Not sure if you’re still checking this post Mike but I’ll ask anyway. I’m not sure how much knowledge you have about the reverse hyper but I was wondering what sort of weight I should start out with if I’m going to be rehabbing and strengthening my lower back. I haven’t squatted in over 2 years and even when I did I didn’t crack 225. The rep and set scheme I’m going to use is 3x12-15
Someone made a store just for me
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Someone’s got my kind of quality
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
I apologize for wasting thread space, but I had to commit it to text in order to exorcise it from my brain.
What’s up Mike? Great thread you started you here. For you guys that didnt know Mike hooked me up with a program last fall. Mike took me to a 405lb sumo dealift at 160lbs. Mike I can almost pull that weight in a conventional style (I’m at 385). I cant think of any questions right now but I’ll try to see if I have some later.
[quote]climbon wrote:
jro
there are some good PT’s in NYC. a place i would try if i were you would be australian physiotherapy centers. they have locations in manhattan/upper east side and manhattan/greenwich village.
climbon[/quote]
climbon,
Just checked out their website and it turns out the greenwich village location is directly across the street from where I lived until recently (13th st). Very weird that I didn’t notice it that whole time.
Thanks for the info.
hey Mike,
Ive got a q. about chest development. It seems that no matter what I do I can not put quality mass on my chest. It’s not tiny, but after 5 plus years of training, it should be a lot bigger. My shoulders and arms are quite large…I just can’t seem to get my chest to catch up! I’ve tried almost everything. And I can’t affors chiropractic work or deep tissue massage. Any suggestions. Thanks brother.
Chris
What would be an example of a “simple balance progression” to help proprioception at the foot/ankle level?
[quote]BtotheL wrote:
Mike,
Thanks for the prompt reply. Your response leads me to another elementary question, what’s NNM?
B[/quote]
Here’s an easy one. Neanderthal No More; it’s the series Mike and I co-wrote. Part 4 was just posted; look to the left of your screen:)
Mike,
I have been seeing a chiropractor for several months about my knee trouble. I won’t tell you the whole story about my knee troubles because it would take too much time. As part of his therapy, which includes Active Release Techniques for the thigh, he suggested I use a foam roller on the IT band. At first this was very painful, but after a few weeks the pain subsided and things loosened up a lot. The problem is, there’s still a large knot on the lateral side of my thigh that won’t budge. I think it contributes a lot to the tightness and lateral tracking of my patella. My other leg does not have this problem and the foam roller glides painlessly and smoothly over that leg. If I can get rid of this knot I think I’ll improve my condition immensly. Do you have any suggestions or other things I can try that might help loosen up this knot? Thanks.
[quote]BtotheL wrote:
Mike,
Thanks for the prompt reply. Your response leads me to another elementary question, what’s NNM?
As far as sports go, I play basketball and competitive ultimate frisbee at the college level. So, a lot of running and cutting is involved, but also a lot of sidearmed throwing motions which seem to give my shoulder a lot of problems, specifically my rotator cuff. I’d appreciate any advice you can give, thanks.
B[/quote]
Prehab stuff for basketball would include work for the ankles and knees specifically. Obviously you want to do strengthening work around the ankle joints; manual resistance works well for inversion/eversion motions (rolling the ankle in/out).
As for the knees, again, full ROM squats, lunges, bulgarians, single leg squats, etc. are great for developing the VMO and glutes. Hamstring strength is also very important for protecting the ACL, so exercises such as glute-hams, RDL’s, reverse hypers, etc. are all good choices here. Basketball is a very quad dominant sport, so make sure to balance that out with lots of hamstring work in the weight room.
I think you answered your own question with the ultimate frisbee; lots of external rotation work will be in order, as well as exercises to strengthen and develop the upper back.
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]DarrylLicke wrote:
Not sure if you’re still checking this post Mike but I’ll ask anyway. I’m not sure how much knowledge you have about the reverse hyper but I was wondering what sort of weight I should start out with if I’m going to be rehabbing and strengthening my lower back. I haven’t squatted in over 2 years and even when I did I didn’t crack 225. The rep and set scheme I’m going to use is 3x12-15[/quote]
Darryl,
Come on bro, I’m a powerlifter…you KNOW I have experience with the reverse hyper!
If you are using it for rehab, you might start as low as the weight of your legs hanging down. The goal here will be to focus on squeezing the glutes at the initiation of movement, and then really flexing the glutes/hams/lower back at the top. The weight won’t be as important in the beginning…just work on proper execution and the weights will go up on their own.
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]ChrisPowers wrote:
Someone made a store just for me
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Someone’s got my kind of quality
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
Big Mike’s Strength Emporium
I apologize for wasting thread space, but I had to commit it to text in order to exorcise it from my brain.[/quote]
Not sure what this means, but thanks for the plug!
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]philtwine wrote:
What’s up Mike? Great thread you started you here. For you guys that didnt know Mike hooked me up with a program last fall. Mike took me to a 405lb sumo dealift at 160lbs. Mike I can almost pull that weight in a conventional style (I’m at 385). I cant think of any questions right now but I’ll try to see if I have some later.[/quote]
Not too much going on here Phil…keeping busy as always! Thanks for the props as well; like I told you before, the program is just a guide…you are the one who has to do the work!
I would think with your conventional pull up that high that your sumo pull has gone up as well. Check it out sometime and let me know how it goes!
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]MJC wrote:
hey Mike,
Ive got a q. about chest development. It seems that no matter what I do I can not put quality mass on my chest. It’s not tiny, but after 5 plus years of training, it should be a lot bigger. My shoulders and arms are quite large…I just can’t seem to get my chest to catch up! I’ve tried almost everything. And I can’t affors chiropractic work or deep tissue massage. Any suggestions. Thanks brother.
Chris[/quote]
Chris,
What kind of program are you using? Sets/reps? Exercises? Without more info there’s no way I can answer this question. Let me know.
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]Saltman wrote:
What would be an example of a “simple balance progression” to help proprioception at the foot/ankle level?[/quote]
With the shoes off, here would be a simple progression:
Hard floor–>Soft floor/Carpet–>Hard Pillow–>Soft Pillow
Want to crank it up more? Close your eyes…but don’t drink too much beforehand! It’s hard enough as is.
After these, you can always move to more unstable surfaces such as Airex pads, wobble boards, etc.
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]TopCivilian wrote:
Mike,
I have been seeing a chiropractor for several months about my knee trouble. I won’t tell you the whole story about my knee troubles because it would take too much time. As part of his therapy, which includes Active Release Techniques for the thigh, he suggested I use a foam roller on the IT band. At first this was very painful, but after a few weeks the pain subsided and things loosened up a lot. The problem is, there’s still a large knot on the lateral side of my thigh that won’t budge. I think it contributes a lot to the tightness and lateral tracking of my patella. My other leg does not have this problem and the foam roller glides painlessly and smoothly over that leg. If I can get rid of this knot I think I’ll improve my condition immensly. Do you have any suggestions or other things I can try that might help loosen up this knot? Thanks. [/quote]
Have you ever had someone perform deep tissue massage? I had a similar problem a few months ago…with one session the restriction was gone and I was moving in a fluid manner again. A foam roller is an amazing tool, but unfortunately it can’t replace a set of good hands. Try it out and let me know how it works!
Stay strong
Mike
Ok people, while I’m caught up I want to let you know that we’re going to keep this puppy up and running for ONE MORE DAY! So around this time tomorrow, I’m gonna shut it down and enjoy the holiday weekend. So if you got questions, get 'em in so we can get 'em answered!
Stay strong
Mike
Mike
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer everyones questions. I am picking up a ton of great info.
I was wondering what your recommendations are for powerlifters that would like to compete in strongman. I find myself gravitating to strongman style training more and more lately and just wanted any info, thoughts, or recommendations you may have.
Also, I’m currently 273 pounds at 6ft. with about 18% bodyfat. Do you think it would be beneficial for me shed some fat and raise my gpp levels before diving into this type of trainig full time or will the event training take care of that for me?
Thanks for everything Mike.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
MJC wrote:
hey Mike,
Ive got a q. about chest development. It seems that no matter what I do I can not put quality mass on my chest. It’s not tiny, but after 5 plus years of training, it should be a lot bigger. My shoulders and arms are quite large…I just can’t seem to get my chest to catch up! I’ve tried almost everything. And I can’t affors chiropractic work or deep tissue massage. Any suggestions. Thanks brother.
Chris
Chris,
What kind of program are you using? Sets/reps? Exercises? Without more info there’s no way I can answer this question. Let me know.
Stay strong
Mike[/quote]
…I’ve just recently started a program similar to abbh working chest twice weekly performing dips on one day and then db presses on the other. My workouts are ussually similar to this style training working the chest twice weekly with out over doing it.
Before this recent program I rarley did dips for my chest and would do a lot of benching and incline and flat db pressing, and some flies here and there. As far as sets and reps are concerned, I would do anywhere from 5-10 sets and from 3-10 reps/set in a typical chest workout. I always strive to make chest my top priority and love to work it, but I’m just no where close to my goals. Thanks for your time.
Chris
[quote]Built Big wrote:
Mike
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer everyones questions. I am picking up a ton of great info.
I was wondering what your recommendations are for powerlifters that would like to compete in strongman. I find myself gravitating to strongman style training more and more lately and just wanted any info, thoughts, or recommendations you may have.
Also, I’m currently 273 pounds at 6ft. with about 18% bodyfat. Do you think it would be beneficial for me shed some fat and raise my gpp levels before diving into this type of trainig full time or will the event training take care of that for me?
Thanks for everything Mike. [/quote]
Big,
Powerlifting will definitely help you in the Strongman game. That base level of strength is hard to replicate.
Being totally honest with you, my knowledge of actual strongman TRAINING isn’t up to part with some others who have actually competed and/or coached. From my reading and learning on the subject though, one thing that you definitely need is improved single-leg strength. Very few of the events are done with both legs on the ground. Another big thing is shoulder strength…a lot of powerlifters have taken overhead pressing out of their regimes, and you need that strength if you want to be good at Strongman. Events like the log press, Fingle fingers, etc., all put a premium on shoulder strength. Lots of grip work will be necessary as well, but some PL’ers already incorporate a fair deal of this in their training.
Last, every strongman I have ever talked to that is successful has stated that their is no comparison to actually performing the events. You could be the strongest SOB in the world, but if you haven’t practiced the events, you aren’t going to be nearly as successful. Many are now only hitting the weights 2x per week and then training the competitive “exercises” 2x per week. Going along those same lines, it doesn’t sound like you are in bad shape right now, so I would use the competition events as your GPP/SPP training following your workouts to get into better shape and become more accustomed with the lifts.
I hope this helps. Keep us posted on your training!
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]MJC wrote:
Mike Robertson wrote:
MJC wrote:
hey Mike,
Ive got a q. about chest development. It seems that no matter what I do I can not put quality mass on my chest. It’s not tiny, but after 5 plus years of training, it should be a lot bigger. My shoulders and arms are quite large…I just can’t seem to get my chest to catch up! I’ve tried almost everything. And I can’t affors chiropractic work or deep tissue massage. Any suggestions. Thanks brother.
Chris
Chris,
What kind of program are you using? Sets/reps? Exercises? Without more info there’s no way I can answer this question. Let me know.
Stay strong
Mike
…I’ve just recently started a program similar to abbh working chest twice weekly performing dips on one day and then db presses on the other. My workouts are ussually similar to this style training working the chest twice weekly with out over doing it.
Before this recent program I rarley did dips for my chest and would do a lot of benching and incline and flat db pressing, and some flies here and there. As far as sets and reps are concerned, I would do anywhere from 5-10 sets and from 3-10 reps/set in a typical chest workout. I always strive to make chest my top priority and love to work it, but I’m just no where close to my goals. Thanks for your time.
Chris[/quote]
Chris,
Here are a few things you can try:
-
Incorporate some heavy declines. The lower torso angle puts a premium on chest/tricep strength.
-
It seems as though you are doing a fair job of periodizing your sets/reps, which is good. However, if this still isn’t working, maybe try something different still…5 sets of 12 with minimal rest time, etc. The key variables are all listed in my Program Design 101 article, so sift through that and mix-and-match until you find a solution.
-
This is from a totally different angle, but maybe try a few cycles where you are putting your back work first versus your chest work. The reason I say this is
A) Your chest could be overtrained…maybe it just needs some time off
B) Your body knows best…if your chest isn’t growing, perhaps it’s more of a protective mechanism…meaning your back/shoulder muscles aren’t up to snuff. I would reference Poliquin’s article where the guy couldn’t put any strength on his bench, so Chuck had him perform heavy external rotations. VOILA! His bench started going up without even benching!
-
I shouldn’t have to say this, but hopefully your nutrition/recovery are on point. If not, your body won’t grow
-
Take a week off or take out one of the chest days to allow for recovery. If you are always focusing on making your chest grow, again, you could be overtrained.
Hopefully one or all of these options will help you achieve your goals. Keep us posted!
Stay strong
Mike