Also it makes me look way less chubby that I am. I am not ashamed to admit that.
So these my 34s in comparison to my roughly 6ft frame. It's hard to judge how comically large they are just by themselves. Did sets with them today and could only manage sets of 7. A year ago before I stopped doing curls I was doing 4+ sets of 10 so I got a ways to work back to.
Deadlifts and bench presses went well today. Increased deadlift weight to 185. Managed 5 sets of 8. Might could have pushed some of those to 10 but no need to chance it. My goal is to build up to 205 then work on a little fat reduction before going back into muscle gain. Bench presses did good. Weights 155 and manged 2 sets of 10, 1x9, 2x8.
Quick note about stretching. It is completely possible to stretch too much. I recently realized I had been over stretching my right piriformis muscle. I started having sciatic pain in my right side. I've had similar pain I'm that side for a while but this was different and I also had it in my mid glute. Got to looking into it. It matched perfectly with what is described as "long piriformis syndrome." Basically it's stretched too much and become irritated when overworked because it's weakened from being stretched.
https://squatuniversity.com/2017/11/21/how-to-correctly-treat-piriformis-syndrome/
This is a good article I found on it.
This is not saying you shouldn't stretch. Just a caution as to not overdo stretching.
Mines not that bad. Just a soreness in my right bum and the sciatic nerve was pissed off and I felt it through my leg for a few days. Because of the way my hips are I have to take a wide stance when squatting to get lower. I sat with my right leg crossed for years so that side just naturally wants to turn due to the stretching. I had been increasing my stretch routine and added certain stretches that stretched the piri a little too much then the squatting in combo aggravated it. I stopped those stretches altogether and I feel much better. I don't really need them cause of how much I have to sit for work. Now I try and like, air hump in my chair every so over then to flesh them and tighten them up a bit.... lol
i'm glad that you found a technique to avoid it again! i need to get back into stretching again when i pick up my workout again after my blown back muscle heals. getting too old now i probably need to start stretching before work lol.
Active stretches before and static stretches after. Lots of good videos out there of good ones. Static stretches before will weaken the muscles temporarily and could actually increase likelihood of injury.