Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

[MaidOfStars]

We are a bit cut off in the designated forum so here's a shiny new thread to populate.

Hello to anyone that hasn't ventured over to The Weights Room but is lifting/resistance training.

What's a Good Morning?!?

I'm having shoulder pain. I think it's from doing chest and shoulders twice a week. Just overdoing it.

I'm thinking of keeping my lower body x2... I vary those exercises a lot (squats, lunges, Romanian deadlifts) but my chest and shoulder exercises are always the same. The only thing I vary is doing chest or shoulders first.

I'm thinking of easing off for a while. I will have a full week off for a holiday. That should help. But I'm thinking of changing my upper body split to A and B:

A: shoulders, triceps and biceps
B: chest and back

At the very least, my arms will stay toned. I don't think working a muscle once a week is optimal but I certainly won't lose anything I've gained.

What chest and shoulder exercises do you do?

Shoulders: overhead dumbbell press; lateral raises and reverse fly's.

Chest I alternate between flat and Incline dumbbell press.

I also think that I may have been coming down too far on the chest presses.

Can you switch to bench press with a barbell, to limit movement? Although to be honest, I push up from a raised grip which means my hands are behind me at the bottom of the movement. So bearing weight from that extension isn't a problem; I wonder if stability is? Your hands gripping dumbells are not fixed position and you'll be having to control rotational/outward movement. That's going to recruit rotator cuffs etc and could account for shoulder pain?

A barbell may be good for stability. I don't know. I last did chest and shoulders on Tuesday. Today I'm just going to do back and arms. Then next week I will be doing my new A/B thing. The following week I'm not working out at all. I'll see how things feel after that.

Is it both shoulders, Just, or only one?

and, do you feel it more during particular movements or as a general ache after exercise?

What back exercises do you do Just? I have degenerated discs and one pesky one that pops in and out every now and then, which cripples me completely for the best part of 3 weeks. I'm always on the look out for back & core stuff to help keep my spine where it's supposed to be.

Itself mostly my left shoulder. I feel a sort of burning inside the joint all the time. It's exacerbated by anything that limits my mobility, ie, children invading my bed and squeezing up against me or being sat next to a wall.

For my back I do rows (dumbbell and seated cable) and lat pull downs.

Obv not a doctor or physio but your description reminds me of the bursitis I had in my hip one time. Think your plan of resting it for a while is a sound one - then maybe you can gradually add things back in and see how you go.

On chest press if you did use a barbell, try aiming to touch just below your pectorals - sort of solar plexus region. That should put less strain on your shoulders.

Rare Saturday session here. We went for more bootcamp style, so timed sets/higher reps/lower weight. I nearly vomited.

Deadlifts + push ups.
T-bar rows + kickboxing kick things.
Plate pushes + ball slams.
Landmine rotations (for obliques) + crunches + bike sprints.

Since my cardio is upper body intensive, I did an extra lower body workout.

I only get a crack at a safety squat bar in the bodybuilding gym so I made the most of it. I also took advantage of the lower back hyperextension/Roman chair bench. I don't see those in most Village or PureGym locations.

I've only ever seen a Roman chair (now I know what it is) in a weightlifting gym near me. There is a back extension bench in my local Pure but it puts your legs at a 45 degree angle to the ground rather parallel, so you're not working against gravity so much.

I messaged my local bodybuilding gym recently, by the way - they do pay as you go visits, £2 a time! They seem really friendly and welcoming. The gym is essentially a big shed on an industrial estate. I need to pluck up the courage to go.

Findo I prefer the 45°ones myself! I see them in a few pure gyms.

Don't be nervous about going to the bodybuilding gym. I am the least fit person at my gym but I feel very welcome there.

We have a Roman chair in my gym (Gym Etc) but I’ve never used it.

My PT got the little ball thing on my shoulder to work out some snide knots yesterday. I feel like I’ve been beaten up!

Hi folks. Can anyone point me in the right direction for postpartum weight lifting advice?

Currently 36 weeks and haven’t really worked it whilst pregnant but did beforehand. Have full weights rack and set up in the garage and looking forward to getting back to it, just not sure where to start (when I can that is).

Posted on The Weights Room but guessing it’s not a forum frequented much.

Check Facebook for a group called Moms Gone Strong.

Findo re my neck injury, I'd been doing a really heavy leg session. I just started to do some superset finishers and was doing dumbbell thrusters when I felt my neck 'go'. I immediately stopped and then carried on but it was very painful. I then suffered weeks of arm pain, tingling, and pain around the neck. Spoke to the surgeon at work and he advised resting which is hard!

Maid Good Mornings are one of my absolute favourites! They took a while to master but they are a brilliant exercise. www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/good-morning

Argh Stealing - that's my worst nightmare. Sometimes I do something (I'm still not sure what it is) on shoulder presses - I was thinking of it as a pinched nerve. My neck and shoulders go suddenly tight and painful and then I'm stiff and can't move without pain for a couple of days, then it gradually eases. Hasn't happened for a while thankfully, but I do wonder now if maybe it's a slightly bulging disc. My posture is awful.

It is so hard to rest, isn't it.

This morning I went to the gym resolved to do hip thrusts. I rarely do them. Sometimes it's because the gym I'm at doesn't have bumper plates. Sometimes it's because I don't want to move benches around. I also feel a bit silly doing them. But today I was resolved!

When I showed up, there was another woman doing them. I took this as a sign.

The deadlift platform was empty. Someone had left the bar on the floor loaded with exactly the bumper plates I needed. Another sign.

So I went to the cardio studio and got a mat, then I moved a bench to the platform and I did three sets (50kg x 10)

Then I did Romanian deadlifts, because I had that rack to myself.

Lying nearby on the floor was a close-grip cable handle that someone had been using for landmine thingamabobs. I knew that meant that I was supposed to go to the cable machine and do my new favourite variation of goblet squats: you connect the handle and set the pulley down low. Not to the bottom hole, but just under the range of motion needed to squat. It's so much easier to get under the handle than it is to get a heavy dumbbell up to my chin. And you can sort of lean back a bit against the weight. I can get very deep with these squats. Love them!

I used a resistance band for crab walks.

Then I challenged some woman who thought that she could hog the leg extension machine for her elaborate superset routine. I saw her rebuff someone who asked to work in and that annoyed me so I just sat in it when she stood up and we had words but too bad.

It was a good workout.

That sounds a very productive morning, Just! Particularly like the sound of those squats - must remember to try them. I was hip thrusting this morning too.

Hi everyone, hope you don’t mind me joining in?

I’m a long time admirer of weight lifting, but up until recently body pump classes were all I’d managed. I kept telling myself ‘one day’.

In the summer I joined a gym with a group PT programme and I’ve been doing that once a week and some HIIT/circuit type classes twice a week. It’s been nice getting back to exercise since having a child (who is 4, not a baby!) and carving out some ‘me time’ but now I want to take it up a notch and get into lifting properly- but I don’t know where to start.

Should I visit a body building gym and have some PT there? Or do I need a better base fitness first? The PT at my current gym is good, and gives a good work out, but I’m not sure if he is the right type of trainer for heavy lifting.

Would be so grateful for some advice.

Hiya Basin!

You don't necessarily need a PT - I started with an online programme (Stronglifts 5X5) and so did a couple of other people on this thread - there are other similar programmes; Starting Strength or Wendler 5/3/1 are two other popular ones. But if you feel like you would prefer a PT, it'd be worth doing a bit of research to see who is respected locally.

Depending on where you are, there might be a local barbell club you can join - these have a coach, or coaches, and usually there's programming you would follow, much as PT would give you. You would get support and feedback there - both from the coaches and from other members. Usually there's a monthly flat fee.

As you suggest, a bodybuilding gym would also be a good place to access knowledgeable advice, if you're more interested in overall strength training rather than barbell work specifically. And a lot of PTs work out of bodybuilding gyms.

I don't think you need to build a base before you go - you can start strength training from any fitness base (assuming you don't have any medical contraindications etc) - you would start with light weights anyway, while you're learning the movements.

Waves at Basin

Have you looked for a local PT who seems expert in weights? I found mine via Google search and his reviewed checked out. Met him and that was that. And agree you don't need any base. It takes a while to learn the movement, and you be lifting very light or even just bodyweight during this.

Really enjoyed my session this morning:
Walking lunges.
Romanian deadlifts + dips.
Lat pull downs + skater jumps.