kaotic's gym self assesment and progress thread

[CaptainChardonnay]

Here were my symptoms as of last friday:

-I couldn't sleep on my sides because of local but flaring pain.
-I couldn't bend over to touch my toes or put on socks.
-It felt like my back was giving out or a sharp but quick pain would follow.
-Sitting was slightly painful, even leaning forward on the shitter sucked.

I had the exact same issues you had a year into when I first seriously started working out. What fixed me was that I went to a osteopath and she pointed out the imbalances in my body and gave me exercises and stretches to fix those imbalances.

Most people's bodies are not perfectly symmetrical, for example right handed people tend to use the right side of their bodies more to do stuff. When you are doing compound lifts with a unsymmetrical body, your putting weight onto both the weak and strong parts of your bodies but the weak parts aren't developed as well as the strong parts so your body ends up compensating for those weak parts with other parts of your body. This puts stress onto parts of your body which aren't meant to bear that kind of load for example joints or bones instead of muscle.

For me, what lead to those same issues was weak transverses muscles which put more load onto my lower back and a knot in my upper right leg near by groin area which hindered my mobility. I used a lacrosse ball to get rid of it and ab exercises for my TV muscles.

I strongly suggest you visit an osteopath and do enough sessions until they fix you. Someone who has an athletes body in mind. For me it took around 5 sessions before I was good and I noticed a difference really quick.

 

[kaotic]

So I haven't updated this for over 2 months.

I've still been lifting every week, (except for for the first week of June)

I'm still consuming a large amount of protein.

I've cut back on frying brussel sprouts in bacon fat and eating alot of red meat at once.

This stems from high cholesterol issues I have (the anavar and test probably didn't help).

I'm back on Test with the addition of NPP (Deca's cousin) - I'm also pinning myself on my quads (rotating).


As for workouts I did a hard reset on DC Training

Usually for Arms it was 30 reps - now it's 35.

For chest and back - it was 25 reps - now it's 30.

Ive dropped squats and deadlifts.

Calves I modified to a shorter hold at the depth of the stretch.

Widowmakers for quads went from 10 heavy to 15 mid heavy and burnout reps from 20 to 25 with modified weight.

ALL WEIGHT HAS DROPPED SUBSTANTIALLY AND I'M FOCUSED ON FORM.



I've added ALOT of stretching throughout the date.

These stretches have come from my physical therapy, once a week, they give me new workouts to try or help rub my lower back out.

Major stretching includes a resistance band for opening up my hip flexors. Frogman stretches bent over.

Thomas stretch (half the glute off a bed or bend) on your back, which opens up your hips.

Stand leg crossovers to open up gluts and release tension.

A modified supine stretched which always pops my lower back and releases tension.



Instead of squats and deads, I'm doing leg presses, extensions, curls, reverse curls, and working around it.

I've stopped doing the stairmaster for 45mins for cardio because its aggravating my back.

I've switched back to speed walking on a treadmill at a high elevation.


I'll be logging my pins and and weights hopefully more often.

 

[kaotic]

More Updates:

It's been a bit of time since I updated, but things are actually hitting all positives.

Digestive Issues Resolved:

Some of you know I took antibiotics in January and wrecked my gut and digestive system.

I couldn't shit right for months and it just sucked.

About 2 months ago I picked up VSL#3 probiotics on the recommendation from an RVF member.

They helped a bit, but still ran into issues.

Then about 2.5 weeks ago my stomach went back to normal and then I realized something, I had stopped taking isolated whey protein.

I went on an overseas beach trip and drank a shitton, did drugs, and ate like shit.

Needless to say my stomach went back to digestive issues I had previously.

A few days ago my stomach kicked back to normal thank god, so I'm super happy about that.

I actually switched from iso whey, over to a Vega Sport Protein (Plant protein sourced).

Overall it's slightly chalky but decent, doesn't give me issues like the iso whey did.


Food Changes:

I stopped cooking and meal prepping.

I switch over to buying already cooked meal preps, my friends wife runs a meal prep company and she gave me a killer 10 meals for $80 deal.

I'm only spending $10-20 more than I would making it myself.

But I get piece of mind, no mess, multiple choices, and time saved.



Back On Cycle:

I started back on cycle on July 1st.

This is what I'm currently taking:

200mh Test + 100mg NPP (Deca's Cousin)= Twice a week.

So I'm doing:

400mg of Test + 200mg of NPP per week

NOTE: I'll be upping the dosage to the following once I get more vials:

600mg of test + 400mg of NPP per week

I'm rotating quads for injection sites.

I'll be logging weekly pins.


Workouts:

Obviously my strength has gone up and I'm probably going to be dropping the rep scheme from 30 to 20 and 35 to 30 for arms.

Still doing 3 days a week, no cardio at the moment.

However, I've added a Saturday workout:

Bench Press
Lat Pulldowns (inner or wide)
Seated Should Barbell Press
Bi's
Tri's

I feel fucking massive after this.

I'll start logging my workouts again when I have time.


BACK from the dead:

I've hit strides in rehabing my back doing the following.

-Constantly stretching at the gym post workout and at work.
-I purchased a memory foam back support for my chair, felt better, but slightly off the chair
-Then got another chair with adjustable lumbar support, NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE.
-Back isn't as tight anymore nor in pain when sitting for long periods, and not irritated in the car commuting.
-Get deep tissue massages every other weekend.

All of this has contributed to my back feeling better, and the PT has told he's noticed a difference as well.

We've start doing leg press machines on light weight, also semi pistol presses as well.

I'm confident ill be back under the bar squatting and deads.


Overall I'm looking to expand my growth literally and figuratively at the gym.

 

[Fortis]

What's your bodyweight at these days? Looks like you're getting pretty beastly strong. Good work man. This makes me wanna up my dose of testosterone.

:highfive:

 

[Bastard Sword]

Kaotic, I highly recommend getting a personal trainer or joining a functional fitness gym. You need to strengthen certain muscles in your middle back, develop loose and strong glutes, and build an extremely strong core if you want to have longevity with lifting. The exercises you listed aren't going to help with that -- you need ancillary glute workouts (monster walks, weighted glute bridges, etc) and core workouts (planks, leg lifts, etc) to support the massive volume of squats that you're doing. You also probably need a good amount of back flexibility work (PVC pipe stretches, yoga, certain light deadlift variations) to support your chest and shoulder workouts.

A good personal trainer -- or a well-coached lifting class -- will help you develop a holistic training regimen that will protect your body, ensuring that you continue to make gains. On top of that they'll help you perfect your form, which is drastically more important than just trying to up the weight level.

You seem to have built up good strength, but given the volume and heaviness of the weights you're lifting, I'm surprised you've even lasted this long without seriously injuring yourself. Definitely look into getting a coach. Feel free to PM me for more information -- I've completely stopped dictating my own workouts and have switched to coaching and seen significantly better results.

 

[kaotic]

@Fortis, I was close to 170 at the end of my first cycle, drop back to 160's, I've lost some fat but still floating around the same weight but look bigger, so obviously fat burning off muscle being created is making it a wash, I think in month 3 I'll see the weight start to kick up.

The meals I'm getting are large now also, I'm keeping en eye on my weight.


@bastard I'm not sure if you saw, but I'm doing doing squats or dead lifts at all to help recover on my back. I've switched to machines for leg workouts.

When I was doing squats/deads it was once every two weeks on my 3 day split routine.

I'm not lifting as heavy anymore.

LINUX was actually coaching me and gave me a program to follow and guidance AKA DogCrap


I honestly don't want to throw away more money at a bro gym trainer where they're going to rip me off. Functional fitness gyms aka crossfits are the only ones really around and are expensive as fuck. I'm in a money saving mode right now since I'm trying to buy property.

Plus my time is extremely limited I'm in and out of the gym and I can't rely on someone else's schedule either.

There's one guy I do trust whose local and trains people in his garage, he does it for a decent price, and he's won body building contest.


If you've got some videos or workouts I should be doing, please send em my way brother, I'm always down for things that will help condition and rehabilitate my back.

Thanks brother!

 

[Balkan]

A good exercise for back prehab and rehab I haven't seen mentioned is reverse hyperextensions. Some nice gyms have the machine. Otherwise, you can jimmy the movement yourself using a yoga ball or bench. I'd recommend doing several high rep bodyweight sets throughout the week.

Here's a video that shows it. I think the exercise is as effective with hand contact vs. forearm, but both variations work.

 

[Bastard Sword]

Kaotic --

Makes sense, there definitely are shitty broscience trainers out there, and yes these kinds of gyms are expensive. In my opinion, though, a serious commitment to your fitness (getting fit in a progressive and sustainable way) simply is going to cost you money, no two ways around it.

LINUX may absolutely know what he's doing on his own terms, but he's not looking over your shoulder checking your form on every rep. If you're making a small form mistake on your squats, repeating that mistake 30+ times is not going to be good for your back. There's just lots of little things that I never knew before signing up for a functional gym myself ("breaking the bar" during deadlifts, properly bracing my core during squats). These little mistakes caused me serious back issues down the line, which I'm only just rectifying now.

I know you're in the LA area -- there are tons of great trainers out there. You may just want to give a shot. Realistically it will run you around $400-500 per month if you go once or twice weekly. Honestly a good trainer is a great investment -- I plan on using trainers/attending functional gyms for the next several years. Being able to powerlift with a healthy back is a blessing that should not be underestimated and these gyms will help you get there.

Just reaching out cause I've been there in terms of back injuries -- I got to a respectable strength level myself then fucked myself up doing deadlifts. It took me three years to get my fitness back on track and even now I'm still not close to where I used to be strength wise. Lifting injuries are no joke and will debilitate you if you don't develop perfect form/strengthen vulnerable areas like the glutes and core.

The biggest issue is the wasted time -- I could tolerate the pain up to a degree but seeing my muscle and strength wither away was incredibly frustrating.

 

[kaotic]

While agree it's an investment, there's no way I'm paying $400-500 a month for that, just to go 2-3 times a week, I'm also not near LA.

Like I said, I haven't squatted or dead lifted in over 4 months, with no plans to, until I strengthen my core and do more back strengthening exercises.

Squats and deads are on the back burner, they can wait.

I'm also not trying to be a powerlifter and hit PR's, my goals are functional and being mobile with my ROM for legs.


I know my back is getting better, which is why I'm sticking to machines when it comes to legs.

Now if it's a weekend clinic for lifting then awesome, I'm down for it.

My local guy could probably help me on for on the cheap, I'll probably hit him up and see what he offers.


My back isn't THAT serious of an issue where it's debilitating my daily life, the PT stretches help for the day to day stuff, obviously I need more PT/guides to help rehab my back.

 

[Veul]

@kaotic, don't know the extent of your back problems but what helped me out on the last months was actually starting Deadlift and squats.

For years my back routine would be only seated row and lateral pull down, even those would leave me barely walking. For legs I would do only extensions and some high resistance elliptical. I have double scoliosis, hip malformation , worn out knees etc. After some reading I decided to lower the weight on seated row keep the core tight and stop the reps like 3 less than failure. I incorporated dead lifts and squats starting from really low weights. Same principle whenever I felt my back was starting to arch or that the rep was getting too hard I would stop immediately . Been progressing the weights on the last 4 months and only time I got an issue was when I did one more rep than I should in Deadlift. Also do once per week some exercises for hips on swiss ball and some hyper extensions. Every case is different but the concept that back exercises are bad if you have a condition is not totally accurate, I remember.one year ago and several times in the past dreading the seated row cause knew for two days I wouldn't walk. Never did squats cause was afraid to get liquid in my knees or damages in my hip like it happened in the past. What actually was damaging my knees was high impact exercise like running.