and the gloves *proud of calluses*
― mattresslessness, Friday, November 14, 2014 11:23 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
proper grip should minimize calluses *stares at u paternally*
― goole, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:02 (nine years ago) link
hm i thought i had a hook grip but my thumb needs to go in between fingers and bar. every time i post in this thread i figure something out. thanks all you hot dads!
― mattresslessness, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:16 (nine years ago) link
and dadettes
― mattresslessness, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:19 (nine years ago) link
Whoa! Just discovered this thread, so excuse the long intro post, but I could use some advice from y'all.
I'm decidedly not a gym bro. I'm a scrawny guy who just started hitting the gym well into adulthood two years ago, and I discovered that I really like it. For the last two years I've worked out about four times a week, usually doing basic push/pull exercises, trying to vary my routines, occasionally mixing in other exercise (yoga, kickboxing for awhile, biking, swimming, even Crossfit for a bit, none of which I stuck to too long). I haven't bulked up the way a guy with a bigger bone structure would have working out so much, but I've felt pretty good about myself all things considered. My arms are no longer disturbing little sticks, and for a while I even had defined pecs.
So here's the problem: Five months ago I suddenly experienced moderate shoulder pain. Nothing debilitating or motion-limiting, but it never went away. After visits to two orthopedists, it was diagnosed as an AC joint injury—commonly called weightlifter's shoulder. It's an injury brought on by too many presses, push-ups, planks and dips, which, as cruel fate would have it, were some of my very favorite exercises to do. SO yeah, I brought it on myself without knowing it.
So now after acquiring a taste for working out, I'm be told I can't do it. For the last month I cut all those offending exercises out of my routine (replacing presses with flies, at my orthopedist's suggestion), but that hasn't really improved things. So this week I have committed myself to taking a full week off from the gym completely, and a second if need be. It's hard, and I'm obsessed with how rapidly I am losing the muscle I worked very, very hard to gain.
Does anybody have any advice, or has anybody experienced a similar injury? I don't know how long I should stay out of the gym for. The cruel thing is there's very little direct correlation between when and how I work out and how I experience the pain. Some days my shoulder feels perfect after a hard workout. Some days it's sore after doing nothing. The pain is mild enough that I could easily push through it, but it's been lingering for so long I just want it over with.
― Evan R, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link
hmmm well, not a doctor of course, but maybe heavier lifts and less repetition would help? i say this as fully bought-in member of the cult of heavy.
the key lifts of a heavy full body program are squat and deadlift, and those only involve the shoulder in a secondary way. you could do those without any arm work and still be ok maybe? great for gaining weight too.
― goole, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:36 (nine years ago) link
fyi my pulled back muscle from this summer (!) is p much back to normal. finally. still feels a little tight a lot of the time tho, i guess that's the new normal for a guy my age.
and i've never done hook grip! i should probably give it a try now while my DL is still at a low weight from rehabbing my back. does it help?
― goole, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:39 (nine years ago) link
I've decreased my weights quite a bit, out of fear that I might pull or aggravate something or do a lift or press wrong. But since AC joint injuries are repetitive stress injuries, maybe it would make more sense to do less lifts with more weight. I really have no idea but I could try it.
― Evan R, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:43 (nine years ago) link
i have a janky shoulder too. never quite heals.
you can try: neutral grip presses with dumbbells (palms facing each other), make sure your elbows are tucked in and not out wide.
― ryan, Friday, 14 November 2014 19:56 (nine years ago) link
Oh that sounds like a good grip idea. It'll be nice doing something that's not a fly.
What's wrong with your shoulder?
― Evan R, Friday, 14 November 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link
who knows! tends to be aggravated most by bench press though. especially if I try to go too heavy.
― ryan, Friday, 14 November 2014 20:01 (nine years ago) link
lots and lots of reps with tiny little dumbbells helped heal my cranky shoulders
search "shoulder joint stabilization" for rehab exercises
― Brad C., Friday, 14 November 2014 20:42 (nine years ago) link
I have 2 tiny little dumbbells at home, but I haven't touched em in two years bcz after myeloma knocked the shit out of my bones, I'm afraid my arms will fall off. I know I should just ask the doctors or one of my health plan's available "consultants."
― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 November 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link
i have done this routine in the past and it's helped with lingering shoulder issues
http://www.rawstrengthandconditioning.com/raw-home/overhead-stability-and-mobility-bulletproof-shoulders.html
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 14 November 2014 20:57 (nine years ago) link
yes but have u actually fired bullets at them
― lag∞n, Friday, 14 November 2014 22:40 (nine years ago) link
Have any of you ever had to take a significant amount of time off from the gym because of an injury? If so, how'd you cope? How bad were the losses, and how long did it take you to rebuild?
― Evan R, Saturday, 15 November 2014 16:52 (nine years ago) link
just my opinion but my feeling has always been that taking time off, even a month or so, doesn't have that big an impact on muscle growth. it's more psychological than anything, and after a few sessions I tend to be back where I was after I left off. I'm sure I'm wrong about this but us in the swole brigade tend to be more anxious about taking time off than we need to be.
― ryan, Saturday, 15 November 2014 17:16 (nine years ago) link
it's a marathon not a sprint, etc.
― ryan, Saturday, 15 November 2014 17:22 (nine years ago) link
yeah wld think itd take quite a bit longer than that to get srsly out of shape
― lag∞n, Saturday, 15 November 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link
i was mostly off this summer and haven't lost much progress. i never make much progress anyway though :)
― flatizza (harbl), Saturday, 15 November 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
That is very encouraging; pretty much exactly what I needed to hear right now
― Evan R, Saturday, 15 November 2014 22:28 (nine years ago) link
Much better to take time off than to aggravate injuries to the point where you don't have a choice
― Brad C., Saturday, 15 November 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
I'm looking into some articles on the Internet and they say that taking a break from the gym for a few weeks can help your muscles rebuild stronger in the short term. So that is comforting, the idea that at least some good could come of this.
― Evan R, Sunday, 16 November 2014 01:42 (nine years ago) link
Arg I am on day 11 of no gym and my shoulder feels no better. I'm going to give it a few days and return to the gym. At this point I'm not convinced working out has a huge impact on how my shoulder feels one way or the other. If it's gonna feel the way it's gonna feel I might as well work out.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 19:39 (nine years ago) link
how many days are you doing? xp yes always great to see a variety of people getting into it
― mattresslessness, Friday, November 14, 2014 6:08 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
leg days are one to two, depending on how well/poorly i do and how much i eat (i get busy with work sometimes)
then one other lifting day, but i keep the exercises simple. i'm kind of focusing more on my legs and abs, then do some type of light upper body
― ∞, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 21:27 (nine years ago) link
also, i'm not sure where people are at in their exercising life, but after training for a half marathon, i was very thin and stopped doing everything and ate anything i wanted. it took about two months of not doing anything to actually start gaining a few pounds, though i did do the occasional running. i started losing muscle definition after the first month. but i wasn't huge at all.
the only thing i'd be careful of is trying to pick up where you left off, weights-wise. i heard that's how many injuries occur. you try to lift as heavy as you did a month or two ago. you have to build up to it, even though you can build up to it quicker if you only stopped for a month or two
― ∞, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 21:32 (nine years ago) link
that is also true of my stopping and starting experience, which i guess i'm pretty good at since i do it so much.
― mattresslessness, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 21:40 (nine years ago) link
I actually haven't lost as much muscle as I thought I would. I feared I'd revert to square-one scrawny after just a few weeks, because that really is my default.
Where I've lost the most mass is my pecs, and particularly my upper pecs. Those are going to be the hardest to rebuild, since so many presses are off the table for me. Not sure if I can build good upper pecs on flies and cross cables alone.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 21:52 (nine years ago) link
fell into a sedentary lifestyle for a bit because of busyness. back on the wagon tomorrow morning. downloaded an app to track my macronutrient intake and, for today at least, it was bad. 4 pop ems donuts and a bag of trail mix (cashews, dried cranberries, and chocolate) given to me by my octogenarian grad school adviser was actually wayyyyy too much saturated fat for a single day. this is a problem because she gives me a huge bag of this trail mix a few times a week. i also ate a whole avocado but that's "good" fat. basically i foud out that i need to eat more calories of better stuff, which i knew.
tomorrow i am doing compound barbell exercises and running 3 miles. this weekend i am going to do yoga, so i am thinking 3 days a week lifting and running whenever i feel like it and also yoga. this seems balanced. my goal is to adjust body composition.
― Treeship, Tuesday, 2 December 2014 03:17 (nine years ago) link
gave myself a mental fistbump today when the resident gym strongman saw what i was deadlifting and said "that's heavy" and came over and did a couple of reps, and then insisted on watching me cause i'm fairly certain he was skeptical of my ability to actually pull it, which of course i did cause mama didn't raise no fool. basically at this point i am DLing 250 lbs and still look like a skinny streak of piss. have i earned some "aesthetic" workouts, y/n
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 December 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
hi5!
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:01 (nine years ago) link
is there a simple list of good & bad fat foods?
bravo Tracer, can you arrange to be in NY the next time I need to move house?
― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:03 (nine years ago) link
think avocados, olive oil, almonds and other nuts
― (曇り) (clouds), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:17 (nine years ago) link
I think it's really difficult to tell how much someone can deadlift just by looking at them. I can do 265x5 but I have thick looking legs. I've seen much scrawnier looking dudes do upwards of 350.
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:18 (nine years ago) link
that's awesome tracer!
― goole, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:18 (nine years ago) link
heres the list from the book diet cults that imo is pretty good and simple, good stuff on the top bad on the bottom
VegetablesFruitsNuts, seeds and healthy oilsHigh-quality meat and seafoodWhole grainsDairyRefined grainsLow-quality meat and seafoodSweetsFried foods
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:19 (nine years ago) link
i skip arm chest & leg days #sedentary4life
― internet explorer (am0n), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link
the pure c0re workout
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:23 (nine years ago) link
that book looks good xp
― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:24 (nine years ago) link
yah man thx for the tip
― goole, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
i have it but i havent read it i cld take a picture of it for u its currently sitting squished between a book on running and one on javascript
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
send it to my stomach thx
― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:30 (nine years ago) link
books pretty fibrous iirc
― (曇り) (clouds), Friday, 5 December 2014 17:31 (nine years ago) link
i have never tried to hit a max deadlift because my form sucks. probably due to lack of flexibility and that i have long legs and arms that are kinda short in comparison the rest of my body.
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 5 December 2014 19:30 (nine years ago) link
deadlift is kinda an awkward motion imo
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 19:32 (nine years ago) link
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, December 5, 2014 4:55 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
well, i'm no expert, but with deadlifts, the way i know i'm doing them right is if i don't have waist-pain later/following day. mind you, i don't deadlift that much. i never have waist pain whereas before i found i did.
just my two cents, but i could be wrong.
― ∞, Friday, 5 December 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
If you're not deadlifting for a competition, a trap bar/hex bar is the way to go IMO. Puts your arms neutral and the weight on your centerline.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 5 December 2014 20:04 (nine years ago) link
this random guy at the gym tried to convince me to squat w/ plates under my heels so my feet are angled downwards, seems a lil unsafe because it's introducing a new level of instability to the whole equation but it does seem to force my form to be a bit better, idk I'll prob stick to normal squats my form's pretty alright
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, 5 December 2014 20:14 (nine years ago) link
it would be mimic the same effect you get from proper OLY shoes .
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 5 December 2014 20:16 (nine years ago) link
dog if you want that weight up off the floor you need to be pulling in a pair of classic steve madden wedges
― goole, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:18 (nine years ago) link
ballet slippers imo
― lag∞n, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:19 (nine years ago) link