*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

[mrthingyx]

Try reducing your frequency. I plateaued on almost all my lifts when lifting 6 days per week so I dropped to 4 days and every lift increased. Recovery is just as important as the work you do in the gym.

This is potentially it. If you are a novice lifter, three days of lifting a week is plenty.

Why?

Because you central nervous system is not up to much more than that unless you are unusual. And strength/swole training is as much about your nervous system as your actual muscles.

So accept your new beau swiped left for your as-is state and wind yourself back in for a bit.

Or ditch the "new partner exertions" and get at least 8hrs sleep a night, whilst eating everything you see.

And for the love of all that is holy: if you can't do a single chin up you don't deserve to improve your bench.

 

[mrthingyx]

I think you misread, I've just come out of a relationship, not just entered into one. Chance of "new partner exertions" would be a fine thing at the moment!

I think you're both right though, its most likely the combination of over training, lack of rest and a distinct lack of calories.

For now I think I'm going to have to live with it for now, I'll cut back a day or swap a couple of days out for cardio but I can't do anything on the calorie intake front, as much I want my lifts to progress my main goal at the moment is to get back to a reasonable bodyfat %, get to a point where I'm happy with my base and I can build from there.

As always though, advice is appreciated even if a lot of the time I don't listen to it

Sorry. *facepalm*

Forget what I just said and go bench something.

 

[mrthingyx]

Nice going, guys.

 

[mrthingyx]

Need to improve my deadlifts, only on 50kg at the moment. 4 sets of 10. Taking it really slow as not to hurt my back. I'm terrible at doing too much too soon and have a bit of a dodge lower back.

Change to four sets of five and you might find great things happen.

The best way to not hurt your back is to lift properly, too: has your form been assessed/taught by somebody with a clue?

 

[mrthingyx]

Well, if you bang the reps out for deadlights you will fatigue your back and make it more prone to damage. So keep the reps below five. I would also suggest posting a video so that delvis can admire it (he has sweet deadlift form... If he still even lifts).

With regard to weight, a complete gashculation based on 10*50 suggests 5*60, so see how that feels.

And you put your back out doing daily "stuff" probably because you are weak (same applied to me six years ago).

 

[mrthingyx]

How do you guys deal with excessive sweating in gym, when i train i sweat a lot,I don't know if that's related to the high intensity training or some sort of medical issue. When i look around no one sweats as much as I do.
Do i need more cardio training perhaps?

I take my shirt off.

Sweating is a function of heat production (crazy, I know), and if you do high power/force activity, you will generate a lot of it (it is not an efficient way to stimulate muscle contraction); cardio will push your muscles in a more efficient direction (mitochondria > anaerobic buffering) at the expense of power and - as a result - size (muscles less dependent on carbs are smaller in volume).

So don't worry about it, or get some air conditioning and chalk.

 

[mrthingyx]

Ive rang NHS physio will see what they say - was disappointing for it to react after 4 weeks after feeling okay again at a lighter weight...

Is it possible I could do other excercises that wont aggravate my shoulder? Which ones would you recommend?

Of course it is. They're called squats.

In all seriousness, take a long, hard look at your pecs (they're probably very tight), rotator cuff and shoulder rotation

gym rats - PLEASE go easy on me.

Working my way back into things following 5 x 5 stronglifts, spin and crossfit. Enjoying being back at the gym after last 3 years mainly just road biking. Needed to change things up getting bored just cycling!

I know I'm "facing" the wrong way in this video but I had nowhere to put my camera at the other side. Also the knee supports are for my dodgy old man knees!

Think this was 55kg the other day. Any comments/critique (so long as they are nice!!!) is welcome!

First off, you're doing low bar which is interesting for a Crossfitter...

Second, your stance is very narrow for low bar, which is probably why your bum is dumping as you hit parallel.

Third, you really need to fix your core bracing because you're snaking up and down in a rather disc-squeezing way. It's kind of mesmerising, but also a portent of doom...

Fourth (as giraffepencils suggests), keep your knees out more: you're taking your glutes out of the equation which - for low bar - will completely hinder you.

 

[mrthingyx]

Try and hold core tight?

Yes and no.

Holding your core tight is a great thing... provided it's in the right position in the first place. Normal cues apply: chest up, shoulders back and down, and try and crimp off the biggest battler you've ever felt. As you do this, imagine pulling your knees up and out.

And stop when you think you're at parallel - not below.

 

[mrthingyx]

going through a very frustrating phase still with what appears to be my deltoid, been on going a few years on and off and this time ive had it all year to the point where I can press at all, I've seen a physio for a couple of sessions got referred to an ultra sound scan which was more frustrating and pointless because all she did was look at my rotator cuff (where isn't where i get pain and i did tell her that) and all she said was theres nothing wrong..

whats next ?

Find a sports physio?

Or take up Crossfit.

 

[mrthingyx]

I'm getting the urge to return back to the gym again. It's definitely a missing piece at the moment. But I've been out of the gym for nearly 3 years now. My dream is to return.

I injured my shoulder. So stopped training. Various physios, surgeons and doctors have given me their verdicts. Nothing conclusive.

One said I had a subluxed shoulder and there was nothing that could be done not even surgery.

Recent one has said I have 'scapula discharnisia' (may not have spelt that right) after giving me one of those all body scans.

They couldn't see any tears or other issues in the shoulder so I guess that's a good thing. But I've had pain in my shoulder for almost 3 years now.

What he said 'scapula discharnisia' meant was I have a slight winging of the shoulder blade as well as the muscles are not firing in the correct pattern.

From working with my current physio I think it's becoming clear that I have an issue with my rotator cuff. It's very very weak. Which may have meant due to compensation other things have been triggered.

At the moment I'm doing the following exercises 3x10 once aday:

1. Lying down rotator cuff movement.
2. Some sort of shoulder blade squeeze head down.
3. Holding a weight vertically lying face up and reaching up as far as I can go with injured shoulder.
4. Standing up rotator cuff movement.
5. And recently a sort of cable (latex band) pec sqeeze.

My weights are only light at the moment. 0.5kg. I'm stepping up to 1kg tomorrow. as 0.5kg is too light.

But how heavy are you expected to go for strong rotator cuffs? Whats normal?

I really want to make this work as the gym as I said above is a missing piece in my life at the moment.

---

Heres the funny thing, I'm capable to do press ups, but it hurts to push in tighter angles. For example, today, I was opening a heavy self closing door and my hand was very tight to my chest and it really hurt to push the door. The shoulder at that angle was too weak.

---

One of my friends keeps pushing me to forget the NHS and go and pay a sports physio. He's line is that sports people get worse injuries and return to sports so it can be done.

Your rotator cuff is weak because it is not being used either at all or in the right way.

The exercises you have been given are to get it active through various movements, not to actually "make it stronger."

The key principle to work around is your RC needs to be active the right way, and so using greater weight will actually be counter-productive: use a light weight, do bazillions of reps, but do them PERFECTLY, with your shoulder, chest and arm in the perfect relative positions.

Why? Because your RC is not being used, you want it to become active in the right way, otherwise it will exacerbate the problem.

To add proper activation, make sure the eccentric contractions are as slow as you can handle: 10 seconds... even 30 seconds.

And it is dyskinesia (not moving properly).

 

[mrthingyx]

Thanks

Som = awesome & right.

 

[mrthingyx]

I'm trying my best, but any work I do on my shoulder just makes it more sore and painful. Bloody miserable today. A weeks worth of work on my shoulder and it feels worse than ever. I'm at 1kg weight at the moment. Dunno if I should just go back down to 0.5kg again.

Without knowing what your physio has said, it is difficult to know what is wrong.

Get a bike inner tube and use that for resistanceat first.

 

[mrthingyx]

What's the best way of working on butt wink when squatting? The missus does it quite noticeably and I'm wondering if it causes her issues. She's been squatting for a while, but whenever she reaches a certain weight she seems to pull a muscle or injure something and has to have some time off and work her way back up to that weight again, hence she's never really progressing!

Depends on a lot of things: core bracing is only one.

Hip anatomy, hip, thoracic and ankle mobility, form all play a part.

My bet is actually incorrect form: too much forward lean. Can she front/goblet squat without butt wink?

 

[mrthingyx]

No she can't. She's managed to get her deadlift form spot on, but really struggles with the squats for some reason. She's suffered from knee pain while running and shoulder pain at the start of the year and went to see a sports physio about it. He said she had weak shoulders and hips, gave her some shoulder rotation exercises and said to work on split squats.

Split squats, you say?

If she is a runner, chances are her core is a bit like a flump and her hips and ankles don't actually work.

Watching form videos on here, most people get butt wink because they go too low and lean forward too much, normally with their feet in a biomechanically suboptimal position (too narrow or too wide)...

 

[mrthingyx]

Thought that was tendon related and your only option is rest?

Once the acute phase is over (2 weeks-ish, depending), eccentric wrist curlz.

 

[mrthingyx]

I've just signed up to a gym (for the first time ever). I'm not massively overweight, but I have done barely any exercise since working full time at a desk, apart from the odd rare day of football or something. I'll be hopefully trying to go daily, or a few days a week in the 3 weeks I have between starting a new job.. and hopefully get into a nice routine.

So my question.. I've never set foot in a gym, and no idea where to start. I'll obviously do the induction etc, but can anyone recommend a fairly simple routine to get be started? At the moment it's just for general fitness/weight loss, but happy to begin where ever is necessary!

Stronglifts.

 

[mrthingyx]

Hey,
I've been having success adapting my stronglifts with periodisation (as linked a while back now)
but I was wondering what I should do with Deadlifts?
I currently do the warm-ups and then 1x5 of the working weight.
what sort of rep scheme would people suggest? As I've been told to be careful adding too much volume too quick with DL

3 sets of 5.

 

[mrthingyx]

Hi,
Yea, I get that but for a session to take me only 20-30 mins, is that enough or should I be doing other stuff?

You have arms, don't you?

As already suggested, do chin-ups and dips. And a shedload of proper core work (not 'abz' btw).

 

[mrthingyx]

I had this pain for about a year now. I had few cortezon injections but now i have been told that I should have rest for few weeks not few days like gp told me.
I've been resting since mid August, went to hospital for some physio and that made it worst the pain spread towards wrist after stretches.After that i had acupuncture but that did not help in long run.

Let us try and not push this into medical territory... Come and post in the Facebook group (with payment of appropriate tribute) if you are interested.

 

[mrthingyx]

Do you have a link?

Search for OcUK Gym Ratz... Or something. You will then face the trial...