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On October 15 2013 01:10 micronesia wrote:
I did squats for the first time two days ago. I did a few with just the bar to try to get the hang of the form, and then I put 10 pounds on each end. I plan to do a few more sessions like this (unless you guys have a different suggestion).
Whatever the muscles are that connect the hamstring to the glute... they are still sore two days later. Is that normal? I didn't even do that many squats!
New movement patterns and things that activate muscles you dont frequently use will always make you more sore. If you feel no actual pain or such, just muscle soreness, you should be quite fine.
I don't know your history with squats or legs, so I don't know if you had any problems and should take it slower for whatever reason, but the general take on it pretty much is that you keep adding weight as you go, and perfect your form as you go. Obviously you start with low weights as you have. Those weights aren't going to be dangerous to you even after you've added 50 pounds to the bar. The crucial thing is though that especially in the beginning you may have to spend extra time stretching to gain the necessary mobility to perfectly squat. You should also keep vigilant with correcting your form and listening to your body. While the weight is low, learn a habit of squatting below parallel. Beginners tend to do half squats and think they're going parallel when they aren't. Going however low you can doesn't hurt if your mobility allows it (and if it doesn't, stretch!) but not going low can. Keep your weight on your heels. When you are at the bottom with the bar, you should be able to wiggle your toes while keeping perfect balance. Have a shoulder width stance with your toes pointing slightly outward, and make sure your knees stay pointed outward towards your toes during the whole movement. Before going down, take a breath, push your chest up, and hold it that way during the whole movement.
These are just basic pointers to a good squat. You don't have to have a perfect form before adding some weight though, supposing you start with way less than you are really capable of. Just keep perfecting your form as you go, and listen to your body. Do not allow anything except below parallel squats from yourself though.
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United States24690 Posts
On October 15 2013 01:23 infinity21 wrote:
Are you following a specific program?
No.
On October 15 2013 01:25 Ahzz wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 01:10 micronesia wrote:
I did squats for the first time two days ago. I did a few with just the bar to try to get the hang of the form, and then I put 10 pounds on each end. I plan to do a few more sessions like this (unless you guys have a different suggestion).
Whatever the muscles are that connect the hamstring to the glute... they are still sore two days later. Is that normal? I didn't even do that many squats! New movement patterns and things that activate muscles you dont frequently use will always make you more sore. If you feel no actual pain or such, just muscle soreness, you should be quite fine. I don't know your history with squats or legs, so I don't know if you had any problems and should take it slower for whatever reason, but the general take on it pretty much is that you keep adding weight as you go, and perfect your form as you go. Obviously you start with low weights as you have. Those weights aren't going to be dangerous to you even after you've added 50 pounds to the bar. The crucial thing is though that especially in the beginning you may have to spend extra time stretching to gain the necessary mobility to perfectly squat. You should also keep vigilant with correcting your form and listening to your body. While the weight is low, learn a habit of squatting below parallel. Beginners tend to do half squats and think they're going parallel when they aren't. Going however low you can doesn't hurt if your mobility allows it (and if it doesn't, stretch!) but not going low can. Keep your weight on your heels. When you are at the bottom with the bar, you should be able to wiggle your toes while keeping perfect balance. Have a shoulder width stance with your toes pointing slightly outward, and make sure your knees stay pointed outward towards your toes during the whole movement. Before going down, take a breath, push your chest up, and hold it that way during the whole movement. These are just basic pointers to a good squat. You don't have to have a perfect form before adding some weight though, supposing you start with way less than you are really capable of. Just keep perfecting your form as you go, and listen to your body. Do not allow anything except below parallel squats from yourself though.
Thanks for the information. It's just soreness.. not pain I don't believe. It didn't start to bother me until 12+ hours after working out.
How do you stretch in order to prepare for squats? The type of stretching I've been doing probably doesn't prepare me for squats.
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That Limber 11 is pretty darn good pre-squat warm-up. Making sure your properly warmed up is the best thing which can be whatever gets the blood flowing.
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Micro, I'd highly suggest you get on a beginner strength program if you don't have anyone coaching you. Starting strength, strong lifts 5x5, Greyskull Linear Progression etc... They all work so it doesn't matter which one you pick, and they all work way better than just winging it every time you go to the gym.
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Not only that, but I believe it really helps when you have something to look forward to, you know what you're going to do and you have goals to go for. Instead of going to the gym as if its a chore or something you must do to maintain some level of physical health, I would hope that you'd find a mindset where its a place to clear your mind and surpass goals on weekly basis.
Honestly though, if you have something that keeps you going and slowly improving, it doesn't matter what it is, you should probably keep doing that thing. But I try to reach out to you so that you at least know what your other option is, and because everyone knows from experience (probably) how much it sucks to go to the gym without anything to look forward to.
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United States24690 Posts
Guys your points are noted. Currently my goal is to learn how to do the more fundamental exercises. Once I feel comfortable with these exercises I can worry about putting them together into a routine or using a program.
Unfortunately, my motivation for going to the gym and working out is 100% extrinsic and 0% intrinsic right now.
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On October 15 2013 05:07 micronesia wrote:
Guys your points are noted. Currently my goal is to learn how to do the more fundamental exercises. Once I feel comfortable with these exercises I can worry about putting them together into a routine or using a program.
Unfortunately, my motivation for going to the gym and working out is 100% extrinsic and 0% intrinsic right now.
as long as you have a schedule for when you're going to work on learning the exercises, and you're making what you consider to be progress with that schedule, the rest of it doesn't matter. Just don't be like I am with yoga.
I'm confused by that last line though, what do you mean?
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I think he has a physical test of some sort he needs to pass.
Going off this although it's been a few months, wondering how it's going (or went) 
On June 06 2013 01:11 micronesia wrote:It's not definite, but I may need to be able to pass this fitness test in a few months, and so I am starting to prepare now. While I'm at it, I can work out or exercise in ways that don't directly contribute towards that exam if they are particularly worthwhile anyway. Here are my thoughts: Running test: I just need to start with interval training, and use jogging as my sole preparation method for this. Today I was alternating between a brisk walk at 4 mi/h (2 minutes) and a jog at 5 mi/h (1 minute) for 15 minutes, and that seemed like a good starting point for me. My goal is to decrease the amount of walking while increasing the amount and eventually speed of jogging. Pushup test: I mainly need to practice doing pushups on my own, however general muscle strengthening throughout the whole body will make it easier to maintain proper pushup form. Situp test: I mainly need to practice doing situps although anything that works the lower torso is helpful What advice do you gurus have? My starting numbers for continuous pushups and situps are like 5 and 15 respectively lol
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United States24690 Posts
Regarding that post mordek, I am able to do 30 pushups now, which is of course a big improvement. I haven't been able to work on situps in months because of the problems I've been having with my hip flexors. Speaking of that...
I have been regularly stretching and foam rolling in order to try to keep my legs free of strains and injuries. I do this once on a day I'm not working out, and twice on a day I do work out (once before once after). I do a light warmup before I stretch (walk up down stairs a few times etc) and also do a short brisk walk before exercising at the gym.
Despite following this for a while now, I'm still having problems with the front/upper thigh. I'm assuming it's the hip flexors but I don't know the muscles that well. I've learned to back off when I'm getting painful sensations, and felt like things have been getting better. Every few days I'd notice it takes a little more running (or whatever) in order to get my legs to give me the problem again. Today I feel like I took a step back though... I decided to cut my jog short because I was starting to have a problem with my leg (it wasn't bad yet, but I didn't want to let it get bad, either).
What should I do about this? I'm stretching, I'm warming up, I'm trying my best not to do anything stupid that would hurt my leg, but I'm still unable to workout properly because my legs start to act up. I even took an extra day off (yesterday) because I still felt pretty sore from the squats (which otherwise are going well), and I still had a problem today.
Separate problem: My shoulder is kinda bothering me. It's probably from some combination of the dips, pulldowns (wishbone shaped rope), and bench pressing I've been doing. It hasn't become a serious problem yet... but I've learned that these types of problems become serious if I don't deal with them.
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Hopefully some other experienced people can chime in. Like you said, it seems like there's slow but steady progress so if I were you I'd stick to the plan unless things don't change for a while. A lot of these dysfunctions are developed over years of poor habits or just letting an old injury which seemed like nothing at the time influence the surrounding mechanisms/structures to bring you to where you are today. As with most things, if it took awhile to get to that point there's not quick fix.
You'd have to be more specific with the shoulder issue. A general answer is take that lacrosse ball and work out the tight and sore spots. If you're doing exercises you haven't done before it's not too surprising if some muscles tighten up at the sudden workload. Tight muscles lead to aggravated tendons which leads to pain/discomfort.
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So uhm wondering what people think about a belt for squats\deadlift? I had some problems with my back in the past, and though i feel pretty fine\ok\good about my back and my lifts and my form now and my lifts are heavier than they have ever been, still want to be as sure as possible that I dont have another set back, so is a belt a good idea, or should I just keep it natural? (Reading some places that belts are not really needed unless you get up to competetive level, whereas some people say belts are always a good idea.)
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Belts aren't for protecting your back. They are worn to give you something to push your abs against to increase intra-abdominal pressure. Wearing a belt is fine, it will help you move slightly more weight when used correctly. Most people who use belts train both with and without it.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
On October 17 2013 05:55 Earll wrote:
So uhm wondering what people think about a belt for squats\deadlift? I had some problems with my back in the past, and though i feel pretty fine\ok\good about my back and my lifts and my form now and my lifts are heavier than they have ever been, still want to be as sure as possible that I dont have another set back, so is a belt a good idea, or should I just keep it natural? (Reading some places that belts are not really needed unless you get up to competetive level, whereas some people say belts are always a good idea.)
I think using belts are fine as long as you train your core separately. Right now I squat (high bar) without belt but DL I still use a belt to keep my core tight. It could be because my squat's relatively low compared to my DL at 315 vs. 370 at my current weight. My recommendation would be to start using a belt if you notice that your core buckles during your work sets and do more core exercises on the side (e.g. ab wheel, planks, hanging leg raises, etc.)
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On October 17 2013 05:55 Earll wrote:
So uhm wondering what people think about a belt for squats\deadlift? I had some problems with my back in the past, and though i feel pretty fine\ok\good about my back and my lifts and my form now and my lifts are heavier than they have ever been, still want to be as sure as possible that I dont have another set back, so is a belt a good idea, or should I just keep it natural? (Reading some places that belts are not really needed unless you get up to competetive level, whereas some people say belts are always a good idea.)
I like to use a belt and feel that it helps with my lower back. Sometimes, I don't even wear it tight enough that it offers any help, but just have it on. It helps me to feel the position of my lower back more effectively and to be more aware of any changes that are happening over the course of a lift.
There's never a right or wrong time to start wearing a belt. they can be found for as little as $20 bucks (I wore This one, recommended to me by Dimsum) and you don't have to use them the same way every time, or use them for all your sets. If you're afraid you're going to get dependent on them, consider doing all your warmups or higher-rep sets without it (I'd say put it on loosely for high-rep sets, as that's honestly when there's a better chance of you putting your back in a bad position) and only actually "relying" on it for sets over, 80 or even 90%.
A belt is just a tool, there's no right or wrong about it. Get one, try it out, figure out when it works/doesn't work for you.
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On October 07 2013 02:09 BenKen wrote:Show nested quote +On October 07 2013 00:38 ShadeR wrote:
I'm trying to improve power out of the hole for my deadlift. I've started to do deadlifts at around a 4 inch deficit. How long should i stick at this until returning to regular deadlifts? Off the ground has always been weakest for me. From what I've read you don't want to go beyond a couple of inches deficit, otherwise the mechanics change too much. You could try doing your warmup sets with a deficit and then doing working sets regular, that way you don't have to take too much time away from doing the actual lift while still getting some good deficit work in. Everyone says doing deficits helps, but I didn't notice a difference even after doing them for quite some time. Only thing that did improve breaking off the ground for me was front squats. Everyone's different, so your weak spot might not be the same as mine, but fwiw deficits didn't help me off the ground much at all, while front squats seemed to help quite a bit.
I've been doing front squats instead of back squats for about 3 weeks since i fucked up my groin. It's a great lift, i feel a lot more comfortable with it in terms of mobility and muscle recruitment (or however you describe being able to "push" harder.) for my lower body. Problem is i look like a huge derp front squatting because my shoulder mobility on my left side is soo bad. I'll up a video when i have time so everyone can have a laugh =]
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I have a weird question.
My girlfriend occasionally wakes up with multiple bruises in weird spots, I don't know if it's me doing it in my sleep or her.
What could this be caused by, or what is happening?
Tried googling it, with no legit results.
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I squat with a belt and deadlift without unless I'm practicing my competition technique.
A crossfit gym opened 5 minutes from home, it has actual wooden platforms and barbells that spin properly. However they have "crossfit" 20kg bumper plates, which are too wide, can't fit more than 220kg on the bar. any ideas, I want to be able to put up to 240-250 at least. Only solution I can think of is buying 4 taishan 25kg training discs, but they are really expensive ;(
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I have a friend who has a a bad knee, broke it at a young age and has had surgey on it, I was wondering what are some good Legs exercises he can do? I know he can't jog or run, can jump rope, when we do squats we don't go below parallel. lunges are out of the question as well.
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"Ideally, our forum users will write quality posts which we can append to this OP as they are answered." This never happened  Guess its understandable with 161 pages of questions and answers though, but am sure this question is answered elsewhere to some extent but i'll ask it anyway.
Any tips on how to know when to go from 'bulking' to 'cutting'? So I am 1.82m tall or so, came back to norway and started working out semiseriously first wanted to go down a bit in weight so went down from like 85~ to 75~, then started bulking (+ started using creatine) so quite quickly went up to like 80~82.5, and then since then have gone up to like 87 now. My lifts have gone up a bit, squat and deadlift moreso than armexercises (though they were reallyreallylow) my squats are at 92.5kg, deadlift at 82.5 OHP at 37.5 and Benchpress (using dumbells) is at like 22.5 per dumbell ( ) Was thinking id just bulk up to 90kg then maybe try to rid myself of some fat, but that seems awefully close. should I let my lifts decide (e.g keep bulking til i reach a certain strength) or let my weight decide (e.g bulk up to 90kg or 95kg or?) and i guess what my end goal is would be relevant too?
I used to be thinking long term perfect fitnessgoal that I would want to be at like 85-90kg but thats starting to seem pretty small =p anyway any input is much appriciated.
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EPT
