Report: Abandon high-intensity squat workout, be more aware of rhabdo

UPDATE: The intense, high-volume squat lifting workout used by the University of Iowa football program should be abandoned and there should be more awareness in the future about the condition of rhabdomyolysis, an internal UI committee told state regents today.

The five-member committee made their report to the state Board of Regents in Ames, after a seven-week investigation into what caused the hospitilization in January of 13 UI football players with rhabdomyolysis, a condition to can cause kidney damage.

The high-intensity squat workout, with up to 100 squats, on Jan. 20 likely caused the problem, committee members said. Not only did 13 players go to the hospital, but two-thirds of the players complained of extreme soreness afterward and reported in a survey later they couldn't even tie their shoes, committee members said.

But the committee concluded UI athletic trainers and coaches did not mean to cause harm and were responsive as soon as players complained of health problems. The goal was not to injure the players, committee members said, but rather it was designed as a team-building exercise.

“The strength trainers and athletic coaches did nothing knowingly wrong here,” Bill Hines, a committee member and member of the Presidential Committee on Athletics, said.

• RELATED: Read the full report on rhabdomyolysis here

The UI had done the workout at least twice before and it did not cause similar health problems, the report says. It's believed that this time, three factors played a role in the players' illnesses: the three-week layoff from supervised workouts during holiday break; the percent of body weight lifted by certain players in this case; and the high number of repetitions required in this workout.

“Clearly something pushed these 13 players over that line to manifest damage,” committee member Kevin Kregel, a professor of health and human physiology, said.

Awareness of the condition and symptoms leading up to it will be key in the future, UI officials and members of the investigative committee said today.

Balancing “this very competitive environment with safety,” is what officials must work to do, UI Athletics Director Gary Barta said.

Along with ceasing use of this particular workout, the report recommends everyone associated with UI football be thoroughly educated about rhabdo and similar medical conditions that can result from overly strenuous training; that football officials develop effective mechanisms for determining when players are experiencing complications from a workout; that other team members be tested when one player becomes ill after a strenuous workout; and that the athletics department develop an emergency management plan for dealing with similar situations.

The report also concludes that as the incident unfolding, communications with the injured players, teammates, parents and the public was not handled well. The report recommends the Athletics Department develop a comprehensive plan to handle future emergency situations.

Reporter Diane Heldt provided live coverage of today's report to the Board of Regents. Replay the coverage below: