Mobility; stretching; warming up
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The Old Guy
Village idiot
My back was in a pretty bad way in my early 30s from sports and wear and tear. Dr wanted me to consider surgery.
Went to a chiro for a pretty intensive program and avoided surgery. Back is still not great but I try to included mobility pretty much every day.
Went to a chiro for a pretty intensive program and avoided surgery. Back is still not great but I try to included mobility pretty much every day.
I’m working on implementing an in depth full body stretch as regularly as I do a full body split. My old RMT (I can’t say enough about this guy, he was a very talented genius of the craft) , said I should be spending the same time warming up and stretching and working in mobility putting the time in equally as I put it under heavy loads of stress in the gym
The Old Guy
Village idiot
I agree with this but easy in theory harder in practice.
Biggest hole in my game by far. And by game I mean Life. I fucking suck at getting this done at all. So many surgeries that required extensive rehab and physio, I'm just sick of it by the time I'm done getting back to normal.
And btw it's fairly unlikely that most of the surgeries would have been unnecessary if I had done more mob and stretching, mostly violent trauma stuff as well as benching to the neck like Vince Gironda advised. Turns out that ain't a great idea if you have a certain shoulder structure. Shattered my Mr. O dreams.
And btw it's fairly unlikely that most of the surgeries would have been unnecessary if I had done more mob and stretching, mostly violent trauma stuff as well as benching to the neck like Vince Gironda advised. Turns out that ain't a great idea if you have a certain shoulder structure. Shattered my Mr. O dreams.
I spend as much time warming up and stretching after as I do training with weights or sparring. Why - I'm not 18 and I don't bounce back like I use to. I don't sit on bikes or steppers or any fancy machines. For a warm up, I stole several movements from a guy on another forum and it might incorporate basics like a few sets of pushups, bridges, and shoulder mobility movements. I often do 5 shoulder mobility exercises before any upper body workout. I don't know of many upper body exercises that don't include the shoulders. Maybe a 15 minutes walk with my dogs to get the blood flowing.
I stretch my entire body afterwards no matter what I'm training.
I don't want to be exercising for 21/2 hours so I check my ego when lifting and concentrate on TUT and reducing the time between sets. My leg workout and back workout are decent cardio workouts too. Any progress is still progress even if your not lifting more weight. There are more ways to tax your body that putting a shitload of weight on a bar.
Even doing this won't prevent injuries if you push yourself hard. I have a preferred massage therapist and a chiropractor and physiotherapist who I trust and are both avid weight lifters. All three have made a lot of me lol.
I can pick out a few gems of info from this comment; thanks Goldenrod, also having the medical professionals in your corner is ideal
10 minutes on the bike a 20 minute series of yoga stretches held for 1-1.5 minutes on warm up. Repeat on cool down. In my 60's lots of physical Trauma. Can't train with out it. However, it has been a constant practice my whole life.
I'm with GR I prefer my RMT and Chiro. They also have made a small fortune. Now things are opening up here in BC I will be back in regular Yoga classes. A practice I began decades ago. So calming and freeing.
I'm 175 and 5'6' very good mobility. Just going into my fat loss cycle now.
I'm with GR I prefer my RMT and Chiro. They also have made a small fortune. Now things are opening up here in BC I will be back in regular Yoga classes. A practice I began decades ago. So calming and freeing.
I'm 175 and 5'6' very good mobility. Just going into my fat loss cycle now.
For me regardless of what it is on an upper body muscle group shoulders get warmed up. I also do a 10 min stretch that involves Yoga style poses that I hold for about 30-45 secs each, if I don’t do this on back/leg day though, I’m paying for it halfway through the workout . My dr told me i have some sort of issue with the muscles in my lower back. It’s not spine related so that’s good I suppose, but I need to take some extra time to focus on some of this stuff before I do hurt myself , or the way the body compensates for movement when restricted can also lead to musculoskeletal imbalances and bad posture.
I'm a big fan of using a hard roller (5" PVC wrapped with hockey tape) to relax and flush muscles post workout, as well as useful for fascia work. It hurts more than most of my workouts, but it really loosens things up. Following that I will do post workout stretches. For smaller areas, like many, I use a lacrosse ball, hardball, softball, etc.
Pre-workout, I'll do some light rolling, mobility movements, and targeted warmup movements. Most of my core is pilates, which not only works your core but lengthens muscles, and it's great for stretching. I'll do active stretching pre-workout, never static stretching. That was how I was taught.
Pre-workout, I'll do some light rolling, mobility movements, and targeted warmup movements. Most of my core is pilates, which not only works your core but lengthens muscles, and it's great for stretching. I'll do active stretching pre-workout, never static stretching. That was how I was taught.
I don’t stretch before training. Let’s say bench. I’ll put a 25 lb plate on each side and bang out 15 full deep reps.
‘I’ll do that a couple times.
Then I’ll put my starting weight on the bar, do 10 reps, increase by 20 lbs, do10 reps, increase by 20 lbs do 10 reps. Once I cant get out 8 reps I’m done.
Then I hammer it as hard as I want because I’m completely warmed up.
I do this with the first exercise only. So of back, I might do it with bent rows, legs, squats.
I find it helps me get into my groove better.
Oh and that massager it too weak. But percussion tops for your jig saw and use that. I attached a handle to mine so I can do my back.
it’s not pretty but it works.
I go to massage therapy once a month now and get my pecs pulled out.
‘Then I do basic stretches after training as I cook my post workout meal.
‘I’ll do that a couple times.
Then I’ll put my starting weight on the bar, do 10 reps, increase by 20 lbs, do10 reps, increase by 20 lbs do 10 reps. Once I cant get out 8 reps I’m done.
Then I hammer it as hard as I want because I’m completely warmed up.
I do this with the first exercise only. So of back, I might do it with bent rows, legs, squats.
I find it helps me get into my groove better.
Oh and that massager it too weak. But percussion tops for your jig saw and use that. I attached a handle to mine so I can do my back.
it’s not pretty but it works.
I go to massage therapy once a month now and get my pecs pulled out.
‘Then I do basic stretches after training as I cook my post workout meal.
I'm surprised you can get enough force through the handle to benefit. I'll roll on a lacrosse ball or hardball for upper back, and when I'm done those muscles are jello. Same goes with hard rolling my quads and glutes. I've spent 45mins rolling out quads and glutes, but that's when I've neglected to roll them out for a week. It's more taxing than the workout. After a good leg workout fascia rolling is punishment. But, it feels so good afterwards. That's what I remind myself. This sucks ass and hurts like hell, but it's worth it. lol
If you want to experience a great and very relaxing stretch look into fascia rolling by a masseuse. They loosen the muscle, then grab onto and roll the fascia, as though they were stretching then folding a piece of dough. They will grab a part, stretch it by rolling and lifting it, then move down. It's pretty intense.
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The Old Guy
Village idiot
It’s not meant to be a lacrosse ball or foam roller. You grind out the muscle thru force then use the massager.
Trust me, it pounds the hell out of you.
For my traps I use my squat bar on the squat rack. I put couple hundred pounds on the bar, leave it racked at a bit below shoulder height. Then I grind into the bar, like a massage therapist would with their elbows. Then I use a lacrosse ball for lower areas, but once I relaxed my upper traps, the lumps started to go away themselves in the mid lower traps.
Stretching before you lift is fuckin dumb anyways haha so ur doing the right thing by not
That's bit of a generalization isn't it?
Can you expand on that or is the extent of your contribution limited to 'it's fuckin dumb' ?
Seems pretty easy to put together an arguement opposed to that statement. For the record I can't agree with it.
It would make a great clickbait title for one of those articles with zero substance though.
I know the importance but ignore it, stretching is hard... always want to force myself into doing yoga because I know how much it would benefit me, just can't seem to get it done. I suffer from lower back pain if I don't stretch my hips out. If anyone here ever gets lower back pain, it's probably the hips getting tight.
Don't know if its true, but I've heard if you stretch before lifting, you sacrifice some strength potential???