For me, lifting is an obsession. Even when I am 80 and I will still lift. Lift till I die crew

bro I go 3x a week if 3-4x is weak chit for you then damn

the worst thing is losing a bunch of gains and having to regain them

losing your progress on anything just sucks ass... at least there's catch-up gains or whatever to look forward to

When I got burned out I switched to 3 day bro splits & don't lift "heavy" AKA chasing PR's (ticket to snapcity is for sale PM me)
















Jk I don't lift, that chits for *******s & I'm a cat

why lift when it's all about the face

I know a lot of people who've had to have their shoulders done more than once, but I think a lot of them don't follow their surgeons orders and try to get back into activities too soon. I followed mine to a T and even when I first started lifting again I did super light and nothing over head for years. Now I can do pretty much anything I just can't go really heavy (for me. obvi I'm a woman so can't compare to mens numbers). The surgery was legit the most painful thing I've ever experienced, it was really awful, so I do everything I can to not have to go through it again. I do band work, warm up well and stretch a lot, etc.

Yeah shoulder surgeries are no joke, the immobilization and constant fear of reinjury is an absolute headfuk

I tore my bicep in 2016, had that repaired and then got diagnosed with a labrum tear 4 months later. Said fuk it and had that repaired. At this point my arm had withered away to nothing.

Then 3 months after the surgery I got in a car wreck and had to have the labrum re-repaired, by the time I was done that arm had been untrained for almost a year and looked like a stick. 3 years later it still looks way worse than the right side

once you find out it's all about the face, lifting loses its luster for sure

I had some small bicep tears debrided during my surgery and that was actually worse recovery wise than the shoulder. Like when the PT was stretching my arm, I'd have to stop her because of the bicep, not the shoulder. Oh that stinks about your accident and having to get the repair redone. Ugh.I went almost a year and 1/2 with no upper body workouts because my RC was torn for that long before surgery and I didn't want to lift only on my left side and be out of whack.Except for some of us it's about the body.

most people I know who press and pull significant weight have gone under the knife at least once or taken months off to address issues such as OPs

while an ignorant training regimen certainly heightens the risk as in my case, there is nothing healthy for your joints about regularly hitting low rep sets once you get to the point where your working sets are considerable weight

Know those feels OP, it's extremely stale as a natty too. Brb insane gains for like first 1-2 years, then everything comes to a halt and it's a snails pace despite putting retarded amounts of effort in. I switched to calisthenics and hand balancing almost two years ago and I feel way healthier and better than I did when I lifted weights. Might have lost a tiny bit of size in my arms but my physique is way more well rounded now and shoulders actually seem bigger. Plus it feels way more rewarding and there's always something new to learn or practice. And people are always mirin

I definitely felt those feels when the gym was shut down. I'm fkn rabid about the gym (also similar age to you), but couldn't motivate myself for chit with home workouts. Fortunately it all came back to me when gyms reopened. Hopefully it will for you too.

I don't know if anyone else has asked (lmao who reads threads) but based on your lifting experience and injuries, would you have any advice for others to avoid the injuries that you've acquired over the years?

Have you seen a doc about getting a blood test? Or a physio about rehabbing your old injuries? Or are they basically there for life now?

Nope, the opposite actually. The older I get, the more motivated I get because getting older shows why you need to be lifting. I don’t want to be some frail old man, or unable to keep up with my kids.

Washed up crew checkin in

Brb slow ass strength and size gains even when rebounding from a long break
Brb so much harder to diet without a youthful metabolism
Brb easy as fuk to tweak a joint
Brb takes 2 months to heal a minor tweaks versus 2 weeks back in the day
Brb less energy
Brb fuk this gay earth

Nope, I still love going to the gym, excited for it, every single time.

Mirin. Calisthenics routine?

functional/bodybuilding training for the body has been a lot of fun imo. reevaluate your goals and why

I felt the same way until I decided to stop powerlifting and switch to hypertrophy training. I didn't have any injuries, I just wasn't very good at powerlifting.

ive lifted for 12 years now and i've definitely experienced a few periods of a few weeks where i just didn't feel like it. so i just wouldnt do it. eventually the interest returned. i will say that since being out of the gym since march and reverting to home gym, i feel as healthy as i ever have with these home workouts. dumbbells, calisthenics, some cardio makes me feel like i was going too heavy too often at the gym. it's been eye opening.

don't have the intensity i used to have, but i just go there and do what i wanna do that day tbh. no real plan anymore. when youre this deep into it, gains just dont disappear. maintaining for me is the name of the game. gotta find a way to make it fun, brah. set some goals. new ones.

Definitely interested in your labrum surgery and how the recovery went. How bad were you shoulders beforehand, and what was the rehab process like?I never had surgery. 1) I absolutely fukin hate going to the doctor for anything and thought of surgery scares me because I'm a little b1tch lmao. Even after stopping PLing for a few years the shoulders have definitely gotten better, but they're still really fuked up overall. I do think in the long-term surgery would probably be the only thing that could fix it. And after hearing Halfway's experience with shoulder surgeries the last few years that scared me too because it doesn't even seem like the odds of a full recovery are great. I do think at some point though I might just have to bite the bullet and get it done because they aren't getting better on their own...


Advice for others - 1) definitely listen to your body. Some of my first bad injuries were because I was a stubborn **** and refused to listen to my body telling me to stop because I thought I was being a pussy. Worst decision ever.

2) don't lift heavy all the time. After one of my powerlifting meets I jumped back into normal training the same week after competing. Benching moderately heavy (like sets of 5) the Wednesday after a meet on a Saturday is what lead to my elbow being permanently fuked. Hasn't been the same since and that was 7 years ago. You gotta learn to periodize your training so you're going through different phases of volume and intensity.

3) related to the last point, is balance. I PLed straight for about 5 years. I did a lot of BBing accessory work, but it would have done me a lot of good had I stepped away from barbell training for say a month 2-3x/year after completing a strength block (e.g. after competing in a meet then switching over to BBing training for a month or so). Training regimens need to be balanced in the long-term if u wanna do this chit for a long time. When I was younger all I cared about was getting stronger without seeing the long-term consequences it might have.


As for the injuries I have now - I think they're basically there for life. I've worked with PTs before for some of them, and taken extensive time off (7 months at one point, 5 months at another point). And honestly when I take time off they get worse in some ways. I think getting the blood in the area while lifting helps a lot. For example my left knee has been fuked for a few years now, and one thing that's really helped is doing high rep banded leg press. When I do that every week my knee feels "normal". If I take a week or 2 off the pain comes back and it clicks. Probably have something torn in it. That's been one thing that's sucked about the lockdowns is now I don't have a leg press to use, and the closest thing is bodyweight squats with a band around my neck and feet. It just doesn't get the blood in the same way the leg press does, and it's really demotivating.

I dunno OP. Maybe try men?

Lifting is more fun when you stop listening to the internet gym cels and start realizing you can build a good physique without benching 3 plates, squatting 4, and deadlifting 5

My labrum is pretty good these days, but I do have a ROM deficit in my repaired shoulder

I don't do full range bench (sometimes I do close grip floor press but never over 225), no dips (dip machine one arm a time for high reps is fine), no real OHP (but cable OHP is fine and occasionally hammer strength, but always pre-exhausted with laterals before the press)

Labrum repairs are pretty solid if done correctly and allowed to heal. Make sure your surgeon doesn't use anchors and uses suture loops - otherwise the anchor can break off and destroy the shoulder.

I've been up to 140lb db one arm floor presses (not as dangerous to get the db into place as with a 2 hand press) and did 4 plate hammer strength inclines last month, it's not like you're going to be limited to baby weights if it's a labrum repair just dont do anything risky and keep the reps above 10 and always controlled and it should be fine

Overhead and dipping motions are the most risky with a labrum repair but you don't really need those

I love lifting heavy, but with the way this year has been and the current heat lately my motivation has been rock bottom too. Same as you, I aim for 2 days on, one day off for a total of 5 lifting days out of the week, but honestly I've lately only been lifting probably 3x weekly. I've also been stopping some workouts short...

It's enough for me to maintain, but it's not where I want to be. I'm going to have some minor life changes over the next couple months that I think will help significantly, including allowing me to move my home gym into a more reasonable and easy to use space.

OP, reduce your lifting. Just do a quick total body like 2 times a week to maintain some strength. Don't go to hard, don't chase a pump. Just a few sets of the basics for basic all around health reasons.

Do some of that DDP yoga or something to heal your body improve your joints/range of motion and make you feel better.

If you miss lifting, you can go back to it.
No sense lifting hard if you are hating it. No one cares how big your muscles are. Just do the basics to stay healthy, and the rest of the time, do what you enjoy.



Also remember as you age you can't eat as much fun stuff anymore unless you are dat dere time.

Still halfway through rehab for left (worse shoulder) and have right shoulder surgery in about a month so I can’t say a whole lot other than it feels amazing so far and my (very reknowned) sports PT expects full return to strength sport in a few months
Regardless of what you hear shoulder surgery for legit structural probs is almost always successful. Don’t listen to the scary stories, and make sure you go to a surgeon who works for a pro team. in my case I had severely torn labrum and stretched out capsule which lead to consistent albeit manageable subluxation/instability. Pain wasn’t a massive issue, usually that seems to suggest rotator cuff involvement
I assure you OP plenty of gym folks walk around with similar ailments to you or I but are too unaware/not serious enough to give it more than ten seconds of thought... and end up with worse issues down the road. Better addressing things sooner than later

Feels. Covid fukking destroyed my motivation. Now my gyms have reopened and I have to push myself to go. Tryin to find that excitement again. Used to be the highlight of my day. We will beat this OP


We MUST.

I just keep modifying my work outs and doing pt as need it sucks not being able to do what you used to or look the same

I have arthritis in both knees and feet, one foot needs a joint replacement that’s over due insurance already agreed to cover it

L1 and l2 herniated disks never went back to normal nor did things after my three knee surgeries

But I still love to work out, it’s my zen place

Maybe start swimming op do a half marathon it’s 5k took me about six months to work up to it