No, you're just making excuses for him.

What's the deal with soy milk and other soy stuff regarding estrogen etc.? links?

Keep your abs as tight as you possibly can. You will not be able to hyperextend your lower back.

Ok, didn't see an answer on here so I took it to the interwebs (shudder). I went to about 10 dif websites, and from what I can generally gather it's like this:

Unripe and ripe fruit have the same amount of calories. The starch will just turn into more sugar when it gets riper. Same calories, more sugar.

How does that effect my body if that's the case? I have no idea. More insulin production?

this was just my wild guess at what could be occurring, but i doubt it actually is. my friend said everything looked fine. who knows. i'm gonna video in a couple of days.

i was just wondering if anyone else could shed some light. is it normal to feel tightness/slight pain in the lower back when the pull begins?

It's not unusual to feel tightness in the lower back when you first begin deadlifting. That should go away shortly. The pain I don't know about because everyone's interpretation of pain is different. Video will be the most helpful with this question, obv.

Not going to make a difference in the end.

ok thanks. until now i've never had to think about anything other than 'just stand up', as long as the back was straight and chest was up the rest just seemed natural. now i'm worrying, but probably over nothing.

btw i prefer the natalie portman chick on SS to the flexible chick.

Moral of the story:

Just wait until the fruit is ripe because it's nonnommononomomom

Likely what genz said. Try this: http://www.straighttothebar.com/2007...e_stretch.html

(Hold the stretch for 30+ seconds. Oh noes static stretchiz!!)

Yea, your lumbar spine is likely in extension and that's not good. Extension should occur in the t-spine, and the lumbar spine should remain neutral (not sagging in). See Anterior Pelvic Tilt thread for pics and additional info.

While DLing, brace the core better and be aware of your lower back. Work on proper planks, rollouts etc (while especially focusing on not allowing the lower back to "sag" which is quite common).

i meant i believe i have a pretty big arch in general. not that someone has noticed it when i DL. just wanted to clarify that but maybe that's how you read it. will check that thread, ty.

edit - cool thread.

Its much much safer than flexion right AB?

Question: Started doing SS about a month ago, unfortunately an old shoulder injury from when I was doing gymnastics has flared up again from benching. I read through the injury guide on SS wiki and am doing the exercises in the shoulder section but feel like my specific problem wasn't really addressed there so maybe someone with a bit of knowledge/a similar problem in the past could suggest some stretches/exercises or suggest an alternate exercise to the bench to rectify the issue and get me back on track.

It basically goes like this: warm-up sets are fine until I get to about 130 pounds (work sets are 175) when I start to feel stress across and inside the anterior part of my left deltoid. Once I get to my work sets I have to do my first reps extremely slowly because it feels like pressure is building up in the area and it could pop at anytime. However, after that initial rep, the rest are fine but my left shoulder will ache after finishing the set.

There is no pain or stress whatsoever when doing shoulder presses. When doing the low barbell squats I have trouble getting my left elbow as high as my right to properly "press" the bar into my back so it could possibly be a flexibility issue (or perhaps the flexibilty problem was caused by injury doing bench). The pain/pressure has being getting progressively worse.

I am fairly certain that my form is still intact from when I trained gymnastics and gym 3 years ago. Any help with this problem is much appreciated, sorry for the tl;dr.

P.S: when using the mixed grip for deadlifts should I be alternating the grip from rep to rep or set to set, or just be sticking with the same grip, IE: left palm facing outwards, right palm facing inwards?

2nd Q: My gym is closing down for the christmas/ny period - about 3 weeks. I don't have access to a squat rack, bench or any weights for those 3 weeks. Can someone suggest a regimen I can do during that time so I will lose the least amount of SS progress.

Thanks in advance.

edit: just realised in my last post that as a born-again gym noob I probably have no right to consider my form to be perfect. I kind of feel weird uploading vids of myself benching but I'm guessing it would most likely be the most effective way to get an answer for my shoulder problem.

Yeah, it's best to upload vids, I'm a strong advocate of it, and try to do it almost every time I work out now. I've been doing SS for 4.5months and have a long way to go. And most people think that their bench is better than it is, I know I did.

And that's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while about your gym. Go to a new gym imo.

Dunno, I'm not equipped to answer that properly. My guess would be it's safer, but I would stop short before "much safer."

Currently, after every workout, I have a standard whey protein shake. Should I be eating some carbs immediately after? Would a protein shake and a slice of bread serve the same purpose as a PWO shake?

Doesn't really matter that much. Dextrose is recommended for PWO food, I think. But again I think it's minutia that doesn't matter all that much.

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Fairly sure this is correct.

When I'm pulling 300lbs (brag ldo) over the bar it sure isn't assistance.

Actually, skimming the rip bible again and it looks like he includes chins/pulls as core lifts for novices and says this about advanced novices wrt chins/pulls

I also think he hints at chins/pulls being good assistance work for intermediates... in which case I guess they might go back to a higher rep scheme?

So... chins/pulls as core exercises for novices, weight them if you are constantly repping over 10.

Once you move to intermediate programming, your program probably includes more specialized exercises and chins/pulls will act as good assitance work.

Sound fair?

For many years 2:1:1 was the staple using a fast acting carb source(dextrose/maltodextrin) and fast acting protein source. The fact that they raise insulin has been discussed to death along with the glucose factor. I think in the end most people decided to get away from sugar and go with a quality carb source like rolled oats. I think using Dex has its pro's ad con's but when it comes to overall health and well being I think its safe to say you should stay away from simple carbs all together. My PWO shake consists of 2 scoops MRM Fruit n whey, rolled oats and flax oil. I add 5g of creatine when needed. Most "Designer" weight gainers(true mass, cytogainer) Use a quality Low GI carb sources now as opposed to DEX. Id say anyone of these is a good choice but most of them are filled with "fillers" that end up making their product ****. MSG, aspartame, artificial flavors, soy protein, GMO soy, vegetable oil just to name a few. Heres a link to, in my opinion, the best protein product for the price. Its clean, organic, no fillers and bye far the best price. It comes in Choc, Vanilla and Fruit(which contains a fruit extract antioxidant blend with 7000 orac) Just use 2 scoops of this, put some rolled oats in a coffe grinder(75g carbs),grind it, then throw it into the blender with water or milk and the whey. Add flax and creatine if you want
Take your shake immediately after your workout, then eat a pro/carb meal about 1 hour after the shake. This is pretty much the standard when talking about intense training and your bodys requirements. How many carbs you eat the rest of the day depends on the person and goals. But def have 2 carb meals after a workout(1 shake and 1 meal)
http://www.vitaminlife.com/product-e...oduct_id/30155

The insulin spiking science is pretty much nonsense. A special drink to resupply glycogen is only necessary for athletes doing long duration aerobic and anaerobic exercise at high intensities during consecutive days.

In other words, no one training for size and strength is going to have to worry about it. Get something to eat containing protein within a reasonable time period of training. ie; if you train after work, just have dinner when you get home.