Hello,
in your ‘Some Shoulder Girdle Building Tips’-Livespill you’re talking about the importance of traps/rhomboids/external rotators when it comes to any pressing exercise/performance(e.g. bench press, military press etc). Why are those muscles so important? What kind of exercises do you suggest to improve those muscles? Would you suggest lower rep range or higher rep range or anything in between? Thanks and great work by the way! 
but can i like not train my legs, cause i play soccer almost everyday, burning my legs already, so i was thinking i can put legs aside for awhile. possible?
Coach,
When using the power clean high pull, how are you gauging when to stop ramping?
If anyone else has an opinion on the subject, please chime in
Ad B
SCAPULA MYSTERY
Hey coach,
After my first shoulder surgery last August, followed by low grade therapy, dozens of chiropractor vistis and hours of my own research, I am officially stumped and out of resources and affordable help.
I have long suspected the last year of my left shoulder pain is due to a weak/unstable left scapula. I have done countless tests, stretches, rest periods, and received “expert” advice but nothing seems to help. My AC joint and rotator cuff surgery was successful but that exact same pain returned almost instantly when I was cleared for lifting again.
I’m afraid that (and this is what I told that doctor but he shruged it off, which btw I cant do on my left side) the shoulder injury is a result of a bad scapula. I am unable to pull it back and down and retract my left shoulder and it almost seems to slip upward while hanging from a pull-up bar as if it was not really connected to anything. Obviously this causes an enormous strain on my shoulder and my workouts have become VERY dialed down and spaced out becasue of this. Not sure how or when this scapula problem came to be, but I think it could be getting worse, whatever / however that can be.
ANYWAY, is there something I am just completely overlooking to help fix this? Or is this just the way I am put together and have to deal with having a funky scapula? Are real sports training experts (expensive) the next move? The scap itself does not hurt, however I can definitely tell it is “loose” and it is also visibly noticable when I move my shoulder up or down.
It is NOT scapula winging. I’ve done a ton of research and tests and experiments to see if this was the issue but winging is definitely not what this is. Thank you in advance for your advice and of course any and all other responses are greatly appriciated.
[quote]Hrastnik wrote:
Hey coach!
I’ve been lifting for quite some years now, but my progress doesn’t show that, which is my fault. I want to change that. I’ve done some oly lifting at the beginning of my strength training journey. I was squatting 4 times a week, and i ended up with big legs (no brainer).
See, my problem is my bone structure. I have really wide hips (right now they measure 43.3 inches), while my shoulders are really narrow (my chest size is 44.1 inches now). Oly lifting only accentuated that.
My other measurements:
arms/15.6 inches
waist/38 inches
thighs/ 26,8 inches
calves: 16,5 inches(never trained them)
As far as my lifts are concerned: i back squatted 355 pounds (which is awful if you consider the size of my legs), deadlifted 445 pounds, benched 285 pounds and military pressed 200 pounds-all at BW of around 220 pounds.
I have a problem sticking to any routine, but i have a reason for that. Even with little leg work my legs still grow more than my upper body. But i can’t just eliminate lowerbody lifting.
So my question is: what kind of a routine should i follow (just guidelines, i’m not expecting a whole program). Because i really wanna gain strength in my lower body, and i want more size on my upperbody.[/quote]
I have the exact same body measurements, but I weigh 210 and I’m a little weaker (except for on squats) and im 5 foot 7… I’d say just do HP Mass and eat cleanly. I’m on my 5th week of it and i love it. having 2 days in a row of OHP, Inclines, and flat bench while also doing a pressing movement on both of the leg days will definitely cause your shoulders and chest to get bigger…
Clean your diet up a bit also . I feel like people like us are strong for our LBM (excluding the fat) because we must neurologically adapt to the stress of lifting rather than have muscle mass increase from it. ( I just remember Thibs saying that when people jump between programs a lot they just have neurological adaptations and get fatter from eating a lot because they think they are bulking rather than putting on muscle mass because they only stayed with their routine for long enough to neurologically adapt. ) The increased volume and frequency of HP Mass while using heavy, but not ball-busting, weights and sticking to the program for the full length of time (at least 6 weeks) and then going through it again will definitely pack on some upper body mass… Also the neural charge portion of the training happens to supposedly increase muscles’ insulin sensitivity as well so your nutrition goes to your muscle and not adipose tissue…
Also go to John Meadows’ article on how he trains shoulders… it’s pretty recent. since I read that I’ve been blasting my rear delts like that after my second Upper Body Pressing day. (which I hope is a good idea)
Coach,
Ive been using your principles for a couple weeks now with great success and I just have a question.
1. On all lat and bicep work should their be a fast concentric portion or just worry about holding the contraction for a couple seconds?
“Pushing” muscles such as deltoids, triceps, pecs, and legs are meant to be trained for “performance” which means quick, explosive contractions. Lats and biceps, he states are more for supporting loads for longer periods of time without fast contractions. Therefore Thibs states to train them for fatigue loading and time under tension…
and watch the videos too
Thibs:
so AUTOREGULATION - is the king of all training methodologies. ever since HP mass i have never looked back. now adding things like clusters, ramping sets, chains, bands, eccentric-less obviously depends on where an someone is in their training.
Question: what other methods in training are extremely useful, in regards to gaining strength towards athlete performance?
[quote]rexdog2000 wrote:
“Pushing” muscles such as deltoids, triceps, pecs, and legs are meant to be trained for “performance” which means quick, explosive contractions. Lats and biceps, he states are more for supporting loads for longer periods of time without fast contractions. Therefore Thibs states to train them for fatigue loading and time under tension…
and watch the videos too[/quote]
thanks
Hey CT,
First, thanks for all the great advice. Forgive me if this has already been brought up but I was wondering what your feelings were when it comes to tire flips? Would they be a good option for eccentric-less work? If this was already covered please point me in the right direction.
Thanks
CT i’m following your basic push/pull split you posted in livespill. My main goal is to increase my deadlift and i’ve been using heavy singles but right now i was going to either switch out deadlifts for good mornings or RDL’s for volume work IE ramping sets of 3-5 for 2-3 sessions before i hit the heavy singles again. This general approach has worked very well for my bench press.
Anyhow, generally speaking what exercise to you feel would be better to improve my deadlift? I seem to be pretty strong off the floor.
Maybe i could even do rack pulls…
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Post your training questions here.[/quote]
Do we retain the same amount of muscle fibers when older, as we did when we’re young.
Hey Coach,
What kind of Olympic lifting shoes are you wearing in the videos of your new article, “6 Weeks to Sperhero”?
I’m in the market for a new pair and yours look pretty good.
Hey Coach, I noticed in the I,BODYBUILDER videos that you guys have fat handle dumbbells. I’ve searched all over the interenet and I can’t seem to find a company that is currently offering them (i contacted several by phone as well). Our gym is looking to upgrade and we would like to add them to our DB lineup…could you point me in the right direction?
Hello Christian,
For the last year or so, you have almost exclusively been advocating to minimize the eccentric part of movements. You have explained the logic behind it very clearly.
But for example Charles Poliquin is very frequently advocating pretty explosive concentric part and then rather long eccentric part of movements.
I’m not trying to start a debate which way is better, just would like to understand the differences. Are there in your opinion any pros of doing long eccentrics over short??
If it’s possible for you to, in a short way, explain the different approaches a bit, I would appreciate it a lot.
Thanks!!!
Quick question: Pros and cons of doing push presses behind the neck vs in front?
Behind the neck feels better on the shoulders and wrists for me, more stable.
Hey Thibs,
After a 6-week HP Mass cycle, do you test your 3RMs and then start another cycle?
How do you test your RMs? I was thinking of testing them on the Monday and Thursday of the 7th week and do neural charge workouts on the rest of the days. What do you reckon?
Cheers!
Hey coach hope you havent answered this yet. I am starting your 6 week super hero program on monday. im going to lift mon/tue. thurs/fri. do you reccommend doing light weight Ball out circuits on wed/sat? Im looking to shed my remaining Fat while getting stronger! i was going to ask you about dieting but you guys have enough info on here so im good! thank you coach your awesome
Hey Coach,what’s your opinon on rest-pause method? Is it to draining on the CNS?. What came to my mind is basically DC type of training were you rest-pause a couple of times to get to the desired reps.
Sir,
I would like to request your help on a different subject: Traditional Archery. I train in Mauy Thai, BJJ, and the 5-3-1 program. However, I am a traditional archer and I would like to ask you help in what training routines would increase your strength in pulling a heavy Traditional longbow, and what routines would increase long term shoulder and rotator cuff health. These are the two areas that seem to strike traditional archers. Thank you for your consideration. Bill