Kickstart mY HEART, mOTLEY Crue
Modern Day Cowboy, Tesla
Firewoman, The Cult
Won’t get Fooled Again, The Who
Turn Up The Music, Autograph
I could go on but these are some of my faves. You guys have a super weekend.
Sore as hell today again, but at least in the right places (traps, shoulders, upper back, hips and upper thighs), and not bad in my lower back. Also not so “trashed” in that I’m not so brain dead today like I have been after many recent heavy OL/DL workouts. I have these odd reactions after my intense OL workouts-like last night, I just could not drink enough florida orange juice. I must have drank a gallon and a half, I just had this insatiable thirst and need for glycogen replacement I guess. I sweat buckets in these hot gyms down here.
Today I tried to buy a foam roller, but had no luck, I'll try making my own. I have been reading lots of articles by several T-Nation PT's, like Mike Boyle's stuff on foam rolling. I couldn't survive this comeback without the pro quality deep tissue massages I get cheap down here, but I can't get one every day (I'd like to!). I think the foam rolling will help.
I know my mobility and flexibility still sucks despite a lot of progress in the past five months. I must admit I dislike most PT's, kind of wrapped into my doctor dislike, because I had such bad experiences with so many of them. They seemed to all try to talk with fancy anatomical nomenclature, and even though I'm a doc and know anatomy they can try to make you fell like you don't have a fucking clue about what you are "doing wrong." I'm working up to a good rant now.
They are always preaching about anterior tilts and pelvic misalignments and core weakness and on and on, to the point that one could feel like you might as well not even bend over and tie your shoes, because you might throw your pathetically misaligned and imbalanced body further out of whack. And on top of all this, I ended up spending over $50,000 on PT, including all of their fancy “one of a kind” machines, always better than the other place down the street, always “State of the Art,” and always adding $150 to each of my visits.
And to top it all off, not a single one of the five expert PT’s I had consulted regularly happened to notice my medial gastrocs were COMPLETELY DISAPPEARING from denervation from a herniated disc. They were too busy no doubt correcting my posterior chain imbalance or my kyphotic posture to worry about something as little as the complete loss of calf muscles.
Oh, I could go on. This is just a little appetizer. But the problem is, I know I have muscle imbalances, poor ankle mobility, poor hip mobility, poor shoulder flexibility and mobility, and half a dozen other problems. If I followed PT's advice, I would never be lifting right now, and I for sure should have seriously damaged my already pathetically non-athletic body into a mangled heap of muscles and tendons by now.
But I am trying, trying to give the T-Naiton PT's a chance, and when I read something that makes sense to me without all the kinesiological/anatomical theoretical bullshit, I listen. I change. I adapt. My warmup and stretching today is far different than it was just a few months ago. Less static, more dynamic, PNF added, more efficient to the problem areas mentiond above, etc.
I'll be glad to hear anybody's thoughts or experience on improving their ankle and hip mobility and flexibility, or related issues. But please, nobody post me something referencing the damned Golgi Tendon Organ, you'd think this was as important as the pituitary or hypothalamus the way some PT's talk. Doc
I know exactly what you’re saying Doc. I reckon I’m far better off with my own education and thoughts on my training. If I was to get another PT I’d have to seriously interview him/her first to make sure they had a clue and to be honest, I can’t be bothered.
There’s such a lot of great info on this site that I can learn almost anything I want to, if it doesn’t work for me, read some more and I’ll try something else.
Bugger the PT.
After reading about foam rollers and tennis balls under foot to fix the plantar fascia etc etc… I decided to give it a shot myself…
I am a sinus sufferer which, in my opinion, is exacerbated by neck strains etc. If I strain my neck doing chins or something, I get fairly severe sinus type headaches.
I felt pain in my neck after doing some chins 2 days ago, and felt the onset of an other headache. So I grabbed a tennis ball, put it between my neck and a wall and rolled it around my upper back and neck.
My God it felt good! And… ta da!!! the pain went away and the headache didn’t eventuate… woohoo… same thing happened this morning. A little roll around and it must release the tensions or relax the muscles or something, very very worthwhile Doc. Get the foam roller, a tennis ball, whatever you want to use and go for it, I reckon you’ll love the results.
As for mobilty - my stepson bought the magnificent mobility DVD from here. It’s great, simple and very effective without taking up too much time. Daily use has really helped me.
Cheers Doc.
I’m 55 and had a Heart Attack on the 6th. I started lifting for football when I was 13. I know what you mean when you say that is a part of who you are.
The Heart problem started for good about 6 months ago. The usual pain in the left arm and chest. It was easy to laugh it off as heart burn and try to ignore it. I figured if I increased my cardio thru sled pulling I could heal myself and make it go away. Didn’t work too well.
On Tuesday after my work-out the dam pain just wouldn’t go away. I was able to make my daughter’s soccer game though. About 1 AM the pain wasn’t all that bad but just wouldn’t go away. My wife called 911 and off to the hospital I went. After 5 days I was finally back home. After a couple of days I was completely bored and just had to get in some kind of a work-out. Some Squats and GM’s were just fine. Nothing heavy, just something to make me feal normal again.
I have a follow-up appointment Tuesday. We will see what the Doctors have in store.
Doc,
Wanna hear something funny??? I spend maybe 30-45 mins a month stretching…that’s about 45-60secs per day. Not that I haven’t devoted much more time to it in days gone by, BUT, I have never been ‘flexible’ by any stretch of the imagination. It mattered not whether I stretched 30-45 mins per day, OR, none at all, my ‘flexibility’ NEVER improved. I KNOW flexibility is important; it is just not a priority for ME. My “warm-ups” for the day’s lifting incorporate some accessory movements, but no real static stretching. During the workout, I MAY do some dynamic stuff, but not often.
I am flexible enough, in my opinion, to do everything I want as far as daily activities and sports I participate in goes, EXCEPT being able to scratch that small area in the middle of my back - I make the nearest door frame take care of that!!! Most of the time i am pressed for time, working two jobs. I would rather spend what little precious time i have, ‘me time,’ lifting rather than stretching. If you notice my training logs of late, I don’t do a lot of stuff because of the time factor.
In the past, I have done more, but that was when I had more time…I want to get the most bang for my buck, so i just train and don’t stretch - it’s not a priority of mine presently. As a side note, I’m not convinced it will ever be for me as I’ve gotten by for so long without any formal flexibility program. My lifting keeps me as flexible right now as I need to be, no more, no less! It will be interesting to hear your and others’ response to this. I’m sure it will be controversial to say the least!
You have made tremendous progress in a ‘relatively’ short amount of time; keep up the good work!
Art
pangers, sorry to hear about your heart attack. I think we all take our ticker for granted until we get the big wake up call.
QT, you know what, I’ll join your blasphemy. If it wasn’t for my OL lifting and the fact I can’t even get in squat snatch position, I wouldn’t be delving back into this confusing, PT dominated world of stretching. I enjoyed your post, gave me a laugh.
Now, for the rest of you, I want to give something back (it aint much, all I could think of), because so many have wished me well in this crazy comeback of mine. I posted four pictures in my profile. i figured you know, everyone's been so respectful and nice to me on an internet forum, where shit flies right and left and folks lie about their life. I have some crazy, unbelievable stories, past and present, so I thought I'd at least validate a few of them with some pics.
The first one is of me at FSU weighing a few pounds short of 300 with that 32 inch thigh and 20 inch arm. Then there's a picture of me at a solid 260ish power cleaning 405. Then there's me in my microscopic bodybuilding career (an untold story)-I cut up right after my senior year all the way down to 230, natural. I entered a contest, got in the warm-up area, looked at all the gear-heads who weighed as much as me at five nine or ten, and I walked out. It really never was my sport, but from that day on I entered my "Mens Health" phase, which meant lifting casual BB style with jogging and golf thrown in. That's my family about 12-13 years ago, with one of my wonderful Great Danes. Check out my shrunken arms. lol
Thanks again for everyone’s support. I felt pretty bad today in retrospect, and I wasn’t being very inspiring ranting on about PT’s. Tomorrow’s a new day. Doc
I love that last photo.
You’re a lucky boy Doc.
My input to the above posts:
Dr. PowerClean - Great photos. Thanks.
pangers - let us know what the doc says about your heart.
Re: PTs - I haven’t had bad experiences with PTs but then again I haven’t had a lot of interactions with them. I find MDs to be worse in my opinion. Most can be pretty condescending. When that happens I tend to give it right back. Can’t help myself. It always starts with the long wait in the waiting room and goes down hill from there. It’s taken my 20 years to find a couple of Docs that I respect.
To all you heavy lifters (Dr PC, QuarterTonner, hel320, etc): One word - damn! If only I could lift those kind of numbers. That’ll never happen. I guess I’ll just have to out lift you all when we’re in our 70s. Haha. Because I’m not stopping. I just you all a good head start.
Dr. PowerClean - you’ve really create a good thread here.
Regards,
Carlsbad
[quote]Carlsbad wrote:
My input to the above posts:
Dr. PowerClean - Great photos. Thanks.
pangers - let us know what the doc says about your heart.
Re: PTs - I haven’t had bad experiences with PTs but then again I haven’t had a lot of interactions with them. I find MDs to be worse in my opinion. Most can be pretty condescending. When that happens I tend to give it right back. Can’t help myself. It always starts with the long wait in the waiting room and goes down hill from there. It’s taken my 20 years to find a couple of Docs that I respect.
To all you heavy lifters (Dr PC, QuarterTonner, hel320, etc): One word - damn! If only I could lift those kind of numbers. That’ll never happen. I guess I’ll just have to out lift you all when we’re in our 70s. Haha. Because I’m not stopping. I just you all a good head start.
Dr. PowerClean - you’ve really create a good thread here.
Regards,
Carlsbad [/quote]
Let me be clear, Doctors ARE worse than PT’s. Not even a close call. Most PT’s at least have good “bedside manner,” give you more time, and seem to care more. Doc
Doc, most doctors I know run from a gym. I consult for a pulmonogist and he just had a knee replacement, didn’t rehab properly and has tremendous scar tissue issues. Never had a PT, we would’nt get along. If they have never been where you have been how the hell can they help you?
Barry, you’re right, I never had a PT who could bench two and a quarter for a max. I might have had different experiences with guys like E.C. who can deadlift more than me. But guys like that are almost as rare as docs who lift heavy.
Speaking of lifting, I did a little of that today, although no great stories to report. The most amazing story came right before the workout, when my son reached into his backpack for his bible (he’s quite a religious kid-not sure where he gets it from) and when he pulls his hand out, there’s a big scorpion on it. He yells out, shakes it off, and I take this short 6lb bar I use for stretching and nail that sucker with a Mark McGwire swing. Scorpion shrapnel everywhere.
My son is quite shook up, and thinks a good solution is to drink TWO Monster high energy drinks before the workout. He’s basically a nauseated mess by the time we get to the gym, and I cut my workout a little short because I feel sorry for him, just laying on the stretching pads for an hour. I didn’t want to take him straight home, because I wanted him to learn his lesson about the energy drinks.
Bench press
5x135, 5x185
3x225
3x245
3x265
3x265
3x265
Front Squats
Same exact reps and sets as bench press, except only got a double on the last. Glad I can squat again, right quad better though a little gimpy. God I’m weak though, the squat reps were harder than the bench reps. How did life turn me into one of those gym weenies that can bench more than they can squat? I HATED those kind of guys. I’m going to fix this if its the last thing I do. But the front squats are tough on me-everthing hurts a little, wrists, shoulders, back, knees-oh well, what’s new? Gotta be TOUGH, that’s all. End of post. Doc
Dr PwrCln,
The doc who did my wrist 10+ years ago is also the doc who recently did my shoulder. I hadn’t seen him for awhile and when I took off my shirt he asked if I was on Steroids. Haha. Now that’s funny. Of course I’m not big by any standards. I’m just bigger than I was.
He is an excellent surgeon. And he works out with weights. Unfortunately, his idea is a minimum of 20 reps. If only he knew the kinds of weight you guys are pushing/pulling…
As for working out, how often are you lifting? I’m trying to go 6 times a week but business trips, dad duties, etc take a toll. So in I’m probably averaging closer to 4 times a week.
Carlsbad
[quote]Carlsbad wrote:
Dr PwrCln,
As for working out, how often are you lifting? I’m trying to go 6 times a week but business trips, dad duties, etc take a toll. So in I’m probably averaging closer to 4 times a week.
Carlsbad[/quote]
By the way, Carlsbad, don’t dis yourself on the weights you use, you’re doing great compared to 99.9% of the population our age. I’m a de-thawed sasquatch, and some of these other guys are lifetime heavy lifters. You can’t compare yourself to that.
My routine is a work in progress. I’m constantly trying to figure out what is optimal. In the first three months of my comeback, I trained six to seven days a week, but only 45-60 minutes per workout. Now I’m training only about four days a week, but my volume and intensity is much higher than those daily workouts I was doing. OL will kick your ass more than any other type of training as far as I’m concerned, although I’m sure some intense regimens are possible with other forms of lifting.
It’s all about recovery now, for me. Pushing myself hard comes easy for me now, it’s recovering that’s hard, especially from ATG squatting, deadlifting, heavy cleans and other complex lifts.
The only way I know to find the limits of what you should be doing is to push beyond it, and then you’ll know, you really will. lol Doc
God I really hate to be the one to defend doctors but we do have an orthopedic surgeon who throws the hammer in the 50-55 age group. Huge guy carrying some serious muscle. He pretty much follows a hammer throwing work out: lots of leg, back and core work. Last time I talked with him he was squating and deadlifting in the mid 500’s. No bench. Hands like meat hooks. Says he doesn’t have any problem operating. I say it’s a good thing he’s not a proctologist.
ILIOCOSTALIS LUMBORUM
Any of you even heard of this muscle? You know the old joke about “pulling muscles I didn’t even know I had?” Well, I just did it, yesterday, during my front squats.
I could feel something spasming in my mid-lower back, but I’m so used to back spasms I just ignored it and finished my sets. It got worse as the evening progressed, and I’m a mess this morning. It hurts (an 8-9) when I breath, or turn rotationally at all, so I knew it was not my usual erector spinae spasms. I had to look it up! It’s a long muscle, attaches down in the hip area, goes up adjacent to your spine and attaches to the lower six or seven ribs. It makes sense, my legs were weak and gimpy, and my flexibility not so great, so when I got to over 110 kg’s I started bending forward too much. BINGO.
Anyway, don’t worry, I know my body well enough to know this is a 3-4 day no lift problem and then start working around it until it’s fully well. No great setback.
Still pisses me off, though. Doc
How did you determine that that’s what it was? I did something similar last spring. Light stiff-legged deadlifts helped but it was a couple of months before I felt I could trust any heavy deadlifts or squats again. Maybe it’s more frightening to me because I don’t understand anatomy as well.
[quote]stuward wrote:
How did you determine that that’s what it was? I did something similar last spring. Light stiff-legged deadlifts helped but it was a couple of months before I felt I could trust any heavy deadlifts or squats again. Maybe it’s more frightening to me because I don’t understand anatomy as well.[/quote]
Stu,
From my accident onward, I got to know certain lower back pains quite intimately. I had pains which centered right around the discs themselves, and directly above them, which involves the erector spinae muscles. I had another pain which radiated out about three inches to the left, this I and several PT’s (yes, they helped) correctly identified as a quadratus lumborum spasm. I had sciatic nerve pains which went into the buttock, and I had l5-S1 nerve root radicular pains which shot down the back of my legs. I also had some broken ribs at the bottom of my ribcage and I knew that pain as well.
This one from yesterday was totally new. Never had it before. I have anatomy textbooks, although the internet works too. I looked at all the possible culprits. At first I thought it was the bottom of the lats, where they insert near the spine. But when I saw this long forgotten muscle, the iliocostalis lumborum, it made perfect sense. The pain got worse with deep breathing (so the muscle attached to the ribs-"costalis"), with bending and turning (thus uncomfortably stretching it from its origin on the ileum (hip).
The PT's would of course tell me the reason I got this muscle pull is because I have a weak "core." And they would be right. But that's kind of like an oxymoron, because squats and deadlifts build your core better than any gay little exercise laying on a Swiss ball or doing a lunge.
I got treatment for it already today (deep tissue massage, electric stimulation, moist heat) and it’s already 50% better, I should be good to train (something) in two days.
An argument could be made that I should train with lower weights and take my time building back my core muscles before loading them with 80% weights (or more) like I do. A vaild argument, except for one thing. I'm on a mission, to push myself as hard as I can, while I still can, to recapture 70-80% of my peak strength as a youngster and then compete. If it becomes clear I cannot do that, and the odds remain long despite my good progress, I will call off the exercies which beat me up and go back to a kinder-gentler workout regimen.
If and when that happens, I will be sure to give up this thread, because I’m sure nobody would give a damn about me if I returned to the “Men’s Health” guy I was in my thirties and forties, doing machine workouts with every other day jogging. Almost as bad as a “Bowflex” guy.
Doc
It sounds like you know what you’re doing. When I hurt my back deadlifting, I took it easy for a while and thought all was good and then a couple of weeks pulled it again lifting a light weight off a rack. The medic just gave me some pain killers.
A month or so later I thought it was healed and helped my wife out moving some rocks. It didn’t pull this time but I was reminded that it was still mending. I’ve been good since but it’s certainly upsetting to know I have this weakness that I have to watch out for.
What kind of competition are you looking to get into? I assume weightlifting. I know there are master’s level powerlifting competitions. Does the same thing exist for weightlifting? I live in Nova Scotia, We don’t even have a provincial organization for weightlifting.
Stu
[quote]stuward wrote:
What kind of competition are you looking to get into? I assume weightlifting. I know there are master’s level powerlifting competitions. Does the same thing exist for weightlifting? I live in Nova Scotia, We don’t even have a provincial organization for weightlifting.
Stu[/quote]
There is an International Weightlifting Federation for Masters Olympic Lifting. I have competed in many sports in my life, even was a decent amateur golfer. But no sport ever came close to OL comps for me, they were the BEST!
These IWF meets are apparently pretty big deals, with annual championships held in locales all over the world (lsat year was in Cyprus). I believe they also hold them together with the Pan-Am games as well.
Regardless, the big deal for me is the HRT. Even though the 150mg of T I take for my nearly non-functional gonads is not in my mind "doping," I don't know if I would pass their drug test-probably not. If I can continue my progress and my clean and jerk gets over 140kg (which would be an American and Pan Am world record), I might try just stopping it, taking every natural T booster I could find and see if my strength would hold up. This is all so weird just talking about this, just half a year ago all I wanted was to feel good again! Doc
Dr PwrCln,
Need advise on front squats. I can’t do normal squats. Can’t get my left arm/shoulder behind the bar. Can’t do behind the neck presses, either. When I C&J my elbows are pointed down rather than up in the OL style. Can’t get my hands down to the bar if I rest it on my front delts.
Have tried front squats using the cross armed hold but I get the bar right in the adam’s apple. I have never actually seen anyone doing front squats. I think the crossed armed hold is my best option but am I holding it wrong?