Ask an Exercise Science major anything

[y0lked]

Hello,

I've started doing exercise lately, by following the 5BX program.
To make it easy and simplify the question here's a short link to it


I can do all of the exercises easily, with the exception of the presudo sit-up they refer on exercise 2.
Mechanically (bone related) everything is fine, as I can do it if I press my elbows on the floor, but for some reason, I cannot sit up high enough to see my heels with no support.

Also, my lower back hurts sometimes on the right side, but it comes and goes if I position myself better while sit.

Are there exercises that can help with this? And specially, help me being able to do sit ups without support?

Kind regards,

If you're new to working out and you find an exercise that you cannot do properly you should take one of two actions.

1) Find the weak muscle(s) and do work to directly strengthen them
2) Pick another exercise while your entire body develops strength overall and then go back to it later

[y0lked]

Hey man, I desperately need your help/advice.

I'm a broke college student who injured himself in the gym about 9 months ago doing deadlifts. I have pain in the thoracic area of my back which basically made me not able to live my life normally. I can't even walk for longer than 20 minutes without feeling strong pain that urges me to lay down and rest ASAP. I can't even sit throughout a move in the cinema without pain.

I had went to 2 doctors since getting injured and they both diagnosed me with a muscle spasm which I later found out was not true. I spent a ton of money going to their therapy sessions, getting massages and doing some exercises, of which nothing really helped in the long run, so I decided to get an MRI and see whats really going on.

Getting the money for the MRI was a real pain since I have no health insurance and no job, that's why I've been living with these injuries for almost a whole year now. I have no money for treatment and the doctors in my country (Bosnia) are incompetent as f*ck and all they care about is taking your money.

After getting the MRI, the doctor told me I have 2 bulging discs, which according to him is not that bad as it is only the start of a disc herniation and should be able to be fixed without much hassle if I had the right guidance.
The bulging discs are at TH2TH3 and TH4TH5. I also have kyphosis in my thoracic spine (which I believe was also caused by the injury, if thats possible, since I don't remember ever having such heavy kyphosis).

So I went to a third doctor yesterday and he also wanted me to go get a bunch of massages and told me I would never and should never go back to lifting weights. I immediately left his office as I did not want to accept such an outcome.

I am desperate and need some kind of help on what to do to get those bulging discs back to normal so I can return back to fitness since that is basically what I love the most in life. To make things even worse, yesterday I was robbed for a decent portion of the money that I was saving up to pay for future treatment.

Any advice you could bless me with would be greatly appreciated.

Man Im really sorry to hear about your situation. Thanks for coming here for advice Im going to do everything I can to help you.

Heres the only problem, I can't actually test you from here. In order to help me- help you... you're going to have to learn about the body and give me feedback. Ill teach you what you need to know and we can get started.

First off, you're going to need to realize that there are going to be ups and downs in the road to recovery. Its also going to take about 6 months to get some significant progress but my goal is to get you feeling better immediately so you can start functioning again.

A bulging disk is something that is very curable. You don't need surgery, you don't need a special therapist you need to learn how it happened and how to reverse it. Bulging disks happen when the pressure of the spine is not uniformly spread across the soft pad known as the disk. This happens over time from improper technique of the exercises, or chronic pressure from daily activities.

Most of the time this problem arrises from lack of mobility and muscle weakness. Ultimately the structure of the spine and the correct muscles cannot support the load being placed on it. The great pressure from a weight lifting accident will cause the disk to bulge like a balloon and most of the time it goes into the spinal chord cavity and presses on the spinal chord. This causes the nerve pain.

What you need to do is correct the alignment of the spine bones by strengthening the spine muscles that support that correct alignment and functionality. Stretch first and then build after. And by that I mean in order of operation during the rehab workout.


Unfortunately, stretching the thoracic spine is not easy. Search Youtube for "Thoracic spine mobility" and find some that aid in your relief. After 30 minutes of stretching its time to spend 30 minutes of strengthening.

You will need to strengthen the entire group of muscles that stabilize the spine including lumbar and cervical. The spine works in a unit even though we have three different parts.




Most back muscles attach at the scapula, your goal is to get the scapula all the way protracted and then all the way retracted. Additionally full elevation to full depression. The spine also needs to move from full extension to full flexion.

Ill post more on this in my next reply.

[mmaniii]

Man Im really sorry to hear about your situation. Thanks for coming here for advice Im going to do everything I can to help you.

Heres the only problem, I can't actually test you from here. In order to help me- help you... you're going to have to learn about the body and give me feedback. Ill teach you what you need to know and we can get started.

First off, you're going to need to realize that there are going to be ups and downs in the road to recovery. Its also going to take about 6 months to get some significant progress but my goal is to get you feeling better immediately so you can start functioning again.

A bulging disk is something that is very curable. You don't need surgery, you don't need a special therapist you need to learn how it happened and how to reverse it. Bulging disks happen when the pressure of the spine is not uniformly spread across the soft pad known as the disk. This happens over time from improper technique of the exercises, or chronic pressure from daily activities.

Most of the time this problem arrises from lack of mobility and muscle weakness. Ultimately the structure of the spine and the correct muscles cannot support the load being placed on it. The great pressure from a weight lifting accident will cause the disk to bulge like a balloon and most of the time it goes into the spinal chord cavity and presses on the spinal chord. This causes the nerve pain.

What you need to do is correct the alignment of the spine bones by strengthening the spine muscles that support that correct alignment and functionality. Stretch first and then build after. And by that I mean in order of operation during the rehab workout.


Unfortunately, stretching the thoracic spine is not easy. Search Youtube for "Thoracic spine mobility" and find some that aid in your relief. After 30 minutes of stretching its time to spend 30 minutes of strengthening.

You will need to strengthen the entire group of muscles that stabilize the spine including lumbar and cervical. The spine works in a unit even though we have three different parts.




Most back muscles attach at the scapula, your goal is to get the scapula all the way protracted and then all the way retracted. Additionally full elevation to full depression. The spine also needs to move from full extension to full flexion.

Ill post more on this in my next reply.

Thank you so, so much!!! Ive been coming to the forum every single day, patiently waiting for your reply!

I will follow all instructions that you give me.
Are there specific exercises that I should be doing to strenghten those muscles or are any back exercises good enough? I ask because I cant do most exercises (e.g. I tried doing chin ups one day and the pain was so bad that I couldnt leave the bed for the next couple days)

[mmaniii]

A couple days ago I watched this Athlean X vid and decided to give it a try.

https://youtu.be/9SKuFe2SERs

The second exercise he does (correcting a list/lisp) where he pushes his hips into the wall, seemingly gave me some great relief.
I was definitely leaning to the left side.
The pain was reduced by a huge amount but it seems that now, instead of leaning to the left, I am leaning to the right..?

I also noticed that now the more I was leaning to the right, the less pain I had. I suppose I got the disc away from the nerve by doing that, but once I lean to the left again, the pain seems to come back.
Does that mean that I should be doing the pull up bar hang and then the hips to wall exercises regularly?

Btw. If you need any other info, or maybe even pics of my body, or anything else, just let me know! Ive also done a postural analysis at one of the doctors so I could also give u those pics, if ur interested.

[snailsrus]

Thread started 3 years ago, have you graduated yet? What’s your job out look atm? Bs or ma degree?

[WhiteMambaNBA]

Hey,
Can you give some advice about exercises to improve my fingers strength, wrist muscles, forearms? I am into bouldering and rock climbing but have a feeling that I'm stuck and do not improve. Just a couple of thoughts on what should be my accents in gym..

[y0lked]

Sorry for making another post, but its not letting me edit my previous one.

Ive been doing the first exercise as shown in this video below for a couple days now and it does relieve the pain a bit but Im not sure its going to cure the bulging disc? I need something that will make the pain go away forever so I can return to the gym and doing the things I love, I dont care about temporary relief

https://youtu.be/VMo7yZ3Zbg0

To cure a bulging disk you need to do the following
-Place traction on the spine in order to relieve pressure
-Fix the mechanics (posture) of the spine so that disk pressure are even
-Stimulate growth of the muscles that can maintain the correct mechanics of even disk pressure
-Get overall strength in the exercises that utilize the at risk disk (with correct technique and activation) so that the problem cannot return

The video has demonstrated some techniques to address the first two bullet points. To tackle the remaining bullet points we need strength building exercises.
1) Face pulls are an excellent exercise to target the rhomboids and medial traps
2) Inverted rows are a great way to protract the scapulas and then focus on engaging them so that they can stabilize the thoracic spine with the scapulas


Can you post a few pictures of your current posture?
1) Relaxed, standing
2) Flexed, standing in a rear double bicep pose

I want to see if you have a scapula problem that has created a problem in the T-spine

[y0lked]

Whenever I do a conventional deadlift, with or without the bar, the moment I bend the knees I feel my peroneal nerve on my right leg, on the outside of the knee, getting pinched and hurting after a few pinches. I am desperate as I don't know what is causing this. I have massaged my piriformis, tried glute strength exercises, decompressed my spine by hanging from a bar, and it always happens, nothing works.
Something that I notice that happens is that when I am hinging my hip shifts to the right, and I have been told that I have some leg length discrepancy.

What can I do about this?

This nerve runs very close to the biceps femoris. When your hips shift the biceps femoris is probably tightening up and pressing on the nerve. The hip shift is most likely related to a tight hip flexor, or lack of flexibility in an ankle.

Can you post a video from the rear of a deadlift?

[y0lked]

Age 43, 17% body fat. I’m somewhat new to lifting but have used it to lose 50lbs in the past year.

I’ve been using machines for the past year and am looking to move to free weights. My goals are to recomp (get stronger while losing fat). I’ve been getting some advice and doing some research. My schedule only allows me to lift 2x a week.

How does the below look? Any holes, redundancy, general advice, or things to swap? 2x a week, same routine each trip, for 6 months or so. 3 sets of 10, 8, 6.

Thanks!

Dumb bell rows
Seated dumbbell shoulder press
Seated Dumbbell curls
Leg press <- I can’t do squats for some reason
Overhead tricep dumbbell. <- would dips be better?
Crunches <- can I use the ab machine as I like it better?
Incline dumbbell press
Standing dumbbell calf raises
Bench press
Barbell dead lift

Man 2x per week is tough to make a lot of progress. Which two days of the week can you lift? Are they back to back or spread out?

[y0lked]

I was just diagnosed with arthritis on my left shoulder joint (loss of cartilage). I've been given some medication, but i want to know which exercises to do to speed up recovery

Unfortunately you cannot regrow cartilage very well. There are some new forms of surgery that can address this.

Most of the time labral degradation is caused by improper movement. Anterior rotation of the humerus or chronic elevation of the scapula can create uneven pressure on the labrum and wear it down.

Your main goal should be to fix any posture problems and movement patterns so that the shoulder joint can function properly. You will feel 100 times better.

[y0lked]

Heya,

Would you have any advice to avoid muscle cramps from ab exercises? Quite often will cramp up after set(s) of crunches or leg raises and as you can imagine its not fun at all. One thing someone has told me is to use the cobra stretch which has helped but its not a 100% fix. I'm well hydrated and nutrition is good so its not those, can a slight anterior pelvic tilt be part of the cause?

Thank you!

Yeah APT can be a big cause as the abs get turned off most of the day and when asking the abs to work they are very weak.

Ive talked a TON about APT in this thread. If you search APT in this thread you will see a bunch of posts that can help.

Meanwhile, try taking a high dose of Taurine in your pre-workout to help with the cramping or pump pain.

[y0lked]

Thank you so, so much!!! Ive been coming to the forum every single day, patiently waiting for your reply!

I will follow all instructions that you give me.
Are there specific exercises that I should be doing to strenghten those muscles or are any back exercises good enough? I ask because I cant do most exercises (e.g. I tried doing chin ups one day and the pain was so bad that I couldnt leave the bed for the next couple days)

You're welcome! Ill be sure to be more available every day to help. Please keep me updated on everything.

First you need to release the tension in the spine and then we can do exercises. Get a few lacrosse balls and or a peanut (two across balls joined, basically) and start from the bottom of the T-spine. Work all the way up to the cervical



Then try these basic movement drills and let me know how they go!

[y0lked]

A couple days ago I watched this Athlean X vid and decided to give it a try.

https://youtu.be/9SKuFe2SERs

The second exercise he does (correcting a list/lisp) where he pushes his hips into the wall, seemingly gave me some great relief.
I was definitely leaning to the left side.
The pain was reduced by a huge amount but it seems that now, instead of leaning to the left, I am leaning to the right..?

I also noticed that now the more I was leaning to the right, the less pain I had. I suppose I got the disc away from the nerve by doing that, but once I lean to the left again, the pain seems to come back.
Does that mean that I should be doing the pull up bar hang and then the hips to wall exercises regularly?

Btw. If you need any other info, or maybe even pics of my body, or anything else, just let me know! Ive also done a postural analysis at one of the doctors so I could also give u those pics, if ur interested.

You may fell like your leaning right since you've been leaning left for a while now. Over correction is fine for what we need to do. Allow it for the time being.

Id like to see the posture pics.

[y0lked]

Thread started 3 years ago, have you graduated yet? What’s your job out look atm? Bs or ma degree?

I graduated a while back. I decided against using my degree in my field as I now do Real Estate full time for income and just use my degree for helping people online. Im working on an online course to help more people with posture and movement issues like many of the people in this thread.

[y0lked]

Hey,
Can you give some advice about exercises to improve my fingers strength, wrist muscles, forearms? I am into bouldering and rock climbing but have a feeling that I'm stuck and do not improve. Just a couple of thoughts on what should be my accents in gym..

Honestly I would seek some advise from rock climbers who really focus on it. If you want to work on forearm gains and grip strength, thats a great place to start. I find that long sets of 60 seconds or more is most beneficial for grip strength.


Wrist curls
Reverse Barbell Curls
Farmers walks
Barbell Static holds

[ng80092a]

If you're new to working out and you find an exercise that you cannot do properly you should take one of two actions.

1) Find the weak muscle(s) and do work to directly strengthen them
2) Pick another exercise while your entire body develops strength overall and then go back to it later

I'll just repeat my question.. "Are there exercises that can help with this? And specially, help me being able to do sit ups without support?"

[mmaniii]

You're welcome! Ill be sure to be more available every day to help. Please keep me updated on everything.

First you need to release the tension in the spine and then we can do exercises. Get a few lacrosse balls and or a peanut (two across balls joined, basically) and start from the bottom of the T-spine. Work all the way up to the cervical



Then try these basic movement drills and let me know how they go!

First of all, I want to apologize for not being able to respond earlier. I was overwhelmed with finals and couldn't find the time to try out the exercises, take the pictures and write down everything that I want to tell you. Finals are now over and I'll be sure to respond ASAP every time. I am very grateful for your help.

I have no problem with any of the movement drills except the first one (reverse plank bridge) as it does not make me feel good (I feel slight discomfort) and it might cause pain (I never experience any pain right away, the pain hits after a couple hours or eventually the day after, so I'm never 100% sure what exactly is causing the pain, but I believe this exercise did not sit well with me). I also think that foam rolling the thoracic spine also causes discomfort/pain, but once again I'm not 100% sure. Is discomfort/pain an indicator for me to avoid those exercises/stretches or not?

I will send pictures of my postural analysis and pictures that I just took to you via private messages in a minute.

Also, I am pretty sure that I have a rotated pelvis (rotated to the left side, I believe).
I also have something like a huge bump on my back, which doctors have told me is a byproduct of my scoliosis. I do not remember having it before I started weightlifting though. But I did have it before this injury occurred tho.

I also have some muscle imbalances that I'm aware of. e.g. my left glute seems to be much weaker than my right and it is very hard for me to activate it in any exercise. I pretty much never feel my left glute working.
Also, my lats are basically by far the weakest muscles of my body, due to not being able to properly activate them when I first started training and I never actually got around to doing any direct work for them because of that.

I'm anticipating your response and once again thank you

[mmaniii]

Also, do you think I should be strenghtening my glutes and legs too or just the back?

[y0lked]

First of all, I want to apologize for not being able to respond earlier. I was overwhelmed with finals and couldn't find the time to try out the exercises, take the pictures and write down everything that I want to tell you. Finals are now over and I'll be sure to respond ASAP every time. I am very grateful for your help.

I have no problem with any of the movement drills except the first one (reverse plank bridge) as it does not make me feel good (I feel slight discomfort) and it might cause pain (I never experience any pain right away, the pain hits after a couple hours or eventually the day after, so I'm never 100% sure what exactly is causing the pain, but I believe this exercise did not sit well with me). I also think that foam rolling the thoracic spine also causes discomfort/pain, but once again I'm not 100% sure. Is discomfort/pain an indicator for me to avoid those exercises/stretches or not?

I will send pictures of my postural analysis and pictures that I just took to you via private messages in a minute.

Also, I am pretty sure that I have a rotated pelvis (rotated to the left side, I believe).
I also have something like a huge bump on my back, which doctors have told me is a byproduct of my scoliosis. I do not remember having it before I started weightlifting though. But I did have it before this injury occurred tho.

I also have some muscle imbalances that I'm aware of. e.g. my left glute seems to be much weaker than my right and it is very hard for me to activate it in any exercise. I pretty much never feel my left glute working.
Also, my lats are basically by far the weakest muscles of my body, due to not being able to properly activate them when I first started training and I never actually got around to doing any direct work for them because of that.

I'm anticipating your response and once again thank you

Thats a loaded question when it comes to soreness. It depends on where its sore. If its sore where the disks are being compressed or where the tense muscle is, then thats a problem. If you're getting soreness on the structures surrounding the problem area, then thats a good thing because what we are trying to do is correct the issue. We cannot correct the issue without forcing change. And with change comes soreness.

Your testing was interesting, it showed your lower body q angle is fine (as expected). It showed your forward head posture (normal for your symptoms). So nothing really new came from the test. It confirmed what we are experiencing. The T-spine is rounded forward and the cervical spine is trying to counteract the tension. We need to set the posture of the t-spine so that the c-spine can be supported correctly and get back to good alignment. To do that we need to stretch the tight muscles that pull us into that position and then strengthen the weak muscles that do not pull us back into good position now. We need to strengthen the muscles that can correct the problem. (as seen in the previous post).

And yes, any advice I give you should supplement a regular weightlifting routine, or I can assign you a nice regimen.

Also, do you think I should be strenghtening my glutes and legs too or just the back?

[mmaniii]

Thats a loaded question when it comes to soreness. It depends on where its sore. If its sore where the disks are being compressed or where the tense muscle is, then thats a problem. If you're getting soreness on the structures surrounding the problem area, then thats a good thing because what we are trying to do is correct the issue. We cannot correct the issue without forcing change. And with change comes soreness.

Your testing was interesting, it showed your lower body q angle is fine (as expected). It showed your forward head posture (normal for your symptoms). So nothing really new came from the test. It confirmed what we are experiencing. The T-spine is rounded forward and the cervical spine is trying to counteract the tension. We need to set the posture of the t-spine so that the c-spine can be supported correctly and get back to good alignment. To do that we need to stretch the tight muscles that pull us into that position and then strengthen the weak muscles that do not pull us back into good position now. We need to strengthen the muscles that can correct the problem. (as seen in the previous post).

And yes, any advice I give you should supplement a regular weightlifting routine, or I can assign you a nice regimen.

Excuse me but I didnt mention or ask anything about soreness so Im a bit confused as to what you were trying to tell me about in the first part of your post.

So which muscles am I supposed to stretch while strengthening the back muscles? Chest I suppose?

And I would love if you could assign me a nice regimen that I could perform pain-free. Thank you so so much!!!!!

[OhmarrV]

I’ve heard of these newbie gains where once someone new to the gym starts exercising they have a period where they can put on a lot of muscle mass. Unfortunately I exercised for about 1 year confined to a room in my house with very limited equipment. Also I wasn’t eating a lost so I was still mostly losing weight. As of three weeks ago I’m starting to exercise on a plan and hopefully eat more calories but I’m wondering if I lost the opportunity to get those gains because I pretty much spent a year doing the same old exercises and gained little if any muscle.

[Gerrit87]

I’ve heard of these newbie gains where once someone new to the gym starts exercising they have a period where they can put on a lot of muscle mass. Unfortunately I exercised for about 1 year confined to a room in my house with very limited equipment. Also I wasn’t eating a lost so I was still mostly losing weight. As of three weeks ago I’m starting to exercise on a plan and hopefully eat more calories but I’m wondering if I lost the opportunity to get those gains because I pretty much spent a year doing the same old exercises and gained little if any muscle.

I think you are answering your own question here. Especially when you want to gain muscles it is important to watch your diet and make sure you eat properly before even working out. Also your rest days are crucial here as well as ensuring that you are gettig enough proteins in order to let your muscles recover.

Depending on how your body is build you need to go for the right diet it sounds in your case you need to gain some weight in order for you to gain muscles. While you were excercising last year did you lose a lot of weight?

[undrdogtiIimnot]

I am wondering what exercises can you do to develop speed in your arm, wrist, and finger movements? When I say speed I mean how quickly you can move them with control.

[NerdyLady]

Do my forearms ache because my grip is too small for the heavier dumbbells?

Oh wait, this thread is 2000 years old. Pfft.

[accountmade]

Hello i'm new to fitness in general, I was wondering if working out like this be okay so I don't injure myself with overuse or anything.

Monday Chest
Tuesday Back
Wednesday Legs
Thursday Arms
Friday Shoulders
Saturday + Sunday rest

Thank you for any help it is really appreciated

[y0lked]

I’ve heard of these newbie gains where once someone new to the gym starts exercising they have a period where they can put on a lot of muscle mass. Unfortunately I exercised for about 1 year confined to a room in my house with very limited equipment. Also I wasn’t eating a lost so I was still mostly losing weight. As of three weeks ago I’m starting to exercise on a plan and hopefully eat more calories but I’m wondering if I lost the opportunity to get those gains because I pretty much spent a year doing the same old exercises and gained little if any muscle.

No you have not. The reason why newbies gain soo quickly is because they are further away from their genetic limitation. There are specific structures in the muscle that limit the amount of muscle that the body is willing to maintain. Everyones set point is different and determined by genetics.

Lets say that max number is a 10. If you have never worked out before, you might start at a 3. After a year you might get to a 6. But lets say you didnt exercise properly and didnt diet. Maybe you only progressed from 3 to 3.5?

This is a logical and simplistic view at best, but still applicable.

Go train hard and eat well.

[y0lked]

I am wondering what exercises can you do to develop speed in your arm, wrist, and finger movements? When I say speed I mean how quickly you can move them with control.

Speed is conducted with fast twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle fibers can be trained, and developed, with heavy strength training. Idealy we would like to use 3-5 reps per set and approach our failure point.

Do my forearms ache because my grip is too small for the heavier dumbbells?

Oh wait, this thread is 2000 years old. Pfft.

Yeah probably, most women have a hard time gripping and controlling heavier weight because of the limitations in the hands. Train them

[y0lked]

Hello i'm new to fitness in general, I was wondering if working out like this be okay so I don't injure myself with overuse or anything.

Monday Chest
Tuesday Back
Wednesday Legs
Thursday Arms
Friday Shoulders
Saturday + Sunday rest

Thank you for any help it is really appreciated

I have no idea if youre doing 2 sets of 200 sets on those days. In order to accurately design/evaluate a workout plan, there are about 30 different metrics that need to be tested to see if the load is adequate and the periodization is structured correctly.

I highly recommend following a workout routine that is designed by a certified strength and conditioning coach.

[Xpiro]

This is kinda detailed so bear with me:

I’ve been floating around the same weight for 2-3 years, but I’ve made some pretty awesome gains in LBM; strength not incredibly much, mostly due to injuries and high volume probably. Body fat is down, vascularity is up... I look great and don’t have crazy much more fat to lose/muscle to gain to be satisfied. But I want to keep improving, obviously, and I’m more concerned with hypertrophy. And strength, only insofar as it leads to hypertrophy. And deadlifts... I want a strong (controlled) deadlift. Just because I love them.

Needless to say I made the recomp thing work, somehow, but my progress as of late is trying to come to a screeching halt. My bench was progressing linearly up until a couple months ago, OHP more slowly but still on the rise; squats and DLs I’ve had to take breaks from due to tissue degeneration in my low back and chronic back pain and hamstring tightness. So I’ve been back and forth with the weight, subbing in front squats and trap bar deadlifts (the latter of which I’ve made incredible progress on) when possible. As for rows, pulldowns, incline db press and other isolations... most of them I’m stuck on. I’ve reset the weight on several, but still struggle more than usual to add reps every session.

For the majority of my recomp I ate at maintenance most days, occasionally eating more on rest days and less on training days. Back in June however I switched to a training day surplus of about 200 cals and a rest day deficit of 200, and it was going pretty well for a while. I even increased my base maintenance as I got leaner.

I hadn’t stepped on the scale for a while until recently because I’d been the same weight for years and just trusted that everything was going fine, but last week I weighed in and was 5 lbs less than I have been for those 3 years. I can’t really tell at this point if I lost muscle or fat or both, but I’m concerned that it’s muscle at worst and both at best.

My gym routine: I’ve been on Viking’s Bare Bones upper/lower for a year now. If you haven’t seen the layout the volume is pretty crazy high, possibly the culprit behind some of the injuries I’ve sustained...but also the culprit behind the stellar body I’ve built over the last year. I’ve deloaded only a few times + one week off in September throughout this program, but I’ve never benefitted from deloads or weeks off in all 4 and a half years of training... so I don’t really take them that often. When I stall, I stall, and resetting the weight by 10% hasn’t helped me much either. The only reason I started progressing linearly so late in my journey is because last December I transitioned from female to male and started administering (doctor prescribed and supervised) testosterone weekly; I broke through all of my plateaus and added 40 lbs to my bench up to 172.5 lbs. Not anything crazy, but considering I was 4 years into training, 5’2” 140 lbs, working with 4 sets of 8 at 80% and eating at maintenance, it’s not too shabby.

But I’m stuck again, just like I was before my transition. The week off in September did nothing for me.

I sleep 7.5-8 hours every night. My maintenance is 3050 calories; macros look on average like 180-250g protein, 300-400g carbs 60-100g fat. Give or take of course.
I’m wondering...

Should I increase my training day surplus?

Should I switch to a lower volume program since my recovery is so compromised eating at maintenance?

Should I deload for a longer period of time, say 2 weeks? (Please no, cries)

I’ve also considered switching up the rate at which I overload. The progression outlined in the program is loose and self directed, so I get to choose the amount of weight (2.5lbs for upper lifts and 5 for lower) and the # of reps to add when I hit the prescribed rep goal. I don’t think that it would make much sense to micro-load any further, but what if I shoot for super low reps when I up the weight? Or would volume at this point be too low and counterproductive?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

[NerdyLady]

Speed is conducted with fast twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle fibers can be trained, and developed, with heavy strength training. Idealy we would like to use 3-5 reps per set and approach our failure point.


Yeah probably, most women have a hard time gripping and controlling heavier weight because of the limitations in the hands. Train them

I received the straps I ordered yesterday. Going to use them (or try) this evening. The grip thing only happens with the heaviest neoprene dumbbells but not with the metal ones (with which I use Gripz because the bars are so small). I've been using my TENS machine after, using a percussion type setting, and that is helping. It is hard to train hands to hang onto a heavy dumbbell where your fingers don't reach all the way around.