Drinking: things you may not have thought of

Drinking two beers per hour is the equivalent of eating a McDonald’s cheeseburger per hour. Enjoy.

Well, that was dumb

I am a big fan of antagonistic supersets. In English, this means doing two exercises, back-to-back, that use opposing muscle groups with no rest in between. An example of this would be to do a set of 8-10 repetitions of bench press followed immediately by a set of lat pulldowns (chest-back). This allows you to complete a workout in a shorter period of time, and the antagonistic muscles MUST rest when the opposing muscle group is being used. Basic biomechanics.

Sometimes, they overlap. That is how I got injured.

I tried a combination of 45 degree leg presses followed by traditional barbell deadlifts. The leg press is primarily for the glutes and quads (butt and front of thighs). Deadlift is a hamstring exercise—except that it is also a glute exercise. Oops.

So, after killing myself on my second set of the leg press, I went over and picked up the bar. That is when the erector spinae in my back gave out.

You see, when you wipe out certain muscles through fatigue, they lose the ability to stabilize you. So, I compensated using the thing that wasn’t tired: my lower back. I have been in pain for a few days now, and it is going to take a while to get better.

Your lower back is most at risk when you tire out your abs, glutes and hamstrings. That is why people tell you to use them when you squat down to pick up a heavy box.

Know what the impact of your exercise choices will be. Obviously, even the professionals need to be reminded of this sometimes.