social media influencers.
Since her accident Kristina, who used to work as an English teacher, started training to become a PT and nutritionist and is due to be fully qualified in May 2025.
Kristina said: "I just saw people doing the hip thrust online. I never saw people talking about what to do if you're more quad dominant, like I am.
"It was more of a one-size-fits-all approach, like 'if you want big glutes then you should do this'. But not everybody has the same muscular genetics.
12
12
12
12
"I think the muscular imbalance was a big thing that caused me to ruin my form on the hip thrust because when the weights got too heavy for what I could handle with good form, the more developed muscles - in my case, the quads and hamstrings - would take over to complete the lift.
"But that imbalance and overcompensation by the quads and hamstrings ended up putting immense pressure on my hip area, causing the stress fractures over time."
Instead of focusing on proper form and technique, Kristina was stacking on weights quickly in an attempt to impress her gym friends.
She quickly added 30kg onto her weights - working her way up from a 110kg to 140kg hip thrust in just a matter of months.
Kristina said: "Ego lifting has always been a meme online.
"You see pec muscles disconnecting when someone benches too heavy, or someone's back breaking when they're deadlifting - these are all instant injuries.
"Nobody talks about the slow burn of injuries like a stress fracture - which unlike an actual fracture can often go unnoticed - and how it leads to a domino effect of other health issues."
Work out 'responsibly'
After injuring herself Kristina admits that she was 'scared' to return to hip thrusting, but has since slashed the weight she lifts in half.
Kristina said: "The accident definitely inspired me to become a personal trainer.
"I focus more on doing slower reps for greater time under tension and sometimes even adding half reps and holding the hip thrust at the top and going until failure.
"I now do my hip thrusts almost exclusively on the smith machine because I don't have to worry about balance and can focus on [perfecting] form and time under tension.
"I really focus on control. I'm now hip thrusting 69kg - quite literally taking the 140kg and cutting it in half.
"There are some days where my form might be a little off and I can tell that it's off because my quads or my hamstrings will start taking over.
"That's how I know that it's not right and I know that I need to lower the weight or adjust the distance that the bench is from the bar [on the smith machine] and try again. I really try and check in with myself after every set."
Tips to work out safely
- Dress appropriately - wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes that let you move freely and are lightweight enough to release body heat
- Replace your shoes as they wear out - the more you work out, the faster you'll likely need to replace your shoes.
- Strike the right balance - develop a balanced fitness program that incorporates cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility exercises
- Warm up - warm up to prepare to exercise, even before stretching. Run in place for a few minutes, breathe slowly and deeply, or gently rehearse the motions of the exercise to follow
- Stretch - begin stretches slowly and carefully until reaching a point of muscle tension. Hold each stretch for 10 to 20 seconds, then slowly and carefully release it. Inhale before each stretch and exhale as you release. Never stretch to the point of pain, always maintain control, and never bounce on a muscle that is fully stretched.
- Take your time - during strength training, move through the full range of motion with each repetition. Breathe regularly to help lower your blood pressure and increase blood supply to the brain.
- Stay hydrated - drink enough water to prevent dehydration and heatstroke
- Cool down - make cooling down the final phase of your exercise routine. It should take twice as long as your warm-up. Slow your motions and lessen the intensity of your movements for at least 10 minutes before you stop completely
- Rest - schedule regular days off from exercise and rest when tired. Fatigue, significant muscle soreness, and pain are good reasons to not exercise.
Source:
Now, Kristina wants to warn others about the dangers of lifting too heavily to impress others and getting her information on how to lift solely from social media.
Kristina said: "I do regret having social media as one of my main sources of information back then.
"With some of these influencers, you don't even know if their glutes are real or not and were actually built in the gym or not, or whether they're certified as instructors and actually understand the mechanics behind what it takes to grow muscle correctly and safely.
"You have to be quite careful about what you see online now. Just because it works for one person, doesn't mean it works for everyone.
"Having guidance from someone who is certified and who knows what they're doing is really important.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"The hip thrust itself is not a bad exercise and I don't want to scaremonger, or to discourage people from trying it, by all means try it but the whole point is to do so responsibly."
After sharing a video with the details of her injury on Instagram the clip went viral, racking up more than 19,170,000 views, likes and comments.
12
Topics