Workout: What did you do today?

[grindy]

I've come to realize that I have limited shoulder mobility. It's hard for me to pull them back.

This means it's currently hard or near impossible to connect bar with chest in exercises like pendlay row and pullups. My shoulders just don't go back far enough.

I'm not sure if this is a permanent feature of my anatomy or something I might be able to fix 🤔

Possible focus for mobility days.

Can you do it with just the bar? Maybe the weight is too high. Plus there is no rule that you have to touch to your chest, anywhere on your upper body is fine. Higher is more upper back, lower is more lats, but the whole back gets worked with most positions. Touching really high on the chest would only make sense to ensure rear delt focus. And pull ups to the chest are extremely hard, pretty sure it's an issue of strength, not mobility.

[Guybrush]

Can you do it with just the bar? Maybe the weight is too high. Plus there is no rule that you have to touch to your chest, anywhere on your upper body is fine. Higher is more upper back, lower is more lats, but the whole back gets worked with most positions. Touching really high on the chest would only make sense to ensure rear delt focus. And pull ups to the chest are extremely hard, pretty sure it's an issue of strength, not mobility.

Yes, I am able to with, say, a broom, so strength is also part of it. I wasn't sure if I could tbh, but it seems to loosen up a bit after stretching (which gives me some comfort). A reason I'm thinking about it is my father has a very crooked sort of upper back. I'm not sure he can actually rest his head on the floor if he lies flat on his back. He also can't tie his shoes and has poor mobility overall and I'm wondering if I take after him.

Anyways, gonna make sure I get my shoulders back as far as I can using pushup bars or doing bench / dumbbell presses etc.

[grindy]

Yes, I am able to with, say, a broom, so strength is also part of it. I wasn't sure if I could tbh, but it seems to loosen up a bit after stretching (which gives me some comfort). A reason I'm thinking about it is my father has a very crooked sort of upper back. I'm not sure he can actually rest his head on the floor if he lies flat on his back. He also can't tie his shoes and has poor mobility overall and I'm wondering if I take after him.

Anyways, gonna make sure I get my shoulders back as far as I can using pushup bars or doing bench / dumbbell presses etc.

I wouldn't worry about mobility and most likely weight training with full range of motion will be enough for you to have good mobility.
If you can reach your chest without weight then it's not a mobility issue at all. I'd still consider touching a bit lower unless you really want to target the rear delts.
When pressing it is certainly a good idea to go down as far as possible to stretch your pecs, because it grows them more, mobility or not.

[Guybrush]

Thanks for great information as always, @grindy 🙂

Re our discussion on rest times, YouTube suggested me this vid (from a channel I don't know from before) and I thought it was pretty good.

[Guybrush]

By the way, this accumulation of shoulder problems..

I'm gonna try a deload week and instead just play pt to my wife in the coming week.

I've been at it for 11-12 weeks or so, so should be time.

[grindy]

Thanks for great information as always, @grindy 🙂

Re our discussion on rest times, YouTube suggested me this vid (from a channel I don't know from before) and I thought it was pretty good.

You're welcome. I love talking about this stuff here because it's my main hobby lately but I seldom get to talk about it in real life.
I've seen that video and yes, all good points.

[grindy]

By the way, this accumulation of shoulder problems..

I'm gonna try a deload week and instead just play pt to my wife in the coming week.

I've been at it for 11-12 weeks or so, so should be time.

About shoulder problems: When you do chest presses don't forget to retract your shoulder blades and move them together and a bit down. Keeps the shoulders in a more stable position. I even do this on lateral raises, although I've heard people say that this limits the necessary movement a bit. Works fine for me though and my side delts are probably my best body part. You might also want to do exercises like face-pulls or band pull aparts. They really helped with shoulder issues I was having, if I'm not mistaken.

[Guybrush]

About shoulder problems: When you do chest presses don't forget to retract your shoulder blades and move them together and a bit down. Keeps the shoulders in a more stable position. I even do this on lateral raises, although I've heard people say that this limits the necessary movement a bit. Works fine for me though and my side delts are probably my best body part. You might also want to do exercises like face-pulls or band pull aparts. They really helped with shoulder issues I was having, if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks, I've been following the advice from Jeff Nippard on how to set up / perform bench presses, so trying to pinch my shoulders back and get the back arch etc.

I don't think my form is too bad, but I've switched to dumbbell presses instead and it really is better on my shoulders. So atm I prefer those.

My left shoulder is much weaker than my right btw. This is especially noticeable when doing a rotator cuff shoulder exercise with dumbbells. So I'm thinking maybe that has something to do with why bench press isn't great. It might be too much strain on my weakest shoulder. When pushing myself on dumbbell presses, my left arm may fail before my right.

Anyways, Ive been doing some stuff, like changing up things that was causing shoulder problems, and it's been working. I'm less achy now, though they're still like old door hinges.

[jimmy jazz]

Tricep pushups are the best exercise for tris imo.

Especially to finish a workout.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/IDITzHbdf4U

I was going to do a breakdown of my favourite exercises and these would definitely be my choice for tris.

[grindy]

Tricep pushups are the best exercise for tris imo.

Especially to finish a workout.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/IDITzHbdf4U

I was going to do a breakdown of my favourite exercises and these would definitely be my choice for tris.

I personally prefer overhead stuff for tris but it's definitely a great exercise. I also used to do sphynx push ups. Nice bodyweight isolation exercise, even though the ROM is a bit small and it can feel awkward at first.

[jimmy jazz]

I personally prefer overhead stuff for tris but it's definitely a great exercise. I also used to do sphynx push ups. Nice bodyweight isolation exercise, even though the ROM is a bit small and it can feel awkward at first.

I don't do any overhead stuff. I may include some extensions with light weight form now but they just irritate my elbows and also you know when an exercise just doesn't feel right for you? That's how it is for me. I know you can get a really good stretch when you use overhead exercises so I will try to add one now.

I tend to do:

Pushdowns
Kickbacks
Tricep pushups
Close grip bench
Skullcrushers

I do a lot of dips also.

[grindy]

I don't do any overhead stuff. I may include some extensions with light weight form now but they just irritate my elbows and also you know when an exercise just doesn't feel right for you? That's how it is for me. I know you can get a really good stretch when you use overhead exercises so I will try to add one now.

I tend to do:

Pushdowns
Kickbacks
Tricep pushups
Close grip bench
Skullcrushers

I do a lot of dips also.

For me it's the other way round. I can go really far behind my back and in a deep stretch and my elbows feel great. But scull crushers to my face, JM press (sometimes even close grip bench press) and dips really hurt my elbows.
I do french press on push day 1 and push downs on day 2. Used to only do lying triceps extension for a while, basically a skull crusher but you lower the weight really far and deep back behind the head.

[DJChameleon]

Thanks for great information as always, @grindy 🙂

Re our discussion on rest times, YouTube suggested me this vid (from a channel I don't know from before) and I thought it was pretty good.

I mentioned the results of this video with a gym buddy and we got into a bog discussion about it to the point that he was pissed off and thought we were arguing. I kept telling him we were just having a discussion with differing opinions but he was so mad he started to turn red lol. I was like bruh over rest times?

[jimmy jazz]

I'm surprised it hasn't got too spicy on here yet. Disagreements over training methods and ways of doing things get very heated in the lifting community.

As long as we all respect each other and accept that I am always right then we should be good.

[DJChameleon]

Yeah we are much more chill but it makes sense why people get heated. Especially when they are used to doing things their own way and see results they like. They don't want to hear new information that differs from what they are used to.