Workout with sons.

[Allanon]

I went with my 19 and 15 year old sons today to workout. Today was upper body. The 19 year old just finished his freshman year of college. He is planning to be a college football coach and has had classes on exercise and putting together health plans and workouts. He is incorporating that stuff along with workouts he did when playing high school football and basketball. He lost weight when he first went to college but he has put on 10 to 15 pounds since he started working out. He is planning to help his little brother a lot over the Summer. I'm going with them.

I'm not sure I will be able to move my arms in the morning.

[holloffamer]

Nothing like a good work out with the family. :yes:

[Allanon]

You are absolutely right. We can each inspire and push the others. I am not as sore as I thought I would be but my arms are still very tired.

[oI2ange]

It's cool you work out with your sons. I'm glad that you're imparting that mentality onto them- a healthy lifestyle is a way of life, not just a phase that comes in every time you need to lose 10 pounds for the summer beach trip.

[Allanon]

We did legs Monday night. Now I am sore top to bottom.

[Zendra]

That's sweet. Do your kids enjoy the gym experience?

[Allanon]

It's interesting to see maturity take hold in different ways and various forms as the kids get older. The oldest did his workouts in high school well but he did not really want to do extra work in the weightroom. Now that he is finished playing he has himself on a workout regimen. He sees the benefit of doing the extra work and he wants his brother to benefit from what he has learned. Kind of sounds a lot like a parent doesn't it? Part of his growth in that area is the things he has studied in college this year. Another part of it has been working as a student assistant or manager with a D1 basketball team and now he has started doing that with a D1 football team also. He was already working out prior to starting the football job but I think he has seen first hand what those guys do and how it benefits them.

So he has arranged a workout program for himself and now that he is home for the Summer he has put his little brother on it too. I am going to benefit from it too but I also think it helps the younger one if all of us are working out together. We were talking during our first workout the other day about the younger one's max out weight amounts His brother told him if he will do this workout all Summer in addition to what he is doing with the football team he thinks he might be able to add as much as 40 pounds to his bench max. When they get certain max amounts they get their name on the board. He is currently 25 pounds away on his bench and he wants his name on that board. His problem is that he is a skinny wide receiver so he does not have the body weight that all the other guys on the board have but he is determined to get his name up there. We'll see how it goes.

[G8rChuck85]

Sounds like you have a great relationship with your sons Allanon. When I was that age, I didn't want to do anything with my dad!

[Allanon]

Sounds like you have a great relationship with your sons Allanon. When I was that age, I didn't want to do anything with my dad!

My wife and I have, I think, great relationships with all our kids. They have always been the kind that would rather have their friends at our house. They have always loved being at home. The older brother just loves to pick on his little brother. I guess that is normal. But he is also really trying to help him. We worked out again last night. It was upper body again but we did not do it as intense as the other day because he had some ab work he put him through while catching tennis balls. He put him through the ringer last night and not a word of complaint from his little brother.

Our coach happened to still be there and he walked in while he was doing the ab work and jokingly told us that was child abuse.

[Zendra]

Who could ever forget their first workout, right? But we should not over do it. They say that we should give our muscles the time it needs to recover from a workout. It is good to spend some time with our boys working out. You must remember though to set some limit for yourself. A warm shower and a good massage might just help with your arms in the morning.

[Allanon]

I have not had as much muscle soreness in a long time.

Our workout Monday night included one exercise that consists of a barbell curl going halfway up for 7 reps followed by 7 reps of a curl going halfway down followed by 7 reps of a full curl. That is 1 set.

I have named it the Bicep Killer.

[Emmitto]

:zombie:I have not had as much muscle soreness in a long time.

Our workout Monday night included one exercise that consists of a barbell curl going halfway up for 7 reps followed by 7 reps of a curl going halfway down followed by 7 reps of a full curl. That is 1 set.

I have named it the Bicep Killer.

We used to call those 21's. But Bicep Killer is probably better. Good for you and your sons, keep it up!

[Allanon]

I will have to say that something about our workouts must be working because my youngest weighed 144 pounds when he was weighed at our Fieldhouse somewhere in the first half of April. They weigh them on occasion but since we started working out 12 days ago he is up to 149. One more pound and he will have put on 20 pounds since about June 1 of last year.

It is working in reverse too because I have lost 6 pounds since we started working out. Maybe I gave them to my son.

[Dreamliner]

Enjoy it while you can. I started working out with my son two years ago. I was running rings around him at the time. He couldn't even deadlift 135 pounds with proper form.

Well, he rocketed past me and within months was deadlifting 405, and doing feet-elevated pushups with two 45's on his back.

[StrangeGator]

My wife and I joined a gym together back in March. We added our daughter to the membership and she's worked out with me a number of times. She's been away from volleyball for a year and a half, but she's still pretty strong.

My son lifted 150 pounds today when he got off the couch.

[Allanon]

I must say I've had to start being a little careful with our workouts because my shoulders have started bothering me a little bit. I first noticed it when we were doing flies while laying on the bench. I do something different when they are doing flies now.

[Dreamliner]

I must say I've had to start being a little careful with our workouts because my shoulders have started bothering me a little bit. I first noticed it when we were doing flies while laying on the bench. I do something different when they are doing flies now.

Good thinking. I can't imagine flies being good for the shoulders.

[Allanon]

Some of you guys may be able to help me here. The older son and I don't worry about what our max outs are but the younger one will max out on occasion with the football team and he wants to get them up so he can get his name on the board.

Since he is doing more heavy weights in his football workouts we have been doing more work with lighter weight and more reps.

An example of his upper body workout goes like this. We will start out warming up on bench press with what turns out to be 42% of his max bench. We do 4 sets of 18, 16, 15 and then 14 reps. He will alternate his other exercises. They might be flies, chainsaws, curls, triceps, nosebreakers, pushups, pull ups, chin ups, etc. Then we finish with another round on bench with 25 reps at 42% of his max, 19 at 45%, 14 at 48%, 9 at 55% and 4 at 68%. The last upper body workout he did 15 reps at 50%, 10 at 68%, 5 at 77% and 2 at 87%.

He just maxed and he did not improve any. His weakness seems to be getting off his chest. We can tell he is stronger because his weights and reps with us have gone up some but it has not translated to improving his max.

As for his squats. He warms up at 50%. His last set he did 3 sets of 8 reps at 74%. Again, he will alternate his other exercises with calf raises, split squats, etc.

They do a 3 rep max for the squat. We did it yesterday and he went up 5 pounds. I think he could have done more but we let it go at that point.

I read the other post about Smolov, Jr. I did it the other day on the bench press using the younger one's amounts to see what the weight felt like. We are going on vacation next week and I am thinking of trying this when we get back for our bench and squat routines.

Any info, pointers or any other kind of help to help us to help him will be greatly appreciated.

[Dreamliner]

That seems like an AWFUL lot of volume to me. That could be part of the problem.

But there are at least two ways I know of to enhance starting power on bench press: (1) paused presses and (2) speed presses.

One way to accomplish (2) is simply to preform your warmup reps crisply and quickly.

[LeafUF]

Here is the final post in a short series about benching from Chaos and Pain.

http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2012/06/stop-bitching-and-start-benching-4-my.html

Warning his posts are NSFW and he often posts pics that you probably dont want to share with the kids. However, the info is really good on powerlifting and other topics.

Probably no need to read the rest of the series as this wraps up his thoughts.

[Allanon]

That seems like an AWFUL lot of volume to me. That could be part of the problem.

But there are at least two ways I know of to enhance starting power on bench press: (1) paused presses and (2) speed presses.

One way to accomplish (2) is simply to preform your warmup reps crisply and quickly.

Just to make sure I was clear. We don't do all of that in the same workout. Bench and squat are different days and we don't do all of the other exercises all on the same day.

[Dreamliner]

Just to make sure I was clear. We don't do all of that in the same workout. Bench and squat are different days and we don't do all of the other exercises all on the same day.

Gotcha. I just saw a bunch of sets and reps and it made my left eyelid spasm. :wink:

[Allanon]

Gotcha. I just saw a bunch of sets and reps and it made my left eyelid spasm. :wink:

When I read your response that was the first thing I thought of. I really thought he would have improved his maxes but like I said I can tell he is stronger from working out with him even if it has not translated to max amounts.

[Dreamliner]

When I read your response that was the first thing I thought of. I really thought he would have improved his maxes but like I said I can tell he is stronger from working out with him even if it has not translated to max amounts.

If he's looking to improve maximal strength then the generally recommended range is 1-5. But I would imagine that all those reps have him looking pretty jacked.

[Allanon]

He is like his brother was at this age. He is wiry but he has functional strength. It just doesn't translate to the weight room necessarily. He has really shot up the last year and a half and added 18, 19 pounds since this time last year. He just doesn't look like he has gained weight because he has gotten so much taller.

[Dreamliner]

He is like his brother was at this age. He is wiry but he has functional strength. It just doesn't translate to the weight room necessarily. He has really shot up the last year and a half and added 18, 19 pounds since this time last year. He just doesn't look like he has gained weight because he has gotten so much taller.

I can tell you that my son experienced a near miraculous transformation from the time we began training together, when he was 16, over about a year's time. He employed a basic upper-lower split and stuck primarily to a 6-8 rep range.

He was what I'd call 'skinny-fat' to begin with and probably lost twenty pounds of fat while gaining around twenty pounds of muscle. I surmise that this was the case because his weight remained stable but he took several inches off his waist while adding several inches to chest/arms/thighs.

And as an example of how his strength increased his deadlift went from 135 to 405 in the course of the year.

Funny thing is that his mom is as skinny as I am. I chalk up his gains to consistency, compound movements and sticking to a heavy-ish rep range.

The one thing he went wild on was pushups. He did them all the time and I really do suspect that that was the best thing for his pec development, probably his best bodypart.

[Dreamliner]

Oh, and this was key, I suspect: he kept the reps low to medium and added weight to the bar week after week. He was a pretty tough bird about it.

[Allanon]

His brother and I have talked about his workouts and he just says he is doing heavy stuff in his football workouts so he thought it would be better to have him do the lighter weight with more reps routine in ours. One problem is in football they lift, run, do ladders, jump, etc. They are on a timetable so some days they may not get completely finished with lifting if someone is slow that day.

I read the Smolov, Jr. thread and we may give it a go when we get back from vacation.

[LeafUF]

I read the Smolov, Jr. thread and we may give it a go when we get back from vacation.

Awesome. Let us know how it goes.

Looking back to the program we were put on for freshman football I would never do it again. Still I made amazing gains back then just because I was such a novice. Have you looked at any other lifting programs or books like starting strength? There are a lot of good resources out there.

[Allanon]

I've looked all over the place for information. I've read stuff from Contreras, Nilsson, Bolton, Del Monte...

And, of course, right here on GatorCountry.

I am open to any and all info to help us in our quest.

[Dreamliner]

Don't worry. Young people grow and become stronger almost by dint of getting older. Add in a little progressive resistance exercise and they WILL gain muscle and strength. It just comes a little easier to some kids than to others.

That said, I am NOT a big proponent of crazy volume or high-frequency training like some of the trainers you referenced are. IMO, one of the best things you can do for your kids is NOT to develop training angst.

[LeafUF]

If I were a beginner or novice today I think I would start with something like the starting strength routine or the fairly similar stronglifts 5x5.

Give those a Google.

[Dreamliner]

FWIW, I'd recommend Stronglifts before SS for two reasons: (1) Stronglifts starts with just the bar and builds gradually and (2) I wouldn't want my kid getting fat drinking a gallon of milk a day.

[Allanon]

Here are some rough calculations comparing where the 15 YO would start when we get back from vacation and where he would be by the end of July if these programs work like they say they will.

Right now he weighs 148, his 1 rep bench max is 155 and his 3 rep squat max is 190.
He has been lifting with the football team the entire school year along with the extra work he puts in with me and his brother.

So with Smolov, Jr., he would start his bench at 110 and, conservatively, be working out with 130 by the end of July. Possibly more.

His squat would start at 135 and be up to 155 or more.

With Stronglifts he would start his bench, according to their chart, at 70 and finish at 90. That is not realistic so if we start at the same place as Smolov, 110, he would finish at 130.

His squat would start at 90 and end at 145. Or if we started as with Smolov he would start at 135 and finish at 160.

Starting Strength, let's say he starts at 110 he would finish at 160 on his bench. His squat would start at 135 and end at 190.

Now, obviously, the number of sets and the reps are different for each program. But which program will really get him to those numbers. If Starting Strength works like those numbers say then his workout weight in a month on his bench would be more than his current max and his workout weight on his squat would be the same as his current 3 rep max.

What do you think?

[LeafUF]

All of them would mean significant improvements in max strength. If he ends the month with working sets of 5 for any those weights it would be excellent. As you can see from my smolov thread I am liking it however I am only focused on the one lift and just hoping to maintain my others. So it may not be right for your sons goals currently.

With starting strength you can focus on both the squat and bench and make progress in both. Plus with so much focus on squatting he will build a great base and probably gain some weight. People forget that bench is really a full body exercise.

With respect to dreams preference for sl 5x5 he makes good points and it does produce very consistent gains with more volume than ss. Of course you can just do ss and not gomad but still eat a ton. Rippetoe thinks you should pack on as much muscle and weight as possible and then get rid of any fat gained later.

I imagine the month of July is critical because 2 a days start in early August?

[Allanon]

Off topic for a moment. Please forgive me for not abbreviating Starting Strength. I have always had a major interest in history and most especially the WW2 era and I just cannot use those letters for anything else.

[LeafUF]

I didn't even think of that, I was just on my tablet and typing was a pain in the butt for a minute.

[Allanon]

I didn't even think of that, I was just on my tablet and typing was a pain in the butt for a minute.

It is just one of my things I guess.

[Allanon]

All of them would mean significant improvements in max strength. If he ends the month with working sets of 5 for any those weights it would be excellent. As you can see from my smolov thread I am liking it however I am only focused on the one lift and just hoping to maintain my others. So it may not be right for your sons goals currently.

With starting strength you can focus on both the squat and bench and make progress in both. Plus with so much focus on squatting he will build a great base and probably gain some weight. People forget that bench is really a full body exercise.

With respect to dreams preference for sl 5x5 he makes good points and it does produce very consistent gains with more volume than ss. Of course you can just do ss and not gomad but still eat a ton. Rippetoe thinks you should pack on as much muscle and weight as possible and then get rid of any fat gained later.

I imagine the month of July is critical because 2 a days start in early August?

August 6.

[Dreamliner]

Of course 5 X 5 advocates GOMAD too. I think it's patently absurd to imagine that anyone, even kids have to gorge on calories to gain appreciable muscle. My son sure didn't. Rippetoe is a goofball on this particular count and there are respected trainers who are not afraid to blaspheme him on this (and probably some who are afraid to).

Moreover, my son never, ever squatted ... and his quads blew up. He deadlifted, on average, once a week and probably did leg press even less frequently than that. Any BTW, guess who does leg presses ? That's right, the world's top bodybuilders.

So, FWIW, I'm calling BS on 'have to squat' and 'have to stuff your face' to get jacked and strong.

[LeafUF]

I do leg presses too. I know a lot of people lately are all down on them but it just depends on your goals. Hypertrophy or strength. Sometimes they go hand in hand and other times they dont.

I also dont think you have to squat or stuff your face but I do think it make things move along faster. Who knows what kind of results your son would have had if he were also squatting?

[Dreamliner]

I can't rule out the possibility of even better results with the squatting ... but I rather doubt it. He used a rather unorthodox deadlifting style which was more akin to a hybrid squat-deadlift. I don't think most trainees realize how much quad stimulation the deadlift affords. And my son's style was even more quad-dominant.

I never sought to correct him because he doubled his starting weight before I even saw how he was doing it and also because it was evident that he was protecting his lower back. So, who was I to mess with providence when my little boy was deadlifting 2.5 X bodyweight via a slightly unorthodox style ? It wasn't like he aspired to be a powerlifter anyway.

Nowadays he doesn't even deadlift. Rather, he maintains his physique by cruising, doing pretty much what he wants, when he wants to do it. And the only legwork he usually does are lunges, step-ups and the like.

[Dreamliner]

Just got off the phone with my son and he's excited about a routine he's started. It's very simple: he'll do a set of pullups. Then he'll do twice as many pushups as pullups. Then he'll do three times as many bodyweight squats as pushups.

Today his workout looked like: 9-18-36 ... 8-16-32 ... 7-14-28 ... and on down to 1-2-3. 55 total pullups, 90 total pushups and (too lazily to calculate) probably close to 200 squats.

[Allanon]

Ok. We are starting tomorrow but I have not fully made up my mind which program to use. I keep going back and forth on it. Any last hour thoughts from anyone?

[LeafUF]

Ok. We are starting tomorrow but I have not fully made up my mind which program to use. I keep going back and forth on it. Any last hour thoughts from anyone?

Whichever you choose just stick with it and be consistent. Good luck.

[Dreamliner]

Agree with Leaf, just about anything in a reasonable rep range and compound movements will yield muscle mass in growing teens. There is no trick. Mechanical stress + consistency = jacked youths.

[Allanon]

I'm thinking we will go with Strong Lifts. But their charts have him, based on his weight and max amounts, starting his bench at 70 pounds. Our last bench workout was 15 x 75, 10 x 105, 5 x 120, 2 x 135. So we will start heavier than the chart.

[LeafUF]

Normally I would say just go by the chart because the weight goes up rather quickly, however since you have a short time to make progress just go with what feels right.

Also, gonna post a series on bench form that may be helpful, not a different routine just some coaching pointers that may help you and your sons increase their bench. Some people say the change in form alone leads to strength gains.

http://train.elitefts.com/instructional/so-you-think-you-can-bench-parts1-7/

[Allanon]

Well, he and I talked about it and ended up going with Smolov, Jr. We just got back from starting it with bench.

[LeafUF]

How did day one go? How are you planning to incorporate other lifts?

Just a couple of thoughts from my experiment on squats. The first week was great even the back to back squat days. However, I think the way I scheduled my workouts wore me out even more. I was in the gym 6 days a week, 3 days just squatting, 1 day I did squat and bench and then I did shoulder press and deadlift on their own days. I ate a lot, stretched and foam rolled but nothing was going to stop the soreness. I haven't done any leg work since Thursday and I am still sore.

So my advice for what its worth: eat big, drink lots of water, stretch more than you ever have before and do any other lifting on the same days you are in the gym to bench.

[Allanon]

We made one adjustment. We started at 65% of his max instead of 70%. We started with Bench yesterday so that is 100 instead of 110. It went well. Just planning to see how the lifts go and we will adjust as necessary. He also did some ab work with his brother. We finished with barbell rows.

We will be headed to today's session in a few minutes. That will be squats. Probably will also do military press and nose breakers too.

[Allanon]

My legs are still sore from the squats on Sunday. Not bad sore but just enough to let me know about it. We did the squat routine at 65% instead of 70% just like we did the bench routine. It went well. We did some military presses and some split squats too.

I think he was very glad that we had done that work over the weekend after having the week off when they started back on the workouts.

I met him and my wife for lunch today and he had on a sleeveless shirt. He is not big by any means but I could definitely tell a difference in his arms. I know he has gotten stronger but his max lifts have not shown it yet with the exception of increasing his squat by 5 pounds. But he is really showing some muscle on his skinny little arms.

Tonight we are supposed to do day 2 of the bench program.

[LeafUF]

Hey Allanon, how are the workouts going? I am sure they are getting really tough about now. Hope your son is seeing some nice improvements.

[Allanon]

Typing this on my phone. They had a really tough week at football this past week so all we did was assistance lifts. They hit bench hard and heavy this week so we just did his bench routine with more reps of a little less weight. We got the first lift in on squats but that was as far as we got with Smolov last week. His brother has them doing the AB workout that Bradley Cooper did to prepare for the A Team. It is brutal. He was very glad that we hit the weights last Saturday and Sunday. He has golf tryouts coming up so we are on the course today.

[Allanon]

We did the bench workout yesterday with 4 sets of 18 reps then 16, 15 and 14. I upped his weight by 5 pounds and he handled it fine. We have started including him doing up downs and catching tennis balls when he comes up followed by situps and catch the tennis balls. Then he runs across the room and catches them. Yesterday we did it with a football. Then I had his brother show him some stuff to do when blocking and when going out for a pass. He had some really interesting things to teach him. It's no wonder nobody liked to see him splitting out to their side of the field.

[Allanon]

I wanted to mention the bench workout they have been doing in their workouts because I think it shows how he is getting stronger.

They have been doing 5 sets of 3 reps each. The weight goes up each set. For him his first set is 71% of his bench max, followed by a set at 80%, then 87%, then 90% and then the last set at 97%. That last set is within 5 pounds of his max and he gets the first 2 reps in with no help but the last one he said he had to have some help. I told him it seemed to me that if he could do that workout and then 2 reps just 5 pounds less than his max that his max must be higher now. He agrees but they have not done any max work lately.

[LeafUF]

Good stuff, I am a fan of lower reps with higher weight to improve strength.

And while doing a true max out is cool from an ego perspective its not really necessary to prove strength gain. If your son can hit that 97% again next week and get all 3 reps he obviously got stronger. No need to max out to prove it.

[Allanon]

Well, we will lose our "personal trainer", big brother, next week. It's not quite time for him to go back for his sophomore year of college but he has to be back to help get things set up for football practice where he is an assistant/manager.

It seems like we just started working out together around the first of May and now he will be leaving us and younger brother starts football practice 2 weeks from Monday.

I can tell a difference in the younger's body since we started in May along with his Summer football workouts. We will keep at it.

[Allanon]

Well, I'm down for a little while. I've got 2 vertabrae out in my lower back. If you've never had that happen to you, you are blessed. With all the weight work I've had no problem. However, yesterday morning I half bent over to look at some papers and WHAM! I will still go with the boys, one more time anyway since older one is leaving Sunday, but I don't think I will be doing anything for a little while. I'll just have to take the younger one and put him through his workouts. I'll just be moving kind of slow.

[Allanon]

Well, we've had a big wrench thrown into our workouts. We had been working out in our high school's weight room but that is at an end now. There had been some using our baseball field and gym and that was ended for liability reasons. We were the next step.

For the time being we are going to do our workouts at home. We don't have much in the way of equipment but we do have some dumbbells. We will be doing a wide variety of workouts with them along with doing stadium steps and chin ups and dips up at our stadium. And, of course, we will be making extensive use of pushups.

In the meantime I'm going to be looking into the cost of our local fitness center as well as what it would cost to purchase what we need to outfit our own home gym. Only problem there is that we have one in college and one turning 16 in a few months so the budget is a little tight.

[Zmit]

how many hours do you usually do per day?

[LeafUF]

Not sure how it is in your area but i have found gyms as low as 10 a month. Buying your own can get expensive but you can just get what you need and add on as you go.

[Dreamliner]

I acquired a barbell, pair of adjustable dumbbells, roughly 400 pounds of weight and a pullup apparatus for about $100.

Just sayin ...

[Allanon]

I've held off buying any equipment for the time being. By the time they work out in PE and then go through football practice he is worn out when he gets home so I have just been doing various things with the dumbbells we have at home. We will add that stuff later.

I do have a question for you guys. I have been dealing with tendonitis in my shoulder for awhile now. I took some time off and it did not help a lot. What, in your opinion, is the best way to combat this problem? Thanks.

[Dreamliner]

I've held off buying any equipment for the time being. By the time they work out in PE and then go through football practice he is worn out when he gets home so I have just been doing various things with the dumbbells we have at home. We will add that stuff later.

I do have a question for you guys. I have been dealing with tendonitis in my shoulder for awhile now. I took some time off and it did not help a lot. What, in your opinion, is the best way to combat this problem? Thanks.

Tendonitis is a way of life for me. It never really goes away and my reference point is whether or not the pain is 'baseline' or higher. If baseline, full speed ahead. If higher, take some time off or just do really light stuff.

It may signal overuse or repetitive stress. And apart from the usual recommendations, we are typically urged to refrain from movements which exacerbate it for as long as necessary. This may take weeks, months or even longer. This does not set well with competitive types like myself.

Now, I will say that my warmup is more arduous than it used to be. Ex: I may take fully five minutes just to warm up my wrists. And I may repeat said exercises between sets of pressing exercises.

Oh, and tendonitis appears to be a catch-all term. More and more we're hearing tendinosis or tendinopothy used to describe longer-term conditions which may not have to do with inflammation.

[LeafUF]

Shoulder tendonitis is not a real common complaint as far as I know. It might be biceps tendonitis actually if its in the front of the shoulder where the biceps meets the front deltoid.

Anyway, that isnt important really. I have been dealing with triceps tendonitis in my left arm on and off for at least 10 years. When it first flared up I saw and ortho and he told me to rest for 8 weeks. So I did, and then went back to working out slowly. That definitely worked for me but there is no way I would take 2 months off again.

When I started lifting seriously again after shoulder surgery my triceps tendonitis returned and having already taken off more than enough time in recovery I decided to manage it. I got a neoprene sleeve, began an ice regiment everyday and did a more thorough warm up before I worked out. I also removed any tricep specific movements. Not sure that last part will be possible for you if it is actually your shoulder because you will feel it on all pressing movements.

Oh and just to cover all bases you might want to see a doc if its really bothering you.

[Allanon]

I normally go to a chiropractor if I have someting like this. He had my back fixed up recently in no time. However, the guy I go to has had some serious health issues lately so I went to another guy I know. He called it shoulder tendonitis. The other guy was able to come back to work so I went to him and he said bicep tendonitis. I went to him for a couple of weeks until his health issues came up again so now I will have to see the other guy for awhile. I've had ultrasound treatments on it.

I will have to add that if I move a certain way I can feel a small pop. It does not really hurt but it has started hurting some when I do stretches for my shoulder. And if I wake up and am asleep on it I just have to brace myself to move because I know it is going to hurt.

It pisses me off because I want to be working out and I am very competitive and I don't like missing my workouts.

[Allanon]

Well, the youngest had some good news when I picked him up after practice today. His max bench was 155. He said today he got 165. And said it was kinda easy. He tried 170 but could not quite get it.

[Allanon]

Guys, I wanted to pass this on since y'all had some good advice this Summer. I picked the youngest up after practice today and he told me that he got 170 on his bench press today. Got 175 about halfway up. So he's gone up 15 pounds in the last month and a half, 10 pounds in the last week.

[LeafUF]

Nice progress.

[Allanon]

Just wanted to pass on another increase in his bench press. He got 175 last week and got real close to 180 this week. So he has now improved by 20 pounds since about the first of August. He is really excited about it.

[LeafUF]

Great progress.

[Dreamliner]

Oh, to be a teenager again.

[Allanon]

Guys, got another one to pass along tonight. He got 180 this afternoon. So he has improved by 25 pounds since August 2.

[LeafUF]

Baller. Hows your shoulder/bicep doing?

[Allanon]

Baller. Hows your shoulder/bicep doing?

It's a little better after taking October off but it still bothers me.

We went to workout the other day and did the workout that my oldest son had us doing with lower weight but more reps. This Summer I was doing the same weight and reps as the younger one. But, now, after taking October off and only doing light weights for a month or so before that, I could not do it all. I had him help me so I would get all the reps in but by the end my arms were just along for the ride.

I did find a way to do squats without hurting my shoulder. I do them on the Smith Machine and just leave my one arm hanging down.

[gandergator]

My idea of a good workout is to sit on the porch with a frosty rootbeer and watch my HS junior grandson burn his dad's hands up with smoking hot passes. Unfortunately, I don't get to watch much. They are in KY and I am in FL. They must be effective. He has QB'ed his team to a district undefeated championship.

[Allanon]

And he has put on 5 pounds during his football season. The coaches told me they were hoping he could put on about 20 pounds by next year so he has a pretty good start to it.

[LeafUF]

Its great to be a newb sometimes. In your first year of proper training its definitely possible to put on 15-20 pounds of muscle.

[Dreamliner]

Allanon, your inbox is full. Let me know when you've cleared it.

[Allanon]

Guys, he must be doing something right. Coach has given them all goals he wants them to try to meet. He gave them to them about 2 weeks ago and they are looking at the 1st of April to try to meet them. His goal for the bench press is an increase of 15 pounds. He has not had a chance to give it a go yet. His goal on the power clean is an increase of 25 pounds. He gave it a go today and went up 5 then tried it again and went up another 5 for a total of 10 today. That was the first thing he told me when he got in the car.

[LeafUF]

Feels good, I know whenever my PRs go up its the first thing I want to talk about and I have been lifting for 17 years. They dont come that often anymore though.

[Allanon]

Well, it's happened. Our youngest has turned 16. We just got home with his car.

[UFNut]

Well, it's happened. Our youngest has turned 16. We just got home with his car.

did you go with matchbox or hot wheels?

[Allanon]

did you go with matchbox or hot wheels?

I'm a Hot Wheels guy.

[Gatorrick22]

I went with my 19 and 15 year old sons today to workout. Today was upper body. The 19 year old just finished his freshman year of college. He is planning to be a college football coach and has had classes on exercise and putting together health plans and workouts. He is incorporating that stuff along with workouts he did when playing high school football and basketball. He lost weight when he first went to college but he has put on 10 to 15 pounds since he started working out. He is planning to help his little brother a lot over the Summer. I'm going with them.

I'm not sure I will be able to move my arms in the morning.

Take longggggggggggggggg hottttttttttttt showers after those workouts. It helps release the lactic acid buildup in your muscles. This keeps the soreness down to a minimum.

[Allanon]

Leaf, its kind of funny that I saw your Facebook post this morning saying to go out and post some PRs this week. My son texted me after school and he set one on his Bench Press today at 185. We have been doing a kind of modified Smolov, Jr., just going 2 days a week since he is working out at school too. We have 2 more workouts left to complete it. I knew he was stronger now than we started it. To start at 70% of his max we started at 125. He did it but didn't think he could do 6 sets so we dropped to 65%, rounded off to 115. He did it but it was hard. He did 7 sets of 5 yesterday at 140 pounds. And only his last rep on the last 2 sets looked to be anywhere near hard. I had not heard of Smolov, Jr. until it was mentioned on here last year but it seems to be working for him.

[LeafUF]

Thats awesome. I bet he felt great hitting that 185 mark.

[Allanon]

He was doubly proud yesterday. First, for getting the 185. Second, because one of his best friends has always been 5-10 pounds ahead of him on bench. Yesterday my son got 185 and his friend got 165. He was excited to be ahead of his friend. But, as he said, his friend's bench had gone down because he was playing varsity basketball and they don't go to workout during the last period of school as they go ahead and start basketball practice. My son played junior varsity this past season so some days he was in the gym for the last period and some at the Fieldhouse working out. Plus we did workout on our own also. He was kind of amazed that his buddy dropped that much over the course of basketball season. But it also helped him realize even more the benefit of continuing to workout.

I told his brother about him going up on his bench. He said that's good. Then he added that we need to get his squat up. He wants us to get his squat up by 40 pounds before this year is over. I think we will start Smolov, Jr. for his squats too.

[LeafUF]

Squat should go up fast if his form is good and he hits it often. Bench is nice but real strength starts from the ground up. And it will help him tremendously in football.

[Allanon]

Squat should go up fast if his form is good and he hits it often. Bench is nice but real strength starts from the ground up. And it will help him tremendously in football.

You sound like his brother. Almost exactly what he has told him.

[LeafUF]

You sound like his brother. Almost exactly what he has told him.

Ha, big bro sounds like a smart guy.

[Dreamliner]

My two cents on squatting: make sure he doesn't add weight so fast that he subtly reduces depth over time. Establish depth and then very gradually add weight.

[gator1986]

Squat should go up fast if his form is good and he hits it often. Bench is nice but real strength starts from the ground up. And it will help him tremendously in football.

This.... It's all about lower body strength

[Allanon]

This.... It's all about lower body strength

We haven't been doing squats. He does them at school. We've been doing deadlifts in our training.

[Allanon]

We finished the Smolov, Jr for his Bench Press probably around the first of April. Last week he told me that he went up another 5 pounds on his bench to 190. Saturday we did his bench using drop sets. Then on Monday he went up another 5 pounds on his bench to 195. That was the goal his coach had set for him. He is really seeing and understanding how he is benefitting from the extra work we are doing.

I looked back to last year and on April 1, 2012, his bench max was 150. So he has gone up 45 pounds in the last 13 months. He has also gained 15 pounds. Reading this forum has really helped me to help him.

[Allanon]

Some of you know this but our older son got home from college around the first of May and had us start on a program that he had found. It is supposedly, at least similar to, the one that Chris Hemsworth did to prepare for his role as Thor. When we did the bench routine to start he said it was the hardest bench workout he had ever done.

We just finished the 4 week program and have had mixed success with it. I say mixed because it has helped them both in terms of their strength, and I have lost 7 pounds doing this and walking with my daughter. But, the older son has gained 7 or 8 pounds which he is very happy about. He drove last weekend to where he goes to college to see some friends and they could tell he has been working out. The younger son has lost about 5 pounds. Granted, he has also been practicing basketball for the past 2 weeks. On the other hand, he walked through the den last night looking for a shirt and our daughter made a comment about him getting cut. In his case, it is truly can't gain for losing.