Mike,
About 4 days ago when I was doing chins I began to feel a tightness in the lower part of my left arm, just below the elbow on the inside. It felt very tight the next day, anytime I flexed my biceps or triceps I could feel it. It got slightly better since last week, and today when I was lifting I could feel it a little during my ME board pressing and tricep extensions. What do you think it is? And what should I do about it? I was thinking about an ice cup rub later. Lemme know what you think. Thanks for the advice.
-Brad
Conor,
I would stay away from movements that cause pain, but it sounds like hamstring work is cool. Just stick with that until you get the flexibility issues ironed out and the knee healthy. Of course, upper body is in…lots of bench and curls! LOL
Stay strong
MR
[quote]ConorM wrote:
Am going to start a hardcore stretching routine, I am quite inflexible but never realised that bar pulling a muscle this could cause such problems with a seemingly unrelated bodypart!
Thank you for your help.
As per my original question, you recommend avoiding leg work altogether until the problem is sorted even though I can perform some movements with no problems? Just stick to upper body stuff?[/quote]
Thanks Mike!
That responce will help me convince a friend of mine to simplify his program.
Rolo
P.s. I like the Avatar, and what the hell, Mike should have a picture of a Mike as his avatar, even if it does scare me a bit
Here are just a few I’ve heard of/used:
-
Vertical jump - Take a baseline and if you are at it or above on a certain day, go ahead and train
-
Morning HR - If it’s way above baseline, take another day
-
Motivation - This is one of the best. If you feel motivated to train, get your ass in the gym and have a killer workout!
Maybe not the most sophisticated stuff, but most of us can’t measure hormones everyday!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]RobNZ wrote:
I posted this on the wrong thread so here goes again 
do you have any way to measure recovery for strength training besides just hitting the weights agin and seeing how it feels?
i am looking at ways to find my optimal frequency for strength training
thanks
Mike Robertson wrote:
My computer is having some sort of episode; shoot me a question and I’ll answer if it lets me!
Stay strong
MR
[/quote]
Brad,
Since you were doing chins, I would think you probably strained your biceps/brachialis. Can you get ART or deep tissue massage done on these areas? If it’s still swollen or inflammed, a cryocup would help blast some of that out as well. Let me know!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Navy00007 wrote:
Mike,
About 4 days ago when I was doing chins I began to feel a tightness in the lower part of my left arm, just below the elbow on the inside. It felt very tight the next day, anytime I flexed my biceps or triceps I could feel it. It got slightly better since last week, and today when I was lifting I could feel it a little during my ME board pressing and tricep extensions. What do you think it is? And what should I do about it? I was thinking about an ice cup rub later. Lemme know what you think. Thanks for the advice.
-Brad[/quote]
No problem bro, glad I could help.
Must admit, I’m a huge Scarface fan. Do you want me to put a pic of myself in as my Avatar? I thought only cool people like Dave Barr could do that… 
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Rololicious wrote:
Thanks Mike!
That responce will help me convince a friend of mine to simplify his program.
Rolo
P.s. I like the Avatar, and what the hell, Mike should have a picture of a Mike as his avatar, even if it does scare me a bit[/quote]
Mike,
Thanks for the advice. The area is not swollen or inflammed, it never really was. Just that tension near the elbow. Unfortunately I don’t know how to find an ART practitioner in my area. The phone book maybe? I don’t know what to look for. Are there any techniques I can do on my left arm using my right arm? Thanks again.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
Brad,
Since you were doing chins, I would think you probably strained your biceps/brachialis. Can you get ART or deep tissue massage done on these areas? If it’s still swollen or inflammed, a cryocup would help blast some of that out as well. Let me know!
Stay strong
MR
Navy00007 wrote:
Mike,
About 4 days ago when I was doing chins I began to feel a tightness in the lower part of my left arm, just below the elbow on the inside. It felt very tight the next day, anytime I flexed my biceps or triceps I could feel it. It got slightly better since last week, and today when I was lifting I could feel it a little during my ME board pressing and tricep extensions. What do you think it is? And what should I do about it? I was thinking about an ice cup rub later. Lemme know what you think. Thanks for the advice.
-Brad
[/quote]
Brad,
I would check out the ART website; www.activerelease.com to find a provider near you. Good luck!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Navy00007 wrote:
Mike,
Thanks for the advice. The area is not swollen or inflammed, it never really was. Just that tension near the elbow. Unfortunately I don’t know how to find an ART practitioner in my area. The phone book maybe? I don’t know what to look for. Are there any techniques I can do on my left arm using my right arm? Thanks again.
[/quote]
Mike,
I’ve enjoyed all your articles and a lot of your advice still underpins what I do in the gym daily.
I especially like the hip mobility stuff, it worked wonders for just about everything physical I do. Thanks.
Now, to the question: any suggestions for increasing ROM in hip rotation? When I turn my knees outward, the ROM is pretty poor. I mostly notice this doing the “fire hydrant” drills, in that I can’t lift the knee that far up and out. It tends to drop back in as I move the knee to hip level and beyond. I’ve noticed over the years in various martial arts and other stuff that when a stance calls for roughly 90 degrees of angle between my feet, I under-rotate my knees and over-rotate my feet to compensate.
Any tips or suggestions?
Thanks.
Hey all, I’ll be on tonight from 8-10 EST to answer any and all questions; I’ll answer flynnie’s then too!
Stay strong
MR
Oh yeah, so if you have questions for me but won’t be on tonight, leave 'em here and I’ll get them answered ASAP!
Stay strong
MR
Short biceps: Does it give any practical advantage in anything? I’ve thought about how weird it is of nature to give some people a non-optimal mechanics without a reason (although the bulk looks much cooler ;). Have there been done observation of if guys with short biceps should train differently?
Allso, do you live near enough Barr to pressure him to give out the new post-workout solution NOW already?
Mike, what size box do you recommend for your athletes? I used a 14.5" box today for my ME squats, and this felt like it was a bit too low. I’m 6’1 with a 31" inseam, and I know that alot of different factors come into play with box heights but could you give me a ballpark figure as to what box height would put me at parrell?
Also, how drastic to you make the pause on box squats? I have read all of the articles by Dave Tate, and he calls for one to “release the hip flexors” when you hit the box? I have seen some lifters that pause for a full second, and I have seen other just touch the box and begin the ascent. What is your take on this, and how exactly do you teach “releasing the hips”
Been meaning to ask this one for a while… I’m not sure if this will turn into a long term issue, as it hasn’t given me any problems what-so-ever, but I’m only 22 so what the hell do I know.
But here it is. My joints pop a lot, and I mean A LOT. If I’m walking, my ankles pop… if I do push-ups my wrists pop… military press, my shoulders pop. Same sounds as if I were cracking my knuckles, but I dont even feel it, just the sound of em popping. My ankles and wrists are the two main areas that his happens. My ankles pop about 50% of the time while I’m walking (but not while I’m running), and my wrists do it while I’m doing push-ups about 50% of the time, bench doesn’t do it at all for some reason.
So my question is this. Does this issue pose any long term problems, and is there a way to fix it? I’ve tried extra stretching on these areas and it doesn’t seem to help much, if at all.
-Alex
The only things short arms helps with is benching more Don’t think there’s ever been any scientific research re: the implications of having short biceps, though.
Now as far as that Barr character, I wish I had him close to me; I want to get those PWO recommendations as well. Out with it already, Canadian!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Imbrondir wrote:
Short biceps: Does it give any practical advantage in anything? I’ve thought about how weird it is of nature to give some people a non-optimal mechanics without a reason (although the bulk looks much cooler ;). Have there been done observation of if guys with short biceps should train differently?
Allso, do you live near enough Barr to pressure him to give out the new post-workout solution NOW already?[/quote]
Another one I forgot to ask in my orignal. When I was doing squats today a weight that was only about 80% of my max felt incredibly unheavy (pretty badk workout over all, actually), and I actually had trouble gettting to my box. For my warmups I did a giant set of db cleans, band pullthroughs and medball abs (3x30 with these), and some bench step overs? Is doing this much work before my workout too much. It felt like my abs had zero ability to support me.
Buckeye,
Totally depends on the lever length of the athlete (length of torso, legs, etc.). I would highly recommend you experiment with different box heights, putting more emphasis on the areas in which you are weakest.
The best way to describe releasing your hips is to do just that; relax the hips, while keeping everything else rock solid. It will take some practice, though. If you’re using it for starting strength purposes, I would make sure to pause for at least one second before coming up.
I, personally, don’t use box squats much in my programming any more. Basically, with my build and in the fed I compete in, there’s not a lot of use for them. I’m sure I’ll get some hate mail for saying this, but it’s just what I’ve found to be most effective for me.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Mike, what size box do you recommend for your athletes? I used a 14.5" box today for my ME squats, and this felt like it was a bit too low. I’m 6’1 with a 31" inseam, and I know that alot of different factors come into play with box heights but could you give me a ballpark figure as to what box height would put me at parrell?
Also, how drastic to you make the pause on box squats? I have read all of the articles by Dave Tate, and he calls for one to “release the hip flexors” when you hit the box? I have seen some lifters that pause for a full second, and I have seen other just touch the box and begin the ascent. What is your take on this, and how exactly do you teach “releasing the hips” [/quote]
Could be something as simple as gas moving around in the joint, up to something as serious as arthritic changes in the joints (although it would be really weird to have it happen in ALL your joints, BARRing some kind of inflammatory disease).
Not sure how much help I can really be here; have you ever had it checked out by a health care professional?
Stay strong
MR
[quote]aburke22 wrote:
Been meaning to ask this one for a while… I’m not sure if this will turn into a long term issue, as it hasn’t given me any problems what-so-ever, but I’m only 22 so what the hell do I know.
But here it is. My joints pop a lot, and I mean A LOT. If I’m walking, my ankles pop… if I do push-ups my wrists pop… military press, my shoulders pop. Same sounds as if I were cracking my knuckles, but I dont even feel it, just the sound of em popping. My ankles and wrists are the two main areas that his happens. My ankles pop about 50% of the time while I’m walking (but not while I’m running), and my wrists do it while I’m doing push-ups about 50% of the time, bench doesn’t do it at all for some reason.
So my question is this. Does this issue pose any long term problems, and is there a way to fix it? I’ve tried extra stretching on these areas and it doesn’t seem to help much, if at all.
-Alex[/quote]
Buckeye,
Sometimes we just have bad training days; if it’s one of those, shrug it off and move on.
But, you have to figure out if it “was just one of those days” or if it was something more. Are you overtrained? Have you been consistently feeling this way? Are you recovering well? These are things you need to ask yourself to figure out what exactly is going on.
I’m not the person to tell you if this is too much or not; to an elite sprinter this wouldn’t even get the blood flowing, but to a 400# powerlifter he might have a heart attack! I think you know better than anyone if this was too much; chances are if your abs felt like putty, you did too much. Learn from it and move on!
Stay strong
MR
[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Another one I forgot to ask in my orignal. When I was doing squats today a weight that was only about 80% of my max felt incredibly unheavy (pretty badk workout over all, actually), and I actually had trouble gettting to my box. For my warmups I did a giant set of db cleans, band pullthroughs and medball abs (3x30 with these), and some bench step overs? Is doing this much work before my workout too much. It felt like my abs had zero ability to support me. [/quote]
Mike, I’m interested in developing the VMO in the women I train. Any tips for how to develop it in them, i don’t really like the leg extension and we already do plenty of squats, maybe I’ll be daring and make them split squat