Anyone Willing to Coach Me?

Training
61

I foam rolled before i went to the gym, so about 15 mins pre workout. I also do glute bridges before squatting. I have had quite a few problems in the hip area before, first a constantly strained hip flexor, very short and tight from years of bad posture, eventually solved this by using the adductor machine before squatting which i will use on saturday as part of my warm up but i don’t have that machine at midweek gym.

Then i got a problem with my SI joint, really bad pain radiating into lower back once i worked out what it was i was able to foam roll it out and that hasn’t bothered me for a while. So i guess i have a slightly problematic hip/pelvic area. My knees are also prone to folding in on maximum effort squats which is a sign of hip weakness as well i think.

62

[quote]stinger70 wrote:
I foam rolled before i went to the gym, so about 15 mins pre workout. I also do glute bridges before squatting. I have had quite a few problems in the hip area before, first a constantly strained hip flexor, very short and tight from years of bad posture, eventually solved this by using the adductor machine before squatting which i will use on saturday as part of my warm up but i don’t have that machine at midweek gym. Then i got a problem with my SI joint, really bad pain radiating into lower back once i worked out what it was i was able to foam roll it out and that hasn’t bothered me for a while. So i guess i have a slightly problematic hip/pelvic area. My knees are also prone to folding in on maximum effort squats which is a sign of hip weakness as well i think.[/quote]

ok, the good news is this is very typical of people with bad posture, and so it isn’t actually that hard to fix. The bad news is it takes a little time.

A couple of things:

-DO THAT WARM UP I POSTED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE IN FULL BEFORE EVERY WORKOUT. I put that all in caps because it’s really important.

-from now on, you are going to do 3 sets of this at home every day:

bird dogs superset with side lying clams
planks superset with bodyweight hip thrusts (put your upper back on a sofa, chair, bed etc)

The bird dogs and planks are going to train your core, which’ll take the heat off your lower back. The side lying clams are VERY IMPORTANT and they’ll stop your knees folding in. You are right about your knees folding in being a sign of weak hips, specifically your gluteus medius. The side lying clams are going to fix that, and are basically doing the same thing as the adductor machine was when you noticed it helping. In a lot of cases, the relief can be pretty much immediate. The bodyweight hip thrusts are just for much needed glute activation work.

I want you to do 3 sets of each superset every day, EXCEPT the day before you train legs. Squeeze the clams and hip thrusts for 2 seconds at the top of each movement.

When you’re doing hip thrusts, if you feel your hamstrings start to fatigue, STOP! That means your glutes have given up and your hamstrings are taking up the slack, which is exactly what we don’t want.

I don’t mind when during the day you do these, and I don’t mind if you break them up over the course of the day either. One way I find works quite well is when you are watching tv at night, do a set every commercial break.

When you do them isn’t important, but make sure you do them every day! (except for the day before leg day, I don’t want your core fatigued for squatting).

So go up to the top of this page and read the warm up. Also, WRITE IT DOWN so you don’t forget what it is and miss things. Everything in the warm up is there for a reason, and it is important to do every single thing.

63

Identifying problems and finding solutions, great coaching.

I also must add your response times to stinger’s questions is fantastic!

64

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
I also must add your response times to stinger’s questions is fantastic![/quote]

Haha! He’s been lucky enough to be posting at the same time as me last night and today.

I can’t guarantee I’ll be this on the ball all the time unfortunately.

65

Have started implementing the rehab movements.

Arm workout went pretty well, couple of points:

  • I think reverse curls are a no go. Bad elbow pain, i have had fractures in both elbow joints dont know if this makes me more prone to tendonitis or whatever, but i knew on the first rep i couldn’t perform these. Today swapped them for incline curls, what would you pick as an alternative?

  • With the ramped sets, are you supposed to track all weights/reps/sets or only track the top set? Like i’m guessing you pick the 3 ramping sets according to the target weight for the top set rather than focusing on beating the weight and reps across all sets.

66

you’re keeping me on my toes with all these questions, it’s good though man the more you ask the better. As for your questions:

-that’s a shame reverse curls aren’t for you but you did the right thing dropping them if they’re hurting. As for a replacement, preacher curls, machine curls, anything really. Just pick a curl variation you like. I don’t actually like the incline curls you were doing as I find them really unnatural feeling, but if you like them then they would be fine.

-I’m not entirely sure what you mean by this question, all the sets you do are important and I want you to track them all. I would like you to beat the weight and reps you did every session, although obviously that’s easier said than done.

Imagine you are working up to a top set of front squats at 100k for 8 (don’t worry too much about this number, it’s just an example). It might look something like:

bar x 10 - warm up
40k x 10 - warm up
50k x 5 - warm up
60k x 5 - warm up
70k x 12 - work set, not easy but not too hard, maybe a 7 for effort
80k x 10 - work set, harder but not impossible, could’ve done a few more but still a decent set
90k x 8 - work set, hard this time, could’ve gotten a couple more but this was tough, face is red, legs are burning etc.
100k x 8 - work set, absolute maximum, slight chance of getting one more rep but probably not, feel totally ruined after

that’s the sort of thing I would expect. Then, progression from there could look like (I’ll skip the warm ups this time):

70k x 12
80k x 12
90k x 10
100k x 8

so you see even though you didn’t actually beat 100k for 8, you’ve still done better than last week. Or, it could look like this:

70k x 15
80k x 12
90k x 10
100k x 10

here you’ve beaten your top set as well as adding more reps on you first work set, so next week could look something like:

75k x 10
85k x 10
95k x 8
105k x 7, or 100k x 9 or whatever

see what I mean? All the work sets count, so don’t think that just because your final, heaviest set didn’t get better that you haven’t progressed.

I hope that answers your questions

67

Starting stats taken today. Reintroduced carbs several days ago so these should be fairly accurate by now.

Weight: 184lbs
Waist: 31.5"
Chest: 41"
Arms 14.25"
Legs 24.25"

Still carrying a lot of fat in the legs and lower waist / hip area. I reckon i lost easily 3-4" off my glutes when cutting. Arms are a solid inch bigger and leaner than they were last time i was at this weight so that’s ok but it’s taken well over a year! I think 16" they would look ok but it needs to come fast, I can’t handle having twig arms much longer!

68

your arms’ll grow as fast as it’s possible for them to grow providing you’re eating properly and following the routine I gave you. Remember that it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get disproportionately high growth in them.

Just concentrate on adding mass all over, try not to fixate on your arms.

have you been doing your warm ups and rehab stuff?

69

Yes i have been doing the warm ups and started the rehab although haven’t managed 3 times a day yet.

Did the leg workout today, 5 reps of 100kg squats then 5 x 10 at 50kg. This was a killer conditioning wise, it took everything i had, although nowhere near failure in my legs. I kind of feel that my legs would get more stimulation from leg press because i’m not struggling with the form and mechanics of the lift and can push the muscles harder, but i’m sticking to the routine obviously. Had the hip pain again, sort of alleviated it by digging in behind the hip bone with my fist where its seriously painful and just rubbing it like you would when rolling it on a ball.

70

remember you only have to do three sets of each rehab superset every day, so if doing 3 sets all in one go is the easiest way to do that then go for it. You don’t have to space it out if you don’t want.

good lad for sucking it up and getting through the workout. I know it’s tempting just to jump on the leg press but persevere with the squats (you’ve got leg press programmed in on your other leg workout anyway). Your conditioning for the squats will improve quickly so don’t worry about that. Besides, workouts that get you sucking wind like that will keep you lean, and that’s a big part of what we’re trying to do here. High rep squats are GREAT for fat loss.

Are you front squatting at all?

As for the hip pain, if kneading it with your knuckles as if you were rolling on a ball helps, then I want you to go out tomorrow and buy a lacrosse ball (if you don’t already have one) and spend a minute every day AT LEAST rolling on that ball where the hip pain is. The good news is that if a bit of soft tissue work alleviates it then it’s probably not anything too sinister, and we should be able to fix it before anything more serious develops. I realise it’s yet another thing to do every day and they’re starting to pile up but you can do it in between sets of your rehab stuff so it shouldn’t actually take you any more time than it is currently.

where exactly is it sore? Specifically. Is it hip flexor? Ass cheek? “Hip” doesn’t really tell me anything.

71

I’ve got back squat for both movements on the heavy leg day.

I dug up this quote from rippetoe which i remembered from a while ago, explains pretty much what i feel:

“Most people that have SI problems seem to find them rather intimately associated with the deep external rotators. I have fixed this by digging my elbow into the hollow of the asscheek and massaging the piriformis/PT muscles. Seems to provide immediate relief quite frequently. You could use a hard ball and your bodyweight to do the same thing.”

I’ve never really felt comfortable with squats, first it was hip flexors, then SI joint, legs caving in, bar slipping off my back, too much forward lean (long legs short torso.) Some people just look so natural in the squat. I was built to deadlift and as such always trained it more.

72

This thread is great guys.
The correspondence and adaptation is what training is all about.

Seriously keep it up, this is becoming my favorite thread.

73

[quote]stinger70 wrote:
I’ve got back squat for both movements on the heavy leg day.

I dug up this quote from rippetoe which i remembered from a while ago, explains pretty much what i feel:

“Most people that have SI problems seem to find them rather intimately associated with the deep external rotators. I have fixed this by digging my elbow into the hollow of the asscheek and massaging the piriformis/PT muscles. Seems to provide immediate relief quite frequently. You could use a hard ball and your bodyweight to do the same thing.”

I’ve never really felt comfortable with squats, first it was hip flexors, then SI joint, legs caving in, bar slipping off my back, too much forward lean (long legs short torso.) Some people just look so natural in the squat. I was built to deadlift and as such always trained it more. [/quote]

cool, consider swapping them out for front squats every now and then. You could even do back squats on your heavy leg day, front squats on your more bodybuilder type leg day. Bit more quad emphasis that way and they often feel more comfortable for long legged lifters like yourself. If you really want to, you could post a video of your squat form which I, and others, could analyse for you.

As for the piriformis, if you look back at the sample warm ups I posted, in the very first line of the lower body warm up I’ve said to do soft tissue work for… THE PIRIFORMIS! Lol. Don’t worry about that, you’ve had a lot of info in quite a short space of time so it’s easy to miss stuff. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and put it down to that, and not that you’ve been skipping your warm ups…

To really roll out your piriformis:

-sit on the floor
-bend your leg with your knee out to the side, like you were going to sit cross legged (your other leg is straight out in front).
-stick a lacrosse ball (or a field hockey ball works well too, tennis balls are too soft) in the middle of your ass cheek and move around til you hit the sweet spot (when it happens, you’ll know)
-once you’ve got the ball in the right place, internally and externally rotate your hip by moving your knee in towards yourself then back out again. This is going to hurt like a bitch! Do it for at least a minute, you’ll get used to the pain.

after you’ve done that you should feel like a million bucks. Do it as part of your warm up, and do it any other time you want. You can add it in to your daily rehab stuff, that’d be a great idea.

For extra credit, also use the ball on the top part of your glutes. A lot of deadlift enthusiasts carry a LOT of tension in the top part of their glutes, and rolling it out can make your back feel much better.

You really need a lacrosse ball for this (not to mention the soft tissue work for your shoulders you SHOULD be doing in your warm up…) so if you haven’t already got one then pick one up as a matter of priority. Any decent size sports shop should have them, and they only cost a couple of quid.

so to recap:
-get a ball up into your piriformis IN THE WARM UPS WHICH YOU BETTER BE DOING
-consider using front squats on your high rep squat day

I think that’s it for now, as always if there’s anything you need clarification on just ask.

74

[quote]iVoodoo wrote:
This thread is great guys.
The correspondence and adaptation is what training is all about.

Seriously keep it up, this is becoming my favorite thread.[/quote]

thanks man

75

Alright thanks for that, i usually use a tennis ball for stuff like that but i’d guess the lacrosse ball is harder so i`ll find one of those. I’m pretty good with my upper body warm ups anyway as i’ve had a lot of rotator cuff issues but they don’t really bother me anymore if i do the stuff that you laid out. I do have an area of tension in what i think you described as “posterior shoulder capsule” i’m not sure what causes that it might be lower trap pain. It doesn’t really bother me but can sometimes get irritated by certain exercises, rolling on the ball hits that pretty hard.

Did the chest/delt workout today, loved it. Those incline machine presses hit the spot once you get to like 12 reps the pump is great, i would never have thought of using a machine like this due to all the dogma about free weights only. Same with the high volume for delts, feels amazing and like it’s actually working the muscle.

76

the lacrosse ball is smaller and harder so it gets in deeper. Hurts like 1000 times more but it’s badass. That pain around the back of your shoulders is most likely your rhomboids being all fibrotic and nasty - VERY common. Training the shit out of your upward rotators (which we’re doing in the warm ups and also with the face pulls in your back day) should help fix that right up. It’ll take a bit of time though. You should be able to stay pain free in your shoulders as long as you’re warming up and being sensible (advice I could actually do with taking myself).

I should probably point out that I have dealt with EXACTLY the same issues (lower back, shoulder, being reasonably strong but not looking like I lift, trying to fill out a tiny bone structure) as you are currently going through, so I am very confident that what we’re doing together is perfect for you.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my training, and if I can keep you from doing the same I’ll consider myself redeemed.

when training your delts be sure you are really controlling the reps (3 second negative - VERY IMPORTANT), you’ll probably have to use a much lighter weight than you expected but who gives a shit. We’re training to look awesome the 23 hours a day you’re not in the gym, not the one hour a day you are. I also find shortening the ROM slightly on my raises has made a massive difference (easier on the rotator cuff not going all the way down, and keeping the traps out of the movement by not raising above my shoulders on laterals).

And the second half of your post there really made my day.

77

oh I’ve just realised I told you to do front squats in your bodybuilder leg day anyway, so ignore my comments about the front squat a couple of posts back…

78

lol no worries. I do my laterals with strict form today i used 5kg on cable and DB, like you said i’ve also found that stopping just short of all the way down keeps a lot more stress on the delt. I do control the negative but next time i`ll slow it down even more and go for the 3 seconds, it’s gonna hurt.

79

yep it sure is, but in a good way.

One last tip re: laterals - make sure your pinky is ever so slightly higher than your thumb at the top of the lift. That’ll shift focus much more to the lateral head (thumb above pinky just hits front delts). It does, admittedly, put a lot more stress on the RC but with the light weights you’ll be using it shouldn’t cause a problem.

a good form cue regarding rep speed (which I blatantly stole from Zraw) is that you should be able to reverse the direction of the rep at any point.

ok I’ll stop bombarding you with info now

get lifting!

80

Rds this is a golden thread brother.The detail you go into etc. is freakin great.You are giving me constant reminders to roll out and stretch on a daily basis which I can easily blow off and usually do.Only time I remember is when there’s already a problem.You think I’d learn…