Anybody hypermobile here?

[Bucktown Beast]

How do yo do exercises to strengthen your joints?

Alot of it is stabilizing and isometric exercises. For instance if you were lying on a bench you would attach some weights to your anke and with keeping your leg completely straight, you would life them upwards to a certain degree. Or I use the cable pulley and lower it to the floor and put my foot through the loop..then I keep my leg straight and sort of sweep it from side to side...then I do the same by keeping my leg straight and lifting the cables upwards. Its sort of hard to explain,

Heres one pic...imagine if you had some weights hanging from your ankle.




And sitting leg extensions are horrible for your knee.

[Bucktown Beast]

I'll take whatever help I can get.
I think you're on to something with the planning extra rest idea. I get severely bad DOMS when I lift, lasting up to 5 days,

Sounds like we in the same boat dog...I get terrible DOMS and tried everything in the book to help it...hearing your testimonial I am definitely now thinking its related to hypermobility cuz if u look up hypermobility on Wikipedia, alot of related ailments come from it. It says that hypermobile joints cause extra muscle soreness because the body has to work double for the exercise because of the stretched ligaments.

I think I actually FINALLY learned how to best minimize my DOMS. Other than glutamine and protein, I am basically I am doing bout 65-70% of my max and doing no more than 5 reps per set. I used to do 8-10 reps and always be sore. Even if I did the same exercise for months!

Also on bench for instance, I don't bring the weights all the way down, nor do i push it all the way back up. The loose joints can't maintain a regular range of motion without doubling the stress on it. We really gotta find lots of workarounds cuz of it...to think just having loose joints can be such a *****!!

[Pork Chop]

You have that problem too?

If i keep my bench like an inch off my chest, i'm fine even for weight much higher than i would normally risk, but sometimes even weight as low as 10 pounds over my warm up weight and i'll lose it if i let it touch my chest.

I was doing dumbell presses instead for a long time & could dumbell press more than i could ever bench: the size of the dumbell preventing me from dropping it too low. Will probably go back to dumbell presses now that i think about it.

I'll try your recommendation on the weight percentages. Usually when i go back to the gym after time off, i start with my warm up weight and slowly work my way back up. Sometimes I get ridiculous soreness even from doing just the bar- like on lunges. When I lift I'm always thinking about how sore something will make me afterwards and not what i can max out at. Takes me at least a month or 2 to even consider going heavy on most exercises, on some exercises i'm never able to go heavy.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time with pullups. Even with a huge assist, it seems i have no strength at the top of the movement- that last inch or two so your chin can clear the bar. Forget about letting it touch my chest.

squats are probably my worst. on any kind of leg press sled, i can push 400 to 600. On squats I'm lucky if i can build up to 225, unless I do sumo squats because i have no sort of balance at the bottom of the motion.

deadlifts were always the easiest because i never had to worry about balance or losing the weight, so i was always able to put more into them.

I gotta get back on my glutamine if i start this new weight program.

[Bucktown Beast]

You have that problem too?

If i keep my bench like an inch off my chest, i'm fine even for weight much higher than i would normally risk, but sometimes even weight as low as 10 pounds over my warm up weight and i'll lose it if i let it touch my chest.

I was doing dumbell presses instead for a long time & could dumbell press more than i could ever bench: the size of the dumbell preventing me from dropping it too low. Will probably go back to dumbell presses now that i think about it.

I'll try your recommendation on the weight percentages. Usually when i go back to the gym after time off, i start with my warm up weight and slowly work my way back up. Sometimes I get ridiculous soreness even from doing just the bar- like on lunges. When I lift I'm always thinking about how sore something will make me afterwards and not what i can max out at. Takes me at least a month or 2 to even consider going heavy on most exercises, on some exercises i'm never able to go heavy.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time with pullups. Even with a huge assist, it seems i have no strength at the top of the movement- that last inch or two so your chin can clear the bar. Forget about letting it touch my chest.

squats are probably my worst. on any kind of leg press sled, i can push 400 to 600. On squats I'm lucky if i can build up to 225, unless I do sumo squats because i have no sort of balance at the bottom of the motion.

deadlifts were always the easiest because i never had to worry about balance or losing the weight, so i was always able to put more into them.

I gotta get back on my glutamine if i start this new weight program.

Yea man DOMS has been a huge problem of mine for years. I saw a rheumatologist and every single blood work test and hormone test etc, came up perfectly normal. Nobody could find a single thing wrong with me, I had to do my OWN research to find what may be causing my unreasonable soreness.

The thing is, I have absolutely no problem getting stronger or performing exercises...Its like I grow and gain strength almost instantly. I weigh 230 and can do more than 20 pullups, rack the weights on seated row and used to curl 95lb dumbbells for reps...The one thing that was lacking though was always my bench press, can only put up about 300.

I can do good weight with squats but not great, I don't try to push the knee issues. Hypermobility got my knees rusty and arthritic so I don't go too heavy too often.

Try lower reps...drink protein immediately after working out and also take glutamine immediately after your workout to buffer the lactic acid. Try joint strengthening exercises like the ones i mentioned.

[Pork Chop]

man eventhough we're about the same weight, your lifts are way higher than mine will ever be.

you curled more than i benched. haha
"only" benched 300? lol that's probably 100 over my alltime max.

i really think i just need to be more consistant and i'll start seeing serious strength. i'll do okay for a few months but drop off for long periods of time.

point taken on the protein and glutamine.

[Bucktown Beast]

man eventhough we're about the same weight,
you curled more than i benched. haha
"only" benched 300? lol that's probably 100 over my alltime max.

lol, aint mean to sound egotistical, 300 I guess is alot but I felt I always felt I had the size and musculature to be able to put up 3 plates. I haven't even benched heavy in like a year because of my shoulder, only do dumbbells and don't do alot. The most I'll go is 80s...I actually can probably only flat bench like 275 right now. But Ive scratched the super ego bench pressing thing. That exercise is so overrated its not funny.

Always had real strong biceps for some reason. That was the muscle that seemed to grow in size and strength limitlessly for me. My shoulder strength sucks, my chest is mediocre.

But genetics can also limit you...sounds like for you, you have to work harder than the next man to be average. Sometimes you gotta try to defy your DNA, theres ways to do it. I guarantee if you are willing to put the time and effort you can turn around some of your limitations my man.

[Pork Chop]

Appreciate the inspiration, thanks

Always thought I had pretty strong biceps even if my arms have always been sticks; but i was only curling 120 lbs at my best which is only a lil more than you do with one arm. haha

Consistancy's the key. I have no business comparing my numbers to you or any other real gym rat with my flakiness on lifting over the past 10 years. Gonna hit the gym for a good hour or 2 tonite and try to build up from ground zero.

[J-diz]

Double jointed fingers

So I have double jointed fingers, not elbows or knees or anywhere else. This gives me no grievance or pain when I am training apart from when I am holding the pads. Because I am holding my hands out flat and receiving all the power it’s pushing my fingers back from the second knuckle up. This can really start to hurt after a few rounds and they say to avoid sports that disrupt the joints - which isn’t an option.

Does anyone have any info or tips how I can help this? As I will need to hold pads at times.

Thanks in advance.