Post: #426

(12-07-2014 12:01 AM)dog24 Wrote:  I started a couple of years ago, got injured then started again but i have never consistent with it, so im still a beginner.
I have a coach that points out some flaws every now and then when he is walking around.
I meant that because the feet are much closer together in the rack position before the split and the toes pointing pretty much straight forward makes me rely much less on hip flexibility and a lot more on ankle flexibility.
Its really hard to explain, ill see if i can make a video.

Your feet shouldn't get that much closer together in the rack position.

Post: #427

(12-06-2014 11:06 PM)Ingocnito Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 07:13 PM)Nascimento Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 03:44 PM)Chaos Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 02:16 PM)Veloce Wrote:  Chaos what's going on with your lower back?

An unpleasant feeling when I'm bending my back.
It's not really painful,but it feels like it's a big warning to hold my horses.

This feeling increases a lot if I'm trying to do a barbell squat or a deadlift.

I'd recommend laying off those exercises entirely, for months. Not worth risking serious injury.

Besides, I think you'll find squats and deadlifts are not as essential as we're lead to believe. They are useful, but so are many more 'safe' exercises that can be done in their place.

As I've gotten older I've altered my perspective on back issues. If it's a familiar pain, strain, etc, I've had in the past, I tend to workout with the injury and 90% of time it actually helps it go away.

However, if it's a completely unfamiliar strain, especially lumbar and spinal centered, like it could be a disc issue, I chill the hell out and work around it. I've noticed when my lower back is strained, I can sometimes alleviate the problem by working out my upper back, and vice versa... just do a more chilled workout.

I discovered this when I threw out my lower back when I was only 18. I stayed off it and completely stopped working out. It lingered for months. Then when I was 27 I threw it out again. I stayed off it 3 days just long enough to regain 75% mobility back and working it actually alleviated the problem. FWIW.

I cosign this 100%

My L4-L5 is subluxed from years of no exercise, poor posture, and terrible lifting habits in the kitchen. I was a stringbean with no back strength and I'd be lifting huge stockpots to boil lobsters. One day I bent down to tie my shoes and the most intense spasming pain shot through my lower back, down my legs, all the way down to my feet. I had to call in sick for several days and lie flat on my back. I went to see a chiropractor for the first time, he took xrays, and I could actually see the vertebrate that was malaligned. This led to regular sciatica. At that point I went through years of chiropractic adjustments that temporarily alleviated the pain, but sure enough, once a month or every other month the spasming pain would come back. Sometimes just enough to hurt for a few days, other times it was debilitating to where I couldn't move. I tried yoga which helped quite a bit, but I found that that was leading to injuries as well. Stretching muscles just inflamed them more without really strengthening them. As soon as I started lifting, I went from chiropractic visits once per month (which was very expensive) to once every 6 months, to even less now. It is the one change that I have made that has, more or less, alleviated my pain. Yes, some days it's very stiff, and even sore in my low back and hips, but I haven't experienced any spasms or that debilitating pain in quite a while.

During the process I've gotten to know and understand my body much better. Sounds like an after school special on Lifetime, but it's true. There's that lingering soreness/stiffness due to bad genetics and 10 years of poor exercise and health, and then there's serious pain. If it's that lingering soreness/stiffness, like Incognito says, in 90% of cases I feel a million times better after going to the gym. It's the ultimate physical therapy.

Now if you'll excuse me, I just drank 12oz of bullet coffee and I'm about to explode. It's leg day.

tl;dr-it's important to know and listen to your body, but there's something to be said for working through pain

Post: #428

I did a Yoga head stand my very attempt today.... I'm more a little more excited then I should be

Post: #429

Well today was leg day again.
Because of my recent lower back problems I planned I should stick to leg press and body weight squats instead of barbell squats.

Somehow my back felt good so I couldn't resist the squat rack.
I loaded the bar very lightly (50kg) and did five reps.
I started to feel the unpleasant feeling coming back so I switched over to bodyweight squats.

Leaving the gym my back felt stiffer than ever, I headed over to the swimming place and did 45min of swimming and spent some time in the sauna, felt good.

But damn, after coming home I couldn't sit at my desk without feeling a little pain in my lower back.
Bending my back when I was about to untie my shoes was not easy.

So now I'm lying here in a horizontal position and typing.
Standing or walking is also fine, but not sitting.
Feels like something could be strained.

Sacramento bastento.
I've learned my lesson.

Post: #430

So i made a couple of videos to check my form.... its not pretty .
I jerked from the fingers today and it felt much better the only downside is that the barbell definitely goes a little forward.
If some of the more experienced guys can offer some advice let me know via PM.

Post: #431

Hope your back gets right soon Chaos... Back injures can really fuck up your workouts and life. I hurt my back pretty bad a few years ago working out.. it really put a damper on my life.

You should look into some stretches and even yoga for back pain and things like that. They can help heal the back up sooner.

Good luck

Post: #432

More attentionwhoring from ElJefe:

Just benched 5x300lbs.

Getting places! Man I'm looking forward to a serious cut.

Post: #433

(12-09-2014 07:18 AM)Chaos Wrote:  Well today was leg day again.
Because of my recent lower back problems I planned I should stick to leg press and body weight squats instead of barbell squats.

Somehow my back felt good so I couldn't resist the squat rack.
I loaded the bar very lightly (50kg) and did five reps.
I started to feel the unpleasant feeling coming back so I switched over to bodyweight squats.

Leaving the gym my back felt stiffer than ever, I headed over to the swimming place and did 45min of swimming and spent some time in the sauna, felt good.

But damn, after coming home I couldn't sit at my desk without feeling a little pain in my lower back.
Bending my back when I was about to untie my shoes was not easy.

So now I'm lying here in a horizontal position and typing.
Standing or walking is also fine, but not sitting.
Feels like something could be strained.

Sorry to hear that man, there's absolutely nothing worse than chronic lower back pain. My current chiropractor, the only one out of many that I'd consider worth a damn, told me not to leg press with any kind of lumbar injury (I just started doing them anyway, but I go super light) If you're experiencing any pain I'd say stay away with loading any weight on your muscles for the time being, and just stick to air squats and very light stretching. Stretching too hard could injure yourself further. Pop some ibuprofin and rest on it and if it's not better in a few days you might need to see a PT or chiro.

Post: #434

I typically try not to be a judgmental asshole at the gym, in fact usually I keep my vibes positive as it's a place of self-improvement. Occasionally I might chuckle to myself when I see someone doing something stupid.

But for whatever reason, my gym brings out the biggest assholes and douchebags at night. Roid monkeys that come in in tank tops and stand in front of the mirror, flexing. I kid you not. Guys that are doing arm curls in the squat rack.

There was this couple, the guy was using wrist straps on the lat pulldown machine, and his girl was helping him pull the bar down because he insisted on loading like 3/4 of the entire stack! I wish I had taken a video. What the fuck?! Who does that? Of course the other lat pulldown machine was being used by some walking meatball of a girl who was in a training session. Not her fault; but why the hell would a trainer get some fat girl doing lat pulldowns? Throw her ass on an elliptical or stairmaster for a week straight followed up with 6 months of squats and lunges. Save the lat pulldowns for when she's lost that 20lb chunk of flab around her waist.

Post: #435

(12-10-2014 12:40 AM)Veloce Wrote:  Guys that are doing arm curls in the squat rack.

There was this couple, the guy was using wrist straps on the lat pulldown machine, and his girl was helping him pull the bar down because he insisted on loading like 3/4 of the entire stack! I wish I had taken a video. What the fuck?! Who does that?

Call me a douche but I've been known to do both these things.

I use the rack for barbell curls; mainly so I can rest the barbell on the safety bars and not have to waste energy/warm up my back for picking an 80kg barbell off the floor. Every time I've injured myself in the gym it is picking up and putting back weights when tired.

Straps enable me to go heavier on the pull down than my grip allows and having a partner help with the last few reps is magical for strength training. By the time I get to the lat machine I've already done deadlifts and bent over barbell rows; my fingers are obliterated. No different to a bench spotter etc. Most lat pull down machines sadly don't got heavy enough for real heavy training.

Post: #436

Do you guys get enough calcium in your diet? I barely drink milk or anything with calcium in it? Should I supplement?

Edit: is there a calcium thread someone should make one I'm clueless on this stuff

Post: #437

Speaking about guys doing wierd stuff in the gym.

This morning at 0530 I heard some strange jibberish mumbling when I was benching.
I turned around and there was a skinny Somali guy sitting and chatting on Skype meanwhile he was doing some lame dumbell curls.

Later I saw him doing some leg presses meanwhile he was skyping.

I've always looked on Somalis like the laziest people on the planet, but now they are multi tasking in the gym.

Post: #438

Missed 4 days straight of working out. Starting to feel a bit groggy so I need to get back into the gym quickly.

Post: #439

Curling at the squat should be banned in the gym. You can curl at the one of the 3 bench press stations in the gym. Let the squat rack be for squatting.

Post: #440

^ disagree.
At my gym the bench press stations are often occupied and the squat racks are not.

Ha. I'm always using the squat rack for curls,over head presses and shrugs.

Post: #441

(12-13-2014 12:21 AM)Chaos Wrote:  ^ disagree.
At my gym the bench press stations are often occupied and the squat racks are not.

Ha. I'm always using the squat rack for curls,over head presses and shrugs.

OHP and shrugs are excusable in my book, curls are not. But that's just my gym. My gym has specified barbell racks SEPARATE from the squat racks, so there's no excuse to use the squat rack instead of the barbell racks for curls.

But everyone's gym is different and I get having to adapt.

Post: #442

Rant #12037:

I hate it when places advertise "fitness room" or "gym" or "fully equipped workout room" etc. Like hotels or apartment complexes.

They'll have the fanciest cable machines and cardio equipment you've ever seen, but good luck finding a barbell. I think it's probably because of potential damage to the floors.

Post: #443

(12-13-2014 12:36 AM)Veloce Wrote:  Rant #12037:

I hate it when places advertise "fitness room" or "gym" or "fully equipped workout room" etc. Like hotels or apartment complexes.

They'll have the fanciest cable machines and cardio equipment you've ever seen, but good luck finding a barbell. I think it's probably because of potential damage to the floors.

Might also be due to the liability of someone injuring themselves. It's far more unlikely they'll hurt themselves on a cable machine than benching or squatting (most people don't know what they're doing in the gym.)

Post: #444

(12-13-2014 01:08 AM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:  

(12-13-2014 12:36 AM)Veloce Wrote:  Rant #12037:

I hate it when places advertise "fitness room" or "gym" or "fully equipped workout room" etc. Like hotels or apartment complexes.

They'll have the fanciest cable machines and cardio equipment you've ever seen, but good luck finding a barbell. I think it's probably because of potential damage to the floors.

Might also be due to the liability of someone injuring themselves. It's far more unlikely they'll hurt themselves on a cable machine than benching or squatting (most people don't know what they're doing in the gym.)

They are often unmanned too; I can understand the potential fear of liability issues having spent 20 years in gyms seeing the crazy shit some people do with free weights.

Post: #445

(12-13-2014 12:36 AM)Veloce Wrote:  Rant #12037:

I hate it when places advertise "fitness room" or "gym" or "fully equipped workout room" etc. Like hotels or apartment complexes.

They'll have the fanciest cable machines and cardio equipment you've ever seen, but good luck finding a barbell. I think it's probably because of potential damage to the floors.

I do OHP on the squat rack if it's available. I don't do barbell curls on the squat rack however.

Yet, I still don't see what is wrong with doing that though, it seems it is a common trend. Can anyone enlighten?

Post: #446

(12-13-2014 09:21 AM)FretDancer Wrote:  

(12-13-2014 12:36 AM)Veloce Wrote:  Rant #12037:

I hate it when places advertise "fitness room" or "gym" or "fully equipped workout room" etc. Like hotels or apartment complexes.

They'll have the fanciest cable machines and cardio equipment you've ever seen, but good luck finding a barbell. I think it's probably because of potential damage to the floors.

I do OHP on the squat rack if it's available. I don't do barbell curls on the squat rack however.

Yet, I still don't see what is wrong with doing that though, it seems it is a common trend. Can anyone enlighten?

I explained why I do it earlier; it's simply easier to lift a 80kg (what I curl at the moment) bar off the safety bars of the cage than to do curls than lift it off the floor.

I do the same for my bent over rows and shrugs too. I'm tall and don't see the point in potentially putting my back out lifting a heavy bar from the ground. As I said before, all of my gym injuries have come from moving weights around especially after finishing a heavy set.

The other thing that's relevant is that at my gym if I am using a barbell there is a cage without a bar which nobody else can use anyway.

I really fail to see the problem...

Post: #447

I mean, can someone explain why people hate it when they do curls on the squat rack.

Post: #448

(12-13-2014 10:00 AM)FretDancer Wrote:  I mean, can someone explain why people hate it when they do curls on the squat rack.

Because you can do curls with dumbbells but you can only do squats in the squat rack and there's usually far more dumbbells than squat racks so you take up time.

Post: #449

Regarding machines only, it's probably a liability thing. Easier to hurt yourself with a barbell if you don't know what you're doing.

Post: #450

When I was growing up, curls in the squat rack were the norm. It's only over the last 7-8 years when barbell training started really getting popular (SS) that it became such a big deal, and even then I only know about it through the internet.

I also curl in the squat rack to save the ball-ache of picking the weight up. If I see someone waiting for the rack I'll take my weight and move though, as my gym has lots of spare olympic bars.