As always, thank you for the reply stu! Even tho Monday’s leg day I’m going to give your version a test run. I’m just so excited about this movement for some reason lol, these plus those scap retractions have me itching for back and shoulder days to come around!
Just figured I’d mention here as a little FYI 
When I first got into serious training, and later competing, I sought out all seminars, lectures etc that I felt would be of any value to my own progress, and later on to helping others. If I came away with just one gem, then I considered the experience/expense worthwhile.
March 28th, ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition) will be hosting an all day conference at Rutgers University in NJ on Human Performance. The schedule, topics and speakers can be found here: About Us at the ISSN
If anything, it should be a great opportunity for a little networking, and of course taking away ideas and approaches that you may not have considered.
So I’ll be making a Meathead-Roadtrip with my 2 buddies that I’m planning a local seminar with later in April, so hopefully there will be some share-able moments my fellow gym-rats will appreciate -lol.
If anyone else is planning on attending, lemme know so we can touch base!
s
Just thinking the other day that it might be useful to rattle off some of the rehab/shoulder stabilization exercises I’ve been using lately.
I don’t have time to search for videos (my wife and I are mid-move and things have been seriously rough with the weather this past week), but I’m sure they’re google-able.
A few of the ones I’ve actually liked and will keep to ensure everything feels as tight as it possibly can after this whole post-surgery experience:
-Renegade Rows (you’ve probably seen weekend warriors or guys peddling DVDs doing these)
-Cheerleaders (with a resistance band)
-Y,T,W’'s (but instead of the laying prone with DBs, standing and utilizing resistance bands off a stable wall mount)
-Balancing with my feet on a table, but my hands on a swiss ball as someone smacks the ball from different sides
And from my previous rehab, I always loved doing flat BB bench, but with kettlebells suspended from the ends of the bar with resistance bands. This provides some serious swining and general instability as you press, and so the smaller muscles that stabilize your shoulder really get called into play.
There are plenty more (my brother keeps a serious rotation, and to be honest, I’m seriously surprised at some of the crazy stuff he comes up with!), but at the moment, I think these give a good idea of what I’ve found particularly useful.
S
Hi Stu. Sounds like the shoulder rehab is coming along. Moving while juggling adorable baby, not easy. Good luck with that!
Hey I have a question for you, since you’ve trained Cat and other chicks. In your experience, how much muscle do you think a woman can gain over a period of a couple of years? Natural and not newbie gains, but I’m trying to figure out what’s reasonable in myself over the past two years. After lifting for about 2.5 years, I did a cut in Dec of 2012 when I was 43, and took my weight down to 107. So, now this is two years later. I’m 45 and I feel like I look nearly as lean at 113. I’m thinking of going to 110, and hoping I don’t need to get any lower than that. Not doing a contest, just want to see some pretty reasonable definition up through my quads. At my age, and since I’ve been at this for a few years, I’m thinking I can’t have gained more than a couple of pounds of muscle. Does that make sense? I’d appreciate your thoughts. It’s hard to know if I’m being objective about my current level of leanness. Kind of wish I’d done a BodPod then and now just to have another measure. Thanks, Stu!
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Hey I have a question for you, since you’ve trained Cat and other chicks. In your experience, how much muscle do you think a woman can gain over a period of a couple of years? Natural and not newbie gains, but I’m trying to figure out what’s reasonable in myself over the past two years. After lifting for about 2.5 years, I did a cut in Dec of 2012 when I was 43, and took my weight down to 107. So, now this is two years later. I’m 45 and I feel like I look nearly as lean at 113. I’m thinking of going to 110, and hoping I don’t need to get any lower than that. Not doing a contest, just want to see some pretty reasonable definition up through my quads. At my age, and since I’ve been at this for a few years, I’m thinking I can’t have gained more than a couple of pounds of muscle. Does that make sense? I’d appreciate your thoughts. It’s hard to know if I’m being objective about my current level of leanness. Kind of wish I’d done a BodPod then and now just to have another measure. Thanks, Stu!
[/quote]
Heya Puff,
I know some people get angry when I say this, but after a while, male or female, you’re really only gonna put a few lbs of muscle on each year, even if you do everything correctly. I used to point out that every year I got on stage, I was only 2-3 lbs heavier, and yes, with better conditioning, but even that pace (unimpressive as it may sound in terms of #s) it wouldn’t have kept up indefinitely.
One of my female clients that I’ve been working with for 2 years now, has totally improved her physique with each outting, but to be honest, each successive show, her stage weight was lower. That’s not to say that she didn’t gain muscle, in fact, she didn’t do back to back shows, digging deeper for the 2nd one like so many people do. But the plan is always to aim for the same weight as the year before, but actually have more lbm in the process (and usually deal with a tougher fight getting that # to show on the scale).
With the weights you mentioned, you’re talking about a 6 lb difference now, from your 2012 cut. Unless I’m mistaken, I don’t recall you having amazonian proportions. On a smaller statured woman, 6 lbs is a huge difference. Heck, even if you get to 110, that’s a 3 lb difference. Now, I don’t know exactly how lean you looked at 107, but 3 lbs when you’re already very lean can make a physique look very very different.
Things you can’t really help though, like I know you’ve probably thought about, is the fact that humans tend to lose muscle as they age. Resistance training can definitely play a major role in preventing this to some degree, but all else being equal, there’s a chance you might need to weigh less than 107 in order to reproduce the same levels of conditioning.
I know that’s not an exact # answer to your question, but so many things are in flux, especially as we get older. THat’s not saying that you’re not building muscle now, but in different levels of leanness (going by mirror, clothing etc), it’s not easy to compare and assess lbm gains.
If you’d like me to look over particulars, I know you already found me on Social Media -lol.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Hey I have a question for you, since you’ve trained Cat and other chicks. In your experience, how much muscle do you think a woman can gain over a period of a couple of years? Natural and not newbie gains, but I’m trying to figure out what’s reasonable in myself over the past two years. After lifting for about 2.5 years, I did a cut in Dec of 2012 when I was 43, and took my weight down to 107. So, now this is two years later. I’m 45 and I feel like I look nearly as lean at 113. I’m thinking of going to 110, and hoping I don’t need to get any lower than that. Not doing a contest, just want to see some pretty reasonable definition up through my quads. At my age, and since I’ve been at this for a few years, I’m thinking I can’t have gained more than a couple of pounds of muscle. Does that make sense? I’d appreciate your thoughts. It’s hard to know if I’m being objective about my current level of leanness. Kind of wish I’d done a BodPod then and now just to have another measure. Thanks, Stu!
[/quote]
Heya Puff,
I know some people get angry when I say this, but after a while, male or female, you’re really only gonna put a few lbs of muscle on each year, even if you do everything correctly. I used to point out that every year I got on stage, I was only 2-3 lbs heavier, and yes, with better conditioning, but even that pace (unimpressive as it may sound in terms of #s) it wouldn’t have kept up indefinitely.
One of my female clients that I’ve been working with for 2 years now, has totally improved her physique with each outting, but to be honest, each successive show, her stage weight was lower. That’s not to say that she didn’t gain muscle, in fact, she didn’t do back to back shows, digging deeper for the 2nd one like so many people do. But the plan is always to aim for the same weight as the year before, but actually have more lbm in the process (and usually deal with a tougher fight getting that # to show on the scale).
With the weights you mentioned, you’re talking about a 6 lb difference now, from your 2012 cut. Unless I’m mistaken, I don’t recall you having amazonian proportions. On a smaller statured woman, 6 lbs is a huge difference. Heck, even if you get to 110, that’s a 3 lb difference. Now, I don’t know exactly how lean you looked at 107, but 3 lbs when you’re already very lean can make a physique look very very different.
Things you can’t really help though, like I know you’ve probably thought about, is the fact that humans tend to lose muscle as they age. Resistance training can definitely play a major role in preventing this to some degree, but all else being equal, there’s a chance you might need to weigh less than 107 in order to reproduce the same levels of conditioning.
I know that’s not an exact # answer to your question, but so many things are in flux, especially as we get older. THat’s not saying that you’re not building muscle now, but in different levels of leanness (going by mirror, clothing etc), it’s not easy to compare and assess lbm gains.
If you’d like me to look over particulars, I know you already found me on Social Media -lol.
S[/quote]
Thanks for the feedback, Stu. Sometimes it’s hard to be objective about where we are with progress over time. I remembered that gains in lbm become really slow even in men, so I was thinking it was unlikely I’d be able to put on much over two years. Which is fine, really. I’m pretty happy with my current level of muscle and overall fitness. I’m going to see how 110 looks and go from there. I started this at 118 so yeah, 8 lbs is like 20 on some of you guys. HA!!
Since I’m not doing a comp, this is more about personal preferences and just challenging myself anyway. Appreciate your thoughts! I did shoot you a message on FB, BTW.
edited
Great points Stu,
I’m reminded of Skip LaCour, who over his entire competitive career averaged a 1 pound a year gain, albeit with some fluctuations, but he started at 200 and ended up 216 15 years later. He had some heavier years in the middle, but he attributes that to not being as lean and his sodium protocol being out of order those years.
… So 1 pound a year gain. And thats assuming he is natural, if you want to declare that he is actually on drugs it puts it into perspective even more.
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Great points Stu,
I’m reminded of Skip LaCour, who over his entire competitive career averaged a 1 pound a year gain, albeit with some fluctuations, but he started at 200 and ended up 216 15 years later. He had some heavier years in the middle, but he attributes that to not being as lean and his sodium protocol being out of order those years.
… So 1 pound a year gain. And thats assuming he is natural, if you want to declare that he is actually on drugs it puts it into perspective even more.[/quote]
Wow. Way to bring me down, Lonnie. 
Seriously, thanks for your response. I’m not discouraged, but it does put it in perspective. You do see muscle look harder, or “more mature” for lack of a better word, over time. And I swear my delts look better now.
I gotta be honest… It is kinda depressing sometimes ;-(
haha, not really… But boy it feels like spinning your wheels at times. You really do have to shift into a yearly measurement cycle after a while like Stu had mentioned with his yearly Contest Prep weights.
So much of the culture has been highlighted with genetically gifted athletes and those that choose to use drugs that there is an expectation of a certain amount of results (why dont I look like Arnold yet!?!?!). When they dont come, and come fast, its discouraging. I think its good to keep it in perspective some times.
Such a sobering realization huh? -lol
It’s funny, but I look back to when I was so driven to see my scale weight hit 200, then 210, then close, so close to 220, BUT, my actual muscular measurements weren’t close to what they would grow to once I put in more time under the bar, learned more about nutrition, and most importantly, understood that girth and scale weight doesn’t always equate to muscles no matter how much we may try to convince ourselves.
Each successive year of my compeittive run, my walking arount weight went down, my contest weigh went up, and quite easily visible, my muscle mass improved. Building an impressive physique isn’t always only about trying to just take up more space in clothing,
Puff- IMO, the mirror (and how your clothing fits) is infinitelty more accurate in letting you know what’s going on than any scale or measure of bf%. Sure there are health benefits associated with the pursuit we all love and share, but it’s a visual result we’re usually after, and as such, we should use a visual means of assessment when we can.
S
^ All true Stu and Lonnie. An yeah, besides being healthy and being able to lift my daughter everyday without a problem, the real motivator is about aesthetics. Trying to age like a fine wine here. Men can pull of the chiseled face a lot better than most women. At my age, I don’t want to lean out my thighs but be really gaunt and look older in the face. You can’t have everything. I 'm always pretty happy when my skinniest jeans and pencils skirts fit well. That’s usually the best indicator.
I’ll probably post this in its own thread eventually, but I figure enough people read this one even when there are no new replies, so I’ll just be a bit redundant
It’s been about a year since my last seminar, and while my past ones have always gone very well, I decided to really step things up and invite a couple of individuals with different backgrounds and areas of specialization than my own to really round things out, and ideally draw attendees with more varied goals and pursuits.
Spread the word, and by all means, if any T-Folks plan on attending, shoot me an email and lemme know!
S
1 Like
Wow. Doing that for $20/$30 per person? I know people who would pay hundreds for that level of instruction. Great stuff.
Stu, Cool to hear about that seminar. Move it out to Palm Springs, Ca and I’ll sign right up
By the way… How is training going these days? Hows the shoulders? Hows the physique holding up after all these issues?
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Wow. Doing that for $20/$30 per person? I know people who would pay hundreds for that level of instruction. Great stuff.[/quote]
lol, thanks AG. We’re not really trying to make a bunch of scratch off of this one, just cover expenses, and ideally attract a larger audience for future services (where the steady $ comes from).
Each year I’m more surprised by how many people seem to know who I am, and this is without being some social media zealot. So with the new addition of our son this past October (5 1/2 months now!), I’ve certainly put a bit more effort into ensuring I have a full client list as opposed to being just as content if I had 8, or if I had 15 (this is in addition to my 9-5 job of course!)
Lonnie- I promise if we end up on the West Coast, I’ll make sure to give you a heads up! I know you’ve already got your own little self made “book o’ Stu’s training and nutrition Wisdom”, not to mention a little customization of your home gym (wink wink) that I don’t do for just anyone.
Seriously though, the training is as good as it can be this far out. I know full well it won’t be until a year after that things can be viewable as “this is as good as it’s gonna get.”
I’m still very limited with chest stuff (I can do half ROM pushups, but no stretching the shoulder girdle yet), and I haven’t tried overhead pressing, but lemme tell ya, that first day doing laterals, nice and slow, with 10 pounders,… it was glorious!! -lol
You know brother, it’s all one day at a time. I’m lucky with the kid, that I can bounce him and lift him up in the air, and the fact that I can still push fairly hard with back work, and even arms a few times each week still lets me feel good n’ toasty the day after.
Having the coach/judge side of me take a bigger piece than the competitor side just seems a natural progression I guess. Sure I didn’t think it would happen because of a pre-disposed injury no one was expecting, but it was bound to happen eventually.
In the meantime, I’ll just be thankful that things are going as well as they are. I was just asked if I wanted to head judge a show (yikes! I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet, don’t view myself in the same light as those who I think of as head judges), and have had other coaches tell me that either they’re bringing their own clients to my seminar, or ask me to be on podcasts… it’s just very cool to step back and take a look at where I am and where I started.
Despite the bum shoulders, I’m feeling pretty darned grateful
S
1 Like
Thats great to hear man. You are smart and will do it right I’m sure.
congrats on all the recognition you have earned, that must mean a great deal.
I don’t have the best pics yet (gimme a few days -lol) but I wanted to share that one of my clients, in his first ever contest (and a warm-up for the real intended show in June!) won his Wnbf Pro Card last night.
It’s such a weird situation because we were coming in so slowly, and I was constantly telling him how we’re not pushing hard because I don’t wanna risk losing any lbm en route to the highly competitive June show.
The guy who took 2nd to him in Bodybuilding actually won the Physique, so we realized at the post contest victory dinner, that had he entered Physique as well, he would have won Juniors (under 24), Open Bodybuilding, and Physique.
S
Stu
Thoughts on this?
Good to see this thread still going!
[quote]facko wrote:
Good to see this thread still going![/quote]
Blast from the past.