I think that your injury makes you more relatable, especially to men over 40. You’ll learn soon enough that middle aged men have various aches and pains at any given time.
No, this is some of the most important content - anyone who does this for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50+ years is going to have setbacks, and knowing how to deal with them is even more important to stay on the wagon. I have some experience with nagging injuries - I had a terrible shoulder injury from high school wrestling (ended my run at state championships), and a hip injury from squatting side stance like a geared up doofus because of trying to copy all the Westside nonsense in the 2000s. I can share a few anecdotal tips that really helped me - if I can save someone else the trouble even better: * Bench grip width - This is super easy. Do a normal "pushup" against the bar standing up while it's racked. Play around with the width. Your elbows should go pretty far back naturally, and you should feel very strong through the full range of motion. This will probably be closer than most people are used to - but something people don't realize is that the chest activation is not about the grip width, but the elbow path (one thing which Mentzer really nailed). My chest grew *more* after moving my grip in which seems counterintuitive, and of course zero injuries. This same trick works for squats, just grab onto a pole or chair and play around with the rock bottom position until you find the most stable - this is how I rebuilt my squat, and now I can go ATG with zero hip or knee issues. * Shoulder pain - Change your isolations, or drop them entirely. Maybe just face pulls, pulling high and behind your head but very, very light and more of a tonic. But you should do standard, plan old military presses. Stand perfectly straight up, feet together, glutes clenched, and press over head (which is really up and back) with just your shoulders, arms, and traps. Start loading it gradually over time. Keep up the rows and pullups - the compounds will ultimately work their magic in the right positions, combined with a bit of daily mobility and you'll be good as new. * Reps - Higher reps can cause more injury in my experience, because form tends to deteriorate with the fatigue and there is more need to "push" those last reps to get the necessary stimulus. 4-8 works well, and in fact I'd say sticking to 3x5-6 (first 2 sets having a bit in the tank, last set shooting for 4-6) might be a bit better than 6-8, you can always microload and add 0.5-1lb at a time. I understand the joint strain argument, and this is something I am thinking about as I get even older, but I am not sure high reps are the answer. I know you'll bounce back, keep up the great work!
Always pull exercise before you do any push exercise really helps,incline rows first then incline bench for example. I’ve found full body mobility warm ups and then go into primers 2 sets in a circuit like cable face pulls, bw squats or step ups and incline bench push ups before I start my main workout really helps and keeps my shoulders feeling great. Any time I deviate away from that then they start feeling cranky after a bit
Really appreciate your honesty and transparency Rio. Most people don’t realise that the ‘fitness influencers’ on social are not being transparent and most of them are on performance enhancing drugs or testosterone replacement therapy and claiming they are ‘all natural’ is very misleading and they shouldn’t be giving natural lifters advice - they are actually causing more harm than good. Good on you Rio, looking forward to more videos 👍
I have AC joint arthritis and when it flares up I found using a slingshot, the pressure was taken off my shoulders when benching. I believe it’s a Mark Bell product, though I don’t know if there are knockoffs for sale. It’s great if you’re rehabbing a shoulder injury when doing chest exercises.
Keep being intelligent and knowledgeable of your body!!! You are a great young man that’s doing a fantastic job with your program!!! Keep being you and the world will see the truth from you 💪!!!!
I love your content even though its for men 😅. Your honesty is refreshing, and sharing how you got injured will really help others not make the same mistake. I messed up my shoulder incline benching (funny it was because I missed the rack during warm up set). It was depressing for a wnile, even though rationally all my prior injuries fixed themselves with continued training. I was right. One day my shoulder felt fine, but it was probably 2 months. Honestly I was doing quite a bit of light weight Pilates work (5-8lbs 😂) for many weeks. You'll build back up your strength in no time 😊
Very humble to let us know what's been going on and as an audience with so much BS these days, it's really appreciated. Also like the voice over style btw!
Lead from the front. This is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. Your brand is honest natural training that yields achievable results. As we train we're going to get injuriered. That's how we learn and gain wisdom. What you learned from this you are sharing. That's going to help people. This is honor and integrity. Look at Jeff Cavellier using fake weights. That's dishonest. I won't even look at his vids anymore. There was no reason for that. His brand was much like your's. No one would care if he used poundages he could actually handle. As a matter of fact it would have been more impressive. I'll tell you something else. His little helper Jesse didn't DL 500. Just watch the vid. You keep doing what you're doing, because it is sorely needed on youtube.
I hate the perfect bloggers with their perfect physique. In reality we don't look like them. We also get injured and life events get in the way of our fitness routines. This is real life and real people. So don't apologise and just try to do the best you can. There's more to life than just the gym. ❤
as someone who played and plays football, I find the 2-3 times gym sessions a week the best routine to do. Now talking about your injury in the shoulder, did you try some mobility exercices? I recommend before starting the workouts. I hope you heal fast! this is the only channel of fitness that isn´t football based that I actually follow :D
I used to love all the barbell lifts in my 20's now I'm 36 and mainly use machines and dumbbells and looking better than ever without the injuries. If an exercise or tool isn't working for your body structure then drop it. I also do 12-20 reps for a lot my exercises, although it causes more fatigue, I feel more in control of the weight and you are less likely to use bad form just to get the extra rep for the log book
Hey Rio, love the content man. Quick question: I tweaked my glute during squats, and now it hurts whenever I do squats. It doesn't hurt while doing romanian deadlifts, or isolation exercises. How long should I wait/how do I reintroduce squatting without delaying healing? Thanks!
Hey man, I honestly would wait until it feels fully recovered before squatting again. I couldn't give you a time estimate, but I assume a strain wouldn't take too long to heal. Test it out in a week or two and see how it feels.
I find minimalist workouts are great for getting stronger and bigger but i struggle with fat gain due to burning less calories and have to be stricter on my diet which is fustrating
You obviously overestimate the calories burned by weight training. Do your minimalist training and then go for walk. The walk will burn more calories than a few more sets in a weight training workout.
@@billyboyp4u Totally agree with what is written below. Regardless of what style of training you do, the calorie burn is going to be minimal. Weight training is always there to build strength/muscle. Diet and walking will take care of the fat loss man.
I feel like wide grip benching and conventional deadlifts cause 90% of gym injuries, and people don't want to accept that and avoid them because everyone is a pretend powerlifter that thinks wide benching is better leverage and conventional deadlifts look cool
the leverages ARE better, and deadlifting IS cool. you're clearly not a true bro of iron and steel with such nerdy, unscientific takes as these. smh my head
Yikes dude. I couldn't imagine going through life thinking I couldn't learn from someone cause they were younger than me. Would never want to limit my growth like that.
@ My growth had been limited by exactly the idea you promote… do less but more intense. Little you know about getting older and the increased work capacity of men over 40.
You are unable to maintain 2 workouts a week... you are lazy. If your shoulder hurts you can look for alternatives, and if you can't find them, you can still continue training legs. Don't sell people that 4 or more workouts will lead to overtraining or that they are only for steroid users. Your problem is that you don't like to train.
Definitely, you can, as long as the sets are still taken close to failure. If it doesn't fully heal then something is probably seriously wrong and you shouldn't train until you know what's up.
Busy Men Over 40: Get My FREE Minimalist Muscle-Building Program Here: www.skool.com/polarity-fitness-free/about
I think that your injury makes you more relatable, especially to men over 40. You’ll learn soon enough that middle aged men have various aches and pains at any given time.
Tell me about it, once i turned 40 everything happened at once, not the same as the 30s
Bro we have all been there. Trying to come back early and pushing through pain will only prolong the recovery.
We always learn the hard way.
No, this is some of the most important content - anyone who does this for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50+ years is going to have setbacks, and knowing how to deal with them is even more important to stay on the wagon.
I have some experience with nagging injuries - I had a terrible shoulder injury from high school wrestling (ended my run at state championships), and a hip injury from squatting side stance like a geared up doofus because of trying to copy all the Westside nonsense in the 2000s.
I can share a few anecdotal tips that really helped me - if I can save someone else the trouble even better:
* Bench grip width - This is super easy. Do a normal "pushup" against the bar standing up while it's racked. Play around with the width. Your elbows should go pretty far back naturally, and you should feel very strong through the full range of motion. This will probably be closer than most people are used to - but something people don't realize is that the chest activation is not about the grip width, but the elbow path (one thing which Mentzer really nailed). My chest grew *more* after moving my grip in which seems counterintuitive, and of course zero injuries. This same trick works for squats, just grab onto a pole or chair and play around with the rock bottom position until you find the most stable - this is how I rebuilt my squat, and now I can go ATG with zero hip or knee issues.
* Shoulder pain - Change your isolations, or drop them entirely. Maybe just face pulls, pulling high and behind your head but very, very light and more of a tonic. But you should do standard, plan old military presses. Stand perfectly straight up, feet together, glutes clenched, and press over head (which is really up and back) with just your shoulders, arms, and traps. Start loading it gradually over time. Keep up the rows and pullups - the compounds will ultimately work their magic in the right positions, combined with a bit of daily mobility and you'll be good as new.
* Reps - Higher reps can cause more injury in my experience, because form tends to deteriorate with the fatigue and there is more need to "push" those last reps to get the necessary stimulus. 4-8 works well, and in fact I'd say sticking to 3x5-6 (first 2 sets having a bit in the tank, last set shooting for 4-6) might be a bit better than 6-8, you can always microload and add 0.5-1lb at a time. I understand the joint strain argument, and this is something I am thinking about as I get even older, but I am not sure high reps are the answer.
I know you'll bounce back, keep up the great work!
Your honesty is greatly appreciated. 🙏
@@jowr2000 Thank you for watching :)
Loved this. Sorry for what's happened but trust me, this set back is the set up you need for the ultimate come back.
Always pull exercise before you do any push exercise really helps,incline rows first then incline bench for example. I’ve found full body mobility warm ups and then go into primers 2 sets in a circuit like cable face pulls, bw squats or step ups and incline bench push ups before I start my main workout really helps and keeps my shoulders feeling great. Any time I deviate away from that then they start feeling cranky after a bit
Really appreciate your honesty and transparency Rio.
Most people don’t realise that the ‘fitness influencers’ on social are not being transparent and most of them are on performance enhancing drugs or testosterone replacement therapy and claiming they are ‘all natural’ is very misleading and they shouldn’t be giving natural lifters advice - they are actually causing more harm than good.
Good on you Rio, looking forward to more videos 👍
I have AC joint arthritis and when it flares up I found using a slingshot, the pressure was taken off my shoulders when benching. I believe it’s a Mark Bell product, though I don’t know if there are knockoffs for sale. It’s great if you’re rehabbing a shoulder injury when doing chest exercises.
Keep being intelligent and knowledgeable of your body!!! You are a great young man that’s doing a fantastic job with your program!!! Keep being you and the world will see the truth from you 💪!!!!
Thanks for being honest and transparent man! Keep crushing it
@@Wealth.is.Health I appreciate the comment bro🙏
I love your content even though its for men 😅. Your honesty is refreshing, and sharing how you got injured will really help others not make the same mistake.
I messed up my shoulder incline benching (funny it was because I missed the rack during warm up set). It was depressing for a wnile, even though rationally all my prior injuries fixed themselves with continued training.
I was right. One day my shoulder felt fine, but it was probably 2 months. Honestly I was doing quite a bit of light weight Pilates work (5-8lbs 😂) for many weeks. You'll build back up your strength in no time 😊
Very humble to let us know what's been going on and as an audience with so much BS these days, it's really appreciated.
Also like the voice over style btw!
@@Brrgyy689 Thank you so much for the feedback and support 🙂
Lead from the front. This is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. Your brand is honest natural training that yields achievable results. As we train we're going to get injuriered. That's how we learn and gain wisdom. What you learned from this you are sharing. That's going to help people. This is honor and integrity. Look at Jeff Cavellier using fake weights. That's dishonest. I won't even look at his vids anymore. There was no reason for that. His brand was much like your's. No one would care if he used poundages he could actually handle. As a matter of fact it would have been more impressive. I'll tell you something else. His little helper Jesse didn't DL 500. Just watch the vid. You keep doing what you're doing, because it is sorely needed on youtube.
I hate the perfect bloggers with their perfect physique. In reality we don't look like them. We also get injured and life events get in the way of our fitness routines. This is real life and real people. So don't apologise and just try to do the best you can. There's more to life than just the gym. ❤
@@christinedoyle9159 I so so appreciate this comment, Christine. So glad to see people like you are watching these videos🙏
Good form on the leg press, nice depth, I struggle to go deep on leg press which make it not best for me
as someone who played and plays football, I find the 2-3 times gym sessions a week the best routine to do. Now talking about your injury in the shoulder, did you try some mobility exercices? I recommend before starting the workouts. I hope you heal fast! this is the only channel of fitness that isn´t football based that I actually follow :D
I used to love all the barbell lifts in my 20's now I'm 36 and mainly use machines and dumbbells and looking better than ever without the injuries.
If an exercise or tool isn't working for your body structure then drop it.
I also do 12-20 reps for a lot my exercises, although it causes more fatigue, I feel more in control of the weight and you are less likely to use bad form just to get the extra rep for the log book
@@jakemaxwell2800 Amen bro. I’m glad that you have found what works for you🙌
Try some hgh with your test for the shoulder.
Hey Rio, love the content man. Quick question: I tweaked my glute during squats, and now it hurts whenever I do squats. It doesn't hurt while doing romanian deadlifts, or isolation exercises. How long should I wait/how do I reintroduce squatting without delaying healing? Thanks!
Hey man, I honestly would wait until it feels fully recovered before squatting again. I couldn't give you a time estimate, but I assume a strain wouldn't take too long to heal. Test it out in a week or two and see how it feels.
@@polarityfitness I'll do that, keep up the good work!
You should train like alex leonidas man, you really can make your strenght training better
what would that look like?
What's the best incline bench angle?
Stick with 30-45 degrees on the incline for best upper pec stimulus.
I like 30 degrees.
the one that stimulates your chest the most. sorry brother. there are no 100% correct answers to this question
I find minimalist workouts are great for getting stronger and bigger but i struggle with fat gain due to burning less calories and have to be stricter on my diet which is fustrating
Ditto!
You obviously overestimate the calories burned by weight training. Do your minimalist training and then go for walk. The walk will burn more calories than a few more sets in a weight training workout.
@@billyboyp4u Totally agree with what is written below. Regardless of what style of training you do, the calorie burn is going to be minimal. Weight training is always there to build strength/muscle. Diet and walking will take care of the fat loss man.
I feel like wide grip benching and conventional deadlifts cause 90% of gym injuries, and people don't want to accept that and avoid them because everyone is a pretend powerlifter that thinks wide benching is better leverage and conventional deadlifts look cool
the leverages ARE better, and deadlifting IS cool. you're clearly not a true bro of iron and steel with such nerdy, unscientific takes as these. smh my head
I wonder what a kid wants to teach men.
Yikes dude. I couldn't imagine going through life thinking I couldn't learn from someone cause they were younger than me. Would never want to limit my growth like that.
@ My growth had been limited by exactly the idea you promote… do less but more intense.
Little you know about getting older and the increased work capacity of men over 40.
@@thomasruckstuhl9980 Not the goal of what I teach boss. Not everyone is looking to live in the gym.
@ likewise not everyone is into peds
You are unable to maintain 2 workouts a week... you are lazy. If your shoulder hurts you can look for alternatives, and if you can't find them, you can still continue training legs. Don't sell people that 4 or more workouts will lead to overtraining or that they are only for steroid users. Your problem is that you don't like to train.
Rio I feel your bench and incline bench grip width caused it. I feel your grip may have been too wide.
That’s what I said😂
Did you get an MRI?
I’m having shoulder pain since January and might not be able to bench press anymore without surgery.
Did some x-rays and ultrasounds. Still waiting on results but it's feeling much better now.
If injury continues to arise even with resting would lifting lighter be an option? Can you still build mass without lifting heavy af
Definitely, you can, as long as the sets are still taken close to failure. If it doesn't fully heal then something is probably seriously wrong and you shouldn't train until you know what's up.