Weight Lifting Question

[mycrofft]

Crikey, been there and out the other end.


"No pain means no gain" is BS. There is a difference in being sore and stiff, and the burning (or chlling) ripping popping sensation of injury. I treat workout injuries almost daily, I did the gym, worked loading 100 lb feedbags and lifting ambulance litters with big beefeaters on board. Here are some hints:
1. KEEP YOUR ELBOWS IN. Straight-arming is sexy but will tear your shoulders. At least. Keep your CG near your CG, so your back is better protected.
2. The biggest secret to lifting, whether for exercise or work, is technique, especially not breaking a lift up into segments unles you intend to for some arcane exercise purposes. Once the mass is in motion, guide it, don't stop then restart it; judo, you know?
3. Wristing weights as they show above will potentially cause carpal tunnel. So will submitting here. Be careful.
4. Do not do pushups on a rig allowing your chest (well, ribcage) to drop lower than your hands. Likewise, if a lift at work results in your elbows going behind your shoulders, yell "steel" and do it over, or quickly figure out which accessory muscles to use because you may be about to lose it.
5. If you use NSAIDS etc, use them a little while AFTER exercise. They do not cause healing and can mask injury a little, plus allow more bleeding if injury occurs.
6. For us old farts, or anyone out of action for a while, knowing technique but not having the physical wherewithall to do it anymore will get you hurt.

Oh, and always pick a partner bigger and stronger than you to take the head.

 

[DBieniek]

It could be that your body is getting used to the workout that the trainer gave you, so you need to change up some of your workout variables. Such as, rest time in between, amount of weight used, number of sets, number of exercises or go with a different routine. The trainer probably has you on a circuit training system now, and you may have to change it up and do more sets per body part by having a push-pull routine or push-pull leg routine or adding more super sets or compound sets to you routine which I highly recommend due to the fact that they balance your push and pull muscles out evenly and you're less likely to have muscle imbalances that most beginners get.
-My partnerh34r:

 

[emt786]

thanks for the advice again everyone!

I've been going regularly to the gym and have started either increasing the weight or doing more reps and it seems to be working.

The trainer probably has you on a circuit training system now, and you may have to change it up and do more sets per body part by having a push-pull routine or push-pull leg routine or adding more super sets or compound sets to you routine which I highly recommend due to the fact that they balance your push and pull muscles out evenly and you're less likely to have muscle imbalances that most beginners get.
-My partnerh34r:

what do you mean by push-pull routine?

 

[DBieniek]

emt, I'll ask my partner at work tommorrow. I really have no idea, as he wrote it.

 

[DT4EMS]

thanks for the advice again everyone!

I've been going regularly to the gym and have started either increasing the weight or doing more reps and it seems to be working.




what do you mean by push-pull routine?

A push-pull routine is used to "shock" the system. Most of the time I will work back/bi's (which work together) but to change it up I may work a push/pull which would be doing a bench and pull ups. Bench is chest/tri's and pull ups are back/bi's (that is where the push/pull comes from).

Kip

 

[Fidelis]

I'll start off my saying I'm not an EMT, I'm just here looking around while I consider becoming one.

I've been lifting weights for many years now and I saw some people repeating a common myth about weightlifting and soreness. Many people believe that if you don't feel sore the day after working out, it means you didn't work out hard enough. This is absolutely false.

It is true that when you begin a program, you will be very sore for several days after each workout. However, after a week or two, you should notice that the pain after each workout (called DOMS--delayed onset muscle soreness) should be MUCH less noticeable than it was after the very first time you worked out. Sometimes you may not feel sore at all the next day, but it's nothing to be concerned about.

As long as you increase the intensity of your workouts each week, you will progress in strength and endurance. Do not use soreness as an indicator of how well you are doing!

Now, for some advice: I would recommend that you ask your personal trainer to show you how to do squats and deadlifts. These two lifts will help you more than anything else, since I know that EMTs have to do a lot of heavy lifting. I'm sure you'll all agree that your legs and your back are the two most important muscle groups in picking someone up and carrying them around, and they're also two muscle groups that you want to protect. Squats and deadlifts will not only make you stronger, but they will vastly improve lower back strength and teach you to always keep your spine in a safe position when lifting. Properly performed squats will also improve the stability of your knees.

Oh, and you'll have a really nice ***, too.