Ask an Exercise Science major anything

[davisuli]

Thoughts on Genu Varum/bowed legs? do you think it can be corrected with exercise or surgery is needed?

Also i feel like i have "saggy" muscles, my VMO for example is big at the bottom but gets really thin at the top, same with my biceps when not flexing, they look prominent at the bottom but get thin at the top insertion, is this just genetics?

[reignman76]

I’ve read your quads are stronger than your hamstrings. Should we strive to achieve a 1:1 ratio? Or do workloads that match the natural imbalance?

For instance I was thinking of doing 4 sets on the leg press. 2 sets with my feet up high and 2 with the feet down low. This way I can change the focus from quad to hamstring. I could leave the weight the same or change the weight.

[PauloDybala21x]

I'm 16, 5'5 and weigh 122 pounds. I'm looking to gain a lot of strength and size for wrestling. I don't know what workout program to do and what to eat. I have access to a gym and can lift only 3x a week. Its off season right now and the season doesn't start until December.

[Dams3]

Hey man.
Recently ive started experiencing some shoulder discomfort and i cannot figure out what it is. I can bench press 75 kilos for reps with absolutely no problem, but if i do it paused with more reps, my left shoulder burns (kinda similar to front raises). It burns all over the muscle (or tendon, ive no idea). This really intensifies with dumbbell bench press. Pushups dont hurt at all. So, could this be a weakness on my left delt due to an imbalance? Could it be a different problem? my physiotherapist, my orthopedic doctor find that my shoulder is fine after they tested me. I also did some home tests for shoulder health and i experienced no pain. This discomfort makes me very anxious because i have had rotator cuff tendonitis in the past and it makes me crazy thinking that the pain is coming from something other than the muscle fatiguing. Thank you

[y0lked]

Hey buddy, i think you really know your ****.

Here's a trouble i'm facing right now, i play a 1 hour soccer game every tuesday, thursday and saturday.

My goal is to gain muscle mass, i'm not looking a routine or program to improve my soccer performance, i'm just looking to gain some muscle but i don't want my routine to mess with my soccer performance either. That's why i'm wondering if maybe i should only focus on upper body so i can give a rest to my legs since they may have enough work from soccer alone.

I am able to weight lift 3 or 4 days a week, should i be doing something like this maybe?

DAY 1: UPPER chest emphasize
DAY 2: off / soccer
DAY 3: UPPER back emphasize
DAY 4: off / soccer
DAY 5: UPPER shoulder/arms emphasize
DAY 6: off / soccer
DAY 7: off

Please let me know your thoughts and if you can come up with a good routine with exercises that would fit my current goals. (to summarize, goal is to gain muscle mass without decreasing soccer frequency / performance)

Thank you so much in advance dude!

I appreciate the kind words. Sorry it took soo long to get back to you.

I think thats a great plan. Heres a good guideline to follow so you can pick your own exercises and how you will structure the 3 days

Chest- 15-20 sets per week
Back- 17-23 sets per week
Traps-10-12 sets per week
Shoulders- 10-15 sets per week
Biceps- 8-10 sets per week
Triceps- 8-10 sets per week

Start with this, make sure you're putting the biggest compound exercises first in the workout, even if its arm day. I would ALWAYS start with barbell rows or bench press. Do 2 warm up sets then start counting. Subtract those sets from your total chest/back volume and then add in some accessory lifts to supplement the target set goal that i've stated above.

Playing soccer will burn a ton of calories. Make sure you're eating enough. Aim for .5 to 1lb per week. All the endurance activity will keep you lean. Even if you start putting on a little weight that is fat. Over a month or so your body will adapt to the increased work load and begin to use fat and carbohydrates for energy more efficiently. If you fail to increase calories your body will most likely switch back to using protein for fuel, which is why you dont have as much muscle as you would like.

[y0lked]

Why is this happening?

not particularly an exercise question but i apologize in advance if this is in the wrong place.

So basically every time i perform a dumbbell bicep exercise (usually happens more with hammer curls/incline curls). My left arm will go numb (like pins and needles) and ill try to go close to failure but normally this sensation stops me. it feels like my left arm is losing blood flow, and a lot of the time is even painful (not typical muscle pain/lactic acid pain). Any help is appreciated, i know i probably cant fix this issue, but any exercise substitutions is greatly appreciated.

Does it go numb at the elbow, hand, shoulder? Do you just feel like you cant flex it? What happens after you stop the exercise? Be more specific.

[seanovenden1]

Does it go numb at the elbow, hand, shoulder? Do you just feel like you cant flex it? What happens after you stop the exercise? Be more specific.

It goes numb from where my bicep meets my shoulder down to the mid point of my forearm. once the feeling gets somewhat intense (it slowly builds up) it gets harder to grip the dumbbell even when the weight is pretty light and my bicep doesn't feel fatigued yet. As soon as I stop the exercise it goes right back to feeling normal very quickly. Does this sound like something that can be fixed? I didn't have this issue when i first started lifting around 17 y/o.

Thanks for any help!

[WoahChuck1]

Hello. I joined the forum because of something very strange happening with my bench press and I'm looking to get an opinion on what it is.

Started working out about a year ago. I'm 31 years old and I never did any serious weight training so when I started doing chest days with my friends they started me out on just the bar. As time progressed we added more weights. As of 3 month ago I'm doing the bar + 25 on each side (95 lbs?).

I've been stuck at 95 for a while but consistently doing 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, and 6 reps, 2 times a week. Fast forward to last month and all of a sudden I try to do my standard workout but I'm unable to lift the bar on my right side. I do 2 reps and I'm out of energy. 3 days later I try again and my left side lifts fine, but I cant even get the bar off myself with my right side. To even get the bar re racked I have to lift the left side up and then bring my left arm over to the right side and do a wierd cross lift just to get the bar off my chest. Very scary! I tested myself on the seated decline chest press and while everything was fine on the left, my right side cant even do 1 rep of 25. Its like a muscle in my chest simply disappeared overnight.

Every other exercise has no issues. Arm day, leg day, swimming, deadlifts, etc. Everything else is fine, just a complete lack of energy in my right chest our of nowhere.

No pain or discomfort anywhere. The only thing I can think of is about a month ago I had right rhomboid pain for like a week straight so I had my girlfriend massage my upper back a lot before bed. Right now though no pain or discomfort anywhere.

Any idea what this could be? Thanks.

[FaIIen]

Do you happen to know what could be causing pain in the lateral leg in the bottom of a squat?

It's been bugging me on an off for over a year now. The pain is most prominent in the outer side of my left leg (yeah, just the left one) about 2/3 way up from my ankle towards my knee.

Edit: Realized that I can feel a brief pain in the same spot when I come out of this strech even if I don't use that leg to lift me up.

[FritoFace]

Wow, you really know your stuff!

Im a beginner (exercising for two months) and I was doing incline curls and now I feel joint/elbow pain in my right arm. This is the first time I tried doing incline curls as opposed to the basic dumbbell bicep curl. If I were to try and do basic bicep curl using my right arm I wouldn't be able to curl the dumbbell all the way up and would have to stop mid-way due to the pain. I'm sure it's something very common but don't really have a clue what it could be? Also, should I continue to do bicep curls ( obviously not incline curls again) while my right arm recovers and just wait until recovery or should I stop biceps work for awhile until pain is gone? Thanks!

[y0lked]

I’ve read your quads are stronger than your hamstrings. Should we strive to achieve a 1:1 ratio? Or do workloads that match the natural imbalance?

For instance I was thinking of doing 4 sets on the leg press. 2 sets with my feet up high and 2 with the feet down low. This way I can change the focus from quad to hamstring. I could leave the weight the same or change the weight.

Depends on the activity one is doing. The hamstrings can be loaded eccentrically very very well and therefore can be taxed more than the quads in a squat. (more muscle damage)

If you're doing heavy deadlifts you wont need as much intensity on other exercises. Instead you can focus on ROM for the hamstrings as accessory work.

[y0lked]

I'm 16, 5'5 and weigh 122 pounds. I'm looking to gain a lot of strength and size for wrestling. I don't know what workout program to do and what to eat. I have access to a gym and can lift only 3x a week. Its off season right now and the season doesn't start until December.

Read the stickies for nutrition and lifting.

Do a full body workout that focuses on the following with 5-6 sets of 10 reps:
bench
squat
deadlift
rows
overhead presses

[y0lked]

Hey man.
Recently ive started experiencing some shoulder discomfort and i cannot figure out what it is. I can bench press 75 kilos for reps with absolutely no problem, but if i do it paused with more reps, my left shoulder burns (kinda similar to front raises). It burns all over the muscle (or tendon, ive no idea). This really intensifies with dumbbell bench press. Pushups dont hurt at all. So, could this be a weakness on my left delt due to an imbalance? Could it be a different problem? my physiotherapist, my orthopedic doctor find that my shoulder is fine after they tested me. I also did some home tests for shoulder health and i experienced no pain. This discomfort makes me very anxious because i have had rotator cuff tendonitis in the past and it makes me crazy thinking that the pain is coming from something other than the muscle fatiguing. Thank you

If your PT and OT say you are structurally fine then it comes down to a movement problem.

The scapula is ALWAYS the problem in movement deficiencies when it comes to shoulder health. Make sure youre not elevating or upwardly rotating the scapula when pressing. That will pinch the ligaments and stretch the rotator cuff when pressing.

Most of the time this is a compensation for contracting the wrong muscles. Practice correct scapular positioning with pushups

[y0lked]

It goes numb from where my bicep meets my shoulder down to the mid point of my forearm. once the feeling gets somewhat intense (it slowly builds up) it gets harder to grip the dumbbell even when the weight is pretty light and my bicep doesn't feel fatigued yet. As soon as I stop the exercise it goes right back to feeling normal very quickly. Does this sound like something that can be fixed? I didn't have this issue when i first started lifting around 17 y/o.

Thanks for any help!

You're doin something to the musculocutaneous nerve. Numbness is always associated with nerves. They can be inflamed from overuse or some muscle improperly constricting it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musculocutaneous_nerve

Stop doing bicep exercises for 4 weeks. Get your bicep work in from heavy, slow, and controlled reps of back exercises.
If the pain still occurs when doing back exercises let me know.

Ice the long head of the bicep (shoulder to mid humerus) for 40 minutes right before bed. Only one 40 min session.

[y0lked]

Hello. I joined the forum because of something very strange happening with my bench press and I'm looking to get an opinion on what it is.

Started working out about a year ago. I'm 31 years old and I never did any serious weight training so when I started doing chest days with my friends they started me out on just the bar. As time progressed we added more weights. As of 3 month ago I'm doing the bar + 25 on each side (95 lbs?).

I've been stuck at 95 for a while but consistently doing 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, and 6 reps, 2 times a week. Fast forward to last month and all of a sudden I try to do my standard workout but I'm unable to lift the bar on my right side. I do 2 reps and I'm out of energy. 3 days later I try again and my left side lifts fine, but I cant even get the bar off myself with my right side. To even get the bar re racked I have to lift the left side up and then bring my left arm over to the right side and do a wierd cross lift just to get the bar off my chest. Very scary! I tested myself on the seated decline chest press and while everything was fine on the left, my right side cant even do 1 rep of 25. Its like a muscle in my chest simply disappeared overnight.

Every other exercise has no issues. Arm day, leg day, swimming, deadlifts, etc. Everything else is fine, just a complete lack of energy in my right chest our of nowhere.

No pain or discomfort anywhere. The only thing I can think of is about a month ago I had right rhomboid pain for like a week straight so I had my girlfriend massage my upper back a lot before bed. Right now though no pain or discomfort anywhere.

Any idea what this could be? Thanks.

Sounds like overtraining. If you're only lifting 95lbs then you shouldnt be doing heavy reps like 6. Stick with 10 reps and make sure youre using the pecs, tris and delts, not any other muscle.

[y0lked]

Do you happen to know what could be causing pain in the lateral leg in the bottom of a squat?

It's been bugging me on an off for over a year now. The pain is most prominent in the outer side of my left leg (yeah, just the left one) about 2/3 way up from my ankle towards my knee.

Edit: Realized that I can feel a brief pain in the same spot when I come out of this strech even if I don't use that leg to lift me up.

Sounds like tibialis anterior/proneus longus pain. Very common when always trying to bring the toes upward on one side.

Have you ever had any back pain/injury? Having hips out of alignment can force one leg closer to the ground and then you will need to use tib ant more when walking to prevent tripping yourself.

Also, do you play any sports that might cause you to need to bring your toes to your shin excessively?

[usp06]

i am 32 years old and i had my left scapula operated because of a tumor few years back. About 2/3rds of the scapula has been removed. i have lots of fat accumulated around chest and because of the surgery i had, my left hand is weaker compared to right. This doesnt let me use heavy weights to let go of this fat. can you suggest me exercises to sort this out.

[RfcSrsBree]

I've been doing a new routine now for a month or so based on information I've picked up from this thread and so far really enjoying the change of pace/structure. Thought I'd pop it down here just in case you get a chance to provide any feedback in terms of slight tweaks / recommendations... for reference I'm about 6ft 200lbs and currently my 3x5 lifts are (wary that my squats/deads need work, one of the reasons I love the new format)
Deads - 120kg // Squats - 110kg // Bench - 105kg // BB Row - 75kg // Military - 55kg

Day 1 - Push 3x5
Bench // Military // Incline DBs // T Raises // Skullcrushers

Day 2 - Pull 3x5
Pull-ups // Barbell Rows // Deadlifts // Machine Rows or Lat Pulldowns // EZ Bicep curls

Day 3 - Legs 3x5
Squats // Leg Press (single leg) // Hip Thrusts // Machine Ham Curls // Calves

Then usually rest and repeat day 1-3 but for 3x10 reps instead of 3x5. Abs/Cardio done at the end of sessions when I have time.

As I say, early signs are good and I really enjoy hitting the big lifts twice a week for varied reps but always room for improvements.

Thanks again for all of your work in this thread, really is appreciated.

[ChairmanWaffle]

OP, thanks for this thread. My question, with some context:

Dropped from 250 on 1/1/18 to about 205 as of today. Plan to drop another ~15 lbs. From there will slow bulk.

I have been doing PPL most of this year, 5-6 days/week in gym. Lifting heavy.

I have also been measuring progress via tape measure throughout the year. Some measurements down, some up, as to be expected depending on fat/muscle. However, one measurement that has stayed somewhat stagnant is calf circumference (17.1" approx). This measurement isn't bad on it's own, though it needs the rest of my body to catch up.

So, question is, once I get off the caloric deficit and slow bulk (+200-300 cals/day), and continue to lift, is there any specific strategy to keep calf size down (or even lower it a little bit?) Do I just NOT do direct calf work? (currently I do 6 sets of calf raises/week approx (10-20 rep range, to failure mostly), plus other leg work -- squats, leg press, etc -- that hits calf indirectly.) Or, do I do low weight/high rep for calf? Any other way to keep calves slimmer?

tl;dr: when bulking and lifting heavy, how to keep calf size down?

[Dams3]

If your PT and OT say you are structurally fine then it comes down to a movement problem.

The scapula is ALWAYS the problem in movement deficiencies when it comes to shoulder health. Make sure youre not elevating or upwardly rotating the scapula when pressing. That will pinch the ligaments and stretch the rotator cuff when pressing.

Most of the time this is a compensation for contracting the wrong muscles. Practice correct scapular positioning with pushups

thank you, all the pain is gone from benching now since I just stopped pausing, I guess I didn't utilize correct form when pausing

[ambfw91]

I am fairly new to working out I started doing calisthenics a little over a year ago and about 4 months after that started lifting my chest has always felt like a trouble spot however underneath my right lower pec I seem to have extra muscle of some sort if you look at my picture you'll see it I'm new to this site and can't figure out how to post the picture right here. I've searched and searched for an answer and I haven't seen anything else like it. I hope as my chest grows it will sort itself out. Any ideas would help

[FurtureSHEHULK]

how should I go about getting toned and NOT over muscular:
1. abs
2. arms
3. legs
4. back
(actually I just want to look like a ballerina but my town has no option for ballet for a 16 year-old girl who hasn't danced since she was 5)

[y0lked]

i am 32 years old and i had my left scapula operated because of a tumor few years back. About 2/3rds of the scapula has been removed. i have lots of fat accumulated around chest and because of the surgery i had, my left hand is weaker compared to right. This doesnt let me use heavy weights to let go of this fat. can you suggest me exercises to sort this out.

Really hard to advise you on this. Have you seen a Physical Therapist? I would need to do a full in-person analysis to determine how to help you. If you talk to a PT I can advise you after his recommendations.

[y0lked]

I've been doing a new routine now for a month or so based on information I've picked up from this thread and so far really enjoying the change of pace/structure. Thought I'd pop it down here just in case you get a chance to provide any feedback in terms of slight tweaks / recommendations... for reference I'm about 6ft 200lbs and currently my 3x5 lifts are (wary that my squats/deads need work, one of the reasons I love the new format)
Deads - 120kg // Squats - 110kg // Bench - 105kg // BB Row - 75kg // Military - 55kg

Day 1 - Push 3x5
Bench // Military // Incline DBs // T Raises // Skullcrushers

Day 2 - Pull 3x5
Pull-ups // Barbell Rows // Deadlifts // Machine Rows or Lat Pulldowns // EZ Bicep curls

Day 3 - Legs 3x5
Squats // Leg Press (single leg) // Hip Thrusts // Machine Ham Curls // Calves

Then usually rest and repeat day 1-3 but for 3x10 reps instead of 3x5. Abs/Cardio done at the end of sessions when I have time.

As I say, early signs are good and I really enjoy hitting the big lifts twice a week for varied reps but always room for improvements.

Thanks again for all of your work in this thread, really is appreciated.

Im glad I could help brother! Looking strong based on these numbers, keep at it! Dont forget to deload every 4-8 weeks. That can definitely keep progress moving!

Love the routine as well, glad you have taken the advise and made it work for you. Let me know how else I can help.

[y0lked]

OP, thanks for this thread. My question, with some context:

Dropped from 250 on 1/1/18 to about 205 as of today. Plan to drop another ~15 lbs. From there will slow bulk.

I have been doing PPL most of this year, 5-6 days/week in gym. Lifting heavy.

I have also been measuring progress via tape measure throughout the year. Some measurements down, some up, as to be expected depending on fat/muscle. However, one measurement that has stayed somewhat stagnant is calf circumference (17.1" approx). This measurement isn't bad on it's own, though it needs the rest of my body to catch up.

So, question is, once I get off the caloric deficit and slow bulk (+200-300 cals/day), and continue to lift, is there any specific strategy to keep calf size down (or even lower it a little bit?) Do I just NOT do direct calf work? (currently I do 6 sets of calf raises/week approx (10-20 rep range, to failure mostly), plus other leg work -- squats, leg press, etc -- that hits calf indirectly.) Or, do I do low weight/high rep for calf? Any other way to keep calves slimmer?

tl;dr: when bulking and lifting heavy, how to keep calf size down?

The calves are special animals man lol

I have no idea why you want smaller gastrocs! Most people would kill for bigger calves! Mine are tiny but stronger than most. Just keep on keeping on and they will look good regardless of their size!

[y0lked]

thank you, all the pain is gone from benching now since I just stopped pausing, I guess I didn't utilize correct form when pausing

Glad to hear you're back to normal! #fistbump

If you want, you can possibly do paused bench on your first rep of every set of bench (5+ rep sets) and then use touch and go for the rest of the reps in the set. I would just stay away from paused only (heavy work) until that good technique is engrained into your CNS.

P.S. soo glad to have people who return with good news and continued interest in my thread. It definitely gives some validation to my work and I hope others see posts like these so that more and more people can be helped

[y0lked]

I am fairly new to working out I started doing calisthenics a little over a year ago and about 4 months after that started lifting my chest has always felt like a trouble spot however underneath my right lower pec I seem to have extra muscle of some sort if you look at my picture you'll see it I'm new to this site and can't figure out how to post the picture right here. I've searched and searched for an answer and I haven't seen anything else like it. I hope as my chest grows it will sort itself out. Any ideas would help

Looking shredded brah!! Good work!

I dont think its a pec muscle. Could be something on the ribs or obliques..... either way its just genetics and its definitely not taking anything away from your physique!

[y0lked]

how should I go about getting toned and NOT over muscular:
1. abs
2. arms
3. legs
4. back
(actually I just want to look like a ballerina but my town has no option for ballet for a 16 year-old girl who hasn't danced since she was 5)

Let me just say this... its easier to remove muscle than it is to build it. There are plenty of women who can validate this in the female section, i promise you. Just keep steady on a routine and focus on good exercise techniques.

If you get bulky, it will more than likely be from an increase in body fat than too much muscle.

With that said, bodyweight exercises and low resistance endurance training is the least effective way to build muscle. So if your FEAR is profound, you can start there if you would like.

[y0lked]

Wow, you really know your stuff!

Im a beginner (exercising for two months) and I was doing incline curls and now I feel joint/elbow pain in my right arm. This is the first time I tried doing incline curls as opposed to the basic dumbbell bicep curl. If I were to try and do basic bicep curl using my right arm I wouldn't be able to curl the dumbbell all the way up and would have to stop mid-way due to the pain. I'm sure it's something very common but don't really have a clue what it could be? Also, should I continue to do bicep curls ( obviously not incline curls again) while my right arm recovers and just wait until recovery or should I stop biceps work for awhile until pain is gone? Thanks!

Incline curls are an advanced technique that should be utilized by experienced lifters. Stick with the barbell curls and lots of rowing activities until the soft tissue (ligaments and tendons) become stronger. If they are weak (as in new beginners), doing advanced techniques can lead to injuries quickly.

Stick to the basics.

[audinos]

do you need to change exercises when planning to cut after bulking?