Try doing yoga. When I was doing it, I fell asleep a lot easier and slept better and was less tired. It's great because it never gets easy, and it helps with strength/flexibility tons.
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Fitness |OT3| BroScience, Protein Dysentery, XXL Calf Implants, and Squat Rack Hogs
- Thread starter Anton Sugar
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Try doing yoga. When I was doing it, I fell asleep a lot easier and slept better and was less tired. It's great because it never gets easy, and it helps with strength/flexibility tons.
It might be obvious, but paying close attention to one's caffeine intake might be warranted. I find it best when I avoid caffeine in the six or so hours before I have to go to sleep. So if I go to bed at eight I'm taking my last bit of caffeine at two in the afternoon.
I'm fortunate enough that this is usually the only variable that I have had to manipulate should I have any trouble sleeping.
I'm fortunate enough that this is usually the only variable that I have had to manipulate should I have any trouble sleeping.
HarryHengst
Member
Also, shut down the computer and tv at least an hour before going to bed and go read a book or play some guitar or whatever. Just do something without the constant visual input like a tv/monitor gives. And dim the lights a bit as well, if possible.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
Go to the gym.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
One step closer to 315 3x5 bench. Did 310 3x5 today. Feels good man
Do some squats and leg exercises that doesn't require much wrist use.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
How do you guys not scrape your shins to the point where it starts to bleed when DL?
cuevas. PhD.
Member
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Uh, what? I didn't ask about good form. I asked how do you not scrape your shins without them bleeding and tearing skin. Rippetoe tells you to pull the bar up against your shins and legs.
parrotbeak
Member
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
I wear pants on DL days, also my legs are on the smooth of the bar. Is your bar smooth in the middle or are you dragging the grip up your legs? I get red marks and bruises, that's it.
I also don't do high volume, I just do sets of singles at high weight. You probably do high volume, so you're either going to have to just let your skin toughen up or get some thick pants, lol.
Good form
Go read the responses to balderrmans post
If he's fucking his legs up he IS using good form.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
His stance is probably too wide if he's fucking his shins up, it's not a squat.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
Or he's doing high volume, or the bar has a lot of aggressive grip, or he's sumo deadlifting, or he has thin skin, or etc.....
It's not quite fair to assume he's doing them wrong, it just makes you look like an asshole.
Nike and Under Armour sweat pants Archer.
Sometimes my shins bleed, sometimes they don't.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
No, me being an asshole makes me look like an asshole.
If you are taking a wider stance for a sumo deadlift or the way you're built you still shouldn't really be bleeding from the exercise. I youtubed deadlift and actually found it hard to find a video of someone fucking their shins up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NOBe_K26z4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGPLvHn0Cbg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhYft_haqpU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gujO4xYSAdo&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY7go2rlqB4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDMYju_Pg5g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCDAzMKnhAI&feature=related
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
I'm doing 5x5. I just started doing them again after reading Alien's step by step, and the video from Rippetoe I posted. I thought I'd give it another shot. I have long legs and a short torso. I place my feet inside of my shoulders, but not too close. I lean over without bending my hips to grab the bar. Then I bend my knees till my shins touch the bar. Then I stick my butt out and chest up. I make sure my shins are always vertical when lifting up.
I could try some tape. I have windbreaker pants, but that won't work, right?
I could try some tape. I have windbreaker pants, but that won't work, right?
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
You're missing the point. Correct form has you dragging the bar up your shins. Any number reasons would lead to him getting bloody shins that isn't from bad form. In fact him messing his shins up is indicative of proper form.
I use some type of spandex pants. they are kind of like yoga pants for men, they are made by adidas.
I use them and I just get minor bruising and red marks up and down my shins.
I've bled once or twice from doing them without pants, that's why I moved to those pants. I could google them for you, but I'm busy with my son. If you don't find them before later, I'll find them for you.
It is possible that bloody shins come from both situations.
Sometimes people have their hips too low on the deadlift, causing their knees to be too far forward (causing shins not to be vertical enough) and this will give them a higher chance of scraping their shins against the bar.
However, sometimes a person's body mechanics just mean they're going to not be as vertical as they want on deadlift and will have a higher tendency to scrape their shins.
It's either a questions of bad form or non-optimal body mechanics for deadlifting, although I tend to believe it has more to do with form, because you can control the weight and keep it close to you without having your shins scraped up.
I typically only bloody my shins if I start with the bar too far away from my shins. Then when I begin the lift the bar almost pendulum swings back as its going up and then Knicks my shins
At least, I think that's what happens.
I guess when I think about it, starting with shoulders in front of bar would also cause this
At least, I think that's what happens.
I guess when I think about it, starting with shoulders in front of bar would also cause this
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
You're supposed to drag the bar up your shins. You're driving with your heels leaning back with your ass dragging the bar against skin. The bar is never supposed to leave skin contact. That is the proper form.
Also, the point here is not to immediately assume he's doing them wrong. That's why you ask how he's doing them (which he just explained).
To come right out and say he has bad form is not only an asshole thing to do, it's not helpful in the least.
He may have a skin condition or be thin skinned like I said too.
I knew a guy who would bleed at the drop of a hat. His skin was easily cut.
Also, I take it he's just getting back into DLing from his last post, so his skin probably isn't "toughened" up yet either.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
I didn't scrape my shins today just for the record. The bar was probably an inch way from my shins, and then grazing my quads.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Ah, so maybe I'm not spacing my legs to the point where the smooth part of the bar isn't grazing my shins. I may have legs spaced apart to the point where the rigid lines are causing the scrapes.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
That would definitely do it.
There's a trick for proper width.
Stand up, and jump straight up, where your feet are positioned when you land is about the width you want for deadlift.
I have thin skin and a complexion that Casper would envy so deadlifting bruises me pretty well most of the time. To prevent actual bleeding and skin tearing I learned to wear track pants on DL days a long, long time ago. Nothing fancy, I just don't have exposed shins while I DL.
On both shins I have a straight, barely visible line that's a little pink, but I'm glad I never chose to get a tattoo on either shin. Would have screwed them up by now.
On both shins I have a straight, barely visible line that's a little pink, but I'm glad I never chose to get a tattoo on either shin. Would have screwed them up by now.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Hey bros, I have weak wrists. I could do much more but they always end up hurting. Messing with heavy stuff will eventually get to them from a variety of angles of stress, but something like pushups is a super fast track to pain. Any idea what is wrong with them/how to strengthen them?
I had wrist pain when I was doing way too many pressing movements and not enough pulling movements. You doing rows and pulldowns and deads, etc along with bench and pushups?
Shins are not meant to be vertical in the deadlift. This is likely the issue. Vertical shins leave out the quads.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
No, my wrists have been like this for a long time, even before I began working out. Maybe carpal tunnel? But I feel like I do well to prevent that...
People said the opposite for a guy's form check a couple pages ago. WTF now I am confused?!?!
I am referring to set up. When you bring shins to the bar before the pull they should not be vertical. If they are vertical this means you are too far behind the bar, the bar is not over the midfoot and you are off balance backward. Your knees should be slightly in front of the bar when you pull.
You could try wrist wraps for lifting. I would probably drop pushups from your routine, they're hell on my wrists.
Indeed. For reference, see every illustration in Starting Strength (3rd edition out now, buy it today!).
As you pull when you do the dead your back angle should never change. As you lead with your chest, using your quads to straighten the knees, the rest of your body will follow behind, using your hams and glutes to bring your hips/back to full extension, till you are completely vertical. Since your goal is to keep the bar above mid foot the entire time, eventually, for most people, you will contact the shin with the bar. Softball socks, heavy sweat pants, snookie boots with the fur, and those hide boots from Skyrim can help the problem. I've had scraped up shins before, and socks/sweats solved the issue.
Well, I don't believe so. I'm speaking about this strictly from a logical stand point.
Dude McGee weighs 150. He can do five pull ups. He cannot do six. This is a total of 750lbs of volume. Good job, dude.
So, Dude is tired of being stuck and adds a 10 lb weight to his waist. He can still accomplish five pull ups this way. He has now increased his volume to 800 lbs.
If his goal is to have 900lbs of volume (six pull ups), this he is now only 100 lbs from his goal. Now, I would recommend doing more sets with less reps and taper it up, but that's just me. However, there's nothing damaging, time waisting, or wrong about loading the pull/chin up. Johnny Pain recommends weighted chins for his beginner barbell LP program, and nobody talks shit about Grayskull Barbell. So, there's that.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Thanks for the tip. I'll do this Friday.
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
Man, I need to get back into the gym soon. I haven't gone for more than a month now because I fucked up my wrists to the point where I couldn't put any pressure on them without feeling intense pain. It's kind of subsided right now, but my left wrist still hurts if I try to lift/push anything heavy. Going to the doctor today to see what the deal is.
But yeah, not working out for over a month feels like crap, especially with the holidays coming along.
But yeah, not working out for over a month feels like crap, especially with the holidays coming along.
All this talk about deadlifts is getting me paranoid about my form now! I did have someone that works there critique my form months ago but since then I've gone up in weight significantly. Though I'd imagine my form is bound to not be perfect when lifting heavy weights so I think i'll go back to basics tonight and make sure my form is on point and only rep at around 150kg or so instead.
looks like someone uploaded a long clip from rip's SS DVD. This is 6 minutes of his deadlift instruction. I recommend the DVD highly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_Weyah74s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_Weyah74s
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
Good to see everything I said before is right. Sometimes it's great to have a good memory.
Thanks for posting this, it's a new non youtube version I hadn't seen, but he touches on the same stuff in the multiple youtubes posted. Always good to see more rippetoe.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
That chick in the video is hot but those shoes they all wear look like they are made for special ed kids.
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
you should see what Shelly looks like now. She squats like 225.. the red head.
I'm always a fan of this. Form checking a 1RM seems counterproductive since there's bound to be weak spots screwing around with things if it's a true 1RM. For some reason it always feel better if I'm in the 80%-90% of 1RM range, like form-checking a 315lbs deadlift makes sense if you can do 365lbs, but trying to form check something under 225lbs doesn't provide the resistance necessary for you to make useful tactile adjustments.
The best anecdote I can think of is deadlifting or squatting with a braced midsection. If the weight is too light you won't need to brace your abdominals, so it isn't helpful for progression.
Somewhere out there is an expert to echo this sentiment. And an explanation of why the heavier (but not heaviest) weights work best for a form check.
Is it bad to use that cushion thing for squats? I have been struggling with my form for a while now but today I noticed that if I use the cushion thingy, I can hold my form much better and get exhausted less quickly because the bar position on the neck / traps always gives me so much pain otherwise, so I cannot completely focus on my form. I guess that might also be indicative of wrong bar placement but I have been watching the SS DVD and got it like that and I still experience pain, so I dunno...
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