Blonde will make you STRONG

[nirvana]

Just rise to your full height, stroll over, show a bicep and then say 'son, I've been deadlifting for.........'

Take it from there

[the sicilian]

If I rise to my full height he may not see me

[celtic]

If I rise to my full height he may STILL not see me

FYP

[the sicilian]

lol

[the sicilian]

If I rise to my full height he may STILL not see me

FYP

i could stand on your shoulders..nope still wouldnt see me

[Ledders]

If someone is doing something actively dangerous like that I think you should definitely speak up. It almost certainly won't go down well but they'll thank you one day in the future.

If it's just normal stupid stuff, I would almost always let it be.

[Ledders]

Training is going well. Running out of noob gains re putting weight on the bar but making substantial noob gains physique-wise by dieting well. Turns out eating relatively clean at maintenance is a lot better than eating under maintenance and topping up to breakeven with alcohol!

I'm thinking of starting 5/3/1 for beginners. My shoulders are in a woeful state and I don't fancy overhead press though. Internet says close-grip bench is an alternative so think I will try that and keep doing low weight shoulder accessories.

[iRaise]

Thoughts on offering advice to strangers in the gym ?.. i keep myself to myself and dont train with anyone apart from PT time.. im not keen on going up to strangers and offering wisdom although saw a young lad the other day look to deadlift something way beyond him..his start position was like a bent over old man.. he didnt even move it and got up holding his back and wincing.. i felt the urge to say something and offer guidance about how to deadlift properly as this is a movement you can really hurt yourself on.. not sure how advice from strangers would be viewed ?

How would you feel getting advice from strangers ?

Nobody takes unsolicited advice so my line of thinking is just dont say anything. I dont want to make them feel uncomfortable andI just dont see how they ever listen. Speshly guys. Plus I dont have all the info, there is a time and a place to do pretty much anything, so without context I do feel slightly misinformed myself. Agreed 95% of the time they just dont know what they are doing, but they just arent going to listen. If its immediately dangerous I tend to hover, but realistically most people dont use enough weight to be catastrophic, just a few bumps and bruises.

I do chop and change my answer to this, but right now I just stay silent. If I know someone I just say check out Gregg on social media (he's the guy that teachers me, and posts loads of free content) if they are in the gym down here I say check out Dwayne because he is above average. Always feels like it has a little more credence if you refer, plus Gregg is substantially better so they are getting the best part of the deal.

[iRaise]

Thoughts on offering advice to strangers in the gym ?.. i keep myself to myself and dont train with anyone apart from PT time.. im not keen on going up to strangers and offering wisdom although saw a young lad the other day look to deadlift something way beyond him..his start position was like a bent over old man.. he didnt even move it and got up holding his back and wincing.. i felt the urge to say something and offer guidance about how to deadlift properly as this is a movement you can really hurt yourself on.. not sure how advice from strangers would be viewed ?

How would you feel getting advice from strangers ?

Ask him if he minds you giving him advice.

 

[iRaise]

Training is going well. Running out of noob gains re putting weight on the bar but making substantial noob gains physique-wise by dieting well. Turns out eating relatively clean at maintenance is a lot better than eating under maintenance and topping up to breakeven with alcohol!

I'm thinking of starting 5/3/1 for beginners. My shoulders are in a woeful state and I don't fancy overhead press though. Internet says close-grip bench is an alternative so think I will try that and keep doing low weight shoulder accessories.

Why dont you fancy over head?

Where does it say that about close grip bench? Genuinely want to read because I dont understand that.

[Ledders]

My shoulder mobility is terrible generally and it feels the least robust part of my body by a long way with past injuries. I have no confidence in putting meaningful weight on the bar and pressing it at this point in time. Risk/reward feels low.

Obv there's no direct replacement but I read in a couple of places on forums that is Wendler's offered alternative if none of the presses are a go'er. It doesn't really make sense to me though.

[iRaise]

My shoulder mobility is terrible generally and it feels the least robust part of my body by a long way with past injuries. I have no confidence in putting meaningful weight on the bar and pressing it at this point in time. Risk/reward feels low.

Obv there's no direct replacement but I read in a couple of places on forums that is Wendler's offered alternative if none of the presses are a go'er. It doesn't really make sense to me though.

Fair, can always go on machines and do raises. Risk reward of machines is pretty good, the risk is negligible and you can progress nicely, the only annoying thing is sometimes the machines have a really weird movement pattern.

I kinda get how it works part of the shoulder, but it still is a horizontal press. Unsure how well shoulders can be 'healthy' without a vertical press. Try learning handstands . Wonder what his views are for over head pressing in not just assistance for powerlifting but also general health of the joint? Does he say?

[EvilPie]

My shoulder mobility is terrible generally and it feels the least robust part of my body by a long way with past injuries. I have no confidence in putting meaningful weight on the bar and pressing it at this point in time. Risk/reward feels low.

Obv there's no direct replacement but I read in a couple of places on forums that is Wendler's offered alternative if none of the presses are a go'er. It doesn't really make sense to me though.

My shoulders are absolutely f**ked but to be honest it's all the more reason to train them and maintain strength, mobility and flexibility.

If it's a genuine injury then obviously you have no choice but to make allowances but honestly, even it means doing insanely light weights you have to try to do the movements to the best of your ability.

I do lots of light back work which I find helps a lot. It has to be light because you need to be doing pull downs and really getting the squeeze right down to what would be the starting position for an over head press.

For shoulders try reverse pec dec if you can. It's great for getting that stretch and slowly improving. For me the key when injured is to make sure everything is 100% perfect form. As soon as the form starts to go that's when you're no longer strengthening the supporting muscles and you're risking further injury.

I'll bow down to the 'experts' but narrow grip press seems absolutely ridiculous as a shoulder exercise. I can't think f many worse positions to put your shoulders in to. If mobility ios your problem then it'll help but not as much as working on your mobility.

All a narrow press will do is contract things even further and make you even tighter. You'll be able to press more weight because you're recruiting lot's of chest so you're also pressing more weight and further risking injury.

Try doing 8 weeks of shoulder press on a machine but with ridiculously light weight. Think of it more as a stretching exercise than a weight lifting exercise and you should see some mobility improvements.

Again if it's a genuine injury rather than just tightness then none of the above applies. Actually some of it does. If it's a genuine injury the last thing you want is those narrow grip presses.....

[Ledders]

Thanks for all your input guys

I did 4x6 with the bar after warming up and it felt 'ok'. Was nice to activate and stretch but it's all so clicky and crunchy at the start and a front delt was going by the end as I fatigued rapidly. I will try machines for a while.

On bench I tried some 3 second descents and woah, that's another kettle of fish!

Note to self to up the yoga at weekends.

[BangBang]

Afternoon Fellas thought I’d get involved and put some targets on here to for accountability.

Just started training again and looking at getting strong in my static lifts before moving onto more of a functional regime in 2 months

I’m 5’9 and weigh 14 stone 7lbs - 40 years old
Supplements - creatine - Preworkout - I do not take protein and i’m lactose intolerant.
Diet - Horrendous
Injuries - cartilage  deterioration  L3 & L4 - can’t go to heavy with squats or deadlifts, bicep tear so don’t train them individually, arthritis in right hand
I’m targeting 20% body fat (currently 24% even though I probably look more) and an increase in my lifts

I’ve been back at it for two weeks with the following splits

Pull-ups and Push ups everyday

Shoulders - back/triceps
Legs - Shrugs
Chest - Back/triceps
All compounds -

Current compounds numbers
Squat - 110kg - I go for reps don’t max out because of my injuries & can do 10 reps a few sets  Target
Bench - 130kg - just started can do 3-4 reps a few sets Target 150kg
Military press - 90kg - 5 reps Target 110kg
Deadlift - 180kg - I max do 3-5 reps on this weight Target 220kg depending on how my back feels


Bench video added, my spotter put me off by trying to prematurely help but no excuse. I’ll add more videos as and when I do a compound currently suffering from a Nando’s induced strain of food poisoning

Ok can’t attach any videos if someone can let me know how to do it from an iphone