Rock Solid Resilience

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.

Audience

Individuals who regularly use resistance training as part of their workout regimen, including strength- and competition-based athletes as well as noncompetitors; also fitness and strength professionals using resistance training with their clients.

Part I. Prehab and Prevention

Chapter 1. Preventing Injuries: What We Know
Current research into injury risk and prevention provides some interesting details. Knowing the risks and mechanisms of injury provides the opportunity to be proactive in preventing injury.

Chapter 2. Athlete Assessment: Identifying Limitations in Mobility and Gross Patterns
Proper mobility in the gym is a key factor in performance and longevity. Assessments identify strengths and weaknesses in mobility and core tension to guide lifters to safer, smoother movement.

Part II. Exercise Techniques and Execution

Chapter 3. Squat and Hinge Movements
We all know how to squat, don’t we? But how do you squat safety and effectively for your unique body structure?

Chapter 4. Pressing and Pulling Movements
All lifters have had to answer the question “How much can you bench?” Bench press, and its myriad variations, is ubiquitous in lifting. Learn to do it properly, and you can amaze when people ask the question.

Chapter 5. Core Movements
More than just crunches, core movements involve carries, braces, and rotational movements. A strong core is the best foundation for any lifter.

Part III. Programming Considerations

Chapter 6. Volume and Load
What is your goal? More muscle mass? Better strength? Learn to manipulate volume and load to reach your goals while mitigating injury risk.

Chapter 7. Level Up and Side Quest Accessory Approaches
Prevent training boredom and plateaus by customizing your program.

Chapter 8. Training With Common Injuries
All lifters need to understand pain and learn to navigate it. When should you push through? When should you modify? When should you seek help?

Chapter 9. Autoregulation
Autoregulation is a key process in which the health of the body is sustained as you progress through your program. Track the right information to make informed choices about when to modify your program, diet, sleep patterns, or other habits.

Chapter 10. Sample Programs
Want a program you can use right away? Want some inspiration to help you design or modify your own program? Pick from three sample programs—low everything, medium everything, or unrestricted—based on your results from the assessments in chapter 2.

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.

“Rock Solid Resilience helps you navigate that often-blurry line between your body’s potential and its limitations. It’s the book every serious lifter will wish they had before whatever ails them started ailing.”
—Lou Schuler, CSCS, Author of The New Rules of Lifting

“When I have a training question, Dan and Dean are the experts I turn to. Seeing them join forces on Rock Solid Resilience is fantastic. They’ve created an amazing resource.”
—Mike Reinold, Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainer, Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Cofounder of Champion Physical Therapy and Performance

“Many people like to call themselves an expert, but few have the expertise to back it up. Dean Somerset is an expert in every sense of the word. His Rock Solid Resilience is essential reading for anyone wanting to move and feel better.”
—Adam Bornstein, New York Times Best-Selling Author, Fitness and Nutrition Editor of Men’s Health and Women’s Health, and Editorial Director at LiveStrong.com

“Dean Somerset is among the best and most thoughtful trainers I have had the pleasure of encountering. His advice [in Rock Solid Resilience] is definitely rock solid.”
—James Fell, Author of On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down

Age Considerations in Weight Training
How to Modify Weight Training Due to Shoulder Pain
Importance of Bracing and How to Do It

How to fix hip pain at the bottom of the squat

Bench press warm up exercises to prevent shoulder pain