Warm up Issues/Flexibility

Training Bodybuilding
1

I’ll start off by saying, and knowing that i’m not very flexible. I just turned 24 and have been going to a chiropractor regularly for a long time now… lower back/hip issues, and knee problems.

The chiro says the pain is because i am not flexible and need to stretch, and i agree with him completely. Well, i have been stretching after my workouts, and doing warm-up before. Been feeling great until i started bulking and putting the plates on the bar.

Doing squats and pulled a muscle in my lower back. ( yes i had great form, shoulders back, hands tight to shoulders, back arched,ect) This along with tendonitis in my elbows will hinder my progress for sure.

All at a bad time because i am doing great lifting more weight, and gaining weight. I mean i’m noticing it everyday, seeing a difference everytime i look in the mirror, or pick up something that used to be heavy.

With tendonist in my elbows, should i take a break, push through it until my bulk is done, or just avoid what hurts… ? some people are telling me to take a break, but seriously, i’ve never done this good in the gym, i don’t think i can stop…

I “warm up” and stretch alot more than the other gym-rats, and i seem to be the only one getting hurt, it is really starting to get to me. Shit, most of the bigger guys don’t even warm up, swing there arms around a few times and they hit the heavy weight.

How do you bigger guys warm up before doing some heavy weight? i’m not doing PR’s daily, if ever, i’m doing 6 reps, soon as 6 reps is somewhat easy, i put more weight on. but lately i seem to feel the pressure of the weight, like i will get hurt. Problem is, i also feel i am able to lift the weight.

I warm up usualy by just loosening my shoulders, doing the exercise i’m about to do with lesser weight, things like that, but honestly, for my body, i don’t think thats enough… and i hear stretching before is not a good thing. Someone help me out here. Don’t really know what a proper warm-up routine consists of.

I want to improve safely in the gym, i try to be as safe as possible, but man, i seem to have a crappy body composition. I know it has to do with flexibility, and i will be getting a few books about stretching that was recommended on this site.

Any advice on and especially warming up would be awesome
Supplements
Stretching
Even advice on how you start/end your workout.

thanks.

2

You’re asking a lot of questions that require in-depth response, which I’m not qualified to give. I’m in a similar position – I need to do a lot of warming up, stretches, mobility work and rehab/prehab work in order to fix and/or prevent injuries.

But a few quick obvious things I can say. One, don’t do anything in the gym that hurts (hurts your joints, tendons etc). If an exercise hurts, end the set immediately. Either change the weights to something you can manage with better form, change to another exercise, consider yourself done for the day, or whatever response seems appropriate. Some people can’t do certain exercises - they just hurt too much. Look at changing your exercise selection for safer choices. For triceps, certain exercises (like skullcrushers) may be out of the question for you. You’re likely going to have to cross certain exercises off your list, either temporarily or permanently.

Also, don’t compare your warmup to what other people are doing. For one thing, you have no idea what people are doing outside the gym. I foam roll at home, stretch a little, do windmills etc, before walking to my gym. Also, everybody’s different. Period.

As far as stretching before lifting, it supposedly reduces your ability to lift a maximum weight, slightly. But you’re not a competitive powerlifter and it’s considered far more important to prevent injuries than to be able to handle a slightly higher amount of weight during your workout. So don’t worry about stretching before hand. Your first goal in the gym is to not injure yourself.

You should look into foam rolling and mobility drills if you’re not doing them already, along with your stretches. If you have a great trainer available (doubtful) maybe you can get some guidance in person. Otherwise, you can get a lot of information on this site by searching on terms like mobility, stretch, injury, etc. There are a couple of key authors who write on this topic a lot here… Eric Cressey springs to mind. You need to research this stuff because there’s a lot to learn.

3

Cool, thanks alot.

And yeah, i know alot of what i’m asking is a subject that requires alot of typing - lol. But really, i’m happy with any advice given to me… by looking into it/doing it i’ll learn as i go.

Thanks for your advice, never heard of mobility drills, sounds like that would work great for me.

4

I just realized that there’s a thread in the Over 35 forum that covers mobility and stretching, with lots of videos. I don’t remember seeing any videos that were specific to the elbows, but a bunch of hip and lower back stuff and a little bit of everything. It’s stickied at the top of the Over 35 forum.

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There’s no shortage of warm-up advice on this site. Check out anything produced by Mike Robertson or Eric Cressey.

Also, post some videos of your dead, squat, and bench in the Feedback From Meat thread in the over-35 forum. He can tell you whether your form is as good as you indicate.

Good luck and healthy lifting.

6

Awesome, thanks.

Started doing some foam rolling and some different stretches showed on this site, i feel better already… nice to see how fast you can improve. Everyone should be doing this for sure.