Replies
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The sooner you get some blood back into the muscles the better. Also, invest in a foam roller and use it after your lifting sessions, should help ease the DOMS a bit.
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Boxer briefs or briefs for me, sort the worst of the ball tap. On snatch grip deadlifts it's not so good though. For shorts I have some Hylete 2.0's, they're pricey though so I wouldn't bother unless you've the disposable income or get them cheap like I did. The 'specifically with lifting in mind' side pockets are great…
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No.
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Anybody notice that if they cut out gluten and dairy they get a bit of water-weight drop? It's one of the things often suggested to do pre-comp to help make weight.
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In this situation what I tend to do is figure out roughly what's in the wrap i.e one wrap, 150g chicken, 1 serving bbq sauce, 100g lettue etc and add the ingredients separately, because foods that don't have the nutritional info on end up being user entries and they're never that accurate.
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Once you've failed the weights for 3 workouts in a row, generally. Lifting on a deficit can often feel like ****, so don't get down hearted, just have a go again at the same weight next time. *If* you fail the weight 3 times, drop it down to about 130lb and start building back up again (adding weight every workout again)…
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Practice makes permanent, once you've got a while longer under your belt your practiced technique will hold up better under max weight.
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Can you shorten those saw horses? Banging off them was at least part of the reason for your forward lean. Also contributing to the problem is your elbow position. Whilst having the elbows high helps to create a 'shelf' for the bar, it also lends itself to a collapsed chest position, which brings the weight forward causing…
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Get a video with the bar on your back. An air squat and a barbell squat can have quite different mechanics. Here's a basic check list of what a 'correct' squat should look like. -hip crease below knee line (otherwise it's too shallow) -weight centralised over mid foot throughout the whole lift -knees tracking out and not…
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Foam roller might be a low density floppy foam thing at that price. I suppose it can't hurt, but I'd make do with the tennis balls if I could until I could afford something firmer. Where are you based? You might be able to ask around on a more localised lifting forum (e.g like Sugden Barbell for England - I'm sure there…
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One of the things that doesn't get mentioned often enough when discussing the Bulgarian Method is how much being under the watchful eye of Ivan Abadjiev mattered. Colin Burns mentioned this on the Strong360 podcast recently, paraphrasing he said something like 'There were days when my quads were so sore I struggled to walk…
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Tennis balls will do for now. MobilityWOD is your friend. I know it's difficult on a tight budget, but try and save up for some physio. Sell some stuff on eBay, do a bulk food shop at the start of the month to save some cash on your grocery shop, do a bit of overtime etc - I'm sure there are other options if you put your…
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Ain't that always the case? But seriously it seems to me that all you'll achieve doing the uneven weights is widen the gap of the unevenness. Your imbalances could even spread to different body parts as you'll be working certain stabilisers more than others etc. That can have knock on effects to things like your posture,…
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Keep the weights the same in each hand. For any one handed exercises (where you do one side before the other, not both at once) do the weaker side first and then match weight/reps with the stronger side. The weak side should set the pace, and that should have you evening up quicker. Balance is the most important thing at…
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Slap a fake beard on and go to a mens gym. Otherwise do some strength training with the equipment you have to hand, pay attention to what you're doing and overcome your clumsiness by being mindful of your surroundings and what you're doing.
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If you aren't training for a sport power cleans aren't terribly important. You'll get far more utility subbing in some horizontal and vertical pulling - i.e rows and chin/pull ups. These are better for balancing the pressing you do and will keep the shoulders healthier in those prone to issues.
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It's likely you're arching your lower back rather than extending the hips, as the bar passes your face. This could be down to poor motor patterning or tight hips (which can be quite likely given you're squatting 3 x week). Make sure you're addressing iliopsoas in your mobility work. Also make sure you're keeping the glutes…
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A bench shirt starts to work at the bottom of the lift, making it easier to get the weight off the chest, then when you get to lockout it's all you. So your chest would be doing *less* work, as the shirt will be doing a lot of it for you. Assuming you want to 'build' you're looking at hypertrophy rep ranges, which you're…
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Have you ever seen a competent sports physio for your injuries? One of the guys on my PL team has had a long term shoulder injury that stopped his bench progress and prevented any overhead work at all. Nagged at him to see a physio for months, and when he did 30 mins massage and trigger point work on the delt to break down…
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I use 'round and workout timer' app for timing Tabata stuff. You can set rounds as the 'round time' and recovery as the 'rest time', though I don't know if you'll be able to set it to enough rounds to cover an hour, but I like the fact you can set some prep time too so you have enough time to feck around and stick the…
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Erm, that's kind of the point. Sumo has more quad involvement and less lower back involvement compared to conventional. It's best for quad dominant people whose proportions make using sumo sensible (i.e shorter limbs). Whilst I'm quad dominant I have long arms and my proportions make conventional work better for me. For…
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Go and see a competent sports physio. They will not only be able to advise on you on safe movement patterns, but may offer a fix to your problem that avoids a long lay off and/or surgery.
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Just to play devils advocate: the fact you can manage leg press, hamstring curls and biking tells me there's nothing inherently wrong with loaded knee flexion for you, and as such squats and deadlifts causing pain is likely an issue with form. Go and see a competent sports physio who can assess your movement patterns and…
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Depth is a tad high. Hip crease should be below highest point of the knee, you're a little off that. I'm not 100% as it's a side view and could also do with a 45 degree or front/back view but it looks like you could do to push your knees out more, make room for the hips to drop a bit lower. That would probably fix your…
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1. Film form checks with your heaviest 'fresh' set of the day. This way we can look at your 'normal' technique, not your 'potenitally poor because fatigued' technique. 2. Get your knees out and keep your weight on your heels. If you don't push your knees out your hips have nowhere to go, forcing you to to bend forward.…
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Can't see any reason to cycle off. Maybe if you were struggling to afford it, or had to make weight to compete and you were borderline and wanted to drop some extra water weight. Even then the effects of extra water retention lessen the longer you're taking it. As far as I know claims about needing to cycle off are based…
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SLDL VS RDL first - doesn't matter really, so long as you're using full ROM with the RDL and matching the ROM of a SLDL. Both will work the hams a lot and help with lockout on the full DL. DL VS SLDL/RDL - The full deadlift should be part of the program. For a beginner more than once a week is fine while strength gains…
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You'll get a bit more power out of the chest once you're used to pausing. For a general strength training, it may be negligible but for a powerlifter it's essential. I do anything over 80% 1RM paused (or intend to, some days it just has to be touch n go because iy feels so heavy in the hands). Anything below 80% depends on…
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All you need to know about creatine: http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/ It doesn't matter when you take it, so long as you take it every day to keep the saturation up. I'd avoid it preworkout if it causes gastrointestinal issues, and take it with some food at breakfast time instead. I find it helps most with higher…
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Stats: 5'8", 94.3kg/207.5lb Gallery has front, side and back flexed and unflexed; http://imgur.com/a/W2XmD Warning - fat hairy mess in nothing but his underpants. Calipers (7 site test) operated by an untrained person put me at 26%, bio-impedence puts me at 30% . What do you guys think?
