Competition-gym mishaps

Getting caught with the bar on top of you or on your back when you are suffering an acute injury fortunately does not happen very often but it does happen. When it does happen it can be devastating and in retrospect sometimes comical... One day last season we came into the gym for our usual Saturday leg workout. I was excited because I was getting stronger and planned to hit my personal best that day. After warming up and doing other leg exercises I proceeded to the Squat Rack. Someone was using the cage so I had to use the free standing Squat Rack and walk out. I proceeded to pyramid up the weight and felt good when I got to my final set. I made it to 9 reps and felt my back tightening at that point. In my mind,(complete with the psychotic competitive mindset) I had to do 10 reps. As I went down for the last rep I felt my back wavering. When I hit parallel it happened. I felt a huge pop in my lower back and I was toast! Burnt toast! Although my husband and I came in together he was busy doing his own thing in the other side of the gym at the time. There was nobody else around to bail me out. I managed to get up with the bar but didn't think that I could walk it back in to re-rack the weight. As I contemplated what to do a story that one of my friends had told me came to mind. My friend had a similar incident happen to him on squat day. When he got stuck, he proceeded to drop the fully loaded bar behind him. As he dropped the bar it catapulted him forward with such force that he hit the mirror with his head. He then fell back over the rack and finally landed on the ground. When he hit the ground he again hit his head but this time it was on the bar that he had dropped at the beginning of this spectacular gym mishap maneuver. As I stood for what seemed like an eternity, I pictured myself shattering the mirror with my head. With my luck I would suffer a concussion and be out for the season. I dug deep and sucked it up for the longest 6 seconds of my life and was able to get the weight back on the rack and off of my back. This injury did take me out of training for awhile but nothing surgical thank G-d! If you are a competitor in any sport you no doubt spend a lot of time training and are bound to have mishaps raise their hideous heads at the most unsuspecting times. These are the things that no one teaches you about. There are no books about what to do when you find yourself flying through the air about to hit the pavement or in my friend's case the mirror. I think that it might be prudent for everyone to have a plan of action BEFORE something like this happens to you and you get caught with the weight of the world on YOUR back.