Gym And Supplement Discussion

[Nanogrip]

It's been a while since I've been here, how's everyone doing? I almost hit 300lbs bench press but my right shoulder decided to impinge itself . Have to lighten the load on my favorite workouts, bench press, weighted dip and inclined bench press. Dumbbells press inclined and flat are okay though, I can go heavy as my shoulders have more free range of motion.

[Birds]

Dang most I've hit is 280 pounds

What weight you come close to 300 at?

[Nanogrip]

275 lbs. Nearly 300 after a generous round up, just like dick measurement hahaha. Now I am down to 220lbs. The gym I go to has a 300 club, where as you guessed, 300lbs bench press guys are members. Would be nice to be in that club.

Be very careful with your shoulders, I was frustrated and disappointed for months man, and the sharp, teary-eyed pain of just waving at a person made it even more depressing. I was told that might need surgery but only an MRI and a ortho can make that assessment. My right shoulder is miles better and I am slowly building up, using more dumbbells and other workout until I can get my shoulder to agree with what I need to do in the gym.

Supplements, whey protein, multi-vitamins, fish oil, and tribulus. Diet, lots of fish, few carbs, and as much vegetables as I can get. No sugars and sweets, but I don't skip eggs and bacon, and the occasional junk foods like pizza and big burgers

Mondays: Squats and dumbbell press, inclined sit ups at 10 reps 3 sets.

Wednesdays: Weighted pull-ups, dumbbell rows.

Fridays: Squats and inclined dumbbell press, inclined sit ups at 10 reps 3 sets.

My simple workout consists of those on Mon, Wed, and Fri, at 5 reps and 5 sets. Mixing a few workouts in between like inverted rows and punching bag.

[Birds]

Where are the deadlifts?!

[Nanogrip]

Good question. I do deadlifts, but in between the core workouts, mostly dumbbell deadlifts and I don't go heavy, 170lbs combined weight. What's your workout now Birds? I remember you had a nice, well thought out program, this was like years ago on SAU.

[Birds]

You're probably talking about my workout of old which was a bit of a bodybuilder workout. I think it was a good workout that gave comprehensive coverage of the body, but excessive exercise and time in the gym for what I needed.

After a bad shoulder injury during incline bench press (resultant from boxing and heavy weights) I was forced to rehab and re-introduce one exercise at a time or risk re-injuring and doing no gym at all. It was this process that overcame the OCD I had, not wanting to give up any of the exercises I had been doing and spending 4 times a week in the gym for 1.5 hours a pop, sometimes 2.

Started with squats cause least shoulder involvement. Few weeks later introduced deadlifts as it didn't put a lot of strain on my shoulder either. Having been a couple months since the injury with no upper body exercise, my upper body was losing a fair bit of muscle mass, so a few weeks after introducing deadlifts I give neutral grip pullups a go and found that they didn't aggravate the shoulder too much, just a little soreness. 6 months after the shoulder injury I thought I would give the bench press motion a go - grabbed a 15kg barbell and started pressing very carefully and slowly with a strict powerlifter form that I had not used before and closer grip to protect the shoulders. Also brought the bar right down to the chest and all the way to near lock out. One advantage to injury is the forced opportunity to reset form like this and take solstice from having great form (a great excuse for being weaker in the exercise, as we often don't want to accept the realities of injury making us weak).

The range of motion was a tiny bit tender and I didn't have full flexibility in the right shoulder, but I repeated this process for a couple weeks and it gradually returned. Each bench session I would push it that little bit harder striking the fine line between hurting myself and forcing the injured tissue to re-injure and heal around the movement. When that started feeling good I very progressively added weight, moving up to 20kg bar and then 22.5kg etc. All the way up until where I am now about 2 years later. Shoulder still isn't 100%, it never will be and I'll always have a little pain...but you know what, with new and better form and a gradual build up I made my PB of 127.5kg (280 pounds) a couple months ago; a competition style lift. My old PB pre-injury was 120kg and not touching the chest. So you can come back from those injuries you just need to give the body time and respect to do it's thing, be patient and gently work it through the motions until it's ready.

[Birds]

Forgot to mention...after introducing those four exercises, the DOMS I experienced all over my body made me realise just how much of the body was being worked by those exercises alone. I decided to stick with those because they weren't hurting the shoulder much and before I knew it it had returned to the weights I was lifting before and even making new PBs - lead me to wondering why I bothered with all the other assistance exercises in the past.

Which is why my current workout looks like this: deadlifts, bench, squats, pull-ups - two of these on one day and two on another. 45 minutes in the gym 2-3 times a week and I'm bigger and stronger than ever.

[Nanogrip]

You're right on with working out with an injury. I do more varied workouts and work around my shoulder, focusing even more on form too. I have more weak areas than I thought when I use slow proper form. Man, it was a depressing months of pain for me, but now I am slowly coming back. That feeling of progress is just as good for me as hitting my PB.

How I got my injury? Lifting my mom's potted plants. These guys are heavy, and most have rooted to the ground. Worst of all, they are thorny so I had to hold the pots straight out in front of me. Get up the next day, and I couldn't even raise my hand to wipe the cheese in my eyes.

[mkn23]

speaking of injuries, anyone have any recommendations what to do with a groin strain? not sure where or what it's from but most likely deep or heavy squats

i'm thinking resting and stretching and some cardio for a few weeks while i recover

[-FIGJAM-]

Stretching helps. Accupuncture helped when i did my groin and i could barely walk.

I have found since jumping on the bike before legs i have less issues. Also compression pants during oztag have made an amazing difference

[rev210]

275 lbs. Nearly 300 after a generous round up, just like dick measurement hahaha. Now I am down to 220lbs. The gym I go to has a 300 club, where as you guessed, 300lbs bench press guys are members. Would be nice to be in that club.

Be very careful with your shoulders, I was frustrated and disappointed for months man, and the sharp, teary-eyed pain of just waving at a person made it even more depressing. I was told that might need surgery but only an MRI and a ortho can make that assessment. My right shoulder is miles better and I am slowly building up, using more dumbbells and other workout until I can get my shoulder to agree with what I need to do in the gym.

Bro press done without supporting movements for the shoulder girdle is a path to pain and girly lifts . People wind up with imbalanced muscle strength.Then cop a rotator issue. The internal rotaion favorites like bro-press and even bro-cep curls pull the shoulder forward and shorten the muscle range of motion (without counter balancing movements).

My tip for you if it helps ( having had that issue before).

1)You need to quit doing anything lift wise that is focused on internal rotation (bench / shoulder press etc) Save for simple activation and range of motion of internal rotation movements.

2)Rehab properly (as you probably are)

3)Build a cast iron upper back and scapular / shoulder girdle with good mobility. It's the platform to your strength.

4)Then slowly get back into the shoulder press and after some time, you can go bro press.

Supplements, whey protein, multi-vitamins, fish oil, and tribulus.

tribulus does nothing. If it did , it would be a banned substance. Save your money dude.

Hope your shoulder gets well soon mate.

Edited July 25, 2015 by rev210

[rev210]

by the way , rotator cuff is a potentially degenerative injury. The pain is also refered (you will feel it in all sorts of places other than the back of the shoulder) , so movements can feel fine when you do them but, increase the injury further.

Doing dumbell presses etc. when you can't wave hello is not a good idea for example . It could micro tear the injury further.

[Nanogrip]

by the way , rotator cuff is a potentially degenerative injury. The pain is also refered (you will feel it in all sorts of places other than the back of the shoulder) , so movements can feel fine when you do them but, increase the injury further.

Doing dumbell presses etc. when you can't wave hello is not a good idea for example . It could micro tear the injury further.

Thanks rev210, it is good to hear tips from people who've had similar injuries.

My shoulder's much better now, bench press gives a small degree of a pain, and much less with dumbbell presses. I am thinking it could be that the dumbbell press frees up my shoulder a bit more than the bench press. I wish there was a sport scientist or doctor I could speak to about, but there are non on this island. Reading your post got me thinking and am a bit concerned, I don't want it to get worse. I'll try out your suggestion and Bird's as well.

For the tribulus, well, it kind of helps I think. Mentally? Physically? Spiritually? Well I've already paid for it so might as well finish the bottle

[rev210]

No probs.

If you used to bench press with no pain then having any pain shoulder be a concern. Fix the shoulders properly and you will have none. No need to push through things in this case.

There are lots of youtube vids now to help you check the mobility of the shoulders , rehab movements and strength builders. have watch of a few and try things out.

[TM7GTR]

Ultrasound would be first point for me, just to get an idea if anything is inflamed

How long have you had it for?

Anything you can narrow it down to that might have caused it?

Does it come and go or is it there all the time?

Only certain exercises activate the pain?

Sorry for the late reply Birds,

I had my elbows checked out by my physio last week, and she said it appears to be that the tendons are inflamed and it's a bit of an odd case in the fact that it isn't narrowed down to either tennis elbow nor golfer's elbow. I've been advised to stop stretching my triceps (overhead tri stretch) for the time being as that just aggravates and pulls on the tendons further, and also to carry out to isometric contraction holds (elbows at 90, push against solid surface as hard as possible with no pain for 10sec then 30sec rest x 5 reps) a few times per day for now to see how it reacts.

Now in response to some of your questions, I've had the issue for quite some time now although it has gotten worse the heavier I lift. When I did a 50kg DB floor press the other day it really seemed to disagree with that movement and it has been sore ever since.

The worst exercises that will definitely cause that pain seem to be anything that puts the triceps in a stretched state, so that's why skull crushers and overhead tri extensions are out of the question; they have been for some time now to say the truth.

I'm avoiding presses for now while it settles a little, but then the physio has advised my to start performing heavy triceps pushdowns as the elbows and tendons seem to prefer this type of movement for strengthening as it allows blood flow into an otherwise quite restricted area.

[Birds]

Is there an band work you can do to rehab the joint and work the injury through a range of motion with minor resistance?

Think it's time to take a rest from the heavy weights and take the rehab seriously

Focus on legs; that's one advantage to an upper body injury

[TM7GTR]

Avoiding too many ROM based rehab exercises as apparently the best type of rehab for it is the iso stuff right now until I can do that comfortably without pain.

So yes, time to back off on heavy presses and take the rehab very seriously, today's session had no pressing to target the chest, rather just a pec fly.

Currently hitting legs 2-3x per week depending on how many sprint sessions I do as well (aiming for 2 per week). Hopefully it all comes together nicely and I can get back to the presses before long.

Appreciate your suggestions

[jangles]

It's been a while since I've been here, how's everyone doing? I almost hit 300lbs bench press but my right shoulder decided to impinge itself . Have to lighten the load on my favorite workouts, bench press, weighted dip and inclined bench press. Dumbbells press inclined and flat are okay though, I can go heavy as my shoulders have more free range of motion.

Hit 352 8weeks ago, put on about 5kg of size over last 12months so my levers are far better, plus whatever muscle for strength too.

[-FIGJAM-]

anyone looked into Neil Hill's Y3T training?

from what I have read, for a pure bodybuilding workout it seems to cover all basis. He also has trained a few pros with its principles.

[Nanogrip]

That's badass jangles. Man, I was (kinda) close to 300 a while back ago and now am working my way up again. I am to see an ortho this 24th so I hope to get some answers for my right shoulder. I want that 300, dammit.

Hit 352 8weeks ago, put on about 5kg of size over last 12months so my levers are far better, plus whatever muscle for strength too.