M(ar)uch Lifting is good for you!
Replies
-
canadianlbs wrote: »there's no rush, and taking your time is much better than pushing it just for the sake of a number. but if you're interested, i wonder if a dose of front squats could help it to come together for you? i find they really make me core-conscious, and upper back too.
idk if mine made me significantly stronger, in objective terms. but they make me much better at feeling and using those muscle groups and i think that pays off in a more comfortable back squat as well.
Coincidence that you mention front squats as an aid to back squats: this morning I was watching myself squat at home in the mirror and my back was bending sharply. The only way I could squat while keeping my back straight was to point my knees further forward on the descent instead of upward - and that's what I had found myself doing when attempting front squats. I'm going to have to work this out with no weight, and try a lighter bar. And get used to my ankles bending more - perhaps they're a bit stiff, I will see.
@Katiebear_81 thanks! I'll get those shoes and carry them with me when I walk to the gym (I can't see walking 2 miles in flat shoes, although people certainly do) and change when I get to the weight room. I'd better get them soon!
I should see if I can do zercher squats. Does the bar hurt like crazy pressing down on the bends in your arms?1 -
Coincidence that you mention front squats as an aid to back squats: this morning I was watching myself squat at home in the mirror and my back was bending sharply. The only way I could squat while keeping my back straight was to point my knees further forward on the descent instead of upward - and that's what I had found myself doing when attempting front squats. I'm going to have to work this out with no weight, and try a lighter bar. And get used to my ankles bending more - perhaps they're a bit stiff, I will see.
@Katiebear_81 thanks! I'll get those shoes and carry them with me when I walk to the gym (I can't see walking 2 miles in flat shoes, although people certainly do) and change when I get to the weight room. I'd better get them soon!
I should see if I can do zercher squats. Does the bar hurt like crazy pressing down on the bends in your arms?
I wear converse all the time.
But I am very comfortable barefoot for extended periods, and in shoes with no support. I seek them out, to be honest.
Zerchers are a struggle at heavy weights. A good workout, though!
1 -
I should see if I can do zercher squats. Does the bar hurt like crazy pressing down on the bends in your arms?
idk, i've always been scared of them for that reason. and because my problem is various upper-back/shoulder things, i never trusted myself not to kip them anyway so there didn't seem to be too much point.
however, there's a difference between using a lift variation as a substitute for the 'real' lift - i.e. trying to go just as heavy with it - and just using the variation as a training tool to get you familiar with some aspect of the main form that you're struggling with. so even if you just stay light, variations can still be helpful sometimes.4 -
Stronglift Rest Day
Kettlebell Swing
Goblet squat-6X5X 35
Russian kettle bell swing-20X 10 X 35
40lbs loss by May 27th Challenge
Shopping today! I am going to walk the mall!
4 -
Still no gym for me but I want to keep posting to make sure I don't just give up lol.
I've been doing foam rolling and stretching every day for 1 week. 2 weeks since injury. Been doing more resting than anything else because walking is still iffy. Went to the mall yesterday and it wiped me out.
Today I did some random sit-ups, modified pushups 3x8 and donkey kicks 3x10. I figure since I can't do a regular pushup I should probably fix that. And I also want to strengthen my glutes to help prevent future squat problems.2 -
OHP sets alternating with Arnold presses - 3 x 5 of each with 12.5 lb dumbbells.
Deadlifts - 2 x 5 @ 70 lb and I already felt sore. I think my legs are tired from too much walking. Walked around for a break and did 1 x 5 @ 90 lb, and my legs were shaking.
Squats - deloaded to get my form nailed down.
2 x 10 @ 20 lbs - concentrating to keep my back straight, pressure on heels, knees going forward more than I used to (I wasn't going forward with my knees enough before). Imagining a string attached to the center of each kneecap pulling forward.
Nailed it so I went up to 30 lb. 3 x 5 @ 30 lb alternating with OHP 3 x 5 with that bar.
Then saw an Oly bar not being used so I put a couple of 25-lb plates on it. Right height for deadlifts, finally! That first pull off the floor was hard and I did feel my lower back working as well as glutes and hamstrings, but my back didn't hurt. 1 x 5 @ 95 lb.3 -
StrongLifts day!
5x5 squats 105 (WU: 2x5 45, 1x5 65, 1x5 85, 1x5 95)
1x5 DL 145 (WU: 1x5 85, 105, 125)
4x5 OHP 45, 1x5 OHP 50
I was feeling good with the 45 lbs so tried 50lbs for the last rep and it was noticeably harder but still manageable. My gym has minimum 2.5 plates. Will perhaps work on OH progression by pressing 50lbs in the last few sets until I can do them all.
@canadianlbs This time, I thought of pushing back against a fridge for the squats and it definitely helped!! Forgot about the front squats but will definitely try them next time.
I still need to figure out my squat distance. I feel like my stance is a bit wide which cause my knees to swing slightly outwards when I go down but when my stance is narrower my depth suffers with the heavier lifts.
4 -
chichidachimp wrote: »@canadianlbs This time, I thought of pushing back against a fridge for the squats and it definitely helped!!
that is so cool. thanks for letting me know.
me: meh kind of workout and bleh kind of me, but i'll just oh-well it and keep trucking on. trainer day of 5's week.
i did the basics required of me: ohp 45/50/60 and deadlifts 115/135/155, and nothing else. well, i did one extra press because at the start of my heavy set i forgot i was using the 35 bar (again) and secretly thought i was going to sneak 70 past mr t for one rep. so i did that one rep, was amazed at how light it was and bragged before i even brought the bar down . . . and got reality-checked. i hate that 35 bar that he has. it looks just like the other bars and i ALWAYS forget that it's not 45 once there's a few plates on it. still, once i'd restarted the set and done my 5 reps, he credited me for that one as well. so eh, i guess.
just feeling sulky and sad. and making new, greed-based angry-me resolutions to SLEEP. so as to regain the advantage over these bloody numbers.
4 -
db shoulder press - 2x10 @ 20
front plate raise - 2x10 @ 25
side lateral raise - 2x10 @ 12.5
one chinup at assisted shoulder machine as couldn't get the assisted part working then a couple hangs from it
15 minutes dry sauna
Now to maybe write or work on videos. Have tomorrow off and might finally get around to taking measurements.3 -
I'm new here. Today was my 4th workout. I finished my workout 6 hours ago and I'm wide awake still at 1:30am in so much pain. I have never felt this before from any workout. My legs are so achy I can't stand it. I don't know how to describe it, they just ache. And are hot to the touch in the places they hurt. No way I'm going to sleep tonight, not with this pain.
Have any of you ever experienced anything like this?0 -
SarahMorganP wrote: »Have any of you ever experienced anything like this?
yes, and i did not even need a bar to do it. my first encounter with lunges and squats was a circuit-training thing, and i think my recovery took me three weeks.
not saying that's going to be you. just saying i get it. when you've pushed things to the point of feeling heat in the muscles you used, i think an anti-inflammatory might be in order if you wanted one.
other things that help are
- GENTLE stretching a few times a day just to keep the circulation going and break up scar tissue before it forms [you're hurting because your muscles are probably full of tiny little micro-tears, which is normal but miserable]
- extra protein. i find it helps especially right at bedtime, but maybe i'm kidding myself that the timing matters.
- massage can get you temporary relief. be gentle, again. but it does help.
- make sure you keep up with your water consumption
- calcium and vitamin a or d (don't remember) might help. stay within safe limits though; you don't want to poison yourself. i also like to eat more vitamin-c type foods because connective tissue support or whatever it is.
- hang in there. weirdly enough, once you're able to stand it, doing unweighted reps of the same movement that caused the problem actually seems to help me. it's another way of keeping the muscles limber and functional while they heal. def not a time to push them or anything.
5 -
Thank you! I have experienced the sore muscles the day or two after a workout many times but this was just completely different. That hurts when moving and you can tell it's the muscles that are sore. This was all over weird achy feelings that were there when staying completely still and hurt less when I got up and moved around. I did end up taking some ibuprofen and that helped it dramatically and now that pain is gone thank goodness!
Eating more protein is definitely something I need to work on, I have such a hard time with that. I am a carb addict and that's mostly what I eat. I think I got maybe 30g of carbs yesterday and that was almost all from my snack after my workout. Like I said, I'm working on it!
Thanks for the thoughtful reply!2 -
@SarahMorganP DOMS is a *kitten* but it'll get better. The second day after the workout is the worst, then the third day after should feel much better. Try not to let yourself sit around too much because that will make you stiffen up. Walk, yoga, stretch, etc will help a lot. Motin is your friend if you're super inflamed. And repeating some of the movements with body weight only, as @canadianlbs suggested, can he helpful. Where you are sore can also be a good way to gauge your form. If you did deadlifts and the only thing sore was your quads, you'd know something was off and could correct for it next time. I hope it feels better soon!3
-
Guys, I have DOMS in my chest from my modified pushups! Lol I think I'll be going back to the bar for bench next time!3
-
Stronglift Workout A
Squats-1X5X 55/65/75/85, 5X5X 90
BP-1X5X 45/55/65, 5X5X 75
BR-1X5X 75
Kettlebell Swing
Goblet squats-3X5X 3
Russian kettle bell swing-13X7X 35
40lbs loss by May 27 Challenge
Nicer weather today! Just got back from the first of my 2 mile walks today! 2-2 mile walks!
Not really trying to increase the amount of weight on my lifts until I am done eating at a deficit. I did however increase the weight of my kettle bell. Supposedly it should tighten my muscles and increase strength. We'll see!2 -
Lots of good work going on here!
@SarahMorganP - trust your gut, too. If you feel like your soreness is beyond DOMS, don't hesitate to see a physio/acupuncturist.. I had a deadlift PR, and uh... some suspect squat form on Thursday... which left me limping and with significant pain in my hip on Friday. I was fortunate to be able to get in and see my lady right away, and she figured that I just overworked some of the muscles. 1000 needles later, a lecture about form and pulling too much, and reduced activity until I see her next week... I'm feeling a ton better. Really glad I went in (especially when we have so many ladies here with hip injuries - I was really nervous!). So trust your gut.
I'll be hitting the gym tomorrow, but on half capacity for anything below the belt... and goblet squats instead of barbell (sad face). Looking forward to benchpressing again! Never thought that I'd be saying that. Lol!!6 -
aaaand on the 'injury' note . . . i am so freaking happy right now. woke up super early for my next massage-kid appt, so i went to the gym and did squats beforehand.
tuesday's student was a little bit meh, and last sunday's is very 'new'. so i was feeling sort of confused and not better and i specifically wanted to kind of pre-hurt myself a bit before this one - just so i could remember which muscles are the ones that give me the real trouble. well, it worked, is all i can say :tongue. and this time i lucked out. i got a young woman who lifts and who is a boxer! so hell, she was strong.
afterwards i went straight back to the gym because 'i really should do my 5x10 bench for the week.' well, you know what happened. i did bench at 45/45/45/50/50 for tens. but then i re-did my squats.
first squat session i did my slow windup thing, 1x5 front and back from 45 up to work weight of 70 in 5-pound jumps. at 70 i did one set of front and three of back, so that's progression or at least marking time.
second squat workout i did warmups and then went with 10 pounds for my jumps. so 45/45/45/55/65/75. just one set, wendler-style, since i think that was enough. getting to 75 was a thing i was pretty happy about.
and the other thing i did was the double-cable pulldowns. when i hit 37.5 earlier i got inspired to make this a serious lift with specific expected sets and reps, and progression and all. my loose plan here is to do 3x5 at least twice a week just like everything else. and then once i get up to 50 pounds i'm going to re-try the pullup progression project. it's not that i really care/want to do pullups that badly, but the eccentrics i was doing were so freaking helpful for other things that i want to go back to them. except that this time i want to be feels-like-100 pounds worth of strong before i leap up there and throw all my weight into those little shoulder and upper-back muscles again.
so that's me. wall o'text, but, y'know.7 -
Cable pulldowns = lat pulldowns?
I like those, although wide grip ones were tweaking my right shoulder just a bit. I think I should be fine to do those. You mentioned pullups - I worked up to pullups with close-grip lat pulldowns while standing up. When I got within 5 pounds of my body weight, I managed to do my first pullup.
Day off lifting: ran 5.25 miles. Slow but it felt good. I like running a lot (did so on-again-off again since age 19, ran a bunch of marathons, my last was in 2007) and am considering building up to a half marathon. I do miss running that mileage.
I am going to have to figure out how to do both lifting and higher mileage running such that my legs aren't dead all the time or injured. Maybe back off to lifting twice a week, running 3-4 times a week with other cross training?
Although I think the deadlifts are stopping me from getting hamstring and hip injuries.4 -
@lkpducky I've been juggling running and SL for the past few weeks by doing MWF StrongLifts and TThuS running. It doesn't give you much time to recover for either the runs or the lifts. So I'm still figuring out which days to take it easy and which to step up either one. Once a week, I will probably start lifting less weights for endurance rather than gains to give my body a break. I'm also considering lifting 2x a week after a few more weeks.
I was too sore from my lifts yesterday to do a long run today. Walking 3mi in the park instead. Perfect sunny day for this!2 -
-
SarahMorganP wrote: »Thank you! I have experienced the sore muscles the day or two after a workout many times but this was just completely different. there's a reason why i kind of prefer the term 'muscle fever' over 'doms'. on the other hand, you just reminded me that calling ordinary doms muscle fever is like calling a sniffle the flu. but i like amy's point about how the soreness gives you a useful next-day roadmap if you're unsure of your form.
the protein thing is a bit of a rat race for me too. one of the nicest things about lifting for me has been that it makes me hungry. i don't think my eating habits were bad exactly, in the sense that i mostly ate healthy-enough kinds of things. but i've always had this recreational sort of attitude about food, like it was something you can do if you want to, but you don't have to if you don't want. lots of eh-i'll-just-eat-[whatever]er rather than dealing with meals. but three years of lifting has turned me into a person who can't function without eating actual meals like a normal grownup.
4 -
Hi new and happy to be here. On week 8 of my Stronglifts journey and have sadly had my first squat fail yesterday and especially bummed it was the first time I got the big 45s up. I signed up for a 5k in May and started c25k as well which I think contributed to the fail as my quads are pissed. SL MWF and C25k TThS with yoga on Sunday when possible. I am on a cut so not suprised I am hitting the weight wall.
Yesterday SL
Warm up Squats
Squat 135 5 4 3 2 2
Bench 58 5x5
Row 85 5x5
Nees to invest in fractionals although geyting by with creative use of extra clips and grips
Today walked 3.2 miles with the family and day 2 of c25k on the treadmill.
Foam rolled the legs and took a nice salt bath.6 -
Week 2 day 3 for me today. This is the first time I have ever done my lifting on the morning, normally I do it around 6pm. I'm not sure if I like it or not.
Squat 45 3x5, 55 3x5, 70 5x5
Overhead press 45 5x5 (no idea when I will be able to increase this one. Think I might need to invest in fractional weights).
Deadlift 115 1x5
Stretching
I'm sure we will do some walking later, it's supposed to get in the upper 40s and that will feel hot, so I'm excited!
I have had a horrible headache for 2 months now. With it turning into a migraine 5 times. The only relief I get is while sleeping (if I'm not up all night in horrible pain like Fri night where I got 2 hours of sleep) otherwise I'm in pain from wake up to bedtime. It's starting to really wear on me mentally and makes it very hard to push through workouts.2 -
@SarahMorganP i'm sorry that you have been covering with a headache for such a long time. I have also suffered from headaches most of my life. I get Botox shots and that works for me.2
-
SarahMorganP wrote: »I have had a horrible headache for 2 months now. With it turning into a migraine 5 times. The only relief I get is while sleeping (if I'm not up all night in horrible pain like Fri night where I got 2 hours of sleep) otherwise I'm in pain from wake up to bedtime. It's starting to really wear on me mentally and makes it very hard to push through workouts.
wow, under those circumstances i think i'd just scale down the workouts to 'maintenance' style and treat it as being you-caught-a-bug sick. if there's any correlation with when you started lifting though, try googling for 'trigger points'. they're twilight-zone weird little bundles of extra-tight fibre that can form in muscles, and it's flat bizarre the way they can make pain show up in areas nowhere near them.
there are several websites out there (ask me how i know :tongue) that provide a nice body map where you click on the part of yourself that's hurting and then narrow in until you get a list of which tp's might be involved in the pain, and then visuals showing where to find them and work on them in which muscles.
worth a shot. i hope it improves for you soon.3 -
Stronglift Rest Day
Kettlebell Swing
Goblet squat-6X5X 35
Russian kettle bell swing-26X 10 X 35
40lbs loss by May 27th Challenge
Finally a beautiful day today! It's supposed to get up to 50° today! Getting ready for my first of two-2 mile walks for today. I might go for three!
3 -
Thanks ladies. I think it *might* have something to do with my brain surgery. I have had headaches chronically my entire life but always for a few days a week and not the entire day. So this is way way worse.
I had my brain tumor removed (not the cause of my headaches) almost 1.5 years ago now. They did the surgery through my nose and ever since my nose is stuffy in the middle of the night and runs all the time when awake. I just read a story about a woman who had the same procedure and had horrible headaches for years after. Finally they figured out that the surgery caused a bone spur. Once they removed that her headaches stopped. I'm going to see about getting into an ENT.4 -
@SarahMorganP Sorry to hear about your headaches. Have you also followed up with a neurologist in addition to an ENT?
SL Day off. Feeling much better this morning so did a 9mi run to the beach and back! The first 6 mi were easy peasy, and the last 3 not so much. Will see what I can do about getting a watch to monitor my pace.
1 -
SarahMorganP wrote: »Thanks ladies. I think it *might* have something to do with my brain surgery. I have had headaches chronically my entire life but always for a few days a week and not the entire day. So this is way way worse.
I had my brain tumor removed (not the cause of my headaches) almost 1.5 years ago now. They did the surgery through my nose and ever since my nose is stuffy in the middle of the night and runs all the time when awake. I just read a story about a woman who had the same procedure and had horrible headaches for years after. Finally they figured out that the surgery caused a bone spur. Once they removed that her headaches stopped. I'm going to see about getting into an ENT.
Yikes! I'm glad you aim to see an ENT. I hope the doc helps you get to the bottom of this!
@chichidachimp sounds like my kind of weekend morning!
@NKoz82 that is a lot, lifting AND starting a running program AND cutting. And I can't recommend the fractionals enough! They're getting me through some stalls.
This morning: walked a couple of miles outside. The ducks were spending more time flying than in the pond, and one of them landed on a roof and sat there quacking.
Then the gym. 5 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes treadmill alternating inclines and fast walking, 16 minutes arm crank.3 -
Went to the gym. Squats were 25 pound goblets, which immediately began to hurt. Not enough walls in the gym to roll the little butt muscles with a lacrosse ball, but I did it when I got home and feel much better.
Upped my bench press to 75 lbs. I feel super proud, but really struggled to press all 5 in each set. 5x3 would have been easy.
Kept the row at 75 lbs, out of hip/hamstring/gluten issues. It was good.
2x5 assisted band chin ups and pull ups both. I've notice a lot more definition and musculature in my back, and I'm so super stoked about.6
This discussion has been closed.