Frustrated Lately

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hey people. I don’t really know why I’m making this thread, other than the fact that TNation is the only group of people that would (hopefully) actually give a shit. So basically, when I started working out, I was decently strong, but I had the WORST mobility you will ever see, I’m willing to bet money on that. I couldn’t even do three of the four main lifts since, my shoulder, low back, pecs, neck, knees, ankles, and elbows would hurt too much. These came from imbalances from pitching, and a partially bulged disk in my back. Here is a copy and paste from my log from exactly 18 months ago.

Stats:
17 years old
5 feet 7
175lbs
Looking to get bigger

Current lifts (All lifts have been done; not from calculator)
Bench Press: NA , Floor Press: 225x2 , DB Bench Press: 95’sx4
Military Press: NA, DB Shoulder Press: 80’sx5
Deadlift: NA, Clean: 165x1
Squat: 300x2

After constantly hurting myself and living in pain, I sucked it up and basically did everything I could to regain normal mobility; massage, chiro, PT and all the expensive stuff, but I found that foam rolling, stretching for long periods of time everyday, and being conscious of my body at all times did the trick. Once I got the taste of relief, I kept doing it, and I will go so far as to say that I have now acquired an above average level of mobility. Here are the stats now:

Stats:
18 years old
5 feet 8
178lbs (went from 175 → 210 → 178)

Current lifts
Bench Press: 275x1 , Floor Press: 225x10 , DB Bench Press: 110’s x 5
Military Press: 180x1, DB Shoulder Press: 100’s x 3
Deadlift: 415x1, Clean: Dunno
Squat: 345x1, front squat 225x3

It finally seemed like I was on the right track. But a few weeks ago I was DL’ing and then I feel a pull in my hammie. I literally thought nothing of it since I felt fine the next few sets. The next day I woke up and I was in really bad pain. But it ultimately went away after a few days after extensive rolling and stretching and recovery. The next week I got food poisoning. This one was bad; it hurt like a mofo, but I ultimately considered it an inconvenience. All I could have for a solid week was salad and water. Finally this week I had readjusted to my old volume and intensity, when a couple days ago I was deadlifting and felt a pop in my back. Herniated disk. Now I walk funny and need 1600mg of ibuprofen a day. YAY!

Dunno, just had to rant a little. I know I’ll come back from this but everyone around me only asks why I do this when I get hurt, because they don’t understand that I’d probably go insane without it. Either way I’ve gotten injured enough times now to at least start to recover.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if it wasted your time.

2

Sorry to hear about your injuries man. That blows.

Have you checked out MobilityWOD? If not, go check it out, and thank me later lol.

Seriously though. Mobility, flexibility and ROM are without a doubt the most neglected aspects of the iron game for most lifters.

Good luck.

3

do you do any core activation stuff in your warm up?

Try this if you’re not doing it already:

shit works like fucking witchcraft man. I can get 6 inches more ROM in my hamstrings just by doing one set of bird dogs

4

Thanks for the sources guys. Will definitely incorporate them.

5

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:
Hey people. I don’t really know why I’m making this thread, other than the fact that TNation is the only group of people that would (hopefully) actually give a shit. So basically, when I started working out, I was decently strong, but I had the WORST mobility you will ever see, I’m willing to bet money on that. I couldn’t even do three of the four main lifts since, my shoulder, low back, pecs, neck, knees, ankles, and elbows would hurt too much. These came from imbalances from pitching, and a partially bulged disk in my back. Here is a copy and paste from my log from exactly 18 months ago.

Stats:
17 years old
5 feet 7
175lbs
Looking to get bigger

Current lifts (All lifts have been done; not from calculator)
Bench Press: NA , Floor Press: 225x2 , DB Bench Press: 95’sx4
Military Press: NA, DB Shoulder Press: 80’sx5
Deadlift: NA, Clean: 165x1
Squat: 300x2

After constantly hurting myself and living in pain, I sucked it up and basically did everything I could to regain normal mobility; massage, chiro, PT and all the expensive stuff, but I found that foam rolling, stretching for long periods of time everyday, and being conscious of my body at all times did the trick. Once I got the taste of relief, I kept doing it, and I will go so far as to say that I have now acquired an above average level of mobility. Here are the stats now:

Stats:
18 years old
5 feet 8
178lbs (went from 175 → 210 → 178)

Current lifts
Bench Press: 275x1 , Floor Press: 225x10 , DB Bench Press: 110’s x 5
Military Press: 180x1, DB Shoulder Press: 100’s x 3
Deadlift: 415x1, Clean: Dunno
Squat: 345x1, front squat 225x3

It finally seemed like I was on the right track. But a few weeks ago I was DL’ing and then I feel a pull in my hammie. I literally thought nothing of it since I felt fine the next few sets. The next day I woke up and I was in really bad pain. But it ultimately went away after a few days after extensive rolling and stretching and recovery. The next week I got food poisoning. This one was bad; it hurt like a mofo, but I ultimately considered it an inconvenience. All I could have for a solid week was salad and water. Finally this week I had readjusted to my old volume and intensity, when a couple days ago I was deadlifting and felt a pop in my back. Herniated disk. Now I walk funny and need 1600mg of ibuprofen a day. YAY!

Dunno, just had to rant a little. I know I’ll come back from this but everyone around me only asks why I do this when I get hurt, because they don’t understand that I’d probably go insane without it. Either way I’ve gotten injured enough times now to at least start to recover.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if it wasted your time.
[/quote]
That sucks. I strained my back rack pulling with perfect form and light weight. I actually had my spine pulled out of alignment (it has been popping itself back into place and I can actually bend my back some without feeling like someone was trying to rip out my spine). Oh, that was the same day of the week as when I got a nasty stomach virus and had to force feed myself for around five days and I had only gotten better for a couple of days.

6

I know what you mean, sometimes things don’t align the way they should (no pun intended).

7

Life goes on. Learn to lift smarter not harder. This past year was a huge ego check for me in the gym, but after 2 years which i now refer to as ‘the lost years’ in my lifting career(ill explain) i am injury and most importantly pain free for over a year(thank you John Meadows).

Started 2010 with a torn pec. 6 months later I tore it again. Developed damage in my elbow joint so bad i couldnt even do a pullup without blinding pain. Started 2011 ‘fresh’ made it until april before seperating my shoulder in a pick up game. After my rehab 3rd week back into the gym i partially tore my lat. Got fed up and ‘quit’ the gym for abotu 6 months. Came back and strained my chest on the 4rth workout. Dont remember where in the timeline this happened but i fucked up my hamstring to the point where i couldnt walk for longer than a month without a limp and had to do 2 months of phyiscal theropy. Still have no idea how i hurt it, my ego wont accept the answer they gave me(non stress related injury due to muscle imbalace with quad).

I got back into the gym last year after a few months ‘active rest’, with the new goal of go 1 full year without injury. Yes, that was my number one goal and still is for this year.

Life goes on, learn to lift smarter not harder.

8

Hope you get a speedy recovery, that sounds incredibly painful and a lot worse to deal with than my current injuries. That food poisoning sounds like it was just bad luck, as for the other’s I’d say try and be a bit more aware of your form when lifting heavy to avoid injuries.

It’s funny you say that though Waittz, about trying to lift injury free for one year as I had the same goal. I could deal with the plantar faciitis but this Golfer’s Elbow really fucks up ALL upper body lifting for me. Can’t even backsquat because of the angle of the elbow. The rehab is pretty slow and for the past month I’ve honestly not been feeling like myself working out in the gym.

Lifting smarter is easier said than done, but I think it’s very important if you’re in this for the long run. I swear though, the more progress I seem to make in the gym, the more injuries seem to happen. It’s like I cant find the balance between top gear and staying stuck in neutral.

9

fuck… im never deadlifting again

in my life

10

Just keep squatting and DL OP, im sure its just your form…

11

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just keep squatting and DL OP, im sure its just your form…[/quote]

Oh I’m sure it was.

A lot of people have said front squats are better for the quads, so I’ll give those a try again.

12

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
fuck… im never deadlifting again

in my life[/quote]

Lol, because a 17 year old hurt himself? That’s a really reasonable decision.

OP, ignore Walkway: he thinks that anyone lifting over 200lbs on anything is out of his or her mind.

You’re 17. Start with that: compared to most of us, you’re way ahead of the game.

Considering either hiring a coach or training with some more experienced people if you can. One problem that is frequently seen with men in general is that we all think we were born with the knowledge of how to do these lifts (we were not).

You’ve hopefully got a long road ahead of you in all this, so as some earlier posters have said, train smart and carefully. Make sure you’re on a program that works for you and see whether you can get a coach/mentor of some kind that can help you along the way.

Good luck.

13

Well first thing first… you made a lot of progress in areas that are hard to improve upon. But mostly you showed that when you have your mind set on something you will do whatever it takes to reach that goal and that speaks volume about your mental fortitude.

It obviously sucks that you got injured, it’s never fun. I know because I locked my SI joint last year and it took about two months to be back to normal. And the worst thing is that crap like that always seems to happen when everything is going great.

That having been said, and considering what I said above, I know that you will be able to be back soon. You showed the resolve earlier in your lifting career to do what it takes to be better. You are 18… while it’s never fun to get injured, you have your whole life to progress!

Vassily Alexeyev (the superheavyweight olympic lifter from the 70s that set 81 world records) once said that most athletes need one big injury to become great. The injury makes you realize how much you love training and it also forces you to adapt your training to make it safer and more effective.

As for the deadlift… were you using an alternate grip? The alternate grip tends to make you lift the weight with a slight torso rotation… it is not very noticeable unless you have an expert eye, but it does often happen and over time, especially with fairly heavy weights, it can cause disk damage. I would say that your pitching mechanics, which are engrained in you, probably led you to twist even more if you used the alternate grip.

14

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Well first thing first… you made a lot of progress in areas that are hard to improve upon. But mostly you showed that when you have your mind set on something you will do whatever it takes to reach that goal and that speaks volume about your mental fortitude.

It obviously sucks that you got injured, it’s never fun. I know because I locked my SI joint last year and it took about two months to be back to normal. And the worst thing is that crap like that always seems to happen when everything is going great.

That having been said, and considering what I said above, I know that you will be able to be back soon. You showed the resolve earlier in your lifting career to do what it takes to be better. You are 18… while it’s never fun to get injured, you have your whole life to progress!

Vassily Alexeyev (the superheavyweight olympic lifter from the 70s that set 81 world records) once said that most athletes need one big injury to become great. The injury makes you realize how much you love training and it also forces you to adapt your training to make it safer and more effective.

As for the deadlift… were you using an alternate grip? The alternate grip tends to make you lift the weight with a slight torso rotation… it is not very noticeable unless you have an expert eye, but it does often happen and over time, especially with fairly heavy weights, it can cause disk damage. I would say that your pitching mechanics, which are engrained in you, probably led you to twist even more if you used the alternate grip. [/quote]

Correct. As soon as it happened I literally immediately thought out in my head how I’m going to rehab it. Since I’ve been injured like this before, my recovery is markedly faster than the first few times. I’m back in the gym; I’ve been doing what I can. As for the dead lifts, I’ve never lifted with the over under grip.

15

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
Lol, because a 17 year old hurt himself? That’s a really reasonable decision.

OP, ignore Walkway: he thinks that anyone lifting over 200lbs on anything is out of his or her mind.

[/quote]

lmao, ok now i have to ask… do you have to try to be an idiot? or does it just come naturally? here you are, once again… putting fucking words in my mouth and then talking shit like a little fuckwit.

when the actual fuck did i ever say anything close to, “anyone lifting over 200lbs on anything is out of his or her mind.”

and for what it’s worth… rack pulls are better for building mass on your back AND are way safer.

if i were you, id read more and write less.

dipshit.

16

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just keep squatting and DL OP, im sure its just your form…[/quote]

Oh I’m sure it was.

A lot of people have said front squats are better for the quads, so I’ll give those a try again. [/quote]

Wait wut…

17

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:
Hey people. I don’t really know why I’m making this thread, other than the fact that TNation is the only group of people that would (hopefully) actually give a shit. So basically, when I started working out, I was decently strong, but I had the WORST mobility you will ever see, I’m willing to bet money on that. I couldn’t even do three of the four main lifts since, my shoulder, low back, pecs, neck, knees, ankles, and elbows would hurt too much. These came from imbalances from pitching, and a partially bulged disk in my back. Here is a copy and paste from my log from exactly 18 months ago.

Stats:
17 years old
5 feet 7
175lbs
Looking to get bigger

Current lifts (All lifts have been done; not from calculator)
Bench Press: NA , Floor Press: 225x2 , DB Bench Press: 95’sx4
Military Press: NA, DB Shoulder Press: 80’sx5
Deadlift: NA, Clean: 165x1
Squat: 300x2

After constantly hurting myself and living in pain, I sucked it up and basically did everything I could to regain normal mobility; massage, chiro, PT and all the expensive stuff, but I found that foam rolling, stretching for long periods of time everyday, and being conscious of my body at all times did the trick. Once I got the taste of relief, I kept doing it, and I will go so far as to say that I have now acquired an above average level of mobility. Here are the stats now:

Stats:
18 years old
5 feet 8
178lbs (went from 175 → 210 → 178)

Current lifts
Bench Press: 275x1 , Floor Press: 225x10 , DB Bench Press: 110’s x 5
Military Press: 180x1, DB Shoulder Press: 100’s x 3
Deadlift: 415x1, Clean: Dunno
Squat: 345x1, front squat 225x3

It finally seemed like I was on the right track. But a few weeks ago I was DL’ing and then I feel a pull in my hammie. I literally thought nothing of it since I felt fine the next few sets. The next day I woke up and I was in really bad pain. But it ultimately went away after a few days after extensive rolling and stretching and recovery. The next week I got food poisoning. This one was bad; it hurt like a mofo, but I ultimately considered it an inconvenience. All I could have for a solid week was salad and water. Finally this week I had readjusted to my old volume and intensity, when a couple days ago I was deadlifting and felt a pop in my back. Herniated disk. Now I walk funny and need 1600mg of ibuprofen a day. YAY!

Dunno, just had to rant a little. I know I’ll come back from this but everyone around me only asks why I do this when I get hurt, because they don’t understand that I’d probably go insane without it. Either way I’ve gotten injured enough times now to at least start to recover.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if it wasted your time.
[/quote]

Even if you had not herniated your disc a few days ago, the bulging disc (now herniated) made certain exercises high-risk. Obviously, this comes across as monday-morning quarterbacking on my part but hear me out…

Like it or not, you will have to be even more cautious in exercise selection and programming moving forward. I strongly suggest you incorporate some uni-lateral movements into your program. This will have several benefits, including:

  1. mitigate or perhaps resolve the imbalance created from the pitching background

  2. give you gym time while deloading the lumbar spine (I presume this is where the herniated disc is)

  3. allow you to continue to make progress in your goals

Others have mentioned mobility drills and I do not disagree. A common misconception I see, hear, and read often, is that mobility work be directly followed by heavy bi-lateral work. This can work for the healthy population.

I propose something different for you. Perform the mobility drills then incorporate unilateral lifting. This will teach your body to learn to actually apply the new-found mobility into anaerobic work. As you progress and become more efficient, feel free to go directly from mobility drills to bi-lateral work.

For the time being, you should consider the following sequence:general warmup → mobility drills → unilateral work → light bilateral work. For the light bilateral work, the weight is light enough where you can really develop proper mmc but somewhat challenging and not trivial. Just exactly where on this spectrum the weight should be, on any given session, will depend on several factors such as how you feel, how much sleep you got, etc. The important thing is to NEVER EVER force the issue. Those barbells, dumbbells, cables, and bands will be there the next day.

As your health and skills improve, you can progress to: general warm up → mobility work → unilateral work → bilateral work (with more challenging loads but with a close eye on the big picture - which is to NOT re-injure yourself or create new injuries).

If you cannot afford a highly experienced coach, you can try to post daily logs and get some feedback.

Do not get suckered in by some of the articles and posters on this or any other site. Every time you step into the gym, it is your body you are gambling with. Hedge the odds in your favor.

18

[quote]optheta wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just keep squatting and DL OP, im sure its just your form…[/quote]

Oh I’m sure it was.

A lot of people have said front squats are better for the quads, so I’ll give those a try again. [/quote]

Wait wut…[/quote]

Lol I wasn’t clear. I agree with you.

In addition to squatting and deadlifting, I shall try front squatting, as learning the lift would put less load on the spine for those days when my back hurts.

19

[quote]56x11 wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:
Hey people. I don’t really know why I’m making this thread, other than the fact that TNation is the only group of people that would (hopefully) actually give a shit. So basically, when I started working out, I was decently strong, but I had the WORST mobility you will ever see, I’m willing to bet money on that. I couldn’t even do three of the four main lifts since, my shoulder, low back, pecs, neck, knees, ankles, and elbows would hurt too much. These came from imbalances from pitching, and a partially bulged disk in my back. Here is a copy and paste from my log from exactly 18 months ago.

Stats:
17 years old
5 feet 7
175lbs
Looking to get bigger

Current lifts (All lifts have been done; not from calculator)
Bench Press: NA , Floor Press: 225x2 , DB Bench Press: 95’sx4
Military Press: NA, DB Shoulder Press: 80’sx5
Deadlift: NA, Clean: 165x1
Squat: 300x2

After constantly hurting myself and living in pain, I sucked it up and basically did everything I could to regain normal mobility; massage, chiro, PT and all the expensive stuff, but I found that foam rolling, stretching for long periods of time everyday, and being conscious of my body at all times did the trick. Once I got the taste of relief, I kept doing it, and I will go so far as to say that I have now acquired an above average level of mobility. Here are the stats now:

Stats:
18 years old
5 feet 8
178lbs (went from 175 → 210 → 178)

Current lifts
Bench Press: 275x1 , Floor Press: 225x10 , DB Bench Press: 110’s x 5
Military Press: 180x1, DB Shoulder Press: 100’s x 3
Deadlift: 415x1, Clean: Dunno
Squat: 345x1, front squat 225x3

It finally seemed like I was on the right track. But a few weeks ago I was DL’ing and then I feel a pull in my hammie. I literally thought nothing of it since I felt fine the next few sets. The next day I woke up and I was in really bad pain. But it ultimately went away after a few days after extensive rolling and stretching and recovery. The next week I got food poisoning. This one was bad; it hurt like a mofo, but I ultimately considered it an inconvenience. All I could have for a solid week was salad and water. Finally this week I had readjusted to my old volume and intensity, when a couple days ago I was deadlifting and felt a pop in my back. Herniated disk. Now I walk funny and need 1600mg of ibuprofen a day. YAY!

Dunno, just had to rant a little. I know I’ll come back from this but everyone around me only asks why I do this when I get hurt, because they don’t understand that I’d probably go insane without it. Either way I’ve gotten injured enough times now to at least start to recover.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if it wasted your time.
[/quote]

Even if you had not herniated your disc a few days ago, the bulging disc (now herniated) made certain exercises high-risk. Obviously, this comes across as monday-morning quarterbacking on my part but hear me out…

Like it or not, you will have to be even more cautious in exercise selection and programming moving forward. I strongly suggest you incorporate some uni-lateral movements into your program. This will have several benefits, including:

  1. mitigate or perhaps resolve the imbalance created from the pitching background

  2. give you gym time while deloading the lumbar spine (I presume this is where the herniated disc is)

  3. allow you to continue to make progress in your goals

Others have mentioned mobility drills and I do not disagree. A common misconception I see, hear, and read often, is that mobility work be directly followed by heavy bi-lateral work. This can work for the healthy population.

I propose something different for you. Perform the mobility drills then incorporate unilateral lifting. This will teach your body to learn to actually apply the new-found mobility into anaerobic work. As you progress and become more efficient, feel free to go directly from mobility drills to bi-lateral work.

For the time being, you should consider the following sequence:general warmup → mobility drills → unilateral work → light bilateral work. For the light bilateral work, the weight is light enough where you can really develop proper mmc but somewhat challenging and not trivial. Just exactly where on this spectrum the weight should be, on any given session, will depend on several factors such as how you feel, how much sleep you got, etc. The important thing is to NEVER EVER force the issue. Those barbells, dumbbells, cables, and bands will be there the next day.

As your health and skills improve, you can progress to: general warm up → mobility work → unilateral work → bilateral work (with more challenging loads but with a close eye on the big picture - which is to NOT re-injure yourself or create new injuries).

If you cannot afford a highly experienced coach, you can try to post daily logs and get some feedback.

Do not get suckered in by some of the articles and posters on this or any other site. Every time you step into the gym, it is your body you are gambling with. Hedge the odds in your favor.[/quote]

I appreciate the well thought out post. Right now I’m actually doing something like this: General warmup → Mobility work that is highly integrated with unilateral work (lunges, bulgarian split squats, stepups, etc.) → Bi-lateral.

I have on this site (IFlashback’s log). Cheers

20

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just keep squatting and DL OP, im sure its just your form…[/quote]

Oh I’m sure it was.

A lot of people have said front squats are better for the quads, so I’ll give those a try again. [/quote]

Wait wut…[/quote]

Lol I wasn’t clear. I agree with you.

In addition to squatting and deadlifting, I shall try front squatting, as learning the lift would put less load on the spine for those days when my back hurts. [/quote]

I was being sarcastic…

Clearly Squatting & DLing have not worked out for you and you being 17 years old, and the fact that a major part of BBing is longevity maybe you should stop doing those 2 movements…