Every time i start to make some progress I hurt myself…it’s driving me fucking crazy!!
First I jack up my low back years ago…it has gotten much better but still bothers me. Start setting PR’s on Madcow 5x5 and jack up my neck doing pullups of all things…then it heals.
Three weeks later I’m back up to my PR’s and I pull an entirely different muscle in my lower back doing deadlifts. Takes a couple weeks to work back up.
Doing military press today I felt a sharp pain in my upper left trap in the middle of my “heavy” set. That is three different nagging, progress stalling injuries in different spots of my body in like 8 weeks.
What the fuck?! Nobody else I know has this happen when they work out. I feel like a huge floppy pussy every time I’m walking around all hunched over or fucked up. It’s like why even exert myself if this will keep happening?
I read a lot…I take videos and look at them. I always use a good warmup, both stretching and dynamic, before I work out. I’m getting sick and tired of this shit.
Is this normal or am I just a frail piece of shit? I’ve never tried so hard and had so many small failures while doing anything in life. During my 4 years of high school football I NEVER ONCE hurt myself or tweaked anything while weightlifting.
Can anybody else relate to this? Is this normal or am I just complaining?
Would recommend not stretching before, but after + foam rolling. Stretching makes you loose. Being loose gets you injured especially when you go heavy.
[quote]Haldor wrote:
Would recommend not stretching before, but after + foam rolling. Stretching makes you loose. Being loose gets you injured especially when you go heavy.
Having done it both ways and dealt with several niggling injuries, I pretty much agree with this.
I’ll do a touch of mobility stuff for my upper back before I do any overhead pressing, just to open up the t-spine.
Otherwise, I ramp lighter warmup sets of whatever I’m training to actually warm up. Depending on how stiff or tight I am, I’ll just add more sets and/or smaller increments. Sometimes 20lb jumps for squats are fine, sometimes I’ll go with 10, or stick with a weight for a few sets.
I really haven’t hurt myself since I started taking that approach.
Unfortunately its just part of it man. Everyone gets banged up in the pursuit of their goals. Talk to anyone who has lifted for more than a few years and they will have at least some minor injury they’ve had to deal with.
[quote]Haldor wrote:
Would recommend not stretching before, but after + foam rolling. Stretching makes you loose. Being loose gets you injured especially when you go heavy.
[/quote]
It’s true that aggressive stretching prior to lifting can down regulate the muscles.
However, to apply this logic to all cases is incorrect and dangerous.
Each individual and each situation has a unique set of variables that need to be considered. This is especially important for someone with a history of repeated injuries.
The OP did not go into detail regarding his stretching protocol, other than that it includes static and dynamic. Just from his initial post, there are several of flaws in his approach.
Bottom line: there are situations in which increasing mobility prior to lifting is the correct solution; whether or not this is the case with the OP it’s impossible to determine based on his initial post.
I just noticed that so many people responded…thanks for the words everybody.
To answer a couple questions:
I am 28 and have been lifting for about a year
For my warmup i do the Agile 8 routine…however, if Im in a hurry i do miss the roll to V-sit and fire hydrants. I also use some bands to actively stretch my shoulders which seems to help.
I also start every exercise with just the bar and do a couple good warmup sets before getting into my work sets.
[quote]Zen of Explosion wrote:
I also start every exercise with just the bar and do a couple good warmup sets before getting into my work sets. [/quote]