I have been training westside style for a little over a month now, i love the training but i have been getting a lot of joint pain, my shoulder obviously from benching heavy, and my hips hurt really bad from deadlifts and squats, i have always deadlifted and squatted heavy since day one, i think it may just be the new weight that im getting use to using is heavier than ever before and my body doesnt seem to want to adapt.
I really love to lift heavy weights and my main goal is strength, i love powerlifting and i love to deadlift and squat, so if you guys have any advice please send it my way so i can begin to train heavy again, until then i guess i will just lighten it up, and see how that feels, thanks for all the help
Yea I cycle the lifts, for max effort i usually do squats, next week deads, next week good mornings, then i repeat that, for supplemental stuff i usually do simple stuff like pull throughs or stiff leg deadlifts and then abs, i usually try to stick to about 4 exercises a day and just pound those, yes i do speed work every week, no bands or chains dont have any and dont know how to use them.
My lifts right now are 340 squat, 405 deadlift from floor 455 from bottom pin of powerrack, and 290 bench before i started using board presses as my max effort movement, i recently hit 320 off a 3 board, i know pretty pathetic lifts but hey im trying.
Hope this answered your questions and thanx for the reply any other questions just let me know, and i dont know what deloading is, sorry that may be stupid but im pretty new to powerlifting all i know is i want to bench squat and deadlift the most that i possibly can
It may not simply be the benching, but also the squats and good mornings. I have always had shoulder problems of some kind, and when picking up on the WS template my shoulders (and elbows) really got achy.
Buy some liniment lotion (Icy Hot, Tiger Balm, Jack’s Blue Heat, etc.) and put it on before you lift and also make sure you work on mobility and strengthening the whole shoulder girdle.
Some dull aches may just be foreshadowing a more significant problem if you don’t nip it in the bud now. Check out some articles on T-Nation from Eric Cressey and others who go cover shoulder problems in detail.
thanks for the advice guys any more would be appreciated, hopefully just stretching and becoming more flexible and going light for a while will help, also some icy hot maybe, as far as the bands thing im confused?
Maybe the speed work is messing with your joints? I don’t train with bands or chains, but it seems to me they’d actually make the movements safer by loading on weight and slowing down the bar at the top. I’d think speed work without accomadating resistance, or without at least being able to let go (as in throw) of the barbell could be rough on the joints.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
Maybe the speed work is messing with your joints? I don’t train with bands or chains, but it seems to me they’d actually make the movements safer by loading on weight and slowing down the bar at the top. I’d think speed work without accomadating resistance, or without at least being able to let go (as in throw) of the barbell could be rough on the joints.[/quote]
I was hoping someone would reference this . started speed-benching about 8 weeks ago ,sans bands/chains , and it doesnt feel the greatest in my left elbow .
gonna start looking into chains I think . or else I’m gonna have to ditch the speed-pressing
To be honest, I’ve found both speed benching with straight weight AND chains hurts my elbows/tris. The only pain free way I’ve found to do it is with bands. I’m currently working 2 weeks on and 2 weeks of no speed work.
I agree with Hanley in that bands are definitely the way to go for speed pressing, although chains don’t bother me as much as straight weight. If your shoulders are hurting I would definitely drope the speed bench for a while as well as any overhead pressing and replace it with DB bench or floor press.
I really love this sport and i want to continue to get better at it, so any advice on training or any tips, id love to hear and im very open minded with training so if you guys have any training logs on here let me know id like to look at them,
[quote]marlboroman wrote:
boyscout wrote:
Try doing some work with bands at home at restoration?
as in shoulder re-hab/pre-hab ?
[/quote]
That’s more what I meant.
I’m too weak to benefit from using bands on my pressing (yet), but I’ve had some good results from adding in some extra shoulder/whatever band work at home.
Also make sure you include some dynamic effort warmup to lubricate the joints. Bursa sacs are located in your body to contain a lubricating fluid for your joints.
For example, the hip joint and the large muscles that cover it are lubricated by five large bursa sacs and the fluid contained in the hip joint. Each sac produces lubricating fluid and functions to reduce pressure and friction around the joint.
Warm Up for at least 5 minutes: Jumping jacks, Body weight squats, shoulder rotations, mountain climbers, frog jumps…get that blood flowing. Use all body weight type warmups. Dont throw 135 on the bench for a warmup. You can do Leg swings, hip rotations, and so much more.
Warm baths also will help.
Glucosamine and chondroitin (naturally occuring in the body) can also be supplemented within your diet. Go to your local drug store by the pharmacy section…Walgreens, Walmart, etc., and pick up a bottle if the pain is persistent.
Collectively, all of the above should do the trick.
For shoulders, i’d suggest easy external and internal roational band work, or even just holding a 5 lb. plate and doing internal and external rotation to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles.
Good luck with your training! Let me know how your feeling in a couple weeks.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
marlboroman wrote:
why would strength level determine whether speed-work is beneficial or not ?
doesnt a lifter need to learn to lift faster regardless of his current strength level ?
Yes, but if you’re a skinny beginner then more muscle is more important that more speed, so focusing on rep work would probably be better.[/quote]
well , that settles it then . I’m dumping speed-press . I wouldnt say I’m skinny (185 lbs on 5’6"), but I’m far from thick . DE day will be re-programmed .
thanks everyone ive been stretching a lot lately and have decided to take this week off from lifting since im stressed anyways and my body is a mess right now, i really appreciate all the great info guys, thanks a lot