This holiday will be devoted to catching up on a few dozen things, and since I’ll be at my laptop for many of them, I figured that I’d kickstart my Prime Time session early today. So, feel free to distract me from my academic quarantine with any questions that come to mind…
Eric,
Who is your pick FSU or Miami tonight?
FSU because Miami are just a bunch of pansies for leaving the Big East. 
(Can you tell that I’m infatuated with college basketball year-round? Don’t even get me started on BC…)
[quote]TriGWU wrote:
Eric,
Who is your pick FSU or Miami tonight?[/quote]
Well maybe had UConn actually put some plans in to build a nice football stadium, Miami might have stayed.
You think there ever will be a UConn football team in the Top 25?
Knowing UConn the powderpuff team would probably rank higher than the football team.
Uh…
[quote]TriGWU wrote:
Well maybe had UConn actually put some plans in to build a nice football stadium, Miami might have stayed.
You think there ever will be a UConn football team in the Top 25?
Knowing UConn the powderpuff team would probably rank higher than the football team.[/quote]
Eric, my right arm is two inches shorter than my left arm. There is some awkwardness when I perform certain barbell movements. I build up my grip using a towel to compensate, do you have any other suggestions that I might use?
Is that a functional or a structural discrepancy? In other words, were you born with it?
[quote]vbspiker wrote:
Eric, my right arm is two inches shorter than my left arm. There is some awkwardness when I perform certain barbell movements. I build up my grip using a towel to compensate, do you have any other suggestions that I might use? [/quote]
Eric, what is your current diet consisting of and what is your game plan?
im training my grip now with heavy grippers and my left hand is a little weaker than my right is it ok for me to do a couple of more reps on my right hand i know that normally you catch up your weaker hand in most exercises but my support grip during deadlifts both hands are holding up so it is it ok for me to go all out on my stronger hand or should i let my weaker hand catch up which i figure would take about a month? thanks
Coach what’s the best remedy for lowerback pain? Thanks!
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
Is that a functional or a structural discrepancy? In other words, were you born with it?
vbspiker wrote:
Eric, my right arm is two inches shorter than my left arm. There is some awkwardness when I perform certain barbell movements. I build up my grip using a towel to compensate, do you have any other suggestions that I might use?
[/quote]
It was the result of two breaks on the right wrist when I was younger.
In a nutshell…
Protein and fat meals all throughout the day with fibrous vegetables.
Surge during/post-training.
Weekly clean carb-up following my Sunday DES/D session.
I may add in some extra carbs PWO on Wednesday night if I’m feeling flat.
Basically just looking to keep my weight down and get stronger in the process. I respond very well to lower carb diets, so the lack of carbs doesn’t really phase me; I just tend to feel a little flatter at times, which can be an issue if your equipment has to fit or you’re doing a movement in which the bar is positioned over your body (e.g. benches, squats, good mornings).
[quote]T-Quinn wrote:
Eric, what is your current diet consisting of and what is your game plan?[/quote]
Let the weaker side catch up and make sure that you’re alternating your grip from set to set in training the deadlift (if using a mixed grip).
[quote]mbtheman wrote:
im training my grip now with heavy grippers and my left hand is a little weaker than my right is it ok for me to do a couple of more reps on my right hand i know that normally you catch up your weaker hand in most exercises but my support grip during deadlifts both hands are holding up so it is it ok for me to go all out on my stronger hand or should i let my weaker hand catch up which i figure would take about a month? thanks
[/quote]
I could answer this in any of 100 different ways. Lower back pain is a very broad term. Responding without knowing the exact nature of your pain would be irresponsible.
[quote]monte1978 wrote:
Coach what’s the best remedy for lowerback pain? Thanks![/quote]
Hi Eric,
I’ve asked this question but didn’t get feedback yet so I’ll try you.
Here’s my problem:
I’ve read Mike Robertson’s rowing article concerning pulling movements but my elbows and hands become weak points. Example:Lat pulldowns are harder to do with heavier weight plates especially when they increase by 10lbs.
I can a myriad of pushups even on fingertips. Why can’t a person bench their weight as well?
Thanks and hope I can ask you questions here too. j.
Truthfully, I’d rather just see you working more with dumbbells, although I’d assume that you can tinker with grip position from side to side to ensure that the bar is balanced appropriately and you’re still moving it the same distance. Deadlifts would obviously be a problem, so you might consider sticking to good morning and squat variations.
If you’re dealing with specific deficits (i.e. tightness, weakness), let me know and I’ll see what I can do to point you in the right direction.
[quote]vbspiker wrote:
Eric Cressey wrote:
Is that a functional or a structural discrepancy? In other words, were you born with it?
vbspiker wrote:
Eric, my right arm is two inches shorter than my left arm. There is some awkwardness when I perform certain barbell movements. I build up my grip using a towel to compensate, do you have any other suggestions that I might use?
It was the result of two breaks on the right wrist when I was younger.
[/quote]
[quote]gold’s wrote:
Hi Eric,
I’ve asked this question but didn’t get feedback yet so I’ll try you.
Here’s my problem:
I’ve read Mike Robertson’s rowing article concerning pulling movements but my elbows and hands become weak points. Example:Lat pulldowns are harder to do with heavier weight plates especially when they increase by 10lbs.[/quote]
So the problem is that you can’t grip the weights?
[quote]I can a myriad of pushups even on fingertips. Why can’t a person bench their weight as well?
Thanks and hope I can ask you questions here too. j.[/quote]
To be honest, it’s a lot easier to cheat on push-ups by manipulating body position; you might very well not be doing a true push-up.
With that said, stability at the shoulder joint increases markedly with closed-chain movement (i.e. pushups, where the distal segment is fixed and the proximal portion moves) over an open-chain movement (i.e. bench press, where the distal segment moves around a fixed proximal aspect). More stability = more strength = different movements altogether.
Eric -
You cut out all fruit from your diet?
I still eat fruit - mostly on my carb-up days and post-training meals. During my high-volume weeks, I’ll have an apple with breakfast.
Keep in mind that I eat a ton of vegetables.
[quote]zdrax wrote:
Eric -
You cut out all fruit from your diet? [/quote]
Eric,
I’m trying to increase the amount of chinups i can do. Currently, I can only do 4 from a dead hang, and I don’t like lat pulldowns. After I do as many real ones as possible, I usually just finish out the set with negatives. Is this a good approach, or is there something better?
Also, I read an article on another site (I think it was by Pavel) saying that chinups could be trained with more frequency, even daily. What do you think about this?