Needing help getting "pump" to arms and chest

[Leiloshka]

Actually this is a question I'm posting for my boyfriend since there are several weightlifters here.

He has been complaining lately that he hasn't felt the "pump" in his arms and chest for the last several weeks. He has shoulder problems that come and go and is now thinking his shoulders are the weak link not allowing him to press the amount of weight he needs to press in order to get the pump in his arms and chest.

This makes sense but does anyone have any suggestions on exercises or modified positions he could try? He fights to keep muscle mass on so it's important those muscles keep working.

I heard a radio show over the weekend talk about Omega-3 for joint pain. Anyone feel this has helped?

He normally works out 4 days a week.

THANKS!

[tglasco4]

Not sure about the joint pain. I have suffered from bad shoulders for many years. The juice fasts I have done and just being raw in general have helped tremendously. Now my left shoulder is weaker than my right and I am gaining strength in it slowly with the weight training.


As far as the pump. Has your boyfriend tried drop sets? I get a tremendous pump from them. Drop sets are where you use a certain weight on an exercise and without resting immediately drop the weight down and continue pumping until you can't go anymore. For example on the bench press I do 5 sets of dumbbell presses. On the last 2 sets I employ the drop set technique. During my last chest workout, my 5th set went like this,

8 reps with a pair of 70s
10 reps with a pair of 60s
12 reps with a pair of 55s
12 reps with a pair of 45s

This is done with one immediately following the other with no rest. If that doesn't give him a pump, nothing will...lol

Peace.

[Revvell]

tglasco can help w/ the "pump", maybe I can help with the shoulders.

A few things I've done to help my shoulders heal ~ excellent nutrition through raw (of course); swimming ~ nothing specific, just moving my arms in the water; qigong and most recently, now that they are functional ~ Indian clubs (I get mine from here: http://www.lifestylesport.com/indian_clubs.htm). Be sure to get only the 1# ones. They may seem light yet, they come w/ the vids and are really the best to get going with.

The plan is to get energy moving through the upper area ~ ribs, neck, arms, shoulder, hands, etc. for healing.

Revvell

[Fruitarianone]

Is it rotator cuff problems?

Is your boyfriend raw?

If it's rotator cuff problems he may need to take 2 weeks of and start again with light high rep exercises to get deeper conditioning around his shoulders.

Has he tried bodywieght dips are good.

Since going raw I don't feel my old aches and pains anymore.

[Leiloshka]

Thanks guys for the input. Todd, my boyfriend says he's done drop sets in the past but hasn't recently. Sort of forgot about them I guess. So, he'll incorporate those again.

Revvell, I had never heard of Indian clubs and had to search on the internet for them. I found several things and passed them along. He's reluctant I guess because he thinks they won't help. But in reading some of the webpages it seems they very well could help. I'll encourage him to contact the head of one of the gyms where they are used.

And Fruitarianone, he's not sure if it's the rotator cuff. His physican indicated it could be and told him exercises to do, but he hasn't. I said, ah and I bet the Indian clubs would help with some of those exercises? And, he said...maybe... So, hopefully he'll explore these options.

No, he's not raw, but he is doing better. We both joined an organic co-op so he gets fresh things every other week. Just not sure how much of that he really eats and how much goes to waste. But, he does see the logic in it all and he has seen some changes in me so we'll see. At least he's very encouraging to me even sometimes interrupting at a place and explaining to the waitress how I "really" want my veggies. :)

Thanks again everyone,
Leigh