How heavy is heavy?

L

leegee38

Member
As I work up closer to my 5 rep max I start to feel the workouts differently, and I'm not sure it is a good thing. I tend to start feeling things more in my joints and connective tissues and feel less stress and strain in the muscle. I'm not having trouble doing the reps in good form, I just feel soreness and tenderness in areas that I'm not trying to grow. Is there possibly a limit to just how heavy some should train? Is it possible that some of us should work up to a weight that is lighter than the 5 rep max, like maybe a 7 or 8 rep max, without retarding progress? I'm not afraid of going heavy, but I don't like feeling pain my shoulders and elbows rather than in the muscles. I feel overtrained, and this has happened each time I got to the 5s in the last two cycles. Maybe being 47 and having trained for 34 years is starting to catch up with me. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
You could try a 7 or 8rm, but I would imagine growth would suffer. Perhaps using more isolation movements over compounds would help, the lower weight might help ?
 
How high is your fish oil intake? Sounds like you have major inflammation, which obviously comes with age and such. You may want to increase your fish oil intake further in order to alleviate this. And you may want to substantially increase your flax oil with some evening primrose in the mix.

Yeah, you may want to back off from the heavy weights.

cheers,
Jules
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (dkm1987 @ May 13 2005,6:57)]You could try a 7 or 8rm, but I would imagine growth would suffer. Perhaps using more isolation movements over compounds would help, the lower weight might help ?
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"You could try a 7 or 8rm, but I would imagine growth would suffer."

That's what I'm afraid of. I'd rather deal with some joint discomfort than give up muscle tissue. I'm not really talking about any debilitating injuries ... I just sort of ache and feel a general lethargy like I used to feel when getting overtrained with HIT.
The strange thing is that I feel like I'm working harder and look better during the 10s than I do during the 5s. I actually feel like the 15s are the hardest.
Interesting thought on the compounds vs. isolation exercises, Dan. Things like incline db curls seem to be bothering my elbows and wrist when I get up to 60 lbs. I had the opposite thought, like maybe I should focus on heavy pulldowns and chins instead of isolation work. I may have it backwards, though ... you may be right. Thanks!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (leegee38 @ May 13 2005,10:27)]I actually feel like the 15s are the hardest.
     
Interesting thought on the compounds vs. isolation exercises, Dan.  Things like incline db curls seem to be bothering my elbows and wrist when I get up to 60 lbs.  I had the opposite thought, like maybe I should focus on heavy pulldowns and chins instead of isolation work.  I may have it backwards, though ... you may be right.  Thanks!
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And you are probably correct. Failure is a many faceted creature. It's not just the CNS or Muscle tissue, there are other aspects. Ron Sowers (we know him as NWlifter here) wrote an article, which really brought this to light with me, over at Naturalstrength.com. One of my weakest strength endurance exercises was the squats simply because of cardiovascular fitness, not because the weight was causing the failure but I just wasn't fit enough to handle it. So after reading his article over there I concentrated on improving cardiovascular fitness through long duration cardio. Helped tremendously BTW. SO 15's could very well be the HARDEST but it's doubtful there are the most advantageous for the tissue growth response, just too dang light.

Well that answers your own question, if the isolation causes more pain, dump them and go with the compound. I was just throwing some stuff out there without any idea of your situation, so I was wrong try going all compound for a WO or two and see how it goes.
 
regarding what dkm1987 said -- I used to wrestle in school. And wrestlers use this to their advantage. A really muscular strong guy becomes a wet noodle when he "is gassed out" --- When he hits his cardio limit. So you can try to tire out a muscular guy and then pin him. Problem is he might rip you apart before he gets tired. I guess that is what makes it interesting.

Bob
 
Are you doing any high rep burn sets during your 5's, or have you thought about doing a 15's workout once in a while to help with the joint issue? Or maybe just skip a workout to get some added recovery, I've certainly done that during the 5's.
 
I had joint issues in the first year of HST -- in my mid 40ies-- I went to a sports Doc and she realined some bones -- they were a little out of alinement. Any way that and some ice-ing and more lifting made the problem go away. The visit only cost $50. And it was worth it. Without getting the problem fixed I doubt it would go away. Now that I have gained muscle mass it has stayed away. So over the long haul lifting can be the cure.

Bob
 
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