So. P90X anyone? (Misery loves company)

[Nebu]

When was the last time you went running?

I run fairly often.  The older I get, the more sensitive I become to barometer changes.  I have a pretty thick medical file that's packed with the xrays of broken bones.  Now I get to pay for all that fun I had on the field.

[Chimpy]

So my 5k plan had me scheduled to do a "1.5mi brisk walk/moderate run". The plan includes a 5 minute warm up so I walked that at a leisurely pace and then I decided to try and jog the entire 1.5 miles and I actually succeeded and ended up averaging (including the .3 or so miles when I was walking) 11 minutes a mile. I can't remember ever in my life being able to jog a mile and a half without slowing down to a walk. Maybe in football practice in high school but most of our runs there were 2 laps around the track or one lap around the "athletic complex" which was maybe 3/4 a mile.

[Miguel]

Strength may only be part of the issue.  If you are anything like me, your left side might just be retarded and the best remedy is just to practice those moves until your coordination improves.

Still, strength can be an issue still, and if that is the case you really should work in the lower rep ranges.  How strong is your squat relative to your body weight, for example?  If it isn't yet relatively strong, then you should not worry about imbalances at all.  Worry about getting stronger overall.

My squat is pretty pathetic.  I can only do a plain bar (30 lbs I think) and maintain proper form for about 10 reps.  Any heavier weight and I loose control.  With just plain body weight, I can do in the 15-20 range before failure and form goes out the window.

[Cyrrex]

Strength may only be part of the issue.  If you are anything like me, your left side might just be retarded and the best remedy is just to practice those moves until your coordination improves.

Still, strength can be an issue still, and if that is the case you really should work in the lower rep ranges.  How strong is your squat relative to your body weight, for example?  If it isn't yet relatively strong, then you should not worry about imbalances at all.  Worry about getting stronger overall.

My squat is pretty pathetic.  I can only do a plain bar (30 lbs I think) and maintain proper form for about 10 reps.  Any heavier weight and I loose control.  With just plain body weight, I can do in the 15-20 range before failure and form goes out the window.

Hockey players are supposed to be notoriously bad at squatting for postural reasons (bent over a stick all the time).  But still, I'd say you need to work on it.  Don't worry about doing anything for 10 reps for now, go no higher than five on these for now.  Go back in the thread to some of Climbjtree's last posts and you will find some really good advice on how to squat.  You should be able to quickly work your way up to, say, squatting 60 to 80 kilograms for 5 reps with strict form.  I bet you could pull it off in less than two months if you really go after it.  Maybe even one month.  When you are this much of a beginner at them, you can basically do them every other day or so and progress nicely.

A bet a bunch of box jumping might be the ticket for you as well, in supplement to the squats.  Great explosive exercise.  Never tried them myself.

How about your upper body lifts, how are those?

[Mosesandstick]

So my 5k plan had me scheduled to do a "1.5mi brisk walk/moderate run". The plan includes a 5 minute warm up so I walked that at a leisurely pace and then I decided to try and jog the entire 1.5 miles and I actually succeeded and ended up averaging (including the .3 or so miles when I was walking) 11 minutes a mile. I can't remember ever in my life being able to jog a mile and a half without slowing down to a walk. Maybe in football practice in high school but most of our runs there were 2 laps around the track or one lap around the "athletic complex" which was maybe 3/4 a mile.

My only suggestion is try not to push yourself that hard. A couple of months ago I started running again and my fitness could take a lot more punishment than my body could - I ended up with a case of plantar fasciitis.

[Cyrrex]

Starting now my third cycle of 5/3/1.  Having some mixed feelings right now, but I don't want to dump the program unless I am certain it isn't working for me.  I took a week off from lifting a few weeks ago, and for some reason my body just fucking hates taking time off.  A lot of professionals advocate both taking time off now and then and doing deloading frequently as well.  The deloading I dislike, but the time off just breaks me entirely.  I also come back demonstrably weaker and sorer.  Maybe age has something to do with it.

Squats:  Have regressed a bit in the last two weeks.  I am still meeting my minimum targets (e.g. when I had to do 155kg x 1, I still managed to do like 4), but am actually regressing a little bit against my rep records.  I should have at least been able to do 6.  Have not felt very strong on these the last several weeks, and run out of steam pretty quick.  On the other hand, I am still managing to increase the Big But Boring finishing sets every cycle, and I think that is giving me some good hypertrophy if nothing else.  At any rate, I am starting to wonder if I should stop doing this program for squats and going back to some more instinctive training that does more 1 to 3 rep maxing and doing it more than once per week.  I will give it another week or two to see what happens first, because I am still techincally exceeding the minimum requirements.

Deadlifts:  Also a slight regression, but not quite as pronounced.  My last session required a minimum 185kg x1, and I managed 4.  I was hoping for 6 or 7, so I was disappointed.  Still, the BBB finishing sets are still improving and getting easier even at slightly heavier weights.  In the first cycle, I would be in serious full body pain after these seemingly simple sets, but now they aren't causing much problem.  There are some signs of grip improvement.  Also, I funneled my disappointment into RAGE and went over afterwards and rack deadlifted 265kg two separate times, which is now new PB and also the maximum amount of weight that the bar I use can physically carry. 

Bench:  After a couple of crappy weeks, I am starting to see good things again.  Did 100kg x10 last week when I only had to have a minimum of one rep.  That was a rep record for me at that weight.  Finishing sets also still improving.  I was initially skeptical about improving my bench on this program, but now I am thinking I may actually get somewhere with it.

Rows:  Yesterday I managed DB Kroc Rows for 39kg x 20 reps without straps (well, one set without, then 4 more with), which absolutely obliterates anything I have managed to do before.  My grip has improved a great deal on this exercise, which I hope will translate to the deadlift.  I also later strapped up and knocked out 30 reps per arm at the same weight, which I've also never come close to doing.  Alas, these are the heaviest DBs we have at the gym, which sucks for me because I have a lot more in the tank here.

Press:  Like with the bench, I am starting to see some good progress here as well.  Did 70kg for 10 the other day, a clear rep record for me at that weight.  Will be interesting to see what this will look like at around 75kg, because the curve for this lift is super steep. 


I am bigger now than I have ever been since I started lifting weights.  Although this is primarily a strength program, I think it is giving my better hypertrophy than what I got in the past.  Of course, I am also gaining a bit of pudge around the middle.  My thinking is that I am going to ride this 5/3/1 wave as long is it is making clear progress, and then I am going to use whatever strength I have gained and switch over to a real bodybuilding program and try to lean out a little.

[climbjtree]

I know I haven't posted in a while, but even so I'm reading you're 5/3/1 stuff. Awesome work dude, glad to see you're making the program work for you.

I've been focusing on Oly lifts almost exclusively and made some good progress... I'm weighing in at 190 lbs, snatching 185lbs (84kg) and C&J is at 220lbs (100kg). Neither is fairly impressive, but I'm almost to a bodyweight snatch and happy to have met the 100kg benchmark in the clean.

Unfortunately, for work reasons, I'm having to switch to a more endurance based program... so I'm finning Monday and Friday, sprints on Wednesday and rowing Tues/Thurs. Then I get my Oly lifts in the afternoons on M/W/F. Ugh. Not what I want to do.

[Miguel]

Hockey players are supposed to be notoriously bad at squatting for postural reasons (bent over a stick all the time).  But still, I'd say you need to work on it.  Don't worry about doing anything for 10 reps for now, go no higher than five on these for now.  Go back in the thread to some of Climbjtree's last posts and you will find some really good advice on how to squat.  You should be able to quickly work your way up to, say, squatting 60 to 80 kilograms for 5 reps with strict form.  I bet you could pull it off in less than two months if you really go after it.  Maybe even one month.  When you are this much of a beginner at them, you can basically do them every other day or so and progress nicely.

A bet a bunch of box jumping might be the ticket for you as well, in supplement to the squats.  Great explosive exercise.  Never tried them myself.

How about your upper body lifts, how are those?

Could be it:  I find balancing with my weight backwards (or even neutral) over the feet with my knees back behind my feet very disconcerting.  Proper skating technique involves staying on the balls of your feet, with your weight pitched forward over your feet.

I have never really worked upper body with any consistency:  I've started with pushups and pull-ups like I've described before.  I'm up to 3 full-extension pull ups and just hit about 10 push-ups, both of which are records for me. ;)

Based on this thread, I've added burpies into my lineup as they really crush me after 10 reps or so, and really elevate my heart rate up.  I'll look into adding body weight squats as well.  Thanks!

[Chimpy]

I accomplished two things today:

First, as part of my 5k training program I took a very brisk 45 minute walk which took me over the distance of a 5k in that time so I know I will be able to make it to the end of a 5k in less than 45 minutes, which makes me happy.

Second, I decided I felt like adding a "block" to my normal bicycle route (riding to the next "major" country road south of town than I had been before turning west) and ended up riding just over 9 miles in just under 40 minutes. Had a 7-9 mph headwind for the trip back north so that hurt my speed considerably (but I did get a good workout on those miles) and I spent probably 2 minutes sitting at stoplights. And while we don't have any real hills around Champaign, the oh so small changes in elevation along the routes I have been taking are very noticeable to one on a bicycle, especially when they are on the road you are getting blasted by the headwind on  .

My current "goal" outside of the whole 5k training thing is to add 1-2 miles to my longest single bicycle trip every week.

It is weird how now, that I am older, I actually enjoy exercising daily where when I was younger it was always something I dreaded. Of course maybe it has something to do with I am consciously trying to pace myself better and not burn myself out on every workout instead of going apeshit the first time and making myself physically ill  

I am not going to meet with the trainer regularly after all, ran into a bit of a cashflow crunch so I postponed that. Am going to meet with him to get a good weight/resistance training routine down sometime in the next coupe of weeks though.

[climbjtree]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbvfGIieLZg

[JWIV]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbvfGIieLZg

  on multiple levels

[DraconianOne]

I need some advice or pointers from you lifting guys about the use of straps for deadlift.  Before you say "don't need to use them", here's my issue - my deadlift is limited by the fact that I effectively can only lift with two fingers (and thumb) on my left hand. So what I need to know is whether straps will help me compensate for this or whether I'm basically buggered when it comes to progressing.

[K9]

I need some advice or pointers from you lifting guys about the use of straps for deadlift.  Before you say "don't need to use them", here's my issue - my deadlift is limited by the fact that I effectively can only lift with two fingers (and thumb) on my left hand. So what I need to know is whether straps will help me compensate for this or whether I'm basically buggered when it comes to progressing.

There is absolutely no issue with using straps, I wouldn't hesitate to start using them. Some people look down on them because they accommodate weaker grip strength, and to that end I try to lift as much as I can without straps; but if I had a genuine physical reason why my grip was limited and wasn't getting enough work out of my lifts I'd use them all the time.

Ultimately the grip strength element of deadlifts is ancillary, you can work your grip with other exercises, but nothing else will work your posterior chain like a DL, so use the staps, get the benefits.

[01101010]

I need some advice or pointers from you lifting guys about the use of straps for deadlift.  Before you say "don't need to use them", here's my issue - my deadlift is limited by the fact that I effectively can only lift with two fingers (and thumb) on my left hand. So what I need to know is whether straps will help me compensate for this or whether I'm basically buggered when it comes to progressing.

There is absolutely no issue with using straps, I wouldn't hesitate to start using them. Some people look down on them because they accommodate weaker grip strength, and to that end I try to lift as much as I can without straps; but if I had a genuine physical reason why my grip was limited and wasn't getting enough work out of my lifts I'd use them all the time.

Ultimately the grip strength element of deadlifts is ancillary, you can work your grip with other exercises, but nothing else will work your posterior chain like a DL, so use the staps, get the benefits.

I second this. Fuck people that talk bad about using straps, those tend to be the same people using shitty form and too much weight. They were created for this very reason, like gloves and back belts. You want to work on grip, then use those hand-grip springs. Deadlifts are not about working out your grip... besides it is safer using straps since the bar is less likely to slip outta of your grip if things go south. I use straps on the pullup bar because I don't want to worry about my grip. Since my legs are horribly weak, I have not built up to a weight that I need straps yet, but will use them when I get there.

Then again, I am not a strongman type... I just want to look better so I am not going for insane lifts.

[DraconianOne]

Cheers guys.  Will order some this weekend.

In other news, yesterday I went for my first treadmill run for 5 months (following breaking my foot - still not fully healed) and have gone all the way back to the start on a C25K program. It's an exercise in self-discipline at the moment though to not up the time or speed which is probably a good thing.

[Cyrrex]

I agree completely about the straps.  In a perfect world you wouldn't need them, but unless you are an elite deadlifter...your grip is probably always going to be your weakest link.  And yeah, this is a back/core/posterior chain exercise, grip is secondary.  And if you are working hard enough, I guarantee you that even using straps will work your grip.  When I do the really heavy rack pulls, my grip is screaming by the end of it, even on singles.

And shit, if you have some actualy issue with your fingers?  Then it is a no-brainer.  Assuming that whatever the issue is can be overcome by the straps.

Speaking of deadlifting, I think I am going to stop doing 5/3/1 for my deads.  I feel like I am playing with fire doing these heavy sets until failure, given my previous back issues.  I think I will go back to maxing singles and getting the work in that way, but maybe continue doing more reps at lower rates (which I have noticed a benefit in doing).

[DraconianOne]

And shit, if you have some actualy issue with your fingers?  Then it is a no-brainer.  Assuming that whatever the issue is can be overcome by the straps.

That's my other concern but I won't know until I try. But having just seen that hooks exist too, I have options.

[DraconianOne]

So I started swimming again for fitness since there's a pool with lanes nearby and I love being in the water.

Last week I was all proud because I can reliably swim 4x400m.  Was taking me about 45-48 minutes and I'd be dead tired at the end, so I felt like I was getting awesome exercise and doing it in decent time.

So I went looking online to see what is a good time for a mile swim.

Which caused me to stumble on that Total Immersion technique.

Now I feel like I broke swimming, as I just did the same swim in like 38 minutes and got out of the pool and felt steady.

I'm not sure what this means for swimming as fitness.

MrHat, aside from your recent injury diagnosis, have you been keeping up with the swimming and have you been carrying on with the TI stuff? If so, how are you finding it?

[Chimpy]

Am roughly 1/4 the way through my beginner 5k program as of now. Did the 1.5 mile light jog (with the roughly .3 mile five minute warmup) at an average pace of under 10 minutes this morning. Felt like I was going slower than earlier in the week but I was going close to 20secs a mile faster so I think the program is working. Next week is when the distances (and pace but I think I am going to try to keep the pace I have been at) starts to ramp up.

Meeting with the trainer today to map out a upper body/lower body/core set of workouts to do at the gym.

[climbjtree]

DraconianOne: Order them straps! Just make sure the ones you order have no padding, or you won't get a tight fit around your wrist. You really want the ones that are just woven straps.

Cyrrex: Dude! If you are deadlifting, you should lift heavy weight. If you are doing this more than once a week, you're not giving yourself time to recover. In my experience I have seen this to be true, and the trainers I know would say the same thing I think. I front squat on Mondays, high bar back squat on Wednesday, and deadlift on Friday... with the main focus being the development of my front squat.

[K9]

And shit, if you have some actualy issue with your fingers?  Then it is a no-brainer.  Assuming that whatever the issue is can be overcome by the straps.

That's my other concern but I won't know until I try. But having just seen that hooks exist too, I have options.

I use straps like these and they're fine, they don't eliminate the need for grip, but they heavily mitigate against it. I haven't done a strapped vs unstrapped comparison recently, but I did 145kg x9 with over-over grip without straps earlier this week, and the last time I maxed with straps was around 182kg, so I'd guess they add around 15-20kg to your max. If you want to train your posterior chain, that's a big difference. I have never tried hook straps, I'd guess they offer even more of an advantage, but I can't say for sure.

The only exercises where use of straps is heavily debatable are the olympic lifts, particularly the snatch. Doing heavy snatches with straps has nearly broken me twice, since it becomes a lot harder to release the bar backwards if you pull too far.  For intermediate weights where you are strong enough and have enough shoulder flexibility to handle some backwards motion they're fine, but beyond that they can become quite frightening.

If you want to work on your grip, getting some of those fat-gripz bar enlargers is not a bad idea (although I have seen a guy using them for squats  ). Other than that, static holds, static hangs, and pinch work (holding two metal plates together with your fingers for as long as possible) will really work your grip. We had an interesting discussion about this a few pages back if you care enough to look.

Also, I really don't understand weightlifting gloves.

[Nebu]

Also, I really don't understand weightlifting gloves.

If you see the people wearing them, it makes complete sense.   

[K9]

Also, I really don't understand weightlifting gloves.

If you see the people wearing them, it makes complete sense.   

That is the only conclusion I have ever managed to draw, but I didn't want to say it 

[Cyrrex]

DraconianOne: Order them straps! Just make sure the ones you order have no padding, or you won't get a tight fit around your wrist. You really want the ones that are just woven straps.

Cyrrex: Dude! If you are deadlifting, you should lift heavy weight. If you are doing this more than once a week, you're not giving yourself time to recover. In my experience I have seen this to be true, and the trainers I know would say the same thing I think. I front squat on Mondays, high bar back squat on Wednesday, and deadlift on Friday... with the main focus being the development of my front squat.

Dude!  I am looking back at my last post and trying to figure out where I may have misled you.  At any rate, I never deadlift more than once a week.  Also, I always go absolute balls out in one way or another.  All I meant to say was that I think I need to stop doing DLs in the 5/3/1 scheme...because the last working set where you go until failure was starting to concern me.  Today I was supposed to do a minimum of 3 reps at 177.5 kilos, and I know from past experience that I could probably hit it for 7 or 8 - and I think I need to stop doing that sort of thing.  Playing with fire.  Had a pretty significant disc bulge in my L5 not all that long ago.  So I am going back to my old program just for the deads.  Today I warmed up to a single at 195kg, then 205kg, then dropped down and did 175kg for singles like 6 or 7 times.   I seem to have good success working like this.  Though I will admit, the Big But Boring part of the plan for deads, when I would drop down to like 115kg x10 for 5 sets...I think I really got a lot out of those, so I will try to continue to work that sort of thing in.

On straps again:  The ones K9 linked look perfect.  No padding and no bullshit.  Cotton grips nicely.  For me, I found out that I had to get away from the cotton, because they aren't strong enough for the super heavy rack pulls and I was going through them too fast.  Switched to Ironmind straps.  They are super duper strong, but they are harder to use because they aren't cotton and don't naturally grip the bar as well.  I would avoid these unless you find out you are tearing the shit out of the cotton ones.

Hooks:  I have hooks, and they are awkward as all holy fuck.  In theory they should work nicely for someone with a grip issue, but the problem I found was that it made it so that you lost all tactile feel of the bar, because you are no longer gripping it at all.  The brain-to-hand connection via your nervous system may not like this all too much.  Maybe one could get used to it, but I dropped them after trying them just once, and that was way back when the weights were still relatively light.

Gloves:  Yep.  Don't wear gloves, kiddies.  Aside from making you look like a rank amateur, they actually do more harm than good.  If they help you avoid callouses, that's only because you aren't able to lift weights heavy enough with them to even cause callouses in the first place.  Also, callouses mean you are a bad ass.  Seriously, though, they really are counter-productive.  I can think of exactly zero cases where they improve matters.

[Nebu]

I used to be a huge fan of straps.  Now anything heavy enough to defeat my grip will likely also pull my shoulder out of the socket.  A few too many shoulder dislocations playing sports and never had surgery to repair it.  I might be able to make a career out of straightjacket escapes though.

[climbjtree]

My bad Cyrrex, I must have been thinking of something other than 5/3/1. I very rarely try to max or do near max weights when it comes to DL anymore. The most I'll lift is like 355, for 3 or 5 sets of 5, depending on my mood that day. I usually do DL's after I'm done with clean & jerk on Friday, and if I do a poor job with those I, uh, punish myself with more or heavier DL's.

But still just once a week.

[DraconianOne]

If you want to work on your grip, getting some of those fat-gripz bar enlargers is not a bad idea (although I have seen a guy using them for squats  ). Other than that, static holds, static hangs, and pinch work (holding two metal plates together with your fingers for as long as possible) will really work your grip. We had an interesting discussion about this a few pages back if you care enough to look.

I read the discussion but it won't help. The middle joint on my left ring finger is fused and doesn't flex so most of the weight is held on the first two fingers - which always give out before anything else.  Not great for deadlifting but it's a perfect fit for a pint glass.

[K9]

Ah I see; I still think doing heavy pinch work might be worth trying. Whenever I do it I'm basically gripping the plates with just the first three fingers anyway

For everything else, there's straps. 

[Chimpy]

Oh boy, I can link my runkeeper account and my fitocracy accounts and import my tracked activities between the two.

[JWIV]

3 hour training run today. God I am so tired.

[Cyrrex]

Managed 102,5kg for 10 reps on the bench press yesterday, a clear best at that weight for reps and I am pretty excited about it.  Good, solid reps, full range of motion and touching the chesting on every single one.  My bench is finally starting to move into "acceptable" territory.  Clearly, 5/3/1 is working for these.  I have worked harder on the bench before for sure, but this seems to be working better.  Note:  I am also doing a lot of other chest movements throughout the week...I almost do a chest exercise everytime I am at the gym (though not max effort bench pressing).  I will do flyes, cable crossovers, speed reps on the flat bench, etc.  All this seems to be helping.  Something that is strange, though:  despite having an average bench press, I absolutely fucking murder flyes.  Of any kind - cables, DBs, machines.  All other data on my lifting and my physical appearance would point to my pecs being a clear weak point, so it doesn't make sense that I would be good at isolated chest exercises.

Have OHP to do at 72,5kg in a few days.  These are going well for now as well, but we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.  OHPs tend to get super hard really suddenly, and I think I am getting close to that number.  Maybe this program will lead to a breakthrough.

Squats...not sure yet if I am going to continue 5/3/1 for these now that I am done with my third cycle.  I'm on the fence.  I am getting better at everything between about 55% and 85% or so, but once I get over 150kg or so I am not really feeling it anymore.  I am grinding it out and technically progressing, but the magic really isn't there.

[Cyrrex]

Semi-random gym anecdote.

Last Sunday.  I had more or less just finished my Overhead Presses (more on that in a bit).  Soon after, this big ole meat-mountain comes sauntering into the free weight area.  Dude is obviously strong, because it is impossible not to be when you have that much beef on your bones.  He probably went about 100 to 105 kilo or so, on a six foot frame, and it is just a wall of muscle (and some gut).  He starts off on the leg press, and yeah, he's pretty strong.  Works up to 260kg on the sled and makes it look relatively easy, but no big deal there, lots of guys can do that (including myself), even if the rest of us don't make it look so easy.  Besides, has more of a bodybuilding frame, and something tells me he probably couldn't squat his own shadow.  Never mind.  He goes over to the bench press, and I know he is going to put on a show.  He works slowly up to something like 120kg, and performs maybe 6 slow and steady reps.  No doubt he could push 150 if he wanted to, but he stops there.  I am jealous at the ease of which he did these, I will not lie.  He then sort of dinks around for a bit, doing a few lazy cable exercises, and I probably don't see him for another 20 minutes or so.

Then he comes back to one of the racks, and sets up to do Overhead Presses.  I can tell by his demeanor and setup that this is game-time...he was rather casual with the other things he was doing, and performing them rather effortlessly, and I can tell that this is not his approach for the OHPs.  Needless to say, I am ready for the show he is about to be putting on, because he's about to blow away anything I could ever pull off, and he is going to do it without breaking a sweat.  Which is fine by me, because it means that at least for once in my life I will see someone putting something big up over his head.  Of course, this is exactly the opposite of what happens.  He works his way up to 55 kilos and flat out struggles through 6 reps.  He then puts the bar up to 65 kilos, and then does 5 absolutely shitty and shaky looking reps, only the first of which he brought down slightly lower than his nose.  What?  How can you be such a big bruiser of a motherfucker on the bench, and then flat out stink at pressing the bar overhead?  It damn near folded him in half.  In reality, he was only a capable of pressing about 50% of his bench for reps, probably less in reality.  Both a terrible %, but also a terrible absolute number for a guy that big.

Now, I know that for my size, I am good at OHPs.  This same day I managed 9 reps at 75kg.  Still, I don't think this is a very impressive number, arbitrarily speaking, and as far as I am concerned it is not a high enough % of my bench.  I am continually amazed that so many otherwise strong people simply can't press for shit.  It is an EXTREMELY worthwhile exercise, and it is also probably one of the most bad-ass.  Picking up stuff and hoisting over your head has to be the one test of strength that people have been using as a measurement since cavemen were hurling rocks at each other. 

So what gives?  I am not being rhetorical, I am curious as to what some of you think.  Do people simply not train it (and if so, why the hell not)?  Does it have something to do with mechanical (dis)advantage?

Sorry for the long-winded approach to what is ultimately a simple question, but I personally rather enjoy funny/weird/instructive gym stories, and also enjoy sharing them.

[01101010]

Venturing a guess, I'd say he may have had problems with his shoulder joints. I shredded my shoulders (right in particular) from volleyball and I have to take it rather easy on OHPs. They are notorious for putting a lot fo stress on the joints even with shoulders in the back position and not dropping lower than elbow at 90 degrees. I don't feel any sharp pains anymore, but there were times when it would be very apparent. That keeps my weight down on those exercises, so when I want to bump it up - it becomes a huge struggle for the first 3-4 weeks with the new weight.

Only guessing here though.

[Cyrrex]

Maybe.  I have had "sharp pains" on several occasions in the past that have caused me to temporarily back off, but maybe I haven't really felt how bad it can get.  I have had impingements in both shoulders (I am convinced I have some other structural issues in my left shoulder), and I find that the more I press, the less of an issue it is.  Still, for a big guy who is bench pressing 120 EASILY in pure bodybuiling style (high up on the chest, elbows flared a bit), I gotta wonder just how bad any shoulder pain could really be.  I would think he should be able to move 55 without barely noticing that he's holding a barbell.

Also - while of course this is a big generalization - the current thinking is that most shoulder problems can be addressed/avoided by doing more pulling movements (chins/pull-ups in this case). 

[K9]

Speaking of shoulder issues; I'm just finishing up my third cycle of 5/3/1, and I'm finding that my shoulders are in a state of fairly constant low-level pain and stiffness. I expect some DOMS, but not days later, and pain while I'm doing bench. I'm suspecting it may just be overtraining (and I'm pushing the OHP hard, my one rep max this week is 70kg, which I'm not sure I can do) but I'm not sure how best to fix it.

Current plan is to do an extra deload week, and do no upper-body work bar assistance reps in the first week, then a standard upper-body deload in the second week, then start the fourth cycle of 5/3/1. I'm also debating getting a shoulder massage, in case that helps. Any other suggestions?