Your Greatest Perceived Weakness

Training Bodybuilding
61

[quote]geekboy wrote:
Velvet Revolver wrote:
Dude, relax. I sit at a desk all day as well. We are LUCKY. We are lucky we don’t break our backs and wear out our bodies all day doing real jobs like construction, plumbing, factory, sheetmetal, drywall, etc all day. i have alot of friends up here in michigan who are blue collar, which is common here, that actually have to work hard physically all day. They have pretty much zero energy after work, or very little, to go to the gym. We have all the energy in the world, and our bodies are frsh after work. I wouldnt trade a desk job for any job in the world (well, maybe a few)

Hey Velvet Revolver, I understand what you are saying. Before I am desk-bound I was an on-site junior engineer so I know actually what it is like to work on physical jobs.

I know I should feel lucky when I don’t get crocked back etc from hard labour work, but on the other hand, my brain is drained out completely from work (as a computer analyst) plus the problems I mentioned in the original question (tight hammies, shoulders, neck etc.), and I think attempt ME squat with a lack of concentration and tight joints can be as problematic as attempting ME squat with a crocked back.

Again I am not nagging, just pointing out a desk-bound job brings different problems to training than a blue-collar job.

Geek boy[/quote]

One word: Spike

I’m in the same situation being a computer programmer, mind is tired at the end of the day, despite body wanting to go. Went through a bad 3 months without motivation, starting taking Spike on days I work in the morning and that keeps my mind working ON the job, as well as IN the weightroom right after.

I’d highly recommend trying it.

As a farm-boy turned programmer (aka manual labor to sitting on butt) I agree that their are positives and negatives physique wise to both.

62

[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
Great stuff, everyone. Now here’s the million-dollar question:

What are you doing to address these issues?[/quote]

  1. Take your advice.

  2. Take Dk’s advice ala Spike.

That’s easy.

Geek boy

63

EC,
Nutrition- now that im in college (13 meals a week w/ bad food) and flexibility. Speaking of which, what kind of stretching/exercises would you suggest doing in order to gain a full ROM in ATG squats. I can do a full front squat while maintaining a neutral spine but cannot do the same with a back squat.

OH squats are also very hard for me to do- I am not even close to parallel before I am pulled forward by the weight and feel a huge discomfort in my shoulders (AC joint I believe). Would practicing these movements as well as the get your butt in gear routine be helpful? Thanks,
TR

64

I intend to begin stretching at minimum 5 days per week. In addition to beginning work on those tricky moves (overhead squat), I want to work on a lot of static stretching, after workouts of course.

Since I’ve been in marital arts so long, I’m not worried about my lower body. Whenever I begin working on my flexibility, it improves quite well. My upper body doesn’t respond so well though; my shoulders are like giant balls of scar tissue. Well, maybe not that bad, but it still might help if I started dating massage therapists…

65

Twoolf, look into box squatting. Done properly it takes a lot of stress off of your knees and quads. Matt Dimel tore both patellar tendons and went on to squat over 1000 lbs.

66

[quote]bigTR wrote:
EC,
Nutrition- now that im in college (13 meals a week w/ bad food) and flexibility. Speaking of which, what kind of stretching/exercises would you suggest doing in order to gain a full ROM in ATG squats. I can do a full front squat while maintaining a neutral spine but cannot do the same with a back squat.

OH squats are also very hard for me to do- I am not even close to parallel before I am pulled forward by the weight and feel a huge discomfort in my shoulders (AC joint I believe). Would practicing these movements as well as the get your butt in gear routine be helpful? Thanks,
TR [/quote]

Hey TR, before EC comes back to you with some answers you may want to have a look at MR’s articles on stretching:

Hardcore stretching Part 1
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=639853

Hardcore stretching Part 2
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640906

Hope it helps,

Geek boy

67

For me, my lower back/left hamstring always go out on me and it puts me out for at least a week. It doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason. Usually, it’s after I try to squat (could never go ass to grass) or after a hard run. I do have planter faciitis and a bone spur on my left foot, but I haven’t had any problems during exercise with them recently.

I’ve gone to physical therapy and all they ever do is just say stretch (despite the fact that I have excellent flexibility) and prescribe Naproxene. But that’s the Navy/Marine corps for you. Is there anything else that you would suggest?

68

Taking a look at MR’s stretching article, didn’t see the link to that.

69

[quote]bigTR wrote:
EC,
Nutrition- now that im in college (13 meals a week w/ bad food) and flexibility. Speaking of which, what kind of stretching/exercises would you suggest doing in order to gain a full ROM in ATG squats. I can do a full front squat while maintaining a neutral spine but cannot do the same with a back squat.[/quote]

Work on those hip flexors, hams, glutes, and calves even more. In the meantime, practice overhead squatting and back squatting with light weights. I also like iso squat holds at the end of your ROM.

[quote]OH squats are also very hard for me to do- I am not even close to parallel before I am pulled forward by the weight and feel a huge discomfort in my shoulders (AC joint I believe). Would practicing these movements as well as the get your butt in gear routine be helpful? Thanks,
TR [/quote]

Correct. Just use the OH squats to work on dynamic flexibility; don’t worry about how much weight you’re using. It sounds like your lats are pretty tight, too.

Everybody should be doing the stuff from GYBIG.

70

The plantar fasciitis leads me to believe that you’re overpronating on that side. This would be related to tightness in the peroneals, calves, biceps femoris (lateral hamstring), and hip flexors on that side. I suspect that your pelvis is misaligned as well. Shoot me an email and we’ll see if we can fix you up.

ericcressey@hotmail.com

[quote]Bronx Bomber wrote:
For me, my lower back/left hamstring always go out on me and it puts me out for at least a week. It doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason. Usually, it’s after I try to squat (could never go ass to grass) or after a hard run. I do have planter faciitis and a bone spur on my left foot, but I haven’t had any problems during exercise with them recently.

I’ve gone to physical therapy and all they ever do is just say stretch (despite the fact that I have excellent flexibility) and prescribe Naproxene. But that’s the Navy/Marine corps for you. Is there anything else that you would suggest?[/quote]

71

[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
Great stuff, everyone. Now here’s the million-dollar question:

What are you doing to address these issues?[/quote]

Carbolin 19, more sleep, work harder.

72

No one listed this yet? … Pussy.

Oh you meant with regard to our lifting programs… oh now I get it. … well I’ll stick with my first choice since it is one of the strongest things to pull me away from working out. I just can’t seem to turn it down ya know.

V

73

Impatience…

I feel like I have my diet in OK order and I finally sat down and wrote down some goals, some periodization, and a good workout. But I’m very impatient about my results. I have a bet with a friend that I will go from 155 to 180 by the end of the school year (~9 months). Now maybe that is doable, but I have one HELL of a metabolism (ecto-mesomorph, high metabolism, skinny, hard to gain/lose weight, but my muscles are and have ALWAYS been very clearly defined even when I weighed about 120 at 15 years old). I don’t know if I can do it! And I also expect to look ripped and lift heavier weights way too quickly. I guess it comes with being a teenager. :slight_smile: