Lifting support thread!

[Work2live]

Thought I’d start this thread as a few people thought it’d be a good idea.

It might be a nice place to support each other and talk about lifting in general, ask for tips and advice on workouts, how to get enough protein etc.

All levels very much welcome, from complete newbies to those who’ve been weightlifting for years! 💪🏼

Sorry to hear that @GoTheFcukToSleep

Not resetting legs presses tallies with what I've been able to figure out online.

Thanks @RayKray it’s my own stupid fault. This is why I’m nervous about deadlifts☹️
Lower back still a bit sore but I feel fine running and lifting weights, I’m just laying off the deadlifts for now😅
I don’t think it’s a serious injury.

Assisted pull ups still coming along nicely☺️ I wonder when my first unassisted one will be. Perhaps by the end of October, hopefully certainly by the end of the year! That would be amazing.

Yeh I'm the same. I've had niggles but easing off has fixed it.

I should try banded pull ups now I can also go somewhere that has the equipment. But I don't want to get stuck 😆

I got a belt for my birthday as my lower back was getting twingey with squats and deadlifts. Nothing major, just uncomfortable. I look like Miss Trunchbull apparently (I’m very short and have no torso - my hips virtually meet my ribs 🤣) but I don’t care as it’s really helping!

Am doing barbell squats at more than body weight (a comfortable 60kg Sunday) and seated leg presses have done 128.5kg x8. So chuffed!

My PT tells me on the seated leg press to aim to return the stack without clanging, so it touches but doesn’t settle. This gives a full range of movement and maintains the weight when pushing off. Harder but seems to be helping with progression.

@RayKray , I hear you 😂. I've got stuck in a band. The bars at my gym are very high so it is a bit of a performance getting into and out of a heavy band. I've found getting something as high as possible to stand on gives me more control (I use one of those boxes people jump on), and take first leg in and out slowly, holding the band as low as possible for the second leg, if that makes sense!

For banded pull ups you only need one foot in the band, which makes getting in and out a bit easier 😁 Alternatively you can stretch a band horizontally across the rig at whatever height and support your feet on that. (Veteran of many, many banded pull ups here 😅)

I was on here asking for push up advice a few months ago- proud to report I can now do 3! Will be working up the numbers

Been reading regularly and find it all very inspiring

Off to master pull ups now- see you in a year or so 😂

Yes!!! Well done! Couple of tips I got which helped be hit double figures were to be a bit quicker and push through the heels of my hands.

Pull ups are on my list too. Thanks for all the band tips too. I need to be brave - if it's too quiet I might get stuck without help, and if it's too busy I might get stuck and have witnesses 😆 I can style it out though 😎

Managed 100 kilo pull in my deadlifts today. Almost 150% body weight A bit tired now …

wow @BirdinaHedge!!!

loving all the pull up enthusiasm on here😂
im SO close to an unassisted pull up now!!!

also, I was messing around with my kids in the playground this afternoon and managed a chin up easily?!? I think this is because I was doing it from standing (grabbing the bar which was above my head), whereas in the gym with the pull ups I do they from hanging which feels much harder!

either way it was fun to surprise myself by doing a chin up (even if it was from standing), I’ve never done that before😂

Ps @milkfromthesleepycow well done on the push ups!!!

Well done on all the progress!

I did my first session this week after the Ping. Felt really tired afterwards, but that's more because I've done another couple of long shifts and, going by my steps today (without actually noticing it at the time), my calf has decided to behave itself - although that is most likely due to the one thing worse than the spiky roller; DP and his torture thumbs digging into the many sore spots, along the entheses and across where the ping happened every night. I reckon I was going to sleep quickly afterwards out of a mixture of shock and relief that he'd stopped!

You know, I vaguely remember the days when he was so gentle and delicate around me that he'd panic if a single muscle twitched - these days, he'll happily dig right into trigger points and spend ages going across and around them until they fade....

Haha @NeverDropYourMooncup your DH sounds awesome! Does it help when he does that?

I just leg pressed 10 x 90kg🥳🥳🥳
I’ll feel so chuffed when I get to 100kg!

What I love about lifting is that you’ll try something (like the 90kg leg press) one week and won’t manage it, and then you try it a few weeks later and you can do it!!!😄

Unfortunately, it really does help. He's done it all around my rotator cuff and a torn supraspinatus, SI joints, right hip and borked peroneal and retrocalcaneal tendons before now.

The bear hugs with a lift that make my back click are very nice, though.

Another rest day today. Not sure if I'm fighting off the first seasonal bugs, been too busy at work or just overdid it in the gym recently, but I was too tired to get up this morning and actually went back to sleep for another hour and a half after I usually get up. We'll do something tomorrow, though, as next week is a ships in the night situation until Thursday.

Rest days are important too!
@NeverDropYourMooncup I’m impressed by all your knowledge of muscle names etc😃

Learned from a lifetime of ridiculous and frequently spectacular joint and connective tissue injuries 😁

It's been useful for

a) Working out exactly what I've buggered up now
b) How to bandage/tape it to keep on going ('cos I'm daft like that)
c) Interacting like a vaguely intelligent (ha!) human being with multiple physios and A&E doctors (you get a bit more help and something sort of resembling sympathy if you answer 'so what's happened here, then?' with 'well, I thought it was just my kneecap subluxing, but it took a really hard whack to put it back and it really hurts, so I'm wondering if it was a full dislocation or whether I've done in my medial patellofemoral ligament', rather than 'I fell over, my knee hurts'. Especially if you're sat with a pillow under your knee whilst covered in mud/leaves and wearing full running gear).
d) Knowing what muscles are working with the exercise and the antagonists to balance things out and to focus on the correct ones for the movement
e) knowing exactly where to poke DP to illustrate the point that he's slouching again or needs to shorten the strap on his guitar like I'm been telling him for years instead of dangling it round his kneecaps like a musical gibbon. An added bonus of that is that he's now 2 inches taller than me. Git.

Probably should have gone to university and became a physio - but it makes me a brilliant first aider. Spotted a tibial fracture at one glance, so could stop people trying to make the sufferer walk on it, for example, as it didn't look like standard kneecap related swelling and the way they fell didn't match up with a soft tissue injury.

Anyhow, I'd recommend everybody interested in sport, fitness and weights learns more about anatomy, as the knowledge can be used to prevent some injury and improve progress/form. If you can see you tend towards anterior pelvic tilt, for example, you can work on your flexors and lower abs and be aware of counteracting it before you feel a nasty pop on a deadlift, for example.

How interesting @NeverDropYourMooncup , I am sure you are right (looks shiftily at inside of elbow where I have a slight niggle).

@GoTheFcukToSleep , well done on your leg press. And I completely agree. ad sometimes (perhaps with skills rather than increasing weight) it happens when you haven't even been training/drilling that move!

Progress today - After a month of doing five pull up sets with long rests (3.5 to 5 mins), started on 5 by 5, I today got 7 7 6 6 (and so dropped to four sets which will make it quicker)! Gosh it has been slow and bit boring, but worth it!

(Narrows eyes) Straight bar biceps curls? Bending your wrist up towards your face as you lift? Using a deathgrip to stop you dropping them on the return? You could stick with a lower weight, dumbbell hammer curls for a bit whilst you give the tendon some rest. Then when it's better, an EZ bar and slowly SLOWLY increase the weight back up again. Or if it still doesn't improve or worsens, use bands so that you can ensure your wrists aren't put under strain/there's not any gripping onto a slightly too wide bar.

Other things that could be affecting it would be chin ups - switch to a neutral grip or do pull ups instead (and go back to assisted/add some more plates) - or underhand rows (think you can guess the hand position that's less stress on the tendon).

Thank you! Interesting...the thing it seems most triggered by is human flags (I can get into the vertical position and then tuck and lower slightly). I skipped them this week and it is quite a lot better.

Not been doing chin ups or barbells curls much. Dumbell curls yes, and pull ups. Did you mean overhand rows (if pull ups better than chin ups)?

Pretty much - the idea is for the backs of your hands to be in a straight line with your forearm and not gripping like mad.

Could it be that your lower wrist is rotating in the flag grip then you're pushing out from that twisted position to maintain the pose? Or are you slightly hypermobile and your elbow bends past 180, so you're either hyperextending it or exerting more force to keep your body out?

Biomechanics are fascinating to me probably because my own are generally bugered

Yes, I think so (about the flags). PT noticed something about positioning. And my elbows are slightly hypermobile. And it is the only new move too - everything else I've done on and off for some years. Thank you - that's really helpful. I'll focus on the other stuff and keeping my wrists flat.

@NeverDropYourMooncup you certainly could be a physio😁

@MsMartini wow your pull up sets are the stuff of dreams🤩 Well done!!!

Can I please have some pull up advice😊
I’m still stuck on -7 on the assisted pull up machine. Every once in a while I try an unassisted one but I still can’t get it! I do them from hanging and my partner says the hardest bit is the first bit but actually I can manage that bit! I can pull myself up until my elbow is at 90 degrees but then I can’t get any further to lift my chin above the bar!
Any tips on that final move which will lead to victory? I already try to engage my back and core as much as I can!

I would try working through the sticking point with more assistance from the machine. Maybe 2 steps away from where you currently are. Lift to the sticking point and then just pull up and down through that point only (only a couple of inches of movement) a few times before finishing the move.

@GoTheFcukToSleep is your partner male by any chance? His statement is usually true for men but not for women. Same reason why most men can do a bent arm handstand as a beginner and have to train to get their arms straight, whereas women usually get straight arm and rarely have the strength to hold a bent arm position. We don't have the bicep and tricep strength they do!

My tips for building that strength would be:

Top of the bar holds - use a bench or step or jump up to the top position of the pull up and hold the position for time. To achieve this you need to keep your chest close to your forearms, ideally knuckles by your shoulders/collar bone.

If the above is too difficult, or just as an exercise in its own right, pull up negatives. Jump/step up to the top position and lower yourself down slowly.

Ring rows - these can be done with rings or a suspension trainer - look these up, but you have your feet on the floor, rings or TRX at shoulder height, hold them, lean back and pull so you're doing a rowing movement and bringing your face/body towards your hands. You adjust the difficulty by how much you lean back, with the hardest being where you elevate your feet (eg on a step) as it puts more of your bodyweight into the movement.