ChickenMadness - Weight Training Progress

Chicken.M.

I stopped doing any form of exercise for about a year and became extreeeeemely unfit. I even have some weird posture problems with some of the muscles in my back because of the way I sit using the PC. My chest is too strong so it's pulling my shoulder blade out. The opposing muscle in the back that keeps the shoulder blade in has become weak.

It makes all my upper body lifts really awkward and annoying. And I've been working on trying to fix it for the past month.

I also had a problem with my legs because of a weak gluteus medius and obliques on one side. Because I always sit in my chair with one side more stretched than the other. Sucks ass lol. It's less noticeable now though because I've been doing lots of one legged squats to focus on it. The upper body problem has been more difficult though.

I've managed to get back to a point where I can follow my old strength training routine. Will be testing out what weights to start off at over the next few workouts. I might have to switch the routine up to focus on the posture problems again though. I'm hoping the weak muscles will start to even out on their own without too much extra work lol.

The physiotherapist said it just happened because I stopped weight training and exercising.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

Chicken.M.

Anyway heres the first work out.
Doing 3 sessions per week alternating between
Workout A - Chest, shoulders, triceps.
Workout B - Legs, back, biceps
Main lifts - 3 sets x 5,6,8 reps... adding 1kg each workout.
Small lifts - 3 sets x 8-12 reps... adding weight once I reach 3 sets x 12 reps

22/04/2019

incline barbell bench press - (60x5) (70x4) (65x6) (60x7)
Standing overhead press - (45x6) (50x2) (45x4)
Lateral raise - (5x12) (7.5x6) (5x12)
rope pushdown - (25x12) (25x12) (25x10)

I might change bench press to dumbells next time as I think it will be better for fixing the muscle imbalance. And still testing out what weight to start at for each exercise. Started too light on all of them. so it's not following the 5, 6 8 reps yet.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 2

Enginerd.

Your 'chest is too strong'? What does that mean?

Reply 3

Chicken.M.

Original post by Enginerd.

Your 'chest is too strong'? What does that mean?

Part of your pecs are attached to your shoulderblade. It pulls the top part of your shoulder blade forward, which makes the lower part of your shoulder blade stick out. There are muscles in your back that do the opposite and pull the shoulder blade back in, so it stays flat against your back.

Those muscles in my back are too weak compared to my pecs on the right side of my body so my shoulderblade is always in an awkward position when I lift heavy weights lol. I've been told to do this exercise thats like a cross between a shrug and a pushup to fix it.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 4

Chicken.M.

25/04/2019

Squats - (80x2) (70x5) (65x7) (60x8)
Weighted Chinup - (10x5) (5x5) (0x7)
Seated Calf Raise - (40x9) (40x9) (30x8) (30x8) - Wasn't going full ROM on 40kg so I lowered it. Gonna stay on 30 next time.
Bent over flies - (4.5x12) (4.5x12) (4.5x10)
Seated Dumbell curl - (12x5) (9x7) (9x5) (9x3) - starting at 9kg next week

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 5

username4540078

Original post by ChickenMadness

If you aren't already doing them, I'd suggest band pull aparts and face pulls. Many and often. They can help with posture.

Reply 6

Chicken.M.

Original post by Trotsky's Iceaxe

If you aren't already doing them, I'd suggest band pull aparts and face pulls. Many and often. They can help with posture.

Thanks just watched some videos of it on youtube. Gonna add face pulls to my routine. Feels much better at targetting the problem muscles than the exercise the physiotherapist showed me.

I don't own a band or have any at the gym so not sure about that one.

Reply 7

Unistudent77

‘Winged Scapula’ is what I think it’s called.
I had this.

As others have suggested, do facepulls and anything with an external rotation element to it.

Do 2 back exercises to every chest/push.

Reply 8

Chicken.M.

I ordered some resistance bands on amazon just now lol. They're only £7.00

Gonna get rid of this annoying **** :lol:

Original post by Unistudent77

‘Winged Scapula’ is what I think it’s called.
I had this.

As others have suggested, do facepulls and anything with an external rotation element to it.

Do 2 back exercises to every chest/push.

Ye just looked up 'winged scapula' thats exactly what it is. It's only on the right side of my body though.

How long did it take you to fix the problem?

Reply 9

It's****ingWOODY

I've had some shoulder troubles in the past and face pulls fixed everything. I tack a couple of sets of 20 face pulls onto the end of every workout now, easy to keep up when it's part of your routine and they're not taxing at all if you use very strict form, easily manageable even at the end of a gruelling leg workout when I feel nauseous and just want to go home :lol:

Y raises are also brilliant.

Reply 10

Chicken.M.

Original post by It's****ingWOODY

Y raises are also brilliant.

Ye I tried the face pulls today. It's the first time I've done that exercise. Felt like it was working out muscles I've never used before lol. I'm pretty confident it's going to fix the problem. I noticed the left side of my back and shoulder all of the muscles are really tight as well so I've started stretching them.

And I've noticed the entire right side of my body is weaker on every lift. Never had these issues before.

Gonna try those Y raises once my resistance bands arrive though.
________________________________________________________________________

26/04/2019

Incline barbell bench press - (75x2) (65x7) (67.5x6) (60x8)
Standing barbell OHP - (47.5x7) (50x3) (45x6) (40x6) (40x7)
dumbell lateral raise - (7x8) (7x7) (5x10)
rope pushdown - (25x12) (25x8) (25x11)
face pulls - forgot to write them down lol.

Bench press is by far the most awkward lift for me with the back & shoulder imbalances. I think I might just switch to dumbells next week.

I'm not noticing too much awkwardness with the OHP. Which is great because it's my favourite lift lol. I usually power clean it off the floor for fun.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 11

Chicken.M.

29/04/2019
Squats - (72x6) (67x6) (62x8)
Calf Raises - (30x13) (30x12)(30x12) - will try 35 next week.
Weighted Chin up - (11x5) (6x4) (6x3) (0x3) (0x4)
Bent over flies - (4.5x12) (4.5x12) (4.5x11)
seated dumbel curls - (9x12) (9x12) (9x6) (9x4)
face pulls - (8.75x16) (6.75x13) (6.75x13)

Been flipping this tire at the beginning/end of every workout to burn some calories and increase endurance. Might ask the people who work there how much it weighs so I can record it.

Started doing this shrugging type exercise on the chest dip bar to target my upper back. Been trying to engage those upper back muscles on the tire flips as well. I feel like I'm making progress now.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 12

Unistudent77

Original post by ChickenMadness

I ordered some resistance bands on amazon just now lol. They're only £7.00

Gonna get rid of this annoying **** :lol:

Ye just looked up 'winged scapula' thats exactly what it is. It's only on the right side of my body though.

How long did it take you to fix the problem?

Never saw your reply, sorry.

Probably 4-8 weeks to notice a big improvement (ie press without pain).

Bench was still off the table for a while longer.

Tbh it is still a work in progress (ie 95%) and that’s over 2 years, it must be monitored.
Facepulls 2/3 times a week, as others have said.
Would fully agree with T, Y and I raises.

It will correct itself but it’ll take time.
Do overhead press more than horizontal pressing ie Bench. As Benching will only continue the tightness of your pec minor etc etc.

Lastly, do stretches. Do stretch in this vid for pecs where you turn away from the wall:

https://youtu.be/9wSfnYdXe7M
(6 min mark)