Yugo is good at this - I couldnt have said it better. Eating is the key to weight loss. Cardio and resistance stuff are good for you, but 90% of what you weigh is based on what you eat.

Start writing down everything you eat every day. Learn to count calories, and make sure to get enough protein. Here's a good site for nutrition info:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

I'll add a couple other things:

ART link - http://www.activerelease.com/providerSearch.asp
I'm assuming you dont have a need for that now, but if you ever experience joint pain, look for someone certified at the Biomechanics level.

SMR routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

SMR manual: http://www.robertsontrainingsystems....SMR-manual.pdf


As far as deciding what exercises to do, what kind of stuff do you like doing? Lifting free weights is good for basically everything, whether you like to run, play sports, or just want to look good.

If you're going to do this for the rest of your life (everyone should imo), learn good form on the barbell back squat, deadlift, bench press & overhead press. Lots of other stuff is good & helpful (you'd want to add in some pulling stuff in addition to those), but that's where to start.

Starting Strength is a great book to learn good form, and the program in it is very good for beginning to intermediate lifters as well. If you want to tweak the program (ie, say you don't want to do power cleans), ask me for ideas for substitutes. The SS video is very helpful for learning form too.

If you do start getting into lifting, there are a lot of people here in H & F who will be helpful & supportive.

Got another issue for ya

So I've been lax balling my back/shoulder and I find this really painful point and sit on it, it eventually dissipates which I think helps with my shoulder imbalance and inflexibility in my arm, but I still have discomfort pain in my right anterior (front) delt. Doesn't really hurt when doing things like lightweight scarecrows but it does bother me in the rack position on front squats and at times during the bench.

Can you roll this area, I try rolling my pecs w/ the ball against a wall but nothing really ever hurts. I do a good amount of shoulder mobility work (pull aparts, discolations, etc...). Thinking it might just be an overuse issue due to a lot of gtg stuff.

thanks

There are lot lot of things that make the anterior delt area hurt. Adhesions in the pecs, upper back and even biceps will do that. Yes, you can & should roll the anterior delts, but there's a better chance than not that the pain is caused somewhere other than where the pain is.

I'd try to find someone good at ART if I were you.

Yeah, ART at biomechanics level is not a bad idea.

Do you really get in and roll all the rotator cuff areas? I *still* am finding new areas that are tight imo (like right "above" the armpit kind of where the triceps connect with the something or other).

I do a bit of SMR on the front and side part of my shoulder. I have a feeling there are bursa sacs around there and not tons of soft tissue, so I don't go after spots too hard if they're painful (like I normally do when I know it's a muscle adhesion) but that seems to be helpful too. Hitting the infraspinati (both infraspinatus areas) and teres minor/major areas has really helped me avoid messing up my shoulder again from injuring it earlier this year playing bball.

I felt a little tight on the left side of my neck yesterday (the day after doing those TBDLs), but after a little rolling, I felt better than I have for a while. Today it felt pretty good. DLing seems to be better for my neck than sitting around. I think I need to try to keep lifting and just be careful to avoid stuff that specifically aggravates the neck.

For many years, when I would do curls, that would screw up my neck, either right away, or sometimes a day or two later. Its probably not a coincidence that I've been doing some curls lately, and then my neck got messed up. I guess I wont be doing heavy curls anymore unless my upper arms are supported, as in preacher curl type stuff. For right now, I still need to avoid certain movements that stress my upper traps and some of the other upper back muscles; although DLing seems good.

I've been thinking about doing a powerlifting meet for a while. The other day, I found a few that are near me within the next few months. One is a week from tomorrow. I posted this in the monthly LC thread: USA Powerlifting MN state record DL for 242.5-275.5 bw and over 40 years old is 468. The record at 220-242 is ~600 or something way more than I can do. If I gain a few lbs, I can beat that 468 easily. I dont know if I can enter that meet next week at this late date, or if my body would let me right now with this neck thing, but if I can, I want to try. Maybe I'll just DL if they let me.

The next meet is in August. The state record for 220-242 bw, 40+, BP is 330. If I can get healthy I might make a run at that.

6/1

smr & mobility

The 1st thing I wanted to do today was see if I could back squat without hurting myself. I did.

squat
44x8, 95x5, 145x3, 195x3, 237x2, 287x1, 327x1, 347x1
That wasnt hard, but it was as much as I felt like I wanted to push it today. Squatting is ok as long as I'm careful with my neck & upper back. I can squat next week if I can get into that meet.

bench press
55x10x2, 105x8x2, 145x5, 195x3
This didnt feel great so I stopped. Apparently whatever is irritated in my neck & upper back gets activated when I bench. That kind of sucks. If they tell me I can enter the meet next week, but I have to bench, I will, but if I can DL only, I'll like that better. I'm pretty sure I wont be attempting a bench PR next week.

DL (conventional)
145x5, 237x5, 287x3, 327x2, (put on belt) 377x1 (that was all double overhand)
(used mixed grip for these next ones) 428x1, 478x1
That was fairly easy, but I havent lifted that heavy in a few weeks, so I figured that would be a good place to stop. My neck/upper back feel pretty good right now. I think DLing is good for me right now. I will beat that 468 state record if I can get my weight up and if they let me enter next weekend.

The more you post about your neck, the more I wonder if you aren't causing it by unintentionally "craning" it. Perhaps, because of the injuries and issues that are there, you are more susceptible to injury even from just keeping your neck unintentionally tight? In a way that would not bother someone else, it aggravates you?

Its from craning forward, and from kyphosis, and also - I had it xrayed several years ago by a spine specialist. He said the holes in my vertebrae that the spinal cord goes through are a little smaller than normal, which means I am more susceptible to back & neck issues that the avg person. I sit with bad posture (head forward, upper back hunched) a lot. And I naturally have some neck issues that are caused by that. I remember back when I was in high school, and probably before that, when I used to read books on a desk, it bothered my neck and gave me headaches.

I think I know the exercise that helps me get into better position - heavy DLs. My neck feels better this morning than it has for a couple weeks. When I DL, I think I do a good job of using my lower traps and the muscles that pull my shoulder blades down & in. That seems to make everything line up the way its supposed to.

That is really funny that the ultra heavyweight or whatever record is so much lower. You obv can crush that state record imo .

But kind of funny you gotta fatten yourself up to get it. Is the BP record at the higher weight higher than at the weight you are now? If so, perhaps you can heal up, go for the bench record while you're gaining weight slowly, and then when you get into the next category your DL should be even better!

Hey Cha, I'm looking to get my first ART appointment. I found a guy near me (northern VA area) who is biomechanics certified. Can you give me a ball park on how much I should expect to pay for my first visit?

I'll need to get back under 242 (assuming I do get over 242) to get a BP record. And there's no way I could do over 330 that would pass in competition right now. Assuming I can fix some issues, that would be a reasonable goal for August.

Raw masters (40+) bench record for 220-242 bw is 330. 242-275 BP is 392, which I have no shot at, at least any time soon. I could drop down below 220 bw & shoot for the 325 BP, but I think 330+ BP @ ~235 bw is most realistic.

Here's the list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...FE&hl=en#gid=0

Putting on 8lbs in a week? Super jelly.

what's the plan of attack diet-wise?

edit: might have misread, how much weight do you have to gain?

Do you need to go for the meet in a week? When is the next one after that? Seems like you'll only get stronger and healthier imo given your work ethic.

I weigh myself almost every day. I always do it 1st thing in the morning, when I'm lightest. Sometimes there's a significant difference day to day. I know there's a significant difference between morning and later in the day.

I weighed ~235.5 yesterday morning. I weighed myself yesterday afternoon to see where I was at, knowing it would be significantly more - it was 238.8. That was a fairly normal day of eating. This morning I was 235.4. Standard.

I like to put lots of salt on popcorn. When I do this at night, the next morning I usually weight 3 - 4 lbs more than the previous day.

The plan right now is to eat more than I usually do every day until weigh in. I'll make sure to have lots of salt the last couple days. I'll drink lots of water & Gatorade before weigh in. I think >242 shouldnt be all that hard for me, especially if I can weigh in later in the day.

That's assuming I can enter the meet next week.

yea I'm about 5lbs heaver within 5 hours or waking up each day, after just one meal and a bunch of fluids

ok, I talked to the guy who is running the meet. I am going to do this. This meet is USPA, not USAPL, which has the state record I would have crushed @275bw. So it will be best for me to be under 242 - I stuffed myself today - no more of that imo

The guy running the meet is James "Priest" Burdette. http://www.criticalbench.com/James-Burdette.htm
See the video at the bottom whether or not you read the article. Elite strength there.

As far as state records go, James said he threw all of them out when he took over because there were a bunch of records that were not credible, like one guy who weighs 220 had records at 181, and James is sure that never actually happened for that guy at that weight. So basically everything that happens next week will be a state record.

He says I can decide Friday whether I want to do all 3 lifts or DL only. I'm ~75% sure now I'll do DL only, but I might change my mind.

James is a great guy to talk to and he makes this sound like it will be fun.

Good luck!

Interesting - my mom has the same thing. Got so bad last year (intense, unbearable pain) that she needed an operation ASAP to "widen" the uh, thingies I can't remember the name of. Worked like a charm though, symptom free now. Still preferable to never need it obv.

Assuming your neck is up for it try & do all three I reckon.

No reason not to try put together a 3 lift total if only to post numbers to crush next time.

I gotta learn how to post videos one of these days.

Thanks!

Sounds like a scary operation to me. Glad it worked for her.

That's something to think about.

Yeah definitely some risks to it - she didn't have a choice though. Her pain levels were around 8-9 out of 10 constantly.

Posting vids:

Find the link for the vid you want post from youtube, in this instance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cYq0-4skdM. Take the part after watch?V=, namely "3cYq0-4skdM" and wrap [ youtube ] tags around it (without spaces obv).

So [ youtube]3cYq0-4skdM[ /youtube]

If you're directed to the vid from another site like e.g. 2+2 here, you need to remove the "feature=" etc etc parts too. Kinda silly that 2+2 doesn't automatically embed shared youtube links, have a youtube button or similar.


ETA: remembered the name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_stenosis.

Thanks SM!

6/4

smr & mobility

idk what the hell to do so close to the meet, and I was not preparing for it before, so I just did singles with ~90 - 95% of my current probably 1RM squat, ~85-95% BP, & ~90-95% DL. I was trying to figure out what to open with.

squat up to 367x1 (the heaviest I've done in a long while, over a year, but it was deep and I definitely can do more weight). I think I'll open @155K (341 lbs).

BP up to 287x1 (paused, went up ez) I think I'll open @125K (275 lbs).

DL up to 469x1 (my left thumb came loose on the way up, but I still finished the lift and set it down). I'm undecided on this yet. Maybe I'll open @210K (462 lbs).

I plan to work out Wed. and just try to time how long I need to take to warm up before being prepared for my opening weights. I guess that means I should squat up to ~315x1, BP up to ~255x1 & DL up to ~425.

If someone has suggestions, please let me know.

no suggestions, but just wanted to say you will crush!

thanks man!

I googled it and there were a couple links that I thought were pretty good:

http://getfnstrong.com/2011/10/your-...rlifting-meet/

http://startingstrength.com/articles...meet_baker.pdf

You could also check out my log for Heavy Singles Days and see what that looks like to you. good luck!

I read both of those links - lots of good tips in both of them. Thanks!!

I'll check out your log too.