Ummm Goodluck . what did you do today, workout wise? or was it an off day? . i know your gonna/did stretching.

A few things:

Why did you switch from the program you were doing before? You did make progress, but you were grossly inconsistent. You didn't give it a fair chance, because a program is only effective if you follow through.
I was actually pretty consistent with the exercises, but I needed to change the exercise selection, due to progress.
Don't do situps for your abs. Situps require a lot of hip flexor involvement to get the job done. That's basically what the movement is: hip flexion! You could easily make thing worse with this exercise.
Thats, what I was thinking, thanks for pointing that out!
Don't just think glute maximus, think glute medius/minimus. These are big hip abductors. If I remember right from your pictures, your femurs are internally rotated. This almost always means an overactive and tight tensor fascia latae, which also generally means an underactive glute medius/minimus. This is further corroborated by your femoral instability during a squat. Try some clamshells and side lying bicycles.
I just tried the clamshells- WAY TOO EASY! I also tried out lying hip aduction with my knee extended- too easy!
You need to be doing some kind of lower body integrated/compound movement. You aren't going to correct dysfunctional motor patterns if you don't try to do something where you can actually put them to use. Isolation stuff is great for helping to correct imbalances, but it won't integrate these muscles back into proper movements patterns if you don't do something more functional. If you have to start by squatting while holding onto something as you descend, then do it.
yea I do practice squats with out holding onto anything, I actually just made a vid, I will post it, I think you will be proud! lol
See about getting a foam roller. I swear soft tissue work is amazing. I have seen some serious issues seriously assisted by the usage of a foam roller.
ok I try to get one

Oh, and are you sure HIIT cardio is the best thing for you now? Do you even have a general conditioning base? I would start out with some steady state aerobic stuff and move into the interval training once you lay the foundation.

use tubing for resistance on the clam shells. ankle weights can be used for lying hip abduction.

If the lying hip abductions with a straight knee are too easy, then you're doing them wrong. The ROM is very small. If you are capable of getting a good ROM, then you're doing them wrong.

Also, side lying bicycles are different. See if you can find them on Google. If not, I will explain.

i suspect he is doing a lot of the exercises wrong.

I would like to see a video of you doing overhead pressess. I just can't see your form being that good on it, considering how much you complain about your posture. I want to see what it looks like when you press 95lbs overhead.

I promise my form is good on these! I will take a vid right now. My clean sucks though, please don't judge it lol, my max clean is probably like 100.

how did it go with the athletic trainer?

you really need someone to give you instruction on these exercises and teach you how to perform them properly as well as manipulate them to fit your specific needs at this time.

Don't do cleans! that is the last thing you need to be doing!

you do look skinnier in the video though. Have you managed to drop weight?

RE: squats

1) why are you going down to that depth? You don't have the abillity to. Your lower back rounds out like crazy. Your entire upper body leans forward and is unable to maintain a good angle (which should be about paralell with your shank).
I am telling you, no matter what depth I go down I lean forward, I really need to strengthen my glutes, maybe my body does it just for balance?2) your right heel is coming off the floor. You are super tight.
whats a shank? lol
3) you need to work within' your functional ROM, which is a lot less ROM then what you did just there, and work on flexibility and improving that ROM as Flexibility improves. Try box squatting down to a chain or a bench and work on sitting back and maintaining trunk angle.
ok I'll do that. When I am seated on a low chair, I try to stand up without using my hands, but to do so, I have to lean forward
RE: millitary press

1) hard to tell from the angle of the video....it looks like you are leaning back. Don't do that, it places pressure on the lower back to much.
alright I will try to fix that
2) you need to push your chest through as the bar moves past your eyes so that you can (a) keep yourself from leaning back, (b) get the bar over your center of gravity and more stable and (c) effectively complete the ROM and not turn it into a standing incline press.

3) try working with DBs first to get the pressing movement evened out. Pressing with a BB is a lot harder, technique wise, then pressing with DBs.

no lol I am up to 245 , I seriously don't know how, I must have got taller or something, thats crazy, just the other month I was 225

mike, that is a problem if you are using your hands to get up from a chair. you are not helping yourself if you are doing that.

can you please take a video of yourself squatting down (slowly!) to a chain, touch and go, don't rest on the chair, stand right back up (again slowly!) and go slow and try and control for posture. Let me see what it looks like.

one side view one front view.

It means you are incredibly weak.

lol, wich muscles? leg muscles or core stability?

isn't it weird though since in the squat vid, I was getting lower than a chair seat, and I paused at the bottom for a while?

My legs are probably very weak, when I first started benching my max was like 60lbs, and I never trained my legs, so... yea

you should try and put something on the chair and squat down to that.

you might actually want to try placing some 10lb plates under your heels when you squat.

you are still leaning over big time though!

try to put some plates under your heels.

cool..btw the link ir ur sig doesnt work

ur not elite. how can u put link in ur sig?

If the lying hip abductions with a straight knee are too easy, then you're doing them wrong. The ROM is very small. If you are capable of getting a good ROM, then you're doing them wrong.

Also, side lying bicycles are different. See if you can find them on Google. If not, I will explain.

See about getting a foam roller. I swear soft tissue work is amazing. I have seen some serious issues seriously assisted by the usage of a foam roller.

I could not find the side lying bicycles, do you have a link? I think the lying abductions clamshells must of activated my glutes, because I got alot deeper on the squats, and felt more stable (even though my form was bad)

If I get a foam roller, what muscles what I use it on, I wouldn't know what to do, or do you foam roll the whole body?

I don't see any workouts here ???? Is this the Online journal section??

lol just started it 3 days ago and haven't worked out since

You're going to have a hard time achieving your goals like that. Mike, you should spend less time posting and more time getting shit together.

stretch whatever is tight!!

glutes, hip flexors, low back, hamstrings, quads, and calves
how am I suppose to be sure those other muscles are tight? what if I stretch one of them, and it ****s me even worse, lol, there is probably other muscles that are tight, but those were the only ones that funk can tell were tight from the vids.
how many times/day do you stretch? my phys therapist has me stretching 3x a day for 3sets of 20 sec holds on each leg.
yikes, I only stretch once a day, for 2x20sec, I will start stretching more, when you stretch your lower back, do you feel the stretch?, lol- I can never get a good stretch for it...
I feel the calf stretches making the most difference, when i'm done doing all the stretches i have a much more upright stance and my posture is dramatically improved. i also feel alot better especially in my lower back

the goal is to be able to lie on either side of your body and align your shoulders, hips and knees in a straight line

also, try to warm up before you stretch do a few sets of jumping jacks. at the phys therapists, we heat my glutes/lower back for about 25minutes and it makes a huge difference when stretching
I do a dynamic warm-up
more importantly, you need to stretch more often, much more often. less time sitting on your ass and more time stretching and doing ****. sitting
only makes you tigther
yea it sucks that I am in school, and sitting for half the day, i come home, and I usually go play some sports for 2 hours, than I sit on the computer for an hour or 2 lol

You're going to have a hard time achieving your goals like that. Mike, you should spend less time posting and more time getting shit together.

hey p-funk my inner knee aswell as the back of my knee hursts now, is this of tight muscles or just mpact from heavyweight+running?

you need to get off the computer and go play sports. the reason why your so fucked up is because your hunched over in a chair all day long. Sitting is terrible for you, especially if you already have poor posture and poor postural habits

you also have way way way too much pushing in that routine. your posture is already out of alignment, you should be limiting the pushing and have much more pulling if your going to correct the S shape. In fact, i'd drop all the pushing until you get yourself back to square one

dude, you need to find a specialist to go to. You are doing all this hypothesizing, trying different routines, changing the routine to frequently, not being consistent, etc.....You need someone to be there to (a) figure out what needs the most amount of work, (b) be there to push you and teach you proper mechanics, and (c) someone to be accountable to, so that you can't slack off.

Fly out to AZ for a month.

Great job on the PR's!!! Thats fantastic!

Those may not be the best numbers, but hey they are PR's for you and thats all you can do, make PR's for yourself. As you know you wont be benching 350lbs tommorow! Gotta work your way up to it!!!

Keep it up mike. Tough it out on that foam roller too. It hurts like a bitch at first, but things get better after a few sessions.

You're getting stonger and more flexible all around. I remember your first squat videos you couldn't even keep your balance. Keep up the good work and congrats on the bench PR.

doin' good man.

the foam roller is great!

have you checked out the stickies on different ways to use it? Keep at it.

I am not surprised that your calves are real tender. They are very tight, this is why your heels come up when you squat.

Which band did you get?

glutes are sore as hell (yesterday and today) probably from the rdls I did, I think this is the first time they were ever sore, the glute bridges never got the glutes sore, they only got my hamstrings sore....

it sounds like proper training is paying off with your knees.

I know you will think this is strange or you might feel weird doing it, but, even when you go to play ball with your friends, be sure to do a proper dynamic warm up. Your knees with thank you. Honestly, over this summer I was just getting over some patellar tendonitis and I went and shot hoops with Dale. After about 2 jumps in the air, my tendonitis flared right up and was there for about 5 weeks. It sucked.

I don't know.

Do you have the same movement impairments as the guy in the case study?

forget it, I will just go with the program I am on right now, my knees seem to be getting better.

forget it, I will just go with the program I am on right now, my knees seem to be getting better.

I haven't stopped in here for a while, but that's great Mike! Glad to hear it.

Also, I've noticed a similar kind of thing with the straight leg abductions with clients. A lot of them have trouble keeping in proper alignment for this movement, so clamshells, tube/band sidesteps, deadlift walks, and others take the place of that movement now.

deadlift walks?

box squat progress, less than one month between vids! plus the nev vid the "box" is lower

new- http://youtube.com/watch?v=SmwkAQZ8h7Q

old- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15ylmAZf2o

i think that is the worst idea i have ever heard.

lol, please explain

almost every video I have seen on youtube of somone squatting (including p'lifters) lean forward when they squat.
I will squat as far down as possible and bring my chest down so that it makes contact with my knees (while keeping my back arched)

the last thing that YOU need is to do good mornings. You need basic strength! Focus on deadlifting and RDLs for your posterior chain. Keep working on your squats. You have poor potural control....good mornings would be asking for trouble IMO.

ok, I will not implement them, not worth the risk.

what about reverse hyper extensions?

I doubt i will have the strength to even do one, but I will try to find something I can try them out on.

I am still not confident with my deadlifting form to even do them, I can't keep an arched back.

I just need some more exercises for the glutes other than a clamshell that I have the balance and strength do do.

What about like a lunging step-up up a staircase (skipping one step)

can you do split squats yet? lunges?

wouldn't I be able to squat before lunges or split squats? aren't they alot harder, because your only using one leg? harder to balance, etc.?

wouldn't I be able to squat before lunges or split squats? aren't they alot harder, because your only using one leg? harder to balance, etc.?

I was in the gym, and I found a way to do hypers on the cable seated row machine, yay or nay?

also, if you thinks its a good idea to do machine squats/leg press, what is the best foot positon for the glutes? high up, right?

how are you doing it off the seated row bench? I can't picture it.

I don't think the leg press would be terrible for you. I don't think it is the best. I usually hate the leg press, but it may help you just develop some strength. Do it with one leg. you might want to pair it up with something that transfers over functionally. Like, 1-legged leg press super set with a 1-leg RDL (no weight..just work on maintaing position and go only as far as you can without compensation).

I started jogging 2 days ago, today was my second time, the first time I was by myself, jogged/ran for about 10 minutes, well today the same freind I played basketball told me he would go jogging with me, he is also alittle overweight, and had knee surgey (he has no cartilage in his knee now) in the summer, anyways I warmed up/stretched and we started running everything was fine and I was about at a half mile, and all of a sudden guess what happened guys... my knee gave out, my inner knee hurt like a mother fucker, I couldnt even walk without pain (had to walk all the way back), it still hurts right now, but at least I am sitting on my ass, this is fucking bullshit...

you knees seems to always be hurting and the fac that it gave out is not good. Have you gone to the Doctor?

is it swollen at all? check behind the knee too.

i thought you were doing neanderthal no more?

Is that americanese?

LOL

I realize that retard. That is my next Halloween costume Captain Canuck.

I was busting on your statement in general

Ok I am going to do what P-funk said (Get general strength, stretch what feels tight, lose weight- diet/cardio, learn good form/technique)

i thought you were doing neanderthal no more?

You assholes just hijacked his own thread/journal!







I thought this was the main focus from the very start(?) Has there been ANY improvement? That sounds like a sound solid plan to me.

do you have a foam roller yet?
are u doing glute activation work?
are you warming up properly?

all of these have a tremendous effect on your goals. This is what I have been doing the past month

foam roll
dynamic flexiblity warmup
Joint warmup
glute activation
KB snatches
Pullups
Cable Rows
DB chest fly stretch
KB Front squats
Reverse Hypers
Static stretching of hip flexors, hamstrings, calves, ankles and neck

Before this I was unable to do 1 GHR and I am by no means weak. Now I can do sets of bodyweight GHR's no problem

If your interested I will post my entire dynamic warm up. I have seen incredible postural improvements doing this workout. At first I was only doing a few of those movements, but since have progressed to front squats with KB's

alot of the problem is being inactive and sitting on your ass, you need to go play a sport

where is the knee pain? maybe you have patella femoral?

it is probably just a mal tracking patella issue, do to your poor posture.

you really NEED to get someone to look at you and give you an analysis. Your quality of life is the most important thing. if you are this out of whack now....think aboutin 10yrs.

well I am going home in a couple of weeks so I will go see my doctor, and maybe she will send me to a specialist

Save yourself a few bucks and skip the GP, go straight to the specialist. That's what I did.

that is good!

Good job on the weight loss.

Meh that isn't as big of a deal as you make it, just don't make it a regular thing.

they do say it is "slight", and then they confirm it by the back view (which you can see the interal rotation a little more. It isn't that pronounced though. He does have knee caps that are externally rotated and externally rotated lower legs and pronation of the foot.

His legs look kind of like this:

| |
/ \
that is aobviously an exageration (although I have seen lots of people like that...especially girls), since I can get proper angles with key board characters.


if the humeri were externally rotated, they would line up with the lower legs a little more, kind of like this:

\


again, a terrible example because of the keyboard characters (lol)....again, they did say it was slight. it isn't as pronouced as some peoples....you can see it if you were to take a ruler and draw a line down the front of the thigh, it would line up slightly behind the heel....it is hard to see I guess. The back view does confirm it a little more, but it is very slight.

I am very confused now, when you said humeri you meant to say femur right??? they said the humeri was slightly internally rotated not the femur

so he needs to externally rotate his femur correct? wouldn't that make his knees point even more outward?

after getting warmed up yesterday I tried out BW lunges, I cannot do the negative, but if I start from the ground I can do the positive with good form

it will help the knee cap get in line with femur and prevent it from mal-tracking and decrease the possibility of tissue trauma and patella-femoral.

slow down the negative...do split squats and focus on the lowering and the isometric in the hole and then the concentric.

deceleration is extremenly important.

yea I can't do the negative, I can only do the positive, you mean while holding onto something? ok I will do that. I think balance is the problem, because when I attempt the negative I feel like I am going to fall over.

hold onto a broom stick with both of your hands, infront of you.

I been doing what P said, stretching what feels tight (hams hip flexors, TFL), working on general strength, and now I am experiencing a new knee pain, in the back of the knee, It just happened all of a sudden, in the back of my knee when I walk or lockout my knee, anyone experience this? anyone know why it is happening?

dont lockout your knee when you stretch your hams. you need to keep a slight bend otherwise your going to be stretching the ligaments behind the knee and that is no good.

you should feel the stretch about a hands length from your knee