Chas

I have been going to the gym regularly now for about 6 months, so still fairly new to it. I generally do 6 days a week with just 1 rest day, 15 min CV to warm up, just over an hour on resistance and free weights then a 10 min jog to get pulse up again.

I have made a fair bit of progress, but a way to go yet.

Problem I have is that as I get stronger, I find it easier to injure myself. I have so far pulled or seperated ab muscle from ribs (now fixed), had referred pains in arms from straining cervical (C7) vertebrea (now fixed), damaged AC joint - still getting treatment - and I now seem to have overdone my elbows with bicep curls and 21's. I understand that bone and tendons thicken and strengthen in response to exercise, but they seem to lag behind increase in strength. Could be my age I guess. Any help, hints and tips on how to avoid injury and/or how to speed recovery?

Chas

big

Look into your form. The vast majority of injuries occur due to form problems. Go extremely strict.

samurai69

i would agree with Big on the form thing, you say about your age, young or old ???, its unlikely to be the age unless you are very young under 15 or very old over about 60, aslong as the increases are gradual.

Some interesting injuries though, how did you manage them exactly??

Chas

Thanks for the replies.

Bear with me on this, I am new to it -

"Look into your form. The vast majority of injuries occur due to form problems. Go extremely strict."

Er, what do you mean by 'form'?

How did I do the injuries? Only surmising, as they only manifest themselves after I finish at the Gym:

Abdominal - too heavy weight on Ab machine.

Neck - simply due to the fact that my right arm is (was) stronger than my left with the result that I was twisting and putting un-even stress on my neck when working on shoulders.

AC Joint - not too sure about this, but I think too much weight, too many reps in one session pushing out and upwards.

Elbows - now I know that this problem is minor tears in the tendons attaching the muscles of the forearm to the elbow, epicondylitis or commonly known as tennis elbow. Pretty sure this was caused by too heavy weights doing shrugs. This was the only one I can (partially) blame on my trainer as he moved me up 10Kg per arm in one week.

The only good thing is that my girlfriend is a physiotherapist so I get plenty of treatment whenever I want! Downside is I get lectures on each and every muscle, tendon, joint and bone in the affected area!

Chas

AussieMarc

Sounds like form to me mate. By you asking what it is, now thats a scary thought. Control your weights, don't just throw them up and down. Concentrate on your technique not your weight. If your injuring yourself it means you have bad form, in which a lot of cases is due to weight thats too heavy for you, or quite simply you havn't practised true form in the past 6 months.

If there is anything I could suggest, decrease the weight till you get your form sorted. Truthfully form is more important than how much your lifting.

Abs - Feet flat on the floor but don't brace them under anything. Don't go further then you have to (situps tend to switch half/most of the weight to your back after a certain point.) Crunch your abs not your back! If you are working abs, either isolate them or compound them. Don't do both.

Neck - Now, when you explained this it sounded bizzare. By neck do you mean traps or your actual neck? If you mean your traps then its also your form you have to look at. Do some dumbell shoulder exersizes instead of barbells. This means that your shoulders have to work by themselves not together. Not only will this correct your weaker arm problem (strength differences is quite common. Dumbell exersizes are great to overcome it). Try some dumbell overhead presses instead of your barbell presses (I assume thats what your doing?) and this should correct the strength issue, and your form in the process.

AC Joint - Would love some more info on this one.

Elbows - Interesting one here. I once had problems with my elbows but that was because I did forearm curls with bad form from what I believe. The shrug story is a possibility but have you ever considered your bench, bicep or any exersizes using your elbows. Find a training partner. No-one better then a mate to spot your form if it's off. They will be the most honest, as people who dont know you as well might not be as blunt Your best mate is your best spotter ;)

A girlfriend who is a physio is very nice. Intelligent girl ;) Just watch your form mate, those injuries are bizzare. I have been training for that long and I have had only a couple of stupid mistakes in the early stages.

Train in front of a mirror - spot yourself out. A third person view of you is the best way to find your form faults. Get a TP - 4 eyes is better than 2, and make sure its someone with an honest opinion or a very blunt or shallow bloke ;)

Anyway, thats my post. Welcome aboard mate

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Killerkeane

nice post marc.

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Fortes Fortuna Paratus Mens-Fortune favours the prepared mind.:amen:

samurai69

Yep nice post Aus.

Possibly going too heavy Too early, muscles build strngth faster than tendons, liggaments etc

If you train in a gym someone there sould be able to guide you a bit in the correct form and use the mirrors

In a home gym use the mirrors as much as possible

If you are not sure on the proper techniqe these web sites may help

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
http://www.bsu.edu/webapps/strengthlab/home.htm

There are others.

And sometimes even the animations are not perfect so be careful

Chas

Marc - thank you for that.

OK so that's what 'form' is. Just a problem with nomenclature then - I do have a trainer, (one hour a week) and he does ensure that I handle the weights and equipment properly.

Mostly I manage to hurt myself when exercising by myself. However, because I am turning into a gym rat - there almost every day, my trainer occasionally gets carried away with weights. Mostly if he tries to push me too hard I refuse - or just can't make it! But sometimes I can pull/push the extra weight, which of course leads to muscle growth. He has dropped the weight I pull down on the lat pulldowns so that I can concentrate on perfecting my form and always checks my position and posture. He isn't there all the time though!

With regards to the problem with my neck, the problem was due to the lower part of the cervical column (C 5, 6, 7) being pulled slightly to one side, casing some pressure on the nerves exiting through C7. This led to referred pain in the shoulder and upper arm. I am only guessing at the cause. It was fixed fairly quickly with ultra sound, microwave, massage and TLC.

Damage to the AC joint is commonly caused by a fall being broken by extending the arm. The subsequent shock up the arm transfers the impact into the AC joint - which is fairly small, leading to strain and damage of the cartiledge. As I hadn't fallen but had been working on pushing heavier weights the day it became painful I just put 2 + 2 together - although of course, I could have made 5. Again this is responding to ultrasound and microwave plus some manipulation and tlc. Difficult one one to protect by not using it as, er, bedroom press-ups and associated acivities can put quite a strain on the AC joint, not normally a problem to a healthy joint but does seem to aggravate my injury.

From what you have said, makes me think I am impatient to move up weights too quickly - but like everyone else, I want quick results. Guess what I need to do is make an effort to concentrate more on form and technique and take it slower on moving up the weights, but that doesn't meet my objective to get bigger as quickly as possible.

Thanks again for your advice.

Chas

Chas

Samurai - thanks for the links, i'll check them out next time I am at home. Probably too much to concentrate on when I'm supposed to be working!

Chas

AussieMarc

Another possibility for the injuries is the fact you are most likely overtraining. However if you are gaining from it, by all means do what your doing now. 6 days a week is a bit much in my opinion. In fact I think 4 is even too much in most cases. However 6 days a week and making gains? By all means go for it but if you train a fatigued muscle, injuries are bound to happen. Your a very knowledgeable guy by the sounds of things - You speak very technical when it comes to body parts etc. Have you done any studies or anything to aquire that knowledge? Correct me if I am wrong but we need an introduction

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Chas

Marc

The only good thing is that my girlfriend is a physiotherapist so I get plenty of treatment whenever I want! Downside is I get lectures on each and every muscle, tendon, joint and bone in the affected area!

Although I switch off a bit during the lectures ;) I am a captive audience when being treated and some of it sticks. I guess it helps that i did study Human Biology, which included anatomy, for a while at college, but that was so long ago that blood circulation hadn't been discovered.

I know that I am probably over training, but I want to get results as quickly as possible - and the strange thing is i really enjoy the gym work. CV is a bit boring, otherwise I would do more of it. I split up my sessions into muscle groups, which from what I have read here is what most forum members do, although in my gym most people don't - they seem to try to do everything at once.

I have only been doing this for 6 months, the results so far are pretty positive - my girlfriend keeps telling me that i have great body, (it wasn't before!) but really I think that all I have acheived so far is a good start with a long way to go. I won't be embarrassed on the beach this summer, but I want more than that.

Obsessive? Yes, but what's wrong with that?

Chas

samurai69

Sounds like you have a good thing going mate




Like somany of us here !! LOL



.

Chas

[quote=samurai69]Sounds like you have a good thing going mate



Yeah, but as long as I am injury prone I am stuck with her! ;)

(lovely girl!)

Chas

SportDr

SOunds like your trainer needed to take you through a foundational phase of weights before going heavy.

Any noob to free weights should go through a month or more of foundational exercises to allow the tendons and ligaments to strengthen and assist in neuromuscular faciltation. The result will be great increases in strength for at least 6 weeks and minimal injury.

By foundational I mean dropping the weight low and performing 16 reps of very strict form exercises, with 2-3 sets of each exercise.

No more than 6 sets per session for small muscles i.e Biceps, no more than 9-12 for large muscles i.e Quads (legs).

If you arent well built then it is unnessecary to perform isolation exercises on small muscles which are easily overtrained, you should be sticking to compound exercises only and with good form, i.e Squats, deadlifts, chins, dips, presses.

A good warm up is essential, 6 minutes of intervals on the treadmill will do this, stretch if you want but don't overdo it.

Follow this for 6 weeks, you will get stronger, bigger and without injury guaranteed, if that is your goal of course.

HTH

SD

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Any advice given is for information only, always seek the advice of your medical practitioner.

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hackskii

Hey bro, you still didn’t say how old you were.

How old are you?

Like the guys said, drop the weight and do some reps.
Use good form (technique).
I would heal up first before trying anymore heavy weights.


Great posts from the guys above.

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Scott


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