Question for weightlifters

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

Actually questions for weightlifters.

I'm right handed and the left side of my chest is getting bigger than my right side. I notice when I do my chest workout When I do bench press with dumbells I feel the left side of my chest burning, but on my right side I feel the burn more towards my shoulder. SHould I attempt to keep the dumbell in my right hand further in (towards my chest)?

My other question is I actually have a lower back injury. I didn't even get this injury from lifting weights. I got it from doing pushups. I was doing incline decline and flat pushups. I'd do 3 sets of each type after doing bench press and decline bench with weights. I do as many as I could and I only stopped once my strengh gave out. But while doing this the last like 2 reps my lower back flexed in towards the ground. Well basically this really jacked me. I went to the chiropractor about 2 weeks after it happened because it was still extremely tight and sore. I then went back a week later and he adjusted my back again. 2 days later it was feeling practically normal. Then I decided to pickup the recliner and move it over a little bit. My parents would have been pissed if I drug it because they feel that will jack a recliner. So when I did this I reinjurred it and it started to spasm. It's been about 2 weeks since the second injury. My back feels not perfect but okay. I've been lifting very light weight try and minimize strength loss. One thing I notice is after this injury my low back just feels weak. Whenever I carry or move anything that is slightly heavy my back feels like it wants to start spasming again. Any ideas? I'm thinking about doing situps, but I'm afraid they may make it worse. I want to do something to get my low back solid again so I can get back to lifting.

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[birsling 10+ year member]

1st of all - I sell fitness equipment and am a personal trainer.

DO NOT do full sit ups. Before you are going to do anything involving your back, make sure you warm up and do plenty of stretching. If you are looking to do some ab work (I am guessing since you want to do situps) do crunches on a swiss ball. A back is a very sensitive area for injury, and can be nagging. Take everything slow and do not push to quick. Even when you feel good, be cautious.

As for your chest. Your distance between your chest and the dumbells should be the same on both sides (left and right). You should be focusing on squeezing your chest at the top of your press. If DB's are not doing it for you, try stretch tubing. It sounds to me like you are using incorrect form somewhere in your motion. Very hard to tell without seeing you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

Good luck, hope this helps. Try the tubing and a swiss ball. **** up your pride, and do some core strengthening using the basics.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

1st of all - I sell fitness equipment and am a personal trainer.
DO NOT do full sit ups. Before you are going to do anything involving your back, make sure you warm up and do plenty of stretching. If you are looking to do some ab work (I am guessing since you want to do situps) do crunches on a swiss ball. A back is a very sensitive area for injury, and can be nagging. Take everything slow and do not push to quick. Even when you feel good, be cautious.

As for your chest. Your distance between your chest and the dumbells should be the same on both sides (left and right). You should be focusing on squeezing your chest at the top of your press. If DB's are not doing it for you, try stretch tubing. It sounds to me like you are using incorrect form somewhere in your motion. Very hard to tell without seeing you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

Good luck, hope this helps. Try the tubing and a swiss ball. **** up your pride, and do some core strengthening using the basics.

How do you use stretch tubing and what is it? I've never seen or done that before. Also is there a limit for strength for a particular individual. It seems like when I get really strong (at least really strong for me) 95 pound dumbells on bench, curling 40 to 45 pound dumbells etc. an injuring comes up. I don't know if this is a matter of the high weight and muscle being exhausted to the point where you put strain on joints and tendons to get the weight up or what. The strange thing with this last injury is it occurred doing pushups which doesn't use weights, but again I did have bad form when I tried getting the last few up before I drop to the ground.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

Also one more question. I saw an excercise that's called swiss flies. Where you have two swiss balls you get in a pushup position, but put your forearms on the ball you then roll out and in on the balls squeezing when you bring the balls back together if that makes any sense. After my back has recovered I'm thinking about doing this. Have you heard about this excercise and if so have you heard any negatives?

 

[birsling 10+ year member]

Also one more question. I saw an excercise that's called swiss flies. Where you have two swiss balls you get in a pushup position, but put your forearms on the ball you then roll out and in on the balls squeezing when you bring the balls back together if that makes any sense. After my back has recovered I'm thinking about doing this. Have you heard about this excercise and if so have you heard any negatives?

No negatives, as long as you use good form. Make sure you keep your back straight and your abs tight. You don't want to have any kind of flex in your "trunk".

Stretch tubing is used a lot in rehab and speed training. They are stretchable bands with handles that you can do all sorts of workouts with. Used a lot in Pilates and other stretch based workouts. Here is a link to allow you a little strength tubing research http://www.spriproducts.com/category.cfm The category you want is rubber resistance training. Check out the deluxe XERTUBES

 

[birsling 10+ year member]

How do you use stretch tubing and what is it? I've never seen or done that before. Also is there a limit for strength for a particular individual. It seems like when I get really strong (at least really strong for me) 95 pound dumbells on bench, curling 40 to 45 pound dumbells etc. an injuring comes up. I don't know if this is a matter of the high weight and muscle being exhausted to the point where you put strain on joints and tendons to get the weight up or what. The strange thing with this last injury is it occurred doing pushups which doesn't use weights, but again I did have bad form when I tried getting the last few up before I drop to the ground.

Free weights, like DB's and weight plates, are very hard to measure. They are gravity based weight, therefore they weigh a different amount, the farther they are from your body. If you don't believe that, try it. Put a 10# DB on a scale. It should weigh 10#. Now drop it from 2 ft above the scale and see what it weighs. Angle and form play a huge effect in free weight training. How old are you? Have you ever tried something like a bowflex? It uses constant resistance with little rest to build strength and endurance.

 

[the_flatlander 10+ year member]

what's a swiss ball

 

[99concorde 10+ year member]

bowlflex,lol. stay constant, form is everything. try bodybuilding.com the message board. some people know their stuff.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

Free weights, like DB's and weight plates, are very hard to measure. They are gravity based weight, therefore they weigh a different amount, the farther they are from your body. If you don't believe that, try it. Put a 10# DB on a scale. It should weigh 10#. Now drop it from 2 ft above the scale and see what it weighs. Angle and form play a huge effect in free weight training. How old are you? Have you ever tried something like a bowflex? It uses constant resistance with little rest to build strength and endurance.

I don't think I can afford one of those. I'm 20.

 

[joshpoints 10+ year member]

what's a swiss ball

It's those big balls that people use at fitness clubs to do usually ab workouts with.

 

[gettnbig 10+ year member]

First of all ignore all the BS about stretch tubing and those stupid balls. I am so sick of watching overweight flabby personal trainers putting people on balls with tubes and little girly weight. Your problem has to do with form. You have one shoulder elevated too much. In order to correct this try this:

When setting up for any bench pressing motion **** both your shoulder blades together so that they are as close to touching as possible. Make sure they stay together for the entire set. This will take strain off your shoulders and put it on your chest where it belongs. Stay away from balls and tubes they are for fat people and senior citizens who are not looking to work hard enough to get in shape. If you are concerned with "core strength" like the "personal trainer" said then worry about compount movements. Heavy squats, deadlifts and bench press with build up your core strength much faster than a stupid ball will. check out http://www.massmonsters.com for more training info. My user name is the same their as it is here. PM me there if you need more info.

 

[EarDrummin. 10+ year member]

First of all ignore all the BS about stretch tubing and those stupid balls. I am so sick of watching overweight flabby personal trainers putting people on balls with tubes and little girly weight. Your problem has to do with form. You have one shoulder elevated too much. In order to correct this try this:When setting up for any bench pressing motion **** both your shoulder blades together so that they are as close to touching as possible. Make sure they stay together for the entire set. This will take strain off your shoulders and put it on your chest where it belongs. Stay away from balls and tubes they are for fat people and senior citizens who are not looking to work hard enough to get in shape. If you are concerned with "core strength" like the "personal trainer" said then worry about compount movements. Heavy squats, deadlifts and bench press with build up your core strength much faster than a stupid ball will. check out http://www.massmonsters.com for more training info. My user name is the same their as it is here. PM me there if you need more info.

Read up, he was simply trying to help him prevent strength loss as his back heals. No need to start a flame session when someone's trying to help.

 

[gettnbig 10+ year member]

Read up, he was simply trying to help him prevent strength loss as his back heals. No need to start a flame session when someone's trying to help.

There was no flame intended. I'm simply stating what I beleive in and what all of my experience has tought me. Swiss balls and stretch tubing are good for the begining stages of recovery. His back is almost recovered. He needs to start doing some compound movements like deadlift and squats to build that strength back up. Stretch tubing and swiss ball are only beneficial in the very early stages of recovery when strength on motion are very limited.

You obviously didn't understand what I was talking about. So next time before you call me out for flaming take the time to read and understand. If it's a subject that you know nothing about then just leave it alone. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[EarDrummin. 10+ year member]

There was no flame intended. I'm simply stating what I beleive in and what all of my experience has tought me. Swiss balls and stretch tubing are good for the begining stages of recovery. His back is almost recovered. He needs to start doing some compound movements like deadlift and squats to build that strength back up. Stretch tubing and swiss ball are only beneficial in the very early stages of recovery when strength on motion are very limited. You obviously didn't understand what I was talking about. So next time before you call me out for flaming take the time to read and understand. If it's a subject that you know nothing about then just leave it alone. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Who said I know nothing about it? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[EarDrummin. 10+ year member]

First of all ignore all the BS about stretch tubing and those stupid balls. I am so sick of watching overweight flabby personal trainers putting people on balls with tubes and little girly weight.

No flaming intended?