Wake up weight this morning right about 84 kilo, so I think that is about it for dropping weight. Roughly 5 kilo in total, and it has been a pretty good little cut…I don’t feel I lost anything significant, just a bit on my squat. Which was expected. Aesthetically I am pretty please as well. I have some more or less permanent love handles on the side which may never go away, I think I just have to live with it.
Speaking of squats, I am going to experiment today and skip them entirely. Only going to use the hack squat and/or leg press. This is to test to see if my elbows stay good after a pressing day. The last few weeks they have felt pretty good after pressing (after dropping the BB OHP), but squats the following day have irritated them.
Will have to give that a look. At first glance it appears more oriented to shoulder pain and low bar squatting, so not sure if it is relevant. Still, worth a look.
In the meantime, I definitely have less elbow pain today than I would after a typical two days of pressing followed by squats. So I am on the right track. There are obviously some underlying issues here (I am old, lest you need a reminder), but I definitely want to try to eliminate anything that is making it worse.
Yeah, it would at first glance make sense that things like MUs and pulling movements would be the main culprits, but my testing has not proven that to be the case. From what I have been able to figure out, it is overhead pressing done with my usual narrow grip, and made worse by following that up with a day of squats where I also put a lot of tension on the elbows with a narrow grip.
To be clear, there is some kind of underlying issue (most likely some early onset of arthritis) here where just doing any training at all causes some discomfort. I am just trying to figure out what kind of easy changes I can make to avoid the worst pain.
I feel you mate (not literally I will leave that to @Koestrizer )
I have literally given up wondering what is muscle pain, what is connective tissue pain, what is joint pain and what is just old man pIn. All I know is everything hurts all the time
Well to a certain degree pain is an inevitable part of life and a sensation that’s not only unavoidable but also normal.
Of those without serious or sinister background, some pains needs intervention, others need modification of behavior, then others just need education and most need time.
For example if we’re talking elbows: Do you know what the best treatment for tennis elbow is according to the best available scientific data? - Doing nothing about it. Most cases will resolve themselves in about a year. That’s how long one can expect to have issues. Eccentrics and isometrics look like they might produce some benefitial results. No rest, no massage, no nothing apart from that will make that progress quicker. Not sexy to tell a potential patient but there are a lot of similar examples to this.
Yeah, this. But there is pain, and then there is PAIN. I don’t mean to say that the pain in my elbows is extreme (far from it), it is more that it is a worrisome kind of pain…like if I don’t take care, my arms will literally not work in 10 years kind of pain.
Don’t want to jinx things, but the last week or so has been a clear improvement. Getting better at identifying the movements that cause the most discomfort. Kind of a bummer if it means giving up my favorite exercise (standing barbell ohp) and having to figure out a squatting alternative (still have to try that talon grip).
Day off yesterday. Press day today, and it was a good one. First off, the elbows are feeling really good. Best they have been in a long time. Combined with the lifting changes I have made, I also started taking glucosamine which is supposed to be good for joint issues. Well whatever, something is working. I might try to squat a little tomorrow with an adjusted grip and see how that feels.
And in other news, I repped the 40 kilo DBs 9 times, which is a big rep PR and probably the best set of DB presses I have ever pulled off. I think my absolute PR is like a kilo heavier for 5 or something. Shit, I can’t press an 80 kilo barbell 9 times.
I did have another question for you that is neither important nor do I know why I still have it memorized but since I do, I’ll ask it anyway.
You mentioned that feel more tired on the weekend since you shifted your drinking to only the weekend. Is that because you drink more on those days than you would usually do if it was spanned out over the week or just because you notice the difference more clearly if you don’t drink at all during the week?
