Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

I almost want to film myself squatting and have Elurin yell at me.

Squats are by far my biggest weakness. I'm actually trying to figure out how to fix my butt wink at the moment, which is killing my ability to get out of the hole.

I know how to coach the lifts (and have done so for several people). But when it comes to myself, I basically have to try to figure out what's wrong by feel rather than what I see.

Same here. I have a friend who's a lot stronger and more ripped than me, so it seems strange I'm constantly yelling at him in the gym about his lifts lol. I tend to squat and deadlift more than him (a lot more), but he benches and does iso work a lot better than I do. Trying to explain to him to open up his hips when squatting was one of the most annoying things I've ever had to do.

Thanks for that video Elurin. My hips and everything else involved with squatting are entirely too tight and I think it's why I can't squat for shit. I never really knew what to do for a warmup / stretch pre squat. It's quite annoying because I have a naturally big ass and legs but the weight I can do is laughable.

I couldn't find a workout that incorporated everything I wanted in it so I made a new one from scratch that gonna start next week. Has all 5 exercises from Starting Strength incorporated. Let me know if you see any holes in the workout.

Day one-Legs/shoulders/abs
Barbell squat
Cleans
Calf raises
Standing barbell shoulder press
Upright row
Lateral raises - front and side
Ab shit


Day 2 back traps
Dead lift
Pull-ups
Bent over barbell row overhand
T-bar row
Cable lat pull down
Barbell shrug
Dumbbell shrug

Day 3 chest abs
Flat barbell
Incline dumbbell
Decline barbell
Dumbbell flys
Cable crossover
Ab shit

Day 4 arms
Chin ups
Barbell curl
Dumbbell hammer curl
Ez bar overhand curl
Close grip bench
Dips
Seated overhead tri extension
Overhead cable tri extensions

I question why you have shoulders on leg day. Legs are half your damn body, and you're grouping them up with other shit? And then an entire day for chest and an entire day for arms. Seems strange to me. They're both pretty small in comparison to the rest of your body. Unless you feel like your chest and arms are severely lagging.

As far as your selection of exercises, it looks good. I don't know if that's in the order you'd do them, but I would consider switching your tricep and bicep exercises around. Chin ups, bench, and dips first since they're all compound movements.

Not sure why you're doing dumbbell and barbell shrugs. Pick one. Ditto with bent rows and t-bar. It's the same movement. Might want to switch one of them for a low cable row, or just scratch one altogether.

I started doing those stretches in the video posted earlier and have already had progress with better flexibility in squats. Definitely recommend them to anyone with these issues.

Elurin_sl said:

I question why you have shoulders on leg day. Legs are half your damn body, and you're grouping them up with other shit? And then an entire day for chest and an entire day for arms. Seems strange to me. They're both pretty small in comparison to the rest of your body. Unless you feel like your chest and arms are severely lagging.

As far as your selection of exercises, it looks good. I don't know if that's in the order you'd do them, but I would consider switching your tricep and bicep exercises around. Chin ups, bench, and dips first since they're all compound movements.

Not sure why you're doing dumbbell and barbell shrugs. Pick one. Ditto with bent rows and t-bar. It's the same movement. Might want to switch one of them for a low cable row, or just scratch one altogether.

Click to expand...

Good advice. Thanks.

Think today was the first time I legitimately failed a deadlift. Did 405 for a single back on 10/22. At the time, I had been doing 375 for reps. Today it was a choice between 395 for reps or try a 1RM. So I went for the 1RM at 415. I probably shouldn't have even tried when I did a single warmup at 395 and had a hell of a time getting it up. I made it about knee level with 415 and just couldn't get it further. Thinking that means I probably need to work on my glute strength. I'm not too disappointed. I still think 405 is a solid 1RM deadlift for 175 body weight.

I have been working in hip thrusts twice a week, which are awkward as fuck at the gym.

Elurin_sl said:

I have been working in hip thrusts twice a week, which are awkward as fuck at the gym.

Click to expand...

Yeah....I did those at the gym once at 11pm and now I just do them at home because that was just too weird. Donkey kickbacks and GHR are fine, you even see a lot of chicks doing them, not so much with hip thrusts. (I'm assuming these are the same as glute bridge).

So, fractured L4/5 from years ago that shows some recent remodeling....what can I replace squats with that will still give as good a full-body effect that isn't just doing one exercise per part that squats would hit at once?

I'd say ask a doctor. Is the issue that you don't want to put any weight on it? If so, there's not really a replacement. I mean, any type of squat variation would be out. Leg press is out. No dead lift variations. Basically you'd be stuck isolating your leg muscles, probably have no lower back exercises, and hips/glutes would be iffy.

Elurin_sl said:

I'd say ask a doctor. Is the issue that you don't want to put any weight on it? If so, there's not really a replacement. I mean, any type of squat variation would be out. Leg press is out. No dead lift variations. Basically you'd be stuck isolating your leg muscles, probably have no lower back exercises, and hips/glutes would be iffy.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm mostly worried about putting weight on top of the spine and it bearing the brunt being at the base. Injury was combo of parasailing accident followed up by heavy leg-press day (750lb warm-up on 45 degree machine, did not realise the parasailing incident caused so much damage as I felt fine after a week) with no belt and poor form where I brought legs in too close so I'm really hesitant to put any weight on it since diagnosis when first injured was being in a wheelchair if I did any more damage but has recently been changed to "lose gut, do things like seated rows to build up back muscles to help support your core".

My weight is stil around 130kg currently so I know I can support that, and I push 140kg leg-press with no pain I think I can keep working legs with that along with leg extensions but I like the fact that squats will work my core and increase stability etc. I think you're right though that it's mostly going to be doing isolation exercises....just annoying to have to add extra time to the workout, but guess that's not the right frame of mind to have if I want to actually stick with it and get back to old levels.

Knytestorme_sl said:

Yeah, I'm mostly worried about putting weight on top of the spine and it bearing the brunt being at the base. Injury was combo of parasailing accident followed up by heavy leg-press day (750lb warm-up on 45 degree machine, did not realise the parasailing incident caused so much damage as I felt fine after a week) with no belt and poor form where I brought legs in too close so I'm really hesitant to put any weight on it since diagnosis when first injured was being in a wheelchair if I did any more damage but has recently been changed to "lose gut, do things like seated rows to build up back muscles to help support your core".

My weight is stil around 130kg currently so I know I can support that, and I push 140kg leg-press with no pain I think I can keep working legs with that along with leg extensions but I like the fact that squats will work my core and increase stability etc. I think you're right though that it's mostly going to be doing isolation exercises....just annoying to have to add extra time to the workout, but guess that's not the right frame of mind to have if I want to actually stick with it and get back to old levels.

Click to expand...

I don't know where you are in your recovery process..presumably you had PT yes? PT should have been able to provide these answers for you. If you haven't gone to a PT..go to one(your dr should be able to write a RX). I'd also say lose some weight. Almost 290lbs on a shit back makes no sense to me unless you're 7 feet tall. I'd also give squats up. If you've fractured at l5/l4 and it's not healed properly, you probably risk sever injury (not a dr, but that sounds bad and probably not worth it).

I'm coming from some experience in this as I've recently found out I have a fused spine/sacrum (l5/s1 on the right side..fucking genetics). The result is a bulging disc between l4/l5 and facet joints that are being over worked. My back basically resembles a 70 year olds because of the extra load on l4/l5. I recently got 6 nerve block injections and that's got me back to normal (as normal as I can be). There's really no "cure" for what I have, just core work and killing nerves.

Just as an example, If I do a low/highbar squat, the weight never transfers from my lower back to glutes/hips unless I put plates under my heels. I've given up on the idea of low/highbar squats as it feels like my spine is being compressed (because it is) even with the plates under my heels. I thought it was because of a lack of flexibility, but no. Front squats I can do though. Point being there are other exercises you can do, but I'd get the idea of doing anything heavy, that involves your back, out of the equation.

matsb84_sl said:

I don't know where you are in your recovery process..presumably you had PT yes? PT should have been able to provide these answers for you. If you haven't gone to a PT..go to one(your dr should be able to write a RX). I'd also say lose some weight. Almost 290lbs on a shit back makes no sense to me unless you're 7 feet tall. I'd also give squats up. If you've fractured at l5/l4 and it's not healed properly, you probably risk sever injury (not a dr, but that sounds bad and probably not worth it).

I'm coming from some experience in this as I've recently found out I have a fused spine/sacrum (l5/s1 on the right side..fucking genetics). The result is a bulging disc between l4/l5 and facet joints that are being over worked. My back basically resembles a 70 year olds because of the extra load on l4/l5. I recently got 6 nerve block injections and that's got me back to normal (as normal as I can be). There's really no "cure" for what I have, just core work and killing nerves.

Just as an example, If I do a low/highbar squat, the weight never transfers from my lower back to glutes/hips unless I put plates under my heels. I've given up on the idea of low/highbar squats as it feels like my spine is being compressed (because it is) even with the plates under my heels. I thought it was because of a lack of flexibility, but no. Front squats I can do though. Point being there are other exercises you can do, but I'd get the idea of doing anything heavy, that involves your back, out of the equation.

Click to expand...

Well 6'4" but yeah, I am about 30kg over weight, 40 if I want to add 10kg of muscle (currently 99kg lean mass according to DEXA scan) so the main goal is dropping weight but I want to get back to at least some sort of weights routine so I'm dropping fat and not lean muscle as well.

I get what you're saying though, and I'm pretty certain I knew that would be the response most people would give...I just didn't want to hear it

Well, consult some doctor first obviously, but yeah, front squats might be doable. Personally I haven't done regular back squats for months. Front squat is a better exercise for regular people anyway imo. You can't use as much weight and doing them with bad form is a feat on itself.

So as previously posted I started doing those hip stretches in that video posted earlier and I really felt like it gave me better flexability when squatting. That being said, I've read that stretching before lifting is a no-no. Should I just throw these stretches in after the workout and build up flexability that way or should I just continue doing what I've been getting gains from?

If you're talking about the mobility, keep doing it before. The issue with stretching before lifting is that it lengthens everything and you lose some of the stretch reflex at the bottom of lifts (especially squats). There's a possibility it can lead to injury. But I'm starting to think that whole not stretching before lifting thing was overblown.

Before my leg days I go all out. I do foam rolling of my IT band, hip flexors, back, and glutes. Then I do hip mobility. Then I do hamstring, groin, and hip flexor stretches. I'm currently squatting 305 (will do 310 this week).

With how much most us (white collar) sit around in chairs all day, your hamstrings and hip flexors could probably use all the stretching you can give them. Fuckers are guaranteed to be tight. If you've got a blue collar job or something where you move around a lot, you may not be as bad off. Then again, if you get home and sit around on the computer all day, who knows?

Thanks for the reply. Friend actually convinced me to do foam rolling last night for the first time and I'm definitely going to start doing that. I work IT all day then play dota all night so I'm definitely sitting for extreme amounts of time, so I know my shit is all jacked up.

Necro for my starting strength bros.

About 6 months ago I picked up starting strength in hopes of fixing my terribad squat form and learning how to properly squat is something that is really important to me. I've never seen anyone at my gym do more than a quarter squat. I read the squat chapter, went to the gym, and failed miserably. Couldn't get the grip on the bar right, knees too close, thought I wasn't flexible enough for anything and quit after trying a couple times and failing miserably.

1 month ago I re-read the squat chapter and tried again. Still couldn't grip the bar properly, wrists hurt like hell, very uncomfortable grip but got my knees out better and got a deep squat. Surely still terrible form but better than first attempt. Couple days later my hips got so sore that I couldn't squat for like 3 weeks. Mother fucker.

In that time I re read the squat chapter for a third time. Went to the gym tonight. Go up to the bar, put my chest out, grip the bar and for some reason everything clicks into place. For the first time I look like a photo in the fucking book demonstrating the correct position of gripping the bar and it feels fucking amazing. Bar feels so locked into place and secure, chest is out, which forces the back to be properly arched. Fucking FINALLY!

After a couple sets I adjust my stance out further and keep pushing my knees out and I feel like I've done the first legit squats of my entire life. I'm sure there is plenty to keep improving with my form but damn did it ever feel good. So fucking happy.