Learning The Basics

[tiramisu]

I'm a permanent beginner... Great success followed by injury ,quit and then repeat. Over the last 20 years my results have been extremely consistent..

I've been reading Rippetoe's Starting Strength and checking out some youtube videos to get a better sense of technique. (woo hoo for the internet)

Background:

Squats, Deadlifts, Bench, Powercleans .....

With squats I'm generally fairly successful till I hit about 1.5 times my body weight then I hurt my mid/lower back.

With deadlifts a similar thing happens once I hit 3 plates on either side. My shoulders get impinged and or I get tendonitis in my elbows.

With bench... I've almost permanently switched to dumbells to avoid shoulder impingement. If I include plenty of rotator cuff work I can generally build up to somewhere around bodyweight before injury occurs.

Powercleans are a fairly new addition to my world so I haven't developed good enough technique to hurt myself before one of the other exercises does me in (maybe next time).

I'd like to believe there is a way past this but I've done this about 10 times in the last 30 years with the same results. (drat).

Techique wise I've been doing some searches for personal trainers etc. but it seems like anyone can call themselves a personal trainer. I have a hard time believing that 140 pound fitness trainers have the ability to coach the basic lifts. Not that being big qualifies you to coach but being an aerobics teacher clearly doesn't

Physio wise I've had similar challenges. The ones I've seen are fine with RICE but I haven't found one that can help get me from "NOT INJURED" to "STRONG".

.....


So on to the questions....


What's a guy to do?
How did you get through year 1 and keep going?
Where did you learn correct lifting technique?
How did you find someone to help you recover from injury effectively?


Thanks,
Bob

[Freebsd1977]

Wonder if this would help. How often do you raise your lifting weight? Try prolonging the weight you're currently lifting and let your muscles catch up before you pump up the weight. I've heard of this happening to people that think they can increase weight very quickly. Try it and let us know how it works out.

[spankmonkey]

Many questions.

Age
what do you do for warm up
rep cadence
diet
supplements
previous injuries

just off the top of my head, these would help with proper assesment. Lifting weights the right way should not result in continous injury, or inpingment unless your form is really bad, or your form is really bad as a reslut of trying to move too much weight and your are recruiting other muscle groups to help, which would cause some of the pain or injuries you speak of.

[tiramisu]

I'm not sure that my response to your questions will bring enlightment but I will give it a shot:

age: 41, 5'10, 220 pounds

what do you do for warm up:

Over the last few years:

I generally do 20 minutes easy on the bike or tread mill then if legs I will do some light squats to warm up my knees.

If I'm doing upper body I tend to spend another ten minutes doing shoulder rotations and light shoulder and neck stretching to warm up my shoulders.

rep cadence

Generally pretty controlled. I usually switch between versions of 5x5 type workouts with basic lifts or 10-12 rep multi exercise routines on about an 8 week cycle.

diet
That depends whether I'm putting weight on or taking it off in terms of calories but generally fairly balanced with an emphasis on protein. mmm, meat.

supplements
If I'm doing the 6 meals a day thing I've generally used bars and shakes to fill the gap but I rprefer real food and find once I get a consistent diet it's fairly easy to add a little or take a little out depending on what the scale says on a weekly basis.

Other than that I'm not much of a supplementor. I'll occasionally remember to take a multivitamin but I tend to eat lots of fruit and fresh veg.


previous injuries

The chronic ones that need strengthening:
Shoulders, elbows and wrists tendonitis multiple times.
Impinged right ac joint in the shoulder is the diagnosis for one shoulder likely borderline with the other.

Mildly herniated disk with resulting sciatica. Nothing like waking up and not being able to figure out how to put your pants on.


I started reading the 7 minute rotator cuff solution yesterday and will likely try to emphasize shoulder balance and flexibilty until it is stable for the next few months and hope I can make it strong. I'm pretty sure 15 years of slouching in an office chair has not helped. I may be able to stretch things back into shape. (not sure)

I've got lilttle idea what to do about rehabbing my back. At this point I think/hope it's just weak from not being used rather than still injured. I haven't had sciatic pain in at least 6 months. I'm hoping a mix of rows, deadlifts and squats should fix the problem if I can fix my technique and not reinjure. The Starting Strength book has made me realize that although I've been doing the big lifts for a few years I really have very little idea of how to do them properly.

Thanks
- Bob

[spankmonkey]

Honestly., with the recurrent injuries you have mentioned it may not be a lack of strength that is the isssue. i would suggest you seek the assistance of a VERY good RMT, who comes highly recommended and preferably has been tained in ONSEN.
Everything you have mentioned will return when you aggrivate the original dysfunction, which is possibly why you expeience problems, again, when you have worked your way up to heavier weights.

Additionally your bike warm up is fine, but do you warm up specific muscles for the work to come. For example; if you are doing bench and your max weight is 315 last time out. Start w/u with 10 reps of 135 x 2, 185 x 6-8 reps x 1 set, 215 x 6-8 reps x 1 set, 285 x 1 rep x 1 set, then start your working sets 315 x 6-8 reps x 3-4 sets.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Musclehead]

I think form is the problem to be honest. That's usually the reason anyone gets injured...that and not listening to your body. If you feel a slight pain when doing something, then stop that movement and re-evaluate.

All of my injuries were from when I first started lifting, and now I rarely have issues because I listen to my body and my form has improved greatly.

[L3]

no pain no gain bitches