Weigh training - obstacles to progress

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BerryH
BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all you lovely heavy-lifting hotties out there! I was hoping you could share some of your expert knowledge.

I've been resistance training for many years on and off, and now I'm trying to introduce some consistency and lift heavier, I'm noticing some physical problems that are preventing me doing as much as I feel I'm capable of.

1. Inflexible ankles. I had hypermobile joints as a kid and was always spraining my ankle. Probably as a result of this recurrent injury my ankles are incredibly stiff. I struggle to get my thighs parallel to the ground, let alone go "*kitten* to grass". I have a little more success doing sumo squats with my toes pointing out, but this hurts the tendons on the front of my ankle.

2. Weak shoulders. A couple of years ago I took a violent tumble while out running and tore the tendons in one shoulder and injured the other. It was a year before I got anything like any movement back in it at all and it's still a bit feeble. Now I find that anything that involves motion round the shoulder joint engages the chest muscles even when I'm trying to isolate other muscles. Doing triceps "skull crushers" with a barbell the other day I could feel my chest muscles shaking before I'd barely tired the triceps, just from keeping the bar elevated.

3. A toe fracture (or tendon injury). I've had this for months, the doctor said I could have an X-ray if I wanted, but there's pretty much nothing that can be done about it, just the usual rest, ice and NSAIDs. Either way, I really struggle with any exercises that have your toes bent, such as lunges, push-ups and planks.

I know, I'm such an old crock! Typical ageing runner. Any ideas to get round these niggles would be much appreciated :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • ishtar13
    ishtar13 Posts: 528 Member
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    1. I'm hypermobile in my ankles, hips, wrists, fingers, toes. I don't have as much problem with my ankles that my mom and kid do, but I know what you're talking about. I would say just take stretching them out very slowly, a little bit every day. If you are having that much trouble with a weighted squat because of it, you can try leg press machines, just know you won't get all the benefits of the squat. ATG is not absolutely necessary, the biggest thing is to get your hips slightly below parallel (where the top of your legs are parallet). It actually is easier to do that as the weight gets heavier. For me, in fact heavier weights started pushing me down too far (and overly stretched ligaments around my hips). Sumo squats are fine, if you have good form for them, and again, try stretching the ligaments.

    2. Skull crushers are an isolation exercise. It's a fun one,but put more concentration on compound exercises as you're just beginning. Bench press and overhead press will help strengthen that shoulder (start really light on the overhead - dumbbells if necessary). Also look into shoulder rehab exercises.

    No idea what to do about the toe. . .for push ups and planks, try resting the injured foot on top of the good one, it makes both movements a little more challenging.
  • Antioxidote
    Antioxidote Posts: 23
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    Listen to your body, streach, and look into alternative exercises to work the same muscle group. i.e. leg extensions instead of squats or lunges or tricep cable pull downs and dips instead of skull crushers
  • Aperture_Science
    Aperture_Science Posts: 840 Member
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    OK, I'm neither a “hottie”, female, or very experienced in lifting but, I have lost of experience of injuries, so that must count for something?

    Anyway, my opinion is that:

    Inflexible ankles and weak shoulders is something that you should be working to rectify, whereas the toe fracture is something that you should be working around until it is fully healed.

    To that end I would (predictably) recommend Starting Strength or Strong Lifts (sometimes called SL 5x5) and on your non lifting days compliment with whatever else you like but stretches to target the ankle immobility.

    The two above programs do not include any exercise that should exasperate the toe fracture (so no planks for example) and, if you start at a sufficiently low weight, will develop the weakest areas first. So I would expect that the weak shoulder issue would, given time, disappear.

    What is always very important, but doubly for you, is that the form is spot on. Because of your ankle issues you may find your knees drifting away from the correct position or leaning forward or back too much during squats. Similar, with shoulder presses, your weak areas could lead to you lifting incorrectly. If allowed to go unchecked these minor issues with form could cause you more and greater problems later.


    Best wishes
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i have the same problem with my ankles and have an old shoulder injury.

    for the ankle, you will need to just keep practicing. stand with your feet a bit wider if you have to. just keep at it and you will be able to get A2G. it took me about 4 months to get from almost sorta parallel to past parallel and now I can squat with my feet closer together than before. I hope to be A2G by the end of the year

    for the shoulder stuff i'd suggest not doing isolation exercises because you're just going to set up more imbalances on an already imbalanced area. try overhead presses, YTWL, scapula strengthening exercises (like emphasizing the up position in a DB row), and overhead squats to help develop the strength and flexibility you need.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    Brilliant suggestions here, thank you all so much for sharing your knowledge! So in summary:

    1. If it can be made stronger or more flexible work on it.
    2. If it's an old injury that's likely to be damaged avoid isolation exercises.
    3. If it's a current injury find alternatives.

    Gotcha! :flowerforyou:

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