I’m glad your elbow feels better but I personally wouldn’t be comfortable trying to do cleans with a partial grip like that. You’ll probably be okay because that’s the weakest part of your grip anyway that you’re surrendering. I hope it works out.
So much this.
When I referenced “core” in my earlier post, I definitely did not mean “rock hard abba dabbas”.
Through hitting some ceilings on my bigger lifts, and through injuries, I’ve been forced to reckon with the fact that that it all starts from the middle and works its way out. If you have poor hip flexibility, poor abdominal strength, weak glutes, etc etc it’s going to manifest somewhere.
For me I have managed to alleviate some problem areas higher up my posterior chain, so that now when things are our of whack in my “system” the first place it usually shows up is in my right SI joint. Improving my hip mobility and general hip hinge, strengthening my glutes and getting better stretch in my hamstrings are all focus points at the moment, but for any given person your weak points might be different and require different focus.
It’s been a lot less fun for me to put away all the big lifts but I know the work I am doing is going to be a lot more beneficial to me day-to-day, and if I get to a good enough place to go back to the big lifts again I think I have a pretty good chance of breaking some of my PB’s because I think I will have removed some of the limitations I had.
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I use hook grip. So it was fine. But yeah. Now I have a clearer idea of the problem, will have to work out a sustainable solution.
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I probably haven’t explained my situation well thus far. What I’ve been doing is a lot more akin to rehab than to the more traditional weightlifting routines I had mostly done previously.
For the first 6 months of this year it was just the two physiotherapy sessions a week, then I added in 1-1 training sessions with a trainer who works out of the same place. The hope was that we would be able to get back toward my PB’s again (395lb dead, 295 bench, 385 squat). We got up to about 360lbs squat but my lower back (particular around the SI joints) was getting pretty inflamed/sore. Issues with the squats too. I know theoretically I should be getting a lot of work through my midsection doing that sort of weight, but because of poor hip flexion, hamstring flexibility, ab/lower back strength I was hitting these issues. I had spent too long just “muscling through it” instead of addressing these problems. That’s also why my max deadlift is pretty similar to my max squat…I should probably be able to deadlift another 20lbs at least.
Examples of the sorts of exercises I have been doing as part of my physiotherapy:
Clamshells (with a band), Bridges (squeezing a medicine ball between legs), Dead Bugs, Palloff Press, Bird Dogs, Band Walks, Steamboats, probably at least half a dozen others that get rotated around or the difficulty increased.
With my 1-1 trainer since we realized I was still not going to be able to go too heavy with the deads/squats we switched to focusing more on mobility, some deep stretches to work on things like opening my hips up, improving how well I can stretch out my hamstrings, and working on being able to do pullups (using pulldowns and the counter-weighted pull-up machine) so I can still try and strengthen my back while doing everything else to improve my ability to get back to the heavy deads.
I have issues with bench press too. My shoulders fatigue before my chest does. We are doing things to try and “open up” my chest more as well as strengthening my rotator cuff.
Anyway - probably none of this is particularly helpful or relevant to you. But for me I have come to terms with the fact that mobility/flexibility/core work is now going to probably comprise about half of my workouts. I should have had more balance all along, but I really only ever enjoyed the bigger strength exercises so I neglected the rest. Worked when I was younger, doesn’t hold up now that I am older and heavier :-(
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Thanks, and don’t mind sharing my weight or any other numbers. When I put up those PB’s I was at about 220lbs (I’m 6ft). I’m about 260lbs now (6 years on). I still really feel like I can beat all those lifts, but I need to address these other issues and get a good period of being in one spot and training consistently.
I assume you mean do I get pelvic tilt doing the squats and deadlifts? I should really know the answer to that, but I don’t. It’s one of those things that I definitely have known/has been discussed probably with at least a few trainers over the years, but I just can’t recall the answer for sure. I think that with deadlifts I start to get tilt right at the end of the movement, as my hamstrings reach the limits of their flexibility. When I was doing them with the trainer I work with at the moment we started putting some low boxes down to save me the last bit of range. For the squats I’ve gone through periods where I went ass-to-floor but mostly I have stuck to going a bit past 90 degrees. Strangely enough I am pretty sure when I did the 385 squat it was going ATF.
Sidenote since you enjoy this sort of talk…about 18 years ago when I first started training the gym I was at brought in a consultant for a while to help improve the business. He was a former competitive powerlifter. He was just coming back from a long back rehab.
He was at a state lifting meet (this was in Australia) and was going for something near his max squat. The organizers of the event pulled some guys out of the crowd to spot him. I’ve never competed before, but apparently there are three lights, and you need to drop down with the weight, wait for the third light, then push up. Well, because they pulled the spotters out of the crowd, one of them didn’t know what they were doing and assumed he was stuck, so he started to take some of the weight on one side. The third light goes, the guy pushes up, and of course the weight has now gone lopsided and he completely blew out his back.
I don’t know if any legal action was taken after that or not, but it would be pretty damn hard to let go of the resentment regardless.
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idk why but I laughed out loud at the pelvic tilt question 
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I may change some some as my fitness improves, but right now I have no desire to go for maxes or even lift heavy. I’m mainly doing cardio and floor work with just body or low weights. I did squats, deadlifts, and plenty of bench when I played football, but currently I view heavy cardio with light weights and things and like pushups and situps at most conducive toward what I’m trying to achieve in terms of weight loss and overall health. For “big guys” lifting will give you strength and power, but you’re still basically a big guy physically. I want to reduce my physical profile, not be the type of massive dude one sees in strongman competitions. Again, I may add in some weights and maybe even join a gym to do some weight training, but working on cardio and overall fitness is my focus at present. If I do lift, it will probably be lower weights with like 15 reps.
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Here. I do running 4x/week, and strength training 2x/week, looking to increase to 3x/week. I work out in my home gym, with a bench press/lat pulldown/preacher curl contraption, a new (cheap) squat rack/dip station, a treadmill, and a spin bike (very occasionally). My goals are mostly to maintain good health and some strength to avoid injuries and heart problems into old age.
Specifically, I have gone from a 26:55 5k in June 2019 to 23:32 in September, and now looking to lower that to 23:15 in January. I think I can get faster, but the training does take a long time. I’m not sure whether I want to increase my distance to a 10k or half marathon, or go for speed in the shorter event.
For strength, I lose it so fast if I skip a few weeks of workouts, that I have not made a lot of progress over the past few years, always resetting to very low weights. About 5-6 years ago, I was at my strongest, and would like to get somewhere close to that again. I’ve been concentrating on deadlifts for the past several months, and did add about 45 lbs. to that lift.
Now that I have my squat rack set up, I’m looking forward to doing back squats again. I had only been doing front squats with what I could comfortably clean, and mostly in the summer outside, so I can drop the weights on the ground.
I stopped drinking 2 months ago, and also started a low sodium diet to control blood pressure without meds. That has helped me lose a few pounds and feel more motivated and sharp mentally.
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I always kick myself once I am back into regular training because I keep managing to forget how much better it makes me feel physically and mentally. I’m happy for you that you have been able to get that breakthrough. It must feel really awesome and motivating.
What sort of routines do you gravitate toward? Big lifts? HIIT?
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Congrats on all your progress!
I feel like running falls into love it/hate it territory. Some guys I used to work with got into it in a big way and were constantly geeking out on times/equipment/gadgets. I loathe it and always have. I’m kinda jealous of the people who love it though.
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It’s Goat
gotta have good running music. Tool and such
That’s sounds like a great home gym. Is this in a garage?
I’m in a condo and have squeezed a rowing machine, oly bar and a bunch of kettlebells into it, but that’s probably as far as I can go.
It’s in the finished basement. It was formerly occupied by my wife’s business, and then by teenagers. That forced me to squash into a smaller section of the basement, but now that those other activities have moved out, it’s all mine! We’ll be downsizing within the next two years, so I’ll enjoy it while I can, and then either move to a building with a gym or join a commercial gym again.
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I don’t really love running, but I do like seeing the times go down. Some kind of aerobic exercise is required for longevity, and running is about as simple as it gets. I agree that music helps. I like to listen to reggaeton or fast dance music to go with a 180 steps per minute cadence. I have also enjoyed running with other people in a Meetup group. Even though we typically run more slowly than I would like, the time and miles slide by faster (until they start talking politics, then I speed up.)
In, looking to restart the gym habit. I’m a before-work lifter so I struggle during the winter–who tf wants to get out of bed to lift heavy things when it’s 20 degrees and pitch black?
My workout is still pretty SD-based. If anyone wants to do some sort of workout challenge or last-longer bet I’d be interested. Not as a replacement for motivation, just as a little extra to get the habit kickstarted.
Something accountability-based. I’ve done them before as a last-longer (whoever misses a day first pays the penalty) and as a workout-maximizing challenge (whoever hits the gym the most times during a set period of time wins / others pay a penalty of some sort). I prefer the latter as it avoids discouraging people who may have to miss a day for some reason.
We could set it up like this: 60-day duration, max of one workout per day. Everyone has their own routines in mind and can set what counts as a “workout” for them (mine would be primarily lifting or yoga, others may include cardio) and we could do it on the honor system, winner chooses a charity at the end and all “losers” donate $50.
I’m in. But only if i can skip weekends.
My wife and her cousin are doing a “carrots-only” mutually beneficial challenge. I think it’s triggered by my $2/workout fund, where I use the proceeds to purchase fitness equipment or related stuff. They are planning a trip to some lake in Austria (we all live the U.S.) when they build up enough money/workouts. They’re using a google spreadsheet with different colors to show that they worked out on a particular day.
I like the carrots-only approach, as it tends to remove or reduce the negative thoughts. I have a literal pile of dollars, as well as new equipment to show for my efforts. I also have some muscle and compliments, rather than thinking oh I’m really getting a little thick around the waist, why don’t I work out more fatty, I suck, etc.
A great resource for habit forming/breaking is Atomic Habits, by James Clear. I don’t think he’s really doing anything too ground-breaking, but he boils it down to 4 principles, and they’ve worked for me. I think there’s a cheat sheet at his web site where you can get the basic concepts. The first step is changing your environment (example: end-cap displays at supermarket). Making the workout triggers obvious, such as putting workout clothes out the night before, or storing your earbuds next to the coffee pot, cause the habit to be triggered. The more important the habit, the more obvious and plentiful the triggers should be.
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I’ve never seen the term “bro splits” before. Assume its just the standard back/biceps, chest/triceps stuff? I like those too, and dislike cardio too.
Plus I have to be honest and say that there is an ego element to the lifting. I played a lot of sport while I was in school. I performed ok, but it was based on effort and being competitive, not on any natural talent for anything (in fact I am uncoordinated). But, strength might be one thing that comes a little more naturally to me than it does on average to others. I don’t like to show off in front of other people or anything like that, but just for myself, it feels good to lift something heavy and know that I could, you know?
I just read through your log and subbed. Thinking of starting my own as a result. Good luck with your big boy program 
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