*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

[icecold]

I don't see the big deal with a squat aid. Are gloves homo then? How about knee supports? Kinesio tape? Do you really want to try and out E-peen me? ...silly little boys

Delvis, it is to do with the Acromion (?), it makes extending my arm out down the length of the bar difficult sometimes and rotation can be stiff which makes stacking heavy weights on my shoulder difficult sometimes.

e-peen doesn't come into it, squat "aids" are beyond stupid.

If you can't get your shoulder in position then get it seen to, if you don't you'll only injure it more severely or it'll cause problems elsewhere because you're having to compromise your positioning.

And yes, gloves are very gay.

 

[DarkShadow]

icecold - I've had about 4 weeks away from squatting and I'm finding a lot of pressue on the lower back. Can't say I've ever felt this kind of pressue before.

That's at 130KG for 5 reps, coming from 170KG for 5 a few weeks ago where I felt solid.

Any ideas?

 

[RoboCod]

e-peen doesn't come into it, squat "aids" are beyond stupid.

If you can't get your shoulder in position then get it seen to, if you don't you'll only injure it more severely or it'll cause problems elsewhere because you're having to compromise your positioning.

And yes, gloves are very gay.

My physio advises otherwise. The exercise does not affect the injury, the injury affects the exercise, if you get me? I was looking at the manta ray because it means the weight is not so directly on my shoulder. So in summary, the gym rats members advice so far is: "it's stupid", "it's gay" useful! No worries, I'll ask elsewhere.

Gloves are certainly not gay! They stop my hands from getting torn up so they can remain silky smooth and moisturised, just like when I use mild green fairy liquid.

 

[MoNkeE]

Considering you're just using your shoulders as a shelf essentially, I can't see how you're having to put much strain on your shoulders at all. I certainly don't feel like I am :S

 

[Delvis]

Delvis, it is to do with the Acromion (?), it makes extending my arm out down the length of the bar difficult sometimes and rotation can be stiff which makes stacking heavy weights on my shoulder difficult sometimes.

Aye, it's hard for me sometimes to get my shoulder in to position sometimes due to a previous injury, however with stretching a working on my back/shoulder with a lacrose ball it is opening up the movement and giving me less pain

Anyway, it's meant to be resting directly on your shoulders

My physio advises otherwise. The exercise does not affect the injury, the injury affects the exercise, if you get me? I was looking at the manta ray because it means the weight is not so directly on my shoulder. So in summary, the gym rats members advice so far is: "it's stupid", "it's gay" useful! No worries, I'll ask elsewhere.

Gloves are certainly not gay! They stop my hands from getting torn up so they can remain silky smooth and moisturised, just like when I use mild green fairy liquid.

I'd take advice from icecold quite decently As he knows his stuff and can link you to some good videos to help with general mobility issues in joints etc.

And yes, I can see why people use gloves sometimes, but I shant be using them any time soon

Considering you're just using your shoulders as a shelf essentially, I can't see how you're having to put much strain on your shoulders at all. I certainly don't feel like I am :S

Then you have decent shoulder movement

My left shoulder almost jars/clicks each time I get under the bar...And I can make my right one click if I try a windmill motion ...I find it stresses my shoulders as they are bending in ways they dont normally bend, hopefully I can ease it out over time

 

[BennyC]

Old shoulder injury + hitting quite heavy now on the squat so I could do with some other way to spread the load differently, don't know really just looking for an alternative that enables me to continue squatting and increasing my PB

I'd address your shoulder mobility and flexability as you shouldn't need a squatting aid.

I don't see the big deal with a squat aid. Are gloves homo then? How about knee supports? Kinesio tape? Do you really want to try and out E-peen me? ...silly little boys

Delvis, it is to do with the Acromion (?), it makes extending my arm out down the length of the bar difficult sometimes and rotation can be stiff which makes stacking heavy weights on my shoulder difficult sometimes.

Hands shouldn't be much wider than 'just wider than shoulder width'.

And yes gloves are incredibly homosexual.

 

[CoxyBoy123]

Hi Guys, been reading through the thread and its been ammusing/informative

Here's my first post. Can anybody please comment on the following schedule/plan. I will go into more detail at a later date. Well... I have been going to the gym/swimming/running quite regularly (3-4 times a week) for the past two months. When at the gym I have been doing a rather simple full body routine. Working abs, lower backs, lats, biceps, shoulders and some leg presses. The gym I go to is a local Council Gym (Technogym) where you have a little fob and each routine is set up for you. Now we are in Rugby season and after the first two games I need to work a bit harder and I need to get into a routine as an office job is not doing me any good. So no I would like to do the following weekly routine:

Monday AM - Arms and Shoulders. PM - Rest
Tuesday AM - Rest. PM - Rugby Training
Wednesday AM - Swim. PM - Back/ABs/Core
Thursday AM - Legs. PM - Bowling (My main sport, been doing for years etc)
Friday AM - HIIT on bike. PM - Rest
Saturday - Rugby Game
Sunday - Rest

I dropped this schedule off at the gym this morning with my assigned trainer who will design a 45min workout routine for each section - i.e legs, back etc
Obviously we cant go into much detail about the routines at the moment as I dont know what they are but I am asking for opinions on the schedule itself.

Am I missing something?
Doing too much?
Suggestions?
Experience? etc

Any comments would obviously help and I know you guys have probably heard the above a thousand times but this is set in stone now, just after some opinions

Joe

 

[Delvis]

Monday AM - Arms and Shoulders. PM - Rest
Tuesday AM - Rest. PM - Rugby Training
Wednesday AM - Swim. PM - Back/ABs/Core
Thursday AM - Legs. PM - Bowling (My main sport, been doing for years etc)
Friday AM - HIIT on bike. PM - Rest
Saturday - Rugby Game
Sunday - Rest

Chest? Legs? (I know you are doing rugby, but still )

 

[MoNkeE]

Then you have decent shoulder movement

My left shoulder almost jars/clicks each time I get under the bar...And I can make my right one click if I try a windmill motion ...I find it stresses my shoulders as they are bending in ways they dont normally bend, hopefully I can ease it out over time

Exact same issues I have with my shoulder, but I still don't see how squatting puts pressure on your shoulders. If you can put your hands on the back of your head, you can back squat. You're not working the weight with your shoulders, you're just applying resistance to it to stop the bar from moving forwards or backwards. I really can't see how that can cause any discomfort during squatting; only if you had the bar too low/far back that you were having to support the weight with your muscles rather than your frame.

 

[Delvis]

Exact same issues I have with my shoulder, but I still don't see how squatting puts pressure on your shoulders. If you can put your hands on the back of your head, you can back squat. You're not working the weight with your shoulders, you're just applying resistance to it to stop the bar from moving forwards or backwards. I really can't see how that can cause any discomfort during squatting; only if you had the bar too low/far back that you were having to support the weight with your muscles rather than your frame.

My issue is purely the angle of my arm on the bar for prolonged periods, if I don't stretch it enough / in the right way, I get issues.

Anyway, when the weight gets to the heavy stage, theres bound to be some support going on from your arms

 

[CoxyBoy123]

Chest? Legs? (I know you are doing rugby, but still )

Sorry I dont understand ha?

 

[Delvis]

Sorry I dont understand ha?

Sorry, ignore the leg one, missed that.

Where is your chest routine? Is that going in anywhere?

 

[CoxyBoy123]

Sorry, ignore the leg one, missed that.

Where is your chest routine? Is that going in anywhere?

Sorry Delvis,

Maybe its better describing Monday AM as Upper body ha

 

[Dj_Jestar]

That's a *LOT* of training. Weight training isn't "do more of it, get more out of it". You need to remember that it is the resting that grows muscle. The weight training is to stimulate that growth, and should be no more than just enough to stimulate!

Even if the majority of the week is carido, you'll need more time to rest. I also think (but am happy to be proven wrong) that the same will apply to cardio. Too much of it, and you'll just be anaerobic, whereas you want to be aerobic. You'll also want time for all the lactic acid you'll no doubt be building up to clear down.

 

[CoxyBoy123]

That's a *LOT* of training. Weight training isn't "do more of it, get more out of it". You need to remember that it is the resting that grows muscle. The weight training is to stimulate that growth, and should be no more than just enough to stimulate!

Even if the majority of the week is carido, you'll need more time to rest. I also think (but am happy to be proven wrong) that the same will apply to cardio. Too much of it, and you'll just be anaerobic, whereas you want to be aerobic. You'll also want time for all the lactic acid you'll no doubt be building up to clear down.

Thank you,

I completely understand that. With the technogym thing it is isnt set in stone when I do the routines, and my schedule i will probably spread over 10 - 14 days to allow for recovery, but if I can recover etc do you recommend carrying on with what i said?

 

[icecold]

icecold - I've had about 4 weeks away from squatting and I'm finding a lot of pressue on the lower back. Can't say I've ever felt this kind of pressue before.

That's at 130KG for 5 reps, coming from 170KG for 5 a few weeks ago where I felt solid.

Any ideas?

It sounds like you might have lost a little flexibility in your hips which caused you to break your form causing your lumbar to either twist or extend slightly. This will have caused the muscles in that area to spasm and kind of lock the joints down to try and stabilise you. That's best case scenario, worst case is that you've got some slightly uglier disk issues.

I'd see how it goes with some very light squatting for a while, if 130kg causes discomfort then go lighter than that. Meanwhile look at the flexibility of your hips, there's a break down of everything in the mobility thread.

If it's still bad in a week or two, it's physio time.

My physio advises otherwise. The exercise does not affect the injury, the injury affects the exercise, if you get me? I was looking at the manta ray because it means the weight is not so directly on my shoulder. So in summary, the gym rats members advice so far is: "it's stupid", "it's gay" useful! No worries, I'll ask elsewhere.

That is strange advise coming from a physio. If you're missing external rotation (or any range of motion in any direction) you're probably compromising your position in other ways. This goes for ALL exercises, not just squats. It's these compromised positions that lead to injuries. If your physio is suggesting that you move from bad positioning or advises the use of a squat aid...well I wouldn't want to go as far as to say he/she was wrong to a hilarious extent, but...yeah

Sorting out your shoulder should be your number one priority. Look in the mobility thread and if you have any questions, just ask.

Gloves are certainly not gay! They stop my hands from getting torn up so they can remain silky smooth and moisturised, just like when I use mild green fairy liquid.

Considering you're just using your shoulders as a shelf essentially, I can't see how you're having to put much strain on your shoulders at all. I certainly don't feel like I am :S

That's just because you have mobile shoulders

I was helping to run a kind of pre-season gym boot camp yesterday. One of the guys dislocated his shoulder 6 months ago. He's mostly healed, but upon testing he's missing a lot of external rotation, to the extent that he couldn't get under the bar without pain.

 

[BennyC]

Friday AM - HIIT on bike. PM - Rest

Use the rower instead. High intensity training with a CV exercise that only uses half the bodys muscles isn't optimal imo. You need to be gassed so get on the rower and go mental.

 

[CoxyBoy123]

Use the rower instead. High intensity training with a CV exercise that only uses half the bodys muscles isn't optimal imo. You need to be gassed so get on the rower and go mental.

Fair Point

 

[GAC]

started a football specific training program today so doing 2 weeks worth of assesments then it gets tweaked again.

but today i sweated like a pig and finaly got squatting, least i can finaly get the bar behind my head JUST. hopefully my shoulders will loosen up.

Barbell Squat:
88 lb x 10 reps (+35 pts)
132 lb x 6 reps (+47 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)
176 lb x 8 reps (+66 pts)
143 lb x 5 reps (+50 pts)
143 lb x 5 reps (+50 pts)
Barbell Deadlift:
110 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
154 lb x 6 reps (+55 pts)
198 lb x 3 reps (+65 pts)
242 lb x 7 reps (+89 pts)
176 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
176 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
Barbell Bench Press:
110 lb x 10 reps (+44 pts)
132 lb x 5 reps (+46 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)
198 lb x 9 reps (+77 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)
154 lb x 3 reps (+50 pts)

was goosed at this point and my arms where all over the place

Front Dumbbell Raise:
26.4 lb x 8 reps (+6 pts)
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise:
26.4 lb x 6 reps (+25 pts)
and rear deltoid raises. not listed on fitocracy.
26.4lbsx 9 reps.
Elliptical Trainer:
0:05:00 (+7 pts)

 

[Delvis]

All in one session?...Madness