[Max McLachlan]

Don’t get much feel*

[Max McLachlan]

You don’t have to feel something to know its doing the work. But if it makes you feel better you could opt for single arm sets and see if you feel it that way?

Not totally agree with you, if u don’t feel you lift the load with the correct muscle, particularly with single arm rear delt on which is not possible to lift crazy weights, for me it’s not fine no.

If you do a hipthrust and you feel just the quads, it’s not working no

[/quote]
Hi Allison, I understand where you’re coming from and your advice about having possibly tight muscles around the rear delt or traps taking over a decent bit.

And I get your point for compounds like hip thrust if you just feel quads they’re probably taking a brunt of the work. My point was more that you shouldn’t really focus on feel too much, as essentially only few muscles can do the work. Especially for isolations like rear delt or lat raises for example, even if you don’t feel your side delt while doing a lateral it is still what’s moving the weight as the only action is humeral abduction. (I myself get much feel out of it but they still have grown my delts).

But I completely understand your point where there may be other muscles slightly taken over but I still think it would be primarily rear delt. My suggestion for single arm was just based on the fact that they might feel it if they can focus on just moving one arm at a time😀

[Max McLachlan]

You don’t have to feel something to know its doing the work. But if it makes you feel better you could opt for single arm sets and see if you feel it that way?

[Max McLachlan]

Drax Plate loaded high row mate 🙂

[Max McLachlan]

thank you very much for your insight and fast reply Oscar 🙂

Just preference but i use pronated grip for chest work, and if i decide to use neutral grip i would use it as a tricep press variation as i find the nautilus (the one at my gym anyway) is loaded heavier in the end range 🙂

[Max McLachlan]

How is everything outside of training – diet etc?

good i just don’t understand my body weight has went up i havent put on much fat and literally i look smaller if anything

[/quote]

Muscle growth is a very slow process and very hard to notice unless you’ve gone through a growing phase and then leaned back down and saw your weight go up. If your lifts are progressing (standardized form etc) and your eating in a surplus with weight going up then you will be gaining.

Like you said you haven’t seen much fat gain which means you wont be in too large of a surplus (which is good) so you shouldn’t get fat. But the weight you’ve gained will have to include muscle as you’ve gotten stronger.

Just keep pushing bodyweight up and increase kcals when you stall, keep progressing lifts and when you’ve done that for a year or more, then look back after you’ve dieted and gotten leaner and you’ll see results. It’s a long process!

[Max McLachlan]

Sounds like you’re not sure of what the actual problem is and should just take a step back… come off cycle.. restart training plan and build again from there

im not just gonna give up and come off cycle i wanna figure out the problem and continue making progress[/quote]

Maybe get bloods done and see if there is any glaring issues there. Also assess your programming and diet as well as your recovery factors.

Seeing a drop of in strength like that is very drastic! So i would be looking at if there’s an underlying cause of severe fatigue such as volume way too high, any intensifiers you’re using or lack of rest days per week in accordance with how intense your training is.

What is your split and volume like?

[Max McLachlan]

If you set up correct , only the correct muscle can dk the work . If you don’t change your form at any point , only the correct muscle continues to work . So then focus on loading and progress .

Because what has changed ? If the right muscle was doing the work in set up , what can possibly of changed ?

Re address set up , not feel , when the loading pulls you out of shape

Hi Jordan, don’t disagree with you at all. Definitely think only that one muscle can do the work if set up is spot on.

Have no evidence behind me with this but I feel it may be the ability to recruit more overall muscle fibres when you have a strong connection (and not one that is fostered, one that you’ve always semi had). All while progressing lifts (not taking away from that at all). Maybe its just a persons genetic makeup but I have seen if people tend to have strong body parts quite a lot they have a great ability to connect with a muscle and create a strong contraction.

Thanks!

[Max McLachlan]

thanks chaps , I appreciate it a lot

So yday was frustrating , for anyone that’s been a long time follower you may remember I have had phases where my forearms die on me and I can’t lock out my presses and then there was a phase where it was so bad I had to take a month off pressing in like 2020

I have had an issue with my right forearm for ages , the overhead press seems to really piss it off , so yday was a bit meh , and I need to work out my pressing . The incline press was going well and that pulls in just enough delt for me to be happy , but obv not as good as overhead pressing . Yday my forearm was so trashed after the overhead press that my wrist was collapsing on the incline press and I couldn’t use full power on the right side

I will need a play around with what I can / can’t do

Single leg press is continuing to improve and I’m now back on the adductor machine for light loading , where it’s super controlled tempo work for both eccentric and concentric until basically the muscle has too much lactate in to work

Hi Jordan, do you think this has something to do with a slight roll of your wrist when pressing? I’ve had that before and mine hasn’t bothered me since i’ve been working on a sort of bulldog grip/making sure my straps are high enough up my wrist to keep all the downward force directed through my wrist.

Just a thought but then again the weight you’re moving is daft! So i suppose it could come with some issues regardless

Keep cracking on!

[Max McLachlan]

Dear Max,

post workout I recommend a carb meal that digests really fast including a fast digestive protein source:e.g.: low fat (under 5g fat/100g) cereals with whey protein

this is enough to breakdown catabolic processes which occure while working out.

after 1 hour your post workout should be digested so you can go on with a higher carb meal including all nutrition like fruits, veggies etc. and protein source of choice like chicken and even fats, which need a bit longer to digest.

the size of this post workout meal should depend on how stressy it is for you to intake your kcal.

if you are hungrier all the time I would recommend a smaller portion and focus on a bigger meal afterwards. if you struggle to eat lots of kcal you can go with a bigger post workout

Cheers

Jan

Posing & Bodybuilding Coaching

IG: jan.seibel03

Hi Jan, thanks for the response. Due to my work, I end up at the gym around 5/6, and the session then takes me to around 8 o’clock. By the time I’m home I really only have 1 meal I can have before bed which means i need to eat more in that one meal. So would this whole meal be better off being a fast digesting source or slow digesting if it is the last meal i eat immediately before sleeping?

[Max McLachlan]

Just not needed at all really

It was just because watching a couple of your videos, you did implement partials when you were in a surplus and i wondered if there was any benefit at all?

[Max McLachlan]

Is it a 45 degree leg press.?

Hi Haider, yes it is

[Max McLachlan]

Hi Max – I used to get this really bad until I focused on actually breathing properly through the set. I know it sounds silly but a lot of us get into the set and forget to breathe ! So next time you do your leg press set, really think about proper breathing technique. Also another one that might be worth mentioning is , a lot of people grip onto the handles for dear life – this creates a huge amount of tension through the traps and into the neck , so this could also be the reason for the headaches, so try not to grip too hard if this is something you do.

Much like Claire said it could also be related to things like blood pressure, so be sure to get that checked if you can.

Thank you! I never thought about the traps before, they can be a real twinge point with nerves so that could be making it way worse!

[Max McLachlan]

Hi Max, a carb meal is definitely hugely important post workout as Kuba has mention to restore glycogen and help with recovery. It doesn’t necessarily NEED to be a HIGH carb meal. That would depend on your calorie requirements for your diet!

Hi Louis, it was just going off the tbJP diet planner. the largest carb meal was the post workout so had to ask, cheers!

[Max McLachlan]

Replenishing glycogen stores for recovery, if you want to hold some muscle imo it’s very important

In a deficit I would always prioritise keeping some carbs around training for that reason alone.

Got it, thanks!