The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

https://www.instagram.com/p/B00dsCAgEQC/?igshid=a02i8pl4mkye

Video from this morning. You can see the sadness from the first one lol

 

Been eating a ton the past week just with family and girlfriend- noticed my weight is up a few pounds in the morning from normal 170 to 174.5. Pretty clean eating, just grilled chicken and bigger breakfasts with extra almond butter and eggs. Felt it when doing chest yesterday could hit an extra 2-3 reps and go an extra two sets on the heavier dumbbells before moving 5lbs down for the next set. Feels great but I have been super lean the past couple of years and want to keep it that way- have bulked to 205 before and do not want to do that again.

 

Need a little advice.
I'm 54 5'10 about 180. I've been making it to the gym about 3 times a week for going on 15 years now.
About and hour each workout as I super set, working out opposing muscle groups. Hitting each group once a week.
Usually 8-12 reps, last rep always to failure. About 3 years ago I had a bad bout of Tennis elbow (Tendentious) in my left arm. It really screwed up
my workouts for about 4 months. I found out by trial and error that it was bicep curls on a Preacher bench causing my problem.
Changed over to cable and dumbbell curls and it went away.
Now about 3-4 months back I decided to step up my fitness game a little. Cut back on my beer drinking, eat healthier and doubled my protein intake. And I
added Creatine and BCAA's in to my daily diet. And I also starting really trying to get the most out of my workouts. Pushing really to get that one last rep in.
I've made some pretty good gains adding 10-20 pounds to most of my sets while losing 10 pound myself.
The problem now is that my Tennis Elbow is starting to come back. Now I'm only doing 8-10 sets once a week for biceps. Usually 4-5 sets of cable curls 12-14 reps and 4-5 sets of dumbbell or rope curls 12-14 reps.
So my questions are.

1. Anyone dealt with this issue before? if so what did you do to get past it?
2. Recommended bicep exercises to limit Tendentious?
3. Supplement to help heal or prevent Tendentious?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tendinitis is inflammation. Ice, ibuprofen, rest. Don’t do exercises that make it flare up, or do them less frequently. Simple but effective.

 

Are you sure its tennis elbow?

The ulnar nerve runs very close to the outer part of the elbow and can be aggravated by bicep and tricep work because those movements tend to stretch the area which tugs on the nerve as it goes over the bony process in the elbow.

I will always tell people to see a PT for any chronic ailments. A PT will be able to tell you what the problem is and how to fix it faster than any doc.

If you have a chronic issue not due to over use it could be an issue related to your anatomy and how you move. So your treatment needs to be specific to you.

When ever I have an injury that lingers for 3-4 months and I can’t figure it out, I just go to my PT. He fixes nearly everything in 2-3 sessions (of course I do my PT program on my own for longer than that but he gets me started).

Also as an aside I no longer do a lot of arm work anymore because it does nothing but hurt me. I rarely use anything over 25lb dumbbells and I keep the number of arm exercises to a minimum.
I think its a total waste of time. You don’t need to work those small muscles like that for size and strength.
I do more compound movements and limit isolation exercises.
You work biceps with your back and triceps with your shoulders and chest. You don’t need to beat them up too much more than that.

 

Thanks man. Slowly but surely.

Chest day:

Bench:
135x15
155x12
185x8
205x4
225x3
245x2
265x1
285x1

Seated Machine Flys - middle height 5 sets

90x20
110x20
130x15
150x12
150x10

3 sets triceps to fire them up
Rope Pulldowns
90xfeel

Incline Dumbbell: Slower, controlled, lighter due to heavy bench

45x12
55x12
65x10
65x10

Incline cable flys:
40x16
40x16
40x16
drop set to
30x at least 10
20 at least 10
pause 15 seconds repeat 20# until failure

Decline Cable Flys (no good decline anything at gym so I do flys again sometimes)

4 sets of 65x15

Delt burnout
Side lateral minimal height (removal of trap)

20x15
25x15
30x15

Drop set 30x15
20x20
15x failure
10x failure
5x failure

Done

 

I'm not a 100% sure it's Tennis Elbow. But I did go the the Doctor when it flared up the 1st time. He diagnosed it as Tennis Elbow.
Gave me a steroid Dexamethasone. That didn't last long. Shit liked to have killed me. Gained 25 pounds of water in a week and man was i sick.
Googled it and found out its nicknamed Devil Dex. Never more....

If it doesn't get any better in the next couple of week with maybe icing it like rngr said I may check out PT.
And you maybe be right with my age 8-10 sets once a week may be too much. May have to cut back.

 

Yeah that shit is a bit extreme when someone who just comes in with tennis elbow...

I’m not sure age is the impact. I’m 28 and just decided its not the best on my elbow joint. I’m not old.

 

Fuck




That

 

Great thread. Just catching up on a lot of good info here.

What do you guys do to bust out of a plateau? More food? Different exercises? Different weight/rep approach?

 

Yes, majority of climbing is done by pushing yourself up with your legs etc...and I was fully aware of this when I went to the indoor rock climbing facility. However, when you weigh 200lbs and are not climbing straight up, you have to use your upper body strength and rely on your hand strength & arms quite a bit more.

 

Yea. gettin old sure ain't fun. At your age I was on top of the world. Hell at 45 I was in top notch shape.
Now at 54........
Had to get glasses.
Hair thinning turning Grey.
Back and Elbow issues. Nothing major
Had to have both hips replaced last year. Thank God for medical advances. Went in to Surgery at 3:10 pm came out at 5:05 pm both hips done.
Got out of the Hospital Monday morning about 10:30 am. Was back at work in 2 weeks on Monday morning at 5:30 am. No Physical Therapy and no Limitations.
Wiener still works thanks to my Hot size 1 36D wife. But if it ever stops.... I will be hitting those little Blue pills.

 

You might as well start the lift with your butt higher. Stop trying to force yourself to start from a seated position. You’re wasting movement and energy starting the lift in a position that your body doesn’t find as a mechanical advantage.

 

I’m trying to work on that. I’m so used to “butt down butt down butt down” for deadlift doesn’t feel normal to use more back.

 

Hardest part still was just holding the bar.

 

Had the same issue and friends who have too- you need to wrap it when you lift. Get some compression wrap and make it tight, lift with it for a while. Mine went away after I did that and don't need to wrap it anymore

 

Ono of the ladies here at work suggested that. She suggested one of those Copper laced raps. Don't know if it makes any difference.

 

The only advice from internet people regarding your health and injuries you should actually follow is what @PackCon said. Go to a PT. No one on here can diagnose your problem without physically seeing you. Just got to a PT if it continues to cause pain. Don't do activities that make it hurt, you could very well be making it worse. Pain does not equal gain always. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.

 

All the deadlift talk... that exercise kind of intimidates me. I saw a video years back of a power lifter who blew out his o-ring doing that. It was one of the grossest things I think I’ve seen.

 

My biggest fear is ripping a bicep