*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

[mrthingyx]

I'm sure there are far safer ways out there to improve those

My shoulder came back with a vengeance last night when pressing dumb bells, dropped one right on my chest on the second set. Good thing it was only a 34 but on the upside a friend of mine knows a chiropractor who'll have a look at it without charge.

Have you seen a physio?

 

[mrthingyx]

Can't afford one at the moment and no point going through the NHS. Just taking it easy ish and hoping this chiropractor can see give me more answers.

Do you do rotator cuff exercises properly?

 

[mrthingyx]

My grip is something I could do with paying more attention to, I switch to mixed grip at far too lighter weight as I know if I carry on with DOH my hands just end up sore which means I give up well before the actual weight is an issue.

I use hook grip because it is a habit from weightlifting. Plus it is moar awesome.

I use straps for the non-Glory lifts where reps get interesting (RDLs, really)... as I can't be bothered ruining my forearms without ruining my legs as well...

 

[mrthingyx]

I prefer squatting bare foot to be honest, or socks. I'm using old running trainers now with quite aggressive in soles and I find it puts too much weight over the ball of my foot when squatting.

That sounds more like a form problem, but hey.

Just get something with a solid sole (Converse, Vibrant, whatever) and you will be fine.

 

[mrthingyx]

It's the trainers that do it because in barefoot it's much better.

Or perhaps having a squishy sole vs hard floor amplifies any balance problems...?

Having bad form isn't embarrassing as we have all been there (I still am)... But buying shoes to fix potentially bad form is not a great idea.

IF you are concerned, post a video and there are loads of experienced people who will be happy to help. However, if you squat 200kg for reps then the discussion is moot.

 

[mrthingyx]

I have pretty weird insoles which were given to me by Headley Court when I was there. They angle my feet in an odd way which was to help with my scoliosis when running. Truth is I've had so many issues with running that I've just given up now so I do weight training and bike (road bike and also the machine in the gym) for CV.

I want to change trainers because they are old, knackered and have seen far too many miles to be used. The sides of them around the movement points are tearing so they're pretty dead. It has nothing to do with form or to help me, it's simply because I need a new pair of trainers.

Core training, rehab and strengthening. You are in the right place!

 

[mrthingyx]

On the topic of core training/strengthening, would you recommend any particular exercises?

Congrats on the pb Dreamforger

Why yes - of course...

- Deadbugs
- Lying leg raises
- Braced planks
- Candlesticks
- Dragonflags.

And we'll done Dreamforger!

 

[mrthingyx]

Close to the 180 bench last night with no deload before. Hit a 280 deadlift, hookgrip, conventional and beltless....I'd love to know where my sumo is right now...

Hopefully consigned to the offal-based meatball dustbin of history.

 

[mrthingyx]

Hey people, I'd like some help, I think I need to stop my heavy bench work and replace with something else, it's aggravating my rotator cuff injury. I do the rotator cuff specific work twice a week I posted about a while ago (the thing off T-nation) and the pain is normally gone (partially dislocated right shoulder twice kayaking) but bench sets it off. Routine I wanted to continue following is (for bench):

Week 1 Day 1: Bench: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + OHP: 3x8x60%
Week 1 Day 2: OHP: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + Bench: 3x8x60%
Week 2 Day 1: Bench: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + OHP: 3x6x70%
Week 2 Day 2: OHP: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + Bench: 3x6x70%
Week 3 Day 1: Bench: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70%
Week 3 Day 2: OHP: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70% + Bench 5x1x90%
Week 4: New Max (either on same day or a few days apart)

(Thanks reiyushin, I'm also using this for squat and deadlift and they feel good).

The above is based off a training max of 80kg for bench. There's also assistance work for which I do some random fun things I feel like, I try to stick to 2-3 sets of >10 reps for these.

I'd been using my work gym which only has dumbells and I'd been working off those (albeit only up to 25kg) but my new housemate has a decent home gym so I swapped to barbell this week and I just can't bench heavy.

Gym was meant to be assistance work for kayaking back when I started but I do more gym now than I ever get to kayak so goals are to get stronk and work round the shoulder until it heals up completely (hopefully).

To save a lot of trial and error, I was hoping to get some ideas for things to try

For somebody with a potential rotator cuff problem, that is a LOT of petrol to pour on that particular fire.

The rotator cuff is one part of a big puzzle involving the shoulder's mobility and stability. You mentioned you were benching with dumbbells: did that cause pain, too?

 

[mrthingyx]

I

Quite possibly.

What are the best ways to do this? I assume it's more than just ab work.

Pilates type stuff?

I think I posted a core exercise set a couple of pages back...

 

[mrthingyx]

Gyno revision done. Landed back in the UK yesterday evening. Didn't go as smoothly as my original op (had a haematoma which needed evacuating) but went in Monday morning, got discharged Tuesday morning on schedule and was given a check-up and o-k to fly home Weds. No lifting for a few weeks now <3 although I think I was overly cautious not lifting for 6 weeks when I had the original op.

I believe the expression in polite internet society is "in for breasts."

Indeed, thus I turn to the collective wisdom here to not rebreak myself .

I did get pain on my warmup sets with the dumbells but my physio told me to only stick to partial range of motion when warming up which helped. For working sets I could get full depth (taken as chest tap if I was using a barbell) without pain. It could also be that I never got to try heavy weights, the dumbells topped out at 25kg.

Do you warm up your rotator cuff with internal/external rotation exercises before benching?

 

[mrthingyx]

No I do door stretch and shoulder dislocations with a pipe, and finish the day with rotator cuff work

Start with rotator cuff work; I used to do 3 sets of 15-20 before doing anything press-y (internal, external and across both saggital and axial planes [humerus vertical next to your body and then out at 90 degrees]).

They'll be in a bag, in a bin somewhere in Wroclaw! I had a little 'something' on my left side which was either missed first time or hadn't healed as well, revisions were free... thought I might as well get it done. Took lots of pictures of food though - it's so cheap there. Ate like a king for a couple of days and had zero food the entirety of Monday.

Hope the recovery goes well.

 

[mrthingyx]

I'll swap to do rotator cuff work first, thanks. Do you do any dedicated "strengthening" on top or is the warm up enough? What about the bench and OHP?

The more you do the more you will have to use greater resistance/weight to achieve the same activation... so you are strengthening it just by using it properly.

Do it before any shoulder work (bench, press, whatever) and keep the workloads VERY light for the main movements. If you do them at all (I would suggest leaving them for a couple of weeks).

 

[mrthingyx]

I seem to have weakened my right shoulder benching. Makes a change from it being my left! Oh well, 3 weeks and I will have a 2 week break. Weird though, feels like an impingement, but also more like the base of my trap. Deadlift day tomorrow. My favourite

I think I need to up my shoulder rotation weights. Haven't increased them much for a while.

Quality, not quantity.

Make sure your shoulder is perfectly positioned.

 

[mrthingyx]

And talking of food, this was dinner a few days ago #sorrynotsorry

I like this post...

 

[mrthingyx]

Finally threw someone Bulgarian split squats into my routine today. Oh my! I think I'm going to enjoy them.

Post an update tomorrow on how your legs feel before committing to that statement.

 

[mrthingyx]

I clearly spoke to soon this morning. Crawling round the house this evening.

 

[mrthingyx]

We must keep spreading the pain word...

 

[mrthingyx]

Hello, I'm looking for a bit of advice on 'getting back into it'. I used to post in this thread a few years ago when I was doing Stronglifts with a friend. Since then, I moved on to triathlon for the best part of 5 years (sprints all the way up to and including ironman) This last year saw me hang up my racing boots (two young kids, not enough time to train) and take up judo again, which I did to county level as a youngster. Anyway, I have around 5kg headroom to play with at my weight category so I want to build strength and add a little mass. I'm just over 6' tall, 75kg, 39 years old. I can weight train 2 x week for around 40mins (I have judo classes twice a week and play 5-a-side once a week, I like to keep my weekends clear for family) For the past couple of weeks I've been doing the following:

warm up
DL pyramid 10/8/6/4/2/1 or Squat 3x10 or BB lunge 3x10 or RDL 3x10
Bench 3x10 s/s with single arm DB row 3x10
Lying tricep extension 3x10 s/s with barbell curls 3x10
Military press 3x10 or single arm KB press 3x10
abz
'finisher' - normally bag/pad work or box jumps.

I guess the questions are:

A) Does this look OK as a 'get back to training, full body, moderate weight' workout (I was intending on carrying this on for a few more weeks)
B) What should I be looking to progressing on to afterwards? I think full body is the way to go for me?

Not really ideal for the masssssss, but not atrocious.

You are probably better off ditching the isolation exercises and investing the time in (reps*sets) 3*5 deadlifts on day 1 with back and hammies, and squatting 8*3 with chest and OHP.

The pad work will just burn unnecessary calories without really transferring much over to judo (last time I saw, there wasn't much striking in it)... just do moar deadlifts.

And with that much judo, footy and working out, you are going to have to eat EVERYTHING to gain weight.

@Som: I know that lift is seriously impressive weight for such a person, but my goodness her poor back...

 

[mrthingyx]

Thanks mrthingyx. Just to clarify - what would my Day 1 look like? Day 2 I understand as something like squat/bench/military press? Won't my tri's be fried? Would it make sense to move a press to Day 1?

You could superset a bucketload of stuff for extra misery...

Day 1:

Deadlift(3*5)
Snatch grip RDL 10*3
Barbell row ss/w bench 10*3
Chin up ss/w pull-overs 10*3

Day 2:

Squat 8*3
Deficit Bulgarian split squats 10*3
OHP ss/w Wide grip pull-downs/chins 10*3
Weighted Push-ups ss/w straight arm pull-downs 12*3

You can add gun-work in there as well but you should be ruined enough to not worry about it.