Lifting Thread;training for the tattooed warrior.

[hogg]

Depending on form, the regular squat can definitely hit the quads, too. In fact, because my form was a bit off (I wasn't on my heels as much as I should've been), my squats were very quad dominant. The result is that my quads grew. But a few months back, I started to notice some pain in my left knee. Right below my knee, actually. With the help of a doctor friend, I narrowed it down to my peroneus longus, one of the muscles that runs along the shin. I videotaped my squats so I could show a friend who's knowledgeable about these things, and he pointed out that my left knee caves in on the concentric portion of the squat. That was the cause of my pain, but what was the cause of the knee cave? He pointed out that it was a lack of hip mobility and strength, as well as weakness in the adductors and glutes. So now, in an effort to fix all this stuff, I'm doing some very painful hip stretches that I obviously need to do, X-band walks, super light box squats, do squats with next to no added weight with a band around my knees to physically cue "knees out," and just focus on form in general. I'm starting to "feel" the correct form, which is the point, so I hope my squats improve when I get back to doing them.

I'm really, really looking forward to putting actual weight on my back again, but I need to fix this stuff now before it gets worse. Sorry for the ramble, but maybe some of you will find it helpful. Form, form, form!

[Petri Aspvik]

My shoulder is still fucked.

[Scott R]

@Petri Aspvik i searched the thread and didnt come up with anything else about a shoulder, whats wrong with it? what have you done medical or therapuetic wise? DId the shoulder issue coincide with months following back surgery ?

[Petri Aspvik]

I visited a physical therapeutist and he checked all the motions etc. and all the places should be ok, except muscle tightness etc. Might be that I gained too many pounds to my deadlift too soon and joints couldnt keep up, or the muscles that attac to ligaments etc. Resting now. No surgerys etc.

Edit. I mean tendon not ligament

[Cork]

Might be that I gained too many pounds to my deadlift too soon

Malarky! If you can lift it, you can lift it. No way would a heavy deadlift give you a bum shoulder unless you have some sort of crazy technique.

[Petri Aspvik]

It was my own malarkey reasoning :P And it never hurts when deadlifting, only when pressing or doing push ups. The side of the arm and shoulder. Only way I can think that I coukd have hurt it deadlifting is if I have in some point of the lift lifted with my arms. I think.

[Petri Aspvik]

It also feels tight if I do this

http://www.topendsports.com/medicine/images/shoulder-posterior.gif

I feel it in the "between" of chest and shoulder. In the grease. Or something.

[RoryQ]

Cue some unsolicited internet advice : If your shoulder hurts when you press then I'd be inclined to try and figure out what it is. Personally, I had no problems with my shoulder ROM (hypermobile, if anything) but I still got that classic front-right shoulder pain when I benched. Eventually it went from something I casually wondered about to something that stopped me flat benching until I fixed it.

I think it was a pretty vanilla muscle imbalance, but I'm glad I caught it relatively early. I know you said you went to a physio but in my case I ended up going to three before I found one who actually could relate the problem to the programming who had caused it and had a solution. In my case, that was shitloads of band pull-aparts, lateral raises, extern raises, band hugs and rows galore (inverted rows, barbell rows etc). Fixing years of low-rep pressing without much in the way of heavyish rowing to balance it out except pull-ups.

Ironically fixing my back and developing some scapular stability actually also improved my benching since I finally had some foundation to press off.

And then I found a new way to injure myself :rolleyes:

If you really do feel tight in that position you could try rolling against a lacrosse or hockey ball. Stick it anywhere it feels tight and work it in there. Junction of your pec and shoulder, maybe even your lats and around your upper back.

[hogg]

It was my own malarkey reasoning :P And it never hurts when deadlifting, only when pressing or doing push ups. The side of the arm and shoulder. Only way I can think that I coukd have hurt it deadlifting is if I have in some point of the lift lifted with my arms. I think.

Do you bench with a wide grip? That's been known to cause shoulder pain in some people. I never experienced it myself, but I switched to a narrower bench grip 1) to prevent shoulder pain and 2) because I had some serious elbow pain.

[Petri Aspvik]

I havent benched in months... One thing I think could be that few months ago in aikido we started the training with 20 push ups. I wasnt warm and felt like crap after that for days.

[Scott R]

deadlifting would help if anything

do your pronate your shoulders(slouch)

sounds like you could have an impingment(not a doctor just have seen this many times)

i would cut presses for now and slowly work into flat or decline dumbells or pushups as you feel better

try theses exercises http://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/6979.pdf I especially like exercise #2(could be done multiple times a day . Basically the bursa sac gets pinched by the joint and causes pain and in some cases impede range of motion. You could also implement Joint ROM exercises if muscle tightness was a facilitator at getting to this point

[Petri Aspvik]

I do slouch, but not nearly as much as I have started doing deads. My neck muscles are tight as hell sometimes. Headaches and I constantly move them as trying to eas it.

I will cut pressing. Thanks for the link! A friend recommended also this. What do you think?

[Cork]

Any rotator cuff exercises you do will help. You can never get enough RC work. Just do it at the end of your workout.

Also just to update you guys on my training. I've decided to back out from the bodybuilding show. I just wasn't far enough along for my preference. The goal was to take top 3, and with the conditioning I have, I would have been lucky to place that high. So I'm off the wagon and eating and drinking again, oh what a life it is, haha.

My goal short term is to keep lean and ride the contest prep rebound to get some amazing strength gains.

[kylegrey]

I wouldn't train any upper body exercises without running through my Rotator Cuff drill , I'm prudent about warm-up and always start with only the bar on all major exercises for twenty reps . Touch wood but I've never really had any training injuries but I guess once you've heard (from the other side of the gym ) the gut-wrenching sound of muscle tearing from bone that is a pec-tear you learn to be cautious .

[Petri Aspvik]

Jeesus... Just imagining that hurts. And I also always start with a good warm up. For example: do rowing and crosstrainer, tven dynamic stretching and when deadlifting start with the bar and go up. If I press after that I again start with light and go up to heavier. But never gave I done rotator cuf stuff... Will do after this!

[RoryQ]

Kyle-

I've never seen (or heard!) a pec tear, but I've heard a couple of knee ligaments go...

The worst I ever heard was an achilles tendon snapping during a sprint class. The drill being performed involved jumping from a box and taking off into a sprint, which I gather is a not uncommon drill to improve start speed or whatever. Anyway, a guy took off and after about the second step it was like someone fired a starting pistol. 'CRACK!!!'. I drove the guy back to his house and I remember him feeling his lower ankle in the passenger seat of the car and the conversation went something like this-

HIM- 'You know the way you have an achilles tendon just above your heel and you can kind of feel it?'

ME- 'Uh, yeah...'

HIM- 'Yeah, well I can't find it on my left leg now.'

He had surgery the next morning! Ouch. Complete tear, they had to stitch it back together.

I try to be conscientious about warming up... The potential risk just aren't worth 'saving' the time involved.

[Petri Aspvik]

If the achilles tendon snaps, I think it rolls up the leg. Fucking gross...

[Scott R]

@Petri Aspvik link doesnt open for me, any functional ROM exercises should help your therapist should have sent you home with some good exercises to do aswell

[Petri Aspvik]

He did give me few (somewhat similar as in your link), and I tried to do them. Didnt see any significant help. Or maybe I didnt do them correctly and I know I slacked...

[Petri Aspvik]

Killer article by Paul Carter!

Just Train – by Paul Carter - JimWendler.com

[kylegrey]

Solid Petri - Yates / Mentzer, Coan , Karwoski his heroes and mine .

[Petri Aspvik]

Yeah, legends. I love this quote

In the end, routines won’t win. Philosophies and methodologies will. Over time if you don’t develop one for yourself, you will flop about searching for the “next great routine” that will get you over that proverbial training hump you have been stuck at. When it doesn’t, you’ll say the routine was shit, or that you “need to focus on weak points” and such shit. When all along, it’s been your inability to stick with what works and impatience that keeps you stuck in a training sludge. In the meantime, I’ll maintain my status as fucking idiot and slowly get better.

But in order to do so, you have to TRUST. Like obviously mister Carter has trusted the road paved by the likes of Coan. They did shit that works, so why not do it yourself! I guess it is the modern eras folly, wich I myself have been quilty off. Everyone wants to find the "perfect" program and they have to either

a.) Find the so called best program at that moment. And when you look at modern training mags, they lack the so called best i.e simple and proven stuff. And they do it for two weeks and switch = gain nothing

or b.) They have to follow the "best ideology" and make a training program themself, which in 99% of the time is shit.

So it is about trust. The guys who came before me knew what worked. So ego should be put aside and trust in the simple and effective no bells and whistles programs, and gain by doing so. It is not a race about who has the coolest shit. Its about doing. Its about TRUST.

[Petri Aspvik]

Speaking of trust and gaining

T NATION | Effective Training for Busy Men

Training is one of our priorities – you wouldn't be reading T Nation or this article if you were just a weekend warrior or into "fitness." You're into training, and training is not "exercise."

In Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe defines training as a "physical activity done with a longer-term goal in mind, the constituent workouts of which are specifically designed to achieve that goal." We aren't "exercisers" or "fitness hipsters." Our training each day has purpose and meaning towards a bigger and more defined picture.

We don't randomly select things and strive "for a good sweat" or try to fit square exercises into round goals. We train. And those who train and are getting a bit older have a myriad of responsibilities. We have to prioritize our training around much of our life so that we can achieve those long-term training goals.

Life doesn't just throw us curveballs – it throws Niekro-scuffed knuckleballs with a bit of Gaylord Perry lube, and we all know where those are going to land. But if you plan your training accordingly, those incidents won't harm your training goals or your life outside the gym.

That's the key – the balance between maintaining a cutthroat attitude towards your training goals and your life. You plan. You execute.

[kylegrey]

Heres a sample of how Karwoski trained .

Bas' Barbell: Kirk Karwoski Training Routine

[Petri Aspvik]

Squat and leave! :D