BG Fitness Fanatics II: We Work Out

[RKenshin]

Played soccer for over 20 years now, and I work my calves until they burn and shake every week... and they're still the worst area, in proportion to everything else. Only thing I don't like about my quads is that they totally exacerbate the problem.

[FNH]

Interesting reading on my fitbit today. It tracked 107 active minutes at work versus 26 the day before. My routine at work doesn't vary much to account for an 81 minute difference. The only thing I can think of might be that I just upped my EC dosage this morning and I was pretty wired.

[Wulfgang]

Turned 30 this past July and my body has been like "welp, good run sir, I'm going to fall apart now." Roughly six months ago I started getting terrible tendonitis in the knee I blew out when I was in high school (fully torn ACL/MCL/LCL with cadaver reps). That really put a cramp on running and normal backsquats (i.e. non-Smith machine). Then ~3 months ago, I was benching heavy (for me at least) and was pretty close to my all-time 1RM. Toss 285 on the rack, go down, get about halfway up, and some dickhead walks into the left end of the bar and tweaked the living shit out of something in my shoulder (just a sharp pain directly behind the left scapula). Long story short, I took a two month complete break.

It's slow going right now and I've lost a shitload on just about every major lift, but I'm finally back in the gym 4-5x a week and it feels great. I still have to use a leg press machine though which is mildly embarrassing; think I'm heading toward a full knee replacement when I'm 40 at this rate.

[FNH]

started cutting again after a rest period. Hit -75lbs and I'm under 200 since like middle school.

[Cream Soda]

Finally at the level I was before I got hit by the bus in terms of strength. It's only been a year and a half. Now hopefully can make progress from here.

Most number of reps I've gotten with this weight before is 3.

Got 5.9 lol so close to 6 haha

[Weederr33]

So I went to the VA about pain in my shoulder. It turns out I have tendonitis of the supraspinatus. I've laid off of it for about 4 weeks now and have been doing general rehab exercises. Anyone have some advice to enhance the therapy? Any stretches I should do? Also what about lacrosse ball rolling the area? Any advice would be much appreciated! I really want to get back to lifting again.

[Wulfgang]

Take ibubrofen, warm up a metric shit ton, and take it easy. Lacrosse ball is great for the shoulder; I like to roll it back and forth right behind the shoulder blade and near the socket joint itself. Lay on your back and put as much of your weight into as you can take; it should be uncomfortable / hurt, but in a good way if that makes any sense. Not much you can do for tendonitis otherwise. Cortisone shots can come into play if it's acute, but they just eliminate the pain and don't solve the issue.

[Weederr33]

Thanks! I've been taking ibuprofen and icing it after therapy. It just really sucks since it's such a horrible injury. I can't do any sort of upper body exercise without it hurting. Luckily it's not torn so I'm good there.

[Boyiee]

Squatting 225 5x5 now in less than 12 weeks on program, think I'm starting to lean forward a bit and also thinking about adding a belt. So far so good though, no pain or issues to speak of. I'm intimidated by the weight before I do it but after 3rd set its smooth sailing. Might switch to 3x5 for time though.

[Churchill]

I tell this to people all the time, but if you need a belt, you're doing too much weight incorrectly. Getting a belt will lead to those two things happening. Your body does a good job of telling you that you fucked up when you're not wearing a belt.

Best thing for anyone ever is to have mirrors or vidya so they can check form.

[Hushigoshi]

Squatting 225 5x5 now in less than 12 weeks on program, think I'm starting to lean forward a bit and also thinking about adding a belt. So far so good though, no pain or issues to speak of. I'm intimidated by the weight before I do it but after 3rd set its smooth sailing. Might switch to 3x5 for time though.

If you're doing okay without a belt there's no need to start using one now. Your core can only get so strong; once you get to that point, with correct form, where your core can't support and stabilize your spine during an exercise, then get a belt.

I tell this to people all the time, but if you need a belt, you're doing too much weight incorrectly.

Tell that to competitive power lifters and olympic lifters.

Best thing for anyone ever is to have mirrors or vidya so they can check form.

Video check is good. Mirror check is a stupid idea for anything that requires the body to move. Shoulder Press, Rows, etc. , sure.

Squat/Deadlift fuck no. Why would you look around and create torque on your spine while moving weight.

[Cream Soda]

General rule of thumb is don't use it till you have to. Then use the fuck out of it.

I'm the same way even with dead lifts and alternating grip. I'll use normal grip until I can no longer hold the bar that way, then I go into alternating grip.

Use when you need, but don't use for weights you can handle on your own

[Hatedregret]

I'd just like to take a break from working out to bring you all the dancing champion of the weightlifting world. Mr. Silent Mike.

[Churchill]

If you're doing okay without a belt there's no need to start using one now. Your core can only get so strong; once you get to that point, with correct form, where your core can't support and stabilize your spine during an exercise, then get a belt.




Tell that to competitive power lifters and olympic lifters.




Video check is good. Mirror check is a stupid idea for anything that requires the body to move. Shoulder Press, Rows, etc. , sure.

Squat/Deadlift fuck no. Why would you look around and create torque on your spine while moving weight.

You can see your form while looking ahead or slightly up (squatting/deadlift). Once you know what being in line looks like, it's easy to see when you aren't.

Competitive power lifters/Olympic lifters are making a career out of lifting. They are pushing their bodies to their personal limit. They will pay for that later in life, and the question is whether it was worth it for success/glory/money/whatever.

Nobody here is one of those people, belts are a good way to form bad habits and get hurt. 99% of people I see in the gym need to go all the way back to air squats, instead they're throwing the BIGDICK 9000 Compression Black Hole Belt (tm) on and squatting 500 more lbs than they probably should be.

[Milkster]

You can see your form while looking ahead or slightly up (squatting/deadlift). Once you know what being in line looks like, it's easy to see when you aren't.

Competitive power lifters/Olympic lifters are making a career out of lifting. They are pushing their bodies to their personal limit. They will pay for that later in life, and the question is whether it was worth it for success/glory/money/whatever.

Nobody here is one of those people, belts are a good way to form bad habits and get hurt. 99% of people I see in the gym need to go all the way back to air squats, instead they're throwing the BIGDICK 9000 Compression Black Hole Belt (tm) on and squatting 500 more lbs than they probably should be.

No, you should never try to alter form during a lift. People try to over compensate and jack themselves up much more. How can you tell if you're inline looking in a mirror getting a straight on view and not seeing what's happening from the side. Belts are fine and a very useful training tool. If you're worried about your form, record yourself and go from there.

Everything will wreck your body, not just lifting. Being alive wrecks your body. These things weren't built to last. Might as well enjoy yourself as long as you can with it.
How many times have you deloaded because your form was off? Of course form breaks down when getting to heavy as shit weights, it's knowing how to properly brace your body and push through, every lift will not look pretty just because we're humans.

[Hushigoshi]

stuff

There's so much wrong here, it's not even worth it. Thanks Milkster for doing it for me.

[Churchill]

It's very easy to tell from a forward position if you aren't in line, for someone like me, I don't have to check mid-lift but I will always do practice sets before lifting because repetition is pcool.

For someone that is worried their form is breaking down, has watched video and seen that it is? They should be checking with moderate weight and they shouldn't be getting a belt to mask the problem.

[Tisi]

So I've recently started running and trying to get in shape, and my whole life I've struggled with my feet. The most recent shoe I purchased was Mens 8 2E, I have wide feet with high arches and it's always been a problem. So the shoes I just bought are great, they fit well, I could probably walk around in them all day and then some, EXCEPT when I run. When I run my knees hurt and my shins hurt and I can barely run for more than 10-30 seconds without having to stop. I got sick of this and finally just took the damn shoes off and started running with bare feet today. It felt wonderful, I felt like I could run all day without any problems, except for one thing... Now my feet have blisters on them and I can barely walk. Now I know this is just because I always wear shoes no matter what I'm doing so my feet are so delicate that of course they're going to blister when I run barefoot.

My question is, do I need to keep searching for a shoe that will support my feet and keep my knees/shins/whatever from hurting, or should I continue running barefoot till my feet callous up enough to not blister?

I'm tired of paying hundreds of dollars for special shoes that I can't even wear...

[Hushigoshi]

Ease into running barefoot. You can't go HAM from the get go; you'll blister up. Progressively increase your distance and duration to help your feet get used to it.

If you really want to use shoes, look into a running club endorsed shoe store. Look on google to see if there are any in your area. A good "running shoes" shoe store will be able to do some running test on you to check your stride, technique, and pronation to best match a shoe that fits. Sometimes they'll even ask you to bring your old running shoes in to check your tread wear and adjust for that as well.

It sounds silly, but purchasing a solid running shoe that "fits like a glove" rather than kill your feet is just like buying a new car. It takes research and time to find what is right.

[Botosi]

I've been running a lot lately. Best tip I can give you is run on grass if possible. Instead of running in the street/on the sidewalk I run on the grass and turn it into a little bit of an obstacle game running around trees, telephone poles, fire hydrants etc.. In my opinion running bare foot isn't a really good idea due to lack of arch support, lack of cushioning on impact, and the possibility of splinters. Nike also makes socks now that are like $10 which are specially designed to reduce friction which will help reduce blisters.

I have my Spartan Race Beast (13miles + 30 obstacles) coming up in Vermont this Saturday. I did a Spartan Race Super (8.5 miles) this past Saturday and finished in the top 9% overall. I'm really nervous about this Beast though because I've never ran more than 11 miles at once.

After the race I'm showering then going directly from Vermont to Atlantic City to party for the rest of the weekend if I can even move my legs afterwards.