Pain in the elbows while doing tricep extensions

So I was doing tricep extensions on a pull down machine like this guy:

The problem with this is the elbows are the weakest link in this movement, so they are taking the brunt of abuse.  If you look at how this guy is doing it, the elbows are the only stabilizers. They're providing the balance in the movement and preventing this guy's body from moving around.  This means they are put into a susceptible position that could lead to elbow injury.

How do you remedy this?  Do tricep extensions using a barbell loaded with weights while laying your back on a flat bench.  If you want to use a pull down machine like the guy above, use a machine that has a back pad so that you can use the back pad to stabilize your body while in the range of motion. Or go on a machine like the one below:

 The main point of this post is if you're going to do tricep work, do it in a safe stabilized position not like the guy in the first video at the top in a unstabilized standing position.

The importance of laziness in a sucessful strength training program

Seems kind of paradoxical.  You see on youtube guys just going all out.   Grunting.  Breathing heavy.  Muscles pumped with blood.  But all that working out is just half the battle. 

So I'm going to just state it like it's some fundamental law:  Strength is more of a function of your central nervous system firing off electrical impulses to muscles rapidly and efficiently more so than any muscular development that you're trying elicit from training at the gym.

So how do you acquire central nervous system superiority?  Do nothing.  Rest.  Spend time living life. When you take time off from working out, your soul and body feels like it's being replenished.  What's the point of all this working out if you can't use your muscles to live life?

How long should you rest?  48-96 hours. There.  There's your answer.  I'm always going on like some crazed lunatic like I'm some Mary Poppins paradigm of efficiency, so I'll just cut to the chase and give you your answer.  How you input those rest ranges is up to you. You do 48 hours rest when you want muscular development.  When your nervous system is kind of frazzled, that is when you can't move your limbs like you're afflicted with cerebral palsy, you should take a 72-96 hour rest.  It's true your muscular development will wither away with 72-96 hours rest ranges, but your central nervous system is acquiring the rest it needs to make strength gains, so the next time you workout you might make a strength gain or you might stay at the same strength level.  Then maybe you should rest 48 hours and hit the gym again, and then maybe you might make your strength gain.

When you rest, you might want to take to the act of walking like the dalai lama of strength training below suggests.  This may help you burn some fat.

Squat form

Discontinued use of supplements

That's right. I quit beta alanine and creatine and even fish oil, but I might go back to the fish oil. I don't know yet.

The effects of these actions are meat cravings and a generalized sense of hunger pretty much all the time.  It seems like all I wanna do is shove  protein into my gut. Sometimes I'll be driving around, get a little hungry and weak, and pull into a McDonald's drive thru and get a double quarter pounder no cheese.

Also I'm spending a lot less time on the toilet watching my expensive protein go down the drain. That's pretty much what your body is craving is that creatine you find in red meat, so once that creatine allowance threshold is met the body is going to excrete the excess. Now that I'm off the creatine, my body is processing the meat I'm eating and using that as a creatine source.

This has a super effect. Because  I'm processing the meat for its creatine, I'm also synthesizing the protein from the meat. What I mean by synthesizing is the body breaks down the meat and reassembles the amino acid protein chains into muscle. When protein synthesis goes on, greater muscle growth is achieved.

I feel stronger. I'm making strength gains. My workouts are a lot shorter. The creatine and beta alanine tend to make the body endure longer workouts without tiring out.  Some  would say longer workouts lead to more strength gains. That maybe true. That's up to you to experiment with.

Of course I'm not doing the same workout either. I'm using more machines. The setup time is minimal and way less intensive than loading plates on a bar. Just taking and replacing the weight stack key is all it takes. Of course on many  machines I can do almost the whole stack so I might have to go back to a bar and plates for some movements.

One curious thing is that instead of doing stiff legged deadlifts with a bar and plates, I'm using a heavy duty latex band for stiff legged deadlifts. I place the band flat on the ground. Then step on the band with my bare feet in socks, and I'll leave just enough of a loop on the outside edges of both sides of my feet so that I can grab the loop. Then I'll take a breath of air in through my mouth and try to affix a nice straight position into my lower spine and lock it in. Then with both legs and with knees almost locked and while holding my breath, I'll yank upwards with my lower back while holding the band with both hands I only do single rep sets of these but I do them every workout.

I'm beginning to change my position on repetitive movement injury when it concerns the lower back. It's true that your lower back will get sore if you do stiff legged deadlifts consecutive workouts in a row.  But the lower back is considerably more resilient than any other part of the body.  It can take a little abuse and the next day be fully recovered. You're pretty much using your lower back all the time even when you're sleeping, so it has the potential to accept stressful training and adapt and recover from it pretty quickly. Of course I'm doing spinal stretches in between sets.

Night time protein intake

This sounds like it could work. I dunno. Give it a try. The worst that could happen is you wake up in the middle of the night and have to go #2, and you'll be out the thirty or forty bucks it took to buy the casein protein.

I don't see why you have to buy this guy's protein.  Why not buy some cheap Walmart whey protein and mix it with some casein protein?

Shoulder warm up before upper body workout

I'm just doing machines now but I'm warming up like this before my upper body workout. The soreness in my shoulders has gone away.