Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

Thank you for the words of encouragement on my Brother Iron and Body Revival books. I need to lose 45-50 lbs (6-0 and 250lbs at age 52) and would like your opinion on the benefits of creatine while losing weight. Also, along with Bomber Blend and Super Spectrum, will the Ageless Growth help with recuperation? What other supplements do you recommend? I have small tears in both rotator cuffs, with full range of movement, and tendinitis in one elbow. I am hoping these supplements will help my strength and recuperation and to avoid surgery.

Thanks for your support. I believe in both books (you will find redundancy in the exercise info — books written for different audiences); both are valuable resources and I expect they’ll answer a lot of you questions.

Creatine is good (choose a superior quality to avoid possible contamination in manufacturing) and aids training, yet it tends to cause intracellular water retention. This is okay and good, but not necessarily appreciated by those on mission to lose weight. If you intend to weight train hard, swell. If not, forget it.

Ageless Growth is a favorite product, but I suggest you settle into your training regimen before bringing it into play.

Consider Body Ammo (glucosamine, chondroitan and MSM) for your joints and tendons.

Carry on the good fight… Godspeed… Dave

A friend of mine went to a chiropractic association meeting last weekend in conjunction with the Arnold Classic. Lou Ferrigno was a surprise guest speaker; he mentioned he had had both knees replaced and possibly needs a hip replacement. I have heard about more and more ex-athletes having similar stories to tell at a relatively young age. I thought the topic of severe joint issues such as these and how heavy weightlifting and/or steroid use over long periods of time may or may not influence these issues could be a good topic for one of your Bomber Blasts.

Thanks for the suggestion. My answers would only be guesses after referencing my years in the musclebuilding world. Real research and stats are not my thing.

Every hardworking pro takes a beating from his or her intense overload to achieve championship ranking — fighters and football players at the top (more accurately, bottom) of the heap.

Mix squats, deadlifts and overhead presses with adrenalin and boundless determination, and you have big muscle and big trouble.

Musclebuilding is wonderfully healthy until we lose commonsense. Ego and pride and insecurity and stupidity take us down.

As to addressing the affect of steroids on joint health, I don’t know enough to be relevant.

Train hard, eat right, be happy… Dave

Shoulder shrugs or shoulder roll: What are they good for, if anything? This would be done with a barbell, dumbbell or Smith Machine. I see it done a lot and have been told that it is not healthy for the shoulders, and I have an older friend who does them all the time yet complains of shoulder pain.

Hefty up-and-down dumbbell shrugs work most safely and effectively to build the shoulder cage and trap muscles. The grip, forearms and biceps are substantially stimulated as well. I’d skip implementing the bars and the rotating (rolling) action as these put an unnatural demand on the rotator regions and contribute to their separation.

Four sets of 15, 12, 10 and 8 reps ascending the rack is a nice mix once a week, wherever they fit your schedule and urge. After arms or back or shoulders or legs… after tea… after the gorilla…

Pull hard and pull again… Dave

I began working out again at home with a bar, a bench and dumbbells after a huge layoff, ’bout 25 years! I’m experiencing elbow pain, mainly with curls and slightly with kickbacks and triceps extensions. Can’t do laterals at all without pain. Holding the weights for deadlifts and calf raises kills the elbows. Do have any advice for an old feller who loves to lift?

Elbows are under heavy stress: age and condition and inflammation due to overuse and overload and insufficient repair time. Additionally, training with limited equipment narrows down your choices of exercises to perform. Less variation, more redundancy and you’re pressed to practice unsuitable or disagreeable movements.

Sounds like tendonitis… so common and disheartening. You’ll have to follow the pain and work out the solution yourself — basic instinct and commonsense.

Rearrange your workouts so pressing and triceps work don’t interfere with one another. Don’t over-extend the elbow in either the lock-out or bent position.

Skip triceps kickbacks — troublesome.

Invest in a pair of elbow wraps that can be pulled on and off, snug and not-so-snug as needed. Helps me bigtime.

Take Aleve or other anti-inflammatory OTC medicine on tougher days. Ice if swelling is visible, or even maybe if not.

Try reverse or thumbs-up curls for painfree biceps action.

Expand your exercise repertoire by improvising or further equipment investments or a gym membership.

Provide a three-day weight-free rest each week.

Carry on the good fight, go… Godspeed… dd

I have a pinched nerve and my lower vertebrae are compressed from an injury. At a recent visit to my chiropractor, he told me to avoid the elliptical and stair master, and to avoid all back exercises… specifically to stop doing squats (one of my favorites). What exercises do you suggest?

Not good news… critical area and you don’t want to abuse or damage it further. Beware and be aware.

Did your DC take pictures to confirm his findings? I’m scheduled for an MRI of the lumbar for a similar problem, which is getting severe. For me, squats are out, but the leg press is no problem till I sort things out.

No major loss giving up the Stairmaster and the elliptical (tough on knees and hips); you can replace them with the stationary bike — practice intervals. Great stuff.

Squats and lunges might have to give way to the leg press, extensions and curls. You might carefully bring in hyperextensions for the lower back health and strength. Dunno about very light deads…

Can’t tell you how many favorites I’ve had to give up due to limitations from injury and age. The beat goes on; we improvise, we adjust, we find joy in the bountiful remnants. Growth comes from accidents, injuries and failure. Smile, you’re on a roll.

Go, girl… Godspeed… Dave

I have light pain in my right shin near the knee after squatting with a weight for 20 reps. I elevate my heels when I squat. Where am I going wrong? Is it OK to do few reps even after getting slight pain near the joints?

Your structure — femur and tibia length and upper body to lower body ratio — might preclude you from squatting healthfully with heels raised. The issue of raised heel squatting comes up from time to time because of an old photo of Arnold and me squatting that way. That practice was discontinued decades ago in my case.

Here’s a page where you’ll find a bit more discussion on squatting with raised heels.

Try flat-foot squatting, a preferred position for quad engagement — less knee-sheer. Always warm up and consider the practice of a lower-rep system (15, 12, 10, 8, 6).

Knee wraps might be in your future as heavier weight is loaded on your bar.

Proceed with caution. Pains come and go and travel about like vagabonds. Don’t feed ‘em and don’t mistreat ‘em. They often go away on their own.

Go… DD

I’m having shoulder pain lately. It could be tendinitis, but I’m not certain. Is this something to be concerned with? Should I rest it? Do you have any suggested workout or stretching routines for a shoulder problem?

Join the club. We struggle and strain and eventually get an injury for all our noble efforts. It ain’t fair.

I continue to train when pain rears its ugly head, working those muscle groups unaffected or least affected by the injury. This MO often assists in repair.

After warming up I work close to the pain and injured region to engage my own therapy. Most doctors can’t help till a real problem develops. They often suggest a layoff, water-boarding to a devoted nutsie lifter.

Do common sense warm-ups, light weights and so forth and go onward with bold caution… website full of info… look around. Here are a few links to get you started:

Handling weight training injuries

Tendinitis

Repair of shoulder injuries, part 1

Beware of heavy bench presses.

Go… Godspeed… DD