The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

I haven't read all 2820 pages so please excuse me if this had already been brought up. My right shoulder is constantly hurting. For as long as I can remember when I would bench my shoulders would "tick" it's to the point now that anything I do shoulder wise is severe pain. Now it's to the point its hindering almost my entire routine. I go to the chiropractor and get some relief for a few weeks at a time but it always comes back. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

First and foremost let your shoulder heal, if that means no upper body, then so be it. Once you feel enough time has passed for your shoulder to heal-up you’re going to have to design upper body routines around your shoulder. If your shoulder is injury prone when you engage it from a bench press then stop doing that excericse; try benching with dumbbells instead of a bar, and start light, really light. Genetics and physiology play a massive role in what we can or can not do in the gym. I have narrow shoulders and suffer from a similar problem. There are exercises I flat out will not do because my rotator cuff slaps me upside the head whenever I do them. Three things, first, form, form, form, it’s all about form, and secondly, don’t be too concerned with how much weight you’re lifting, be more concerned with what your body is getting out of the workout, sore is fine, consistent pain is bad news. Listen to your body, it’s telling you to stop doing bench, or perhaps, try another form of press, i.e. dumbbell press, and last, design your routine around your limitations. Best of luck.

 

I’ve been drinking this instant Keto Coffee every morning and I think it’s been contributing to my tummy chubs

I really like the stuff but, I’m not going to keep drinking it if it’s giving me chubs. Argh

 

That all looks good

 

Thanks for the help. I'm kind of a bigger guy, no giant by any means and somewhat strong. I've always been taught proper form and I'm only benching with db's. Looks like I'm going to have to build a routine around this shoulder as you started. Thanks again.

 

You need to go to an ortho or really good PT.
You need a diagnosis and an understanding of what’s wrong.
Shoulder injuries are some of the worst to let linger because over time your other larger muscles take over for the smaller ones and lead you to build compensation habits that can make it more difficult to recover.
Plus the longer an injury goes the harder it is to fix and the more likely it is that you will not get back to 100%. In fact if a shoulder injury does require surgery if it goes on longer than 1 year it can reduce the effrctiveness of a surgery by 50%

Plus who wants to be in pain all the time? Thats no fun.

Get an understanding if whats going on from a pro and then work from there.

The “ticks” could be your rotator cuff getting lazy and allowing your humorous to slip in the joint and rub.
Mine ticks when I stop doing my PT like I should. Lets me know to get my butt in line.

 

Agree with PC here. I am guilty of neglecting a shoulder injury for many years. I told myself stop being a pussy. (Boy that worked good??). Finally I saw an ortho and After working with him for a few months I scheduled an MRI with injection of dye (fuck that's a big rod they stab you with).

Good news was nothing was wrong with the shoulder. This lead us back to removing certain exercises until I could build the smaller muscles and improve my form. He thought for sure what I was doing form wise was the issue.

Year later I visited a massage specialist who also noticed my form was bad and helped me in regards to that. In the last year since form improvement and monthly massages / chiro I have never felt better about my shoulders. They ache here and there which is expected lifting what I do - but NOTHING compares to the pain I was in before hand with them. Night and day.Extremely glad I dropped my weights (in literally all exercises) and stopped worrying about being a pussy and now I make 3x the progress than I ever did.

 

This. I love hitting my bag in the garage, especially if I had a shitty day.

 

@Supra TT serious question. How do you curve hunger? Not “I’m bored so I need to eat” or “I’m sad and food will make me happy”

But like stomach just starts growling in the middle of the day or doing something.

I guess because I’m building more muscle, my body is burning more calories and wanting more?

Losing weight was easy but now this is a curveball as I’m eating MORE now than I did when I was cutting and my stomach never growled during then.

Do you fuel it? Or do you just ignore it? Trying to get on your level slowly but surely but don’t want to just put on a bunch of fat again either by always eating lol.

 

Like middle of workout I’ll be like fuck I want some food.

 

I know you didn’t ask me but what does your macronutrient breakdown look like?
You said before you eat a lot of carbs. Nothing inherently wrong with that but your body needs certain amounts of fats and protien before it needs carbs.
Carbs make you hungry as well. So a diet too high in carbs and not high enough in protien and especially fats will leave you hungry all the time.

I have found regardless of whether I’m cutting or bulking or maintaining as long as I maintain a good nutrient balance overall, I have very little issues with being hungry or having cravings. I’m pretty decently satiated throughout the day. If anything when bulking I’m force feeding myself 6-7 times per day.

 

I asked him not you because of different body goals (no offense).

My daily diet consists of carbs and proteins.

Banana before workout.

Like oatmeal and cottage cheese for breakfast

Turkey patty/tuna/fish for a snack at 9:30

Chicken and potatoes/greens for lunch

Fruit for a snack

Then more chicken and greens and potatoes again for dinner.

That’s basically my daily diet. It changes on specifics but that’s basically what I eat every day.

With tons and tons of water.



I ate less while cutting(portions) and never really got hungry

Now I eat bigger portions and feel hungry more lol. I’m assuming my body is putting on muscle mass and is burning more calories while resting and that’s why im getting more hungry but I’m just curious about others

Like one chicken breast (and sides) used to leave me satisfied where now I almost have to eat 2 just to be comfortable.

 

No offense taken I’m not a giant body builder like Supra lol
I’m all strength and fitness related.

Your fat content seems low if you eat all lean meats. Fat is necessary for hormone production and fat building.
I find making sure my fat intake is high enough I do much better with food.

Just a suggestion.

Also if you are losing weight or not gaining about 1-2lbs per month up your cals because you for sure aren’t eating enough.

The math is usually +200-500 cals per day in excess when bulking.
When I’m cutting at 1lb per week I find if I swap to a bulk its more than just 700-1000 calorie bump depending on how long I was cutting. Your body does go into this hyperburn lol I think its because the lack of deficit allows you to train harder which = more calorie burn.
So if you don’t gain over the next 3 weeks eat more.

 

My fat content is super low. I will for sure admit that. I guess I should bump it up but was trying to stay away from them due to trying to gain lean mass. But I may be fucking up.

 

I know it’s repetitive and not fancy but this is basically all I eat. I have never got tired of chicken and potatoes so I take advantage of loving them. Especially cause they’re so easy to make lol.

This isn’t from one day but just gives you an idea of what my meals consist of.

 

Right now, gonna be honest - I am not hungry ever (unless I see a cookie.... WEAKNESS) On a serious note, I am always full. From the big meals that aren't insanely calorie dense, plus the amount of water I drink daily - I hardly feel so hungry my stomach growls.

It's tough, and it takes some time to figure out where you want to be so you're not so focused on food. When I wasn't eating enough food (not measuring) I felt hungry, for sure. I also didn't drink enough water (still don't... ) and that is when I felt the hunger.

Most of my food size doesn't change, it's the density so-to-speak. When I was eating 2k cals a day I had filler foods (spinach and lettuces and tons of other veggies) to keep me feeling "full" I also drank more water (shouldn't change between bulk/cut, but I did consume more water).

Agree with PC here, your fat content is too low. I generally eat red meat at least 1x a day, sometimes 2x.

My fat content when cutting was about 50-65g. Now I am up to 115g/day during my bulk. My fats come from turkey, eggs, PB, nuts, red meat, some in my protein shake/almond milk and some from ranch or honey mustard sauce when I feel I need it. I adjust daily if I use dressings and eat less of x,y,z to be consistent with the macros.

Fats are essential, I try to get fats with every meal, and keep it roughly even throughout the meals.

 

So Fats are more necessary than I thought and I’m slacking on them.

Got it. I’ll try to change it up. I also don’t track track anymore cause i basically eyeball the portions from when I was cutting and adjust depending on hunger and daily activity.

 

How many calories a day do you suppose you eat?

 

I tracked hard while cutting and was only taking in around 1,500.

I’d bet I’m around 2,200/day now between all the fruits and bigger portions I’m doing. Although I could crack out the trusty scale and measure portions again to double check but I’d bet a good chunk of money on that.

 

How tall are you? You're about 180ish# IIRC and given average height roughly 5'10 I'm gonna guess - To just maintain you should be around #2500 at least in calories. Probably a tad higher. Just adding in the fats will make a huge difference.