[quote]rwwddavis wrote:
After the admin made the post several others seemed to concur that that wouldn’t be a bad idea; therefore I presented 6 weeks as a “worst case scenario”. God willing, this won’t turn into anything NEAR 6 weeks.[/quote]
Fuck God- whether it’s six weeks or not is in YOUR hands amigo, not his.
Let me just look into the future for you, if you don’t mind. You take six weeks off, shoulder all better, feeling like you miss the gym, and within 6 weeks of being back in there, you have a minor ache in the shoulder again. There are probably hundreds of articles on here about this very thing. Find and read a few of them. I don’t agree with staying out of the gym for six weeks because you have a minor ache in your shoulder, that is just silly.
I think it’s a sign that you’re a chest / bis / tris sort of guy. There are tons of things you can do that will not aggravate your shoulder, and in between doing those, do some shoulder strengthening exercises that don’t aggravate the injury. Try light face pulls, see how they feel. Scap pushups and scap pullups, and scap rows, see how they feel, dumbell cuban presses, see how they feel, try ALL the shoulder rehab exercises in between squats, deadlifts and anything else you CAN do, pick the ones that feel good, don’t do the ones that hurt. In six weeks you will have done yourself a world of good, and have learned how to heal your shoulder, and have gotten into some great new habits. Use this to your advantage.
Taking time off here and there will happen naturally, doesn’t anybody ever go on vacation anymore? You catch a cold, use that week as your week off. Go to Cancun? Use that as your week off. Redoing your bathroom? Moving? Studying for the Boards? All this real life stuff should add up to about 6 weeks off a year anyway. Scheduling more in is unecessary. Quoting coaches that have competed at the olympic level and using them as an example why weekend warriors should take months off at a time is not valid. If you are training smart, eating and resting, you don’t need that kind of time off.
[quote]rwwddavis wrote:
The only post I want to address individually is this one.
“Dude, if a “bit of an ache” causes you to take 6 weeks off, you might as well give up making any decent progress over the long haul.”
Let me make something clear - this was NOT my idea and is the LAST thing I want to do. Some admin w/30,000 posts from another board who ostensibly has experience (I don’t necessarily think this makes his word near gospel and I KNOW you don’t.) After the admin made the post several others seemed to concur that that wouldn’t be a bad idea; therefore I presented 6 weeks as a “worst case scenario”. God willing, this won’t turn into anything NEAR 6 weeks.[/quote]
Did this Mod have an impressive physique? Did he openly discuss his personal training and the progress of those he had helped? I guess my question boils down to did you have any other reason to listen to him besides 30,000 posts?
Honestly, I don’t even remember the first post anymore, but FUCK THE INTERNET. Go to a doctor, get his/her opinion. Then work out your shit. The internet is cool, but it is not for people that can’t figure out that a nameless faceless tart may not be who you want to listen to.
Go to the beginner forum. It’s a bunch of 16 year old kids & 155lbs guys reading articles and parroting what they read to others. You’ve got people doing this shit all over, and I’ve been to boards that are overrun with people that haven’t accomplished SHIT doing the same.
6 weeks off is fucking gay. See a professional, I doubt you will miss a workout, probably get some facepulls or some shit and other rehab stuff.
One important thing I left out here.
2-1/2 weeks ago I took 2 weeks off after feeling pulling a rotator cuff muscle during fb db press (8 reps), nothing crazy. I was able to continue the workout - don’t know if that hurt much. I have been working out for 10-1/2 years and never missed time due to an injury. Since I’ve been back to working out again I don’t feel any worse I can just tell the pull isn’t better yet. I just don’t want to turn weeks into months. I spoke to a personal trainer who suggested I take 2 weeks off from upper body and use “band” training or bodyweight training - not what I wanted to hear. I have NO experience w/injuries in the weight room.
So, in short I’m wondering if I may want to continue working out - I can do any lift - even though I’m not fully healed. This after 2 weeks off didn’t resolve the initial problem.
I think leaving the “I’ve already taken 2 weeks off from lifting and continue having issues” led to some more fireworks than there should have been. Looking at the original post - THAT person sounds like a pussy.
Still, I like the energy here =>D
[quote]Deadsion wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
I wouldnt take the advice in here. Anything else Id say rest a few days and keep lifting. But it’s your rotator cuff, and those things get really fucked up fast. Take a week off, if it still doesnt feel any better take another week off and so on.
Good luck.
Simply taking weeks off won’t fix it, he needs to figure out what’s causing it and fix it. Rarely does anything, especially something like the rotator cuff, fix itself simply by taking time off. So he’ll take like 4 weeks off, and take 2 weeks to get back to where he was again, his rotator cuff will fuck up again and hey its like 2 steps forward and 4 steps back. So it’s better that while he’s figuring out how to fix his shoulder, he work on something that doesnt stress out his RC… something like squats or unilateral exercises[/quote]
Fair enough.
I still dont reccomend he does any pressing, or even squats for that matter. Alot of the times shoulder problems can come from squatting, which im sure you know.
Why are people saying to take 6 weeks off of ALL training when its just one fucking part of his body that has a slight ache? Stop being a bunch of pussies. Go get a doctor to look at it if it hurts. If he tells you to take two weeks off, then just lifts that don’t require your rotator cuff for X amount of time.
If you take 6 weeks off, thats 6 weeks you can lose muscle, as well as 6 weeks you missed the opportunity to gain any. Is it really worth it?
Having just taken six weeks off this summer from a broken radius and ulna, I say you should not take six weeks off if you can help it. I lost almost fifteen pounds in that six weeks.
I think two weeks is the max most people can take off without losing strength IF training hard leading up to injury. I believe Mel Siff says something to this effect in SUPERTRAINING as well.
Ex: I took a two week break from a fall on my shoulder this winter and came back stronger. A few months after I took three weeks off from a bone bruise on the end of my femur and gym performance really suffered afterward. Past two weeks everyday seems to count…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Dude, if a “bit of an ache” causes you to take 6 weeks off, you might as well give up making any decent progress over the long haul. I am just having a hard time even believing people are in the gym “training hard” but taking this much time off for every minor ache or soreness.
Your goal should be to figure out why you are causing this to happen at such an early stage of development (which I assume you are because no advanced lifter takes off 6 weeks for “a bit of an ache”). Backing off of the weight used to avoid aggravating it further makes more sense than ignoring it for 6 weeks and never understanding what you did wrong to begin with.
They should title this forum “soft core”.[/quote]
Yah man… I hurt my shoulder doing heavy weighted pull-ups. I keep a broomstick around for that shit. I do the IM.com shoulder healer technique (magical, I know), and though it still was sore/a little hurt, I just kept going at my workouts. Fuck skipping the gym… train around your injury and heal it.
I healed a minor sports hernia by strengthening the muscles around it instead of just hoping it would magically heal without my doing anything.
Also, yah, 6 weeks i going to lead to atrophy. If you ate enough food, then it wouldn’t have led to that much.
Let the OP take the 6 weeks off and when he comes back, he can do I,Bodybuilder to regain any muscle lost…
/sarcasm
[quote]Jetric9 wrote:
Let the OP take the 6 weeks off and when he comes back, he can do I,Bodybuilder to regain any muscle lost…
/sarcasm [/quote]
Not sure WTF you’re talking about but I’m sure you’re a riot ;>)
Readers, please read the update I made to the original post. It contains significant details I left out originally.******************************************************************************************
if your shoulder hurts just stay away from back squats, OH pressing and tricep dips and pull ups for a week or two.
do some high rep DB rows, face pulls, push ups to keep your ligaments under strain. you should still be able to flat bench heavy(maybe use DB instead of BB) and deadlift heavy and leg press heavy.
taking 6 weeks off for anything that is not broken/completely torn is a shitty idea.
[quote]rwwddavis wrote:
The only post I want to address individually is this one.
“Dude, if a “bit of an ache” causes you to take 6 weeks off, you might as well give up making any decent progress over the long haul.”
Let me make something clear - this was NOT my idea and is the LAST thing I want to do. Some admin w/30,000 posts from another board who ostensibly has experience (I don’t necessarily think this makes his word near gospel and I KNOW you don’t.) After the admin made the post several others seemed to concur that that wouldn’t be a bad idea; therefore I presented 6 weeks as a “worst case scenario”. God willing, this won’t turn into anything NEAR 6 weeks.[/quote]
What does the admin look like? What do the people he has trained look like? I mean, you would ask that question yourself before simply following what someone says, right?
Question…why do nearly all of the people recommending nearly 2 months off for minor soreness look like they don’t even lift seriously?
Coinkidink?
In all honesty - if we can get back on a serious track for a moment - wouldn’t the amount of muscle lost depend on:
A) how long the OP had his original muscle mass (prior to the break)
B) his eating habits during his time off
And no, I don’t think he should stop training legs or even the other, healthy side (shoulder) of his…
hum, no peace my friend.
with the help of this forum, I practiced an article I read. Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
namely training in negative (eccentric)
it worked wonders, indeed, strengthening tendons and ligaments, re-balancing of force and unilateral in the end, no more pain, more than tendinitis.
Same for tendonitis of the elbow
with a little less success, but a good warm myself in good condition for a session triceps.
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
how do you feel about two weeks of unloading or rest after eight weeks of training?
[/quote]
what the fuck for?
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Ct. Rockula wrote:
how do you feel about two weeks of unloading or rest after eight weeks of training?
what the fuck for? [/quote]
It’s like some people spend more time worrying about taking breaks than they do training. I didn’t even take a full two weeks off from everything after I had surgery over a year ago…but these guys need 2 weeks off simply because they worked out for two months straight?
I mean, do people really believe humans suddenly became this fragile?
What, were people building the original railroads crying about how they need two weeks off after slinging a sledge hammer for two months?
Slaves were passing out in the fields after 2 months of picking cotton?
Vikings were curling up in the fetal position after hiking for a week?
Humans today must be the biggest pussies in the history of man-fucking-kind.
I had a shoulder seperation from getting the retarted idea that I could ski in the Alps. My usual injury routine if i can’t get through a workout is take a week of, take some ibuprofen, ice it, and then go back to the gym re-evaluate. I tried to suck it up for a week till I went to the Doc and had it looked at. Then it took another 3 weeks till I could move any real weight or squat heavy.
Longest break I ever had to take was from the middle of june till two weeks ago. But when blindness is on the line you listen to the doctor. Never detach a retina!
[quote]Professor X wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
Ct. Rockula wrote:
how do you feel about two weeks of unloading or rest after eight weeks of training?
what the fuck for?
It’s like some people spend more time worrying about taking breaks than they do training. I didn’t even take a full two weeks off from everything after I had surgery over a year ago…but these guys need 2 weeks off simply because they worked out for two months straight?
I mean, do people really believe humans suddenly became this fragile?
What, were people building the original railroads crying about how they need two weeks off after slinging a sledge hammer for two months?
Slaves were passing out in the fields after 2 months of picking cotton?
Vikings were curling up in the fetal position after hiking for a week?
Humans today must be the biggest pussies in the history of man-fucking-kind.[/quote]
Very nice. Could not have said it better myself.
Over the past 20 years of weighliftig and bodybuilding the few successful guys I met - successful by means of making real progress, building huge amounts of muscle and becoming very strong - were the ones working out with broken legs walking on crutches, the ones who still went to the gym with torn bicep or injured shoulders to somehow work around it, rather than taking weeks and months off.
The ones being affraid of working a sore muscle, going to the gym with a bit of a headache or so are the ones who still bench 140 pounds with shitty form at 156 pounds bodyweight…