Petey might be able to better answer this since its his major but personally I would not stretch it because that seemed to aggravate my shoulder injuries in the past. Ice and heat alternating and rest are what made my recovery shorter.

I think you're supposed to ice it for the first 24 hours and altrenate ice and heat after that. don't stretch it out yet either.

thats funny because i just did that same thing on monday haha. ive already had a bunch of shoulder problems and the best thing for a messed up should is rubber band exercises, ice, then heat. mine wasnt to bad so i just stopped working out shoulders for the rest of the day. the next day was back and bis and i feel like when i do those workouts they actually help my shoulder by giving it a little bit of work but nothing major and it doesnt slow down your back and bi workouts.

I think the same thing happened to me awhile back. Did it feel like the shoulder popped out alittle? If it did see a chiropractor about it, could be ligament damage or the like, but air on the side of caution.
To relieve the stress on ye shoulder, press the weight like yer shooting it up at a 15 degree angle instead of straight up if yer using a bar. With dumbells make sure to stop the DB at yer ear level. With both though lighten the load until yer 100%...but I would definitely see a doctor or something.

I'll start this one off:

Chevelle
Saliva
Linkin Park
Hed P.E.
50 Cent
Lil Wayne
Kanye West
Seether
Gorilla Zoe
Yung Dro
Eminem
Puddle of Mudd
Five Finger Death Punch
Drowning Pool
Limp Bizkit

These are just a few that grace my play list, but on a regular basis it's a safe bet that these are going to be on there.

-AP

Like your list. Eminem's one of my favorite to listen to pumping iron. I'd also add

Tech N9ne
Kanye West
Hollywood Undead
The Game
Body Head Bangers- Can't be Touched

here are some of my favorites:
rocky 4 soundtrack
def leppard
skid row- 18 and life
ac dc- thunderstruck
nazareth- now your messin with a SOB
ac dc- hells bells

mostly any kind of hard rock

Excellent playlists. I usually dont lift with music because my cord always gets caught on something but I do my cardio with my Zune (until it broke last month).
For cardio I like club hip-hop with DJ khaled and t-pain bring up the top of my energizing and motivating run songs. What kind of headphones or earbuds do you guys use??

I couldn't even post my list, as nobody here would recognize anything on there.

all that remains
as i lay dying
comeback kid
rise against
afi
lamb of god
the transplants
beastie boys
lil wayne
rancid
parkway drive
blink 182
incubus
streetlight manifesto
darkest hour
311
foo fighters
dropkick murphys

thats just what comes to mind but i listen to a lot of stuff and anything fast gets me going if im going for a heavy lift.

Hearts on Fire:John Cafferty
Assassin: Muse
Your're gonna go far kid: The Offspring
Without You: Hinder
Get Psycho: Disturbed

I use Nike Skylon headphones. They're great because of the long, athletic friendly cord, good sound with surprisingly decent bass, plus the adjustable earhook help them stay in your ears.

Raptor, if you're having trouble with the headphones getting pulled out, try running the cord on the inside of your shirt rather on the outside. That way it's less likely to catch on weights or machines.

-AP

there are some that are squishy and fit pretty well, and won't come out easily. I run it through my shirt also to my pocket. I have the newer ipod it's really light and feels like nothing is in your pocket because of the shape.

There's some pretty cool nike shirts that are out now that have a hole where your cord can run that keep it in place while you're lifting.

I use a pair of skull candy ear buds that I got at best buy.

They seem to be fine while I'm lifting, they move a bit when I'm running, but I've gotten used to pushing them in every few minutes.

Since no one liked my answer about the playlist, here's a few of the guys I listen to:

Markus Schultz
Marcus Schossow
Marco V
SVD
Jaytech

I like to bring a variety since I sometimes get stuck in a rut and need something new to get me out of it.

Chevelle is probably my favorite. Also enjoy Rush. Really depends on the day and my mood. Too many to name.

I listen to pretty only hardcore music when I workout. A lot of these bands I listen I don't think may of you have heard of them but you my have.
As I Lay Dying
August Burns Red
War Of Ages.
Devil Wears Prada
For Today
Sleeping Giant
A Plea For Purging
The Showdown
Haste The Day
Demon Hunter
The Ascendicate
The Crimson Armada
Those are just a few of the many bands I listen to when I workout.

Slayer, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, System of a Down, Rammstein...heavy and fast stuff that gets me going. I kinda wanna be ***ed off alittle cuz the anger focuses me some...yeah sounds korny but it works.

Bullet for my valentine
as i lay dieing
korn
saliva
MUDVAYNE!
god smack
sick puppies
avenged sevenfold
rise against
hollywood undead
eminem
any sort of like, mad in your face rap

Yeah, you all have some pretty good playlists.

-AP

Two Words:

KILLSWITCH Engage

The 4 week programs are a good idea. They allow your body to adjust to your new workout by the 4th week and then you mix it up on the 5th week.
These workouts are great but can sometimes be discouraging when starting a new program all over again and you feel like your not making progress.
Legs are usually worked a few reps less than upper body exercises. You wouldnt want to do as many deadlift reps as you do curls...

Another thing to take into account is your goal at the moment. For example, if you are trying to retain muscle during a cut, you aren't going to have as much gas in the tank to do more weight so you might have to do more of a hypertrophy style lifting circuit. However, everyone responds differently. You may respond great to only a slight tweak in your lifting routine, meanwhile your friend has to redo his entire workout. Knowledge comes from experience.

-AP

Sorry that probably should have been under diet and nutrition, sorry guys but like I said, if anyone has any input or ideas for me, I would love to hear them. Thanks!

a good way to gain lean mass with minimum fat stores is to have a more strict diet and eat according to the time of day. get 30-40g of protein every meal. Also, eat about every 3 hrs, 5-6 meals a day, maybe more. In the first few meals of the day, eat lots of good carbohydrates. Oatmeal, whole wheat products, fiber/granola bars, things that will give u energy that lasts throughout the day. Its kind of like carb loading. stay away for junk, white bread, and simple carbs.

Try to keep simple carbs to a minimum in general, the exception being post workout. simple sugars SPIKE your insulin and will shuttle your post-workout protein shake to your muscles better.

The last few meals of the day should be mostly meat, chicken, tuna, protein shakes, cottage cheese, eggs, and things like that. also some good fats like peanut butter and omega 3 Fish Oils are important in any diet for bulking up. fats are not necessarily a bad thing. stay away from trans fat though for sure, or anything fried.

Also, a weight gainer shake can be incorporated to your diet, but id go with a good protein powder like Optimum 100% when or their Pro Complex instead if your looking to be more cut.

Also do cardio a few days a week. It helps your blood flow better in general, and burns off fat. distance running, hiit, swimming, jump roping, and stairs. any other questions feel free to ask.

Thanks bro, I have a metabolism problem though. I can drink a weight gainer and lose like 3 pounds its crazy. I do want to throw cardio in the mix but I always get too skinny fast, I mean how long should you do cardio? Is running a good cardio or would you go with a bike or stair climer? And what kind of distance without burning off too much fat? Sorry all the questions but I'm clueless when it comes to anything about cardio training.

Keep in mind that a lot, not all, of those massive yet cut guys have done some PH's or real gear. Don't get me wrong, not all of them are, but just reminding you of this.

-AP

For cardio, as like any exercise, don't let your body get used to it. maybe use the stationary bike for a week or so, then run for a week, or mix it up over all. inclining a treadmill even 10 degrees is really hard, or better yet is running hills outside. look into Hiit training as well. try to get a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight everyday. Is your goal more to bulk up or to get cut? or to do both at the same time

Not too much bulk but I'm 6'1 and I'm 167 pounds right now. My goal is 185 pounds but have a really good definition and cut. So I guess both but I'm not trying to gain too much weight more so definition while keeping my weight up.

Like I was saying in your last Q, I would really recommend you stay away from anything but a good diet and exercise program at your age. At 14 bro, I would say eat right, and start hitting the weights a little so you look good for the honeys. I recommended creatine and protein for you earlier, but just to keep you away from other things you really dont need right now. Protein and creatine wont hurt you, and I think if you already have your mind made up to get supplements, those would be the best way for you to achieve results.

no supplement just all the sudden will make you bench more. your 14, if you just learn a good bench workout you will start going up little by little and when you hit a growth spurt you will shoot up weight even quicker. also, you dont gain fat from benching, you gain mass, gaining mass goes hand in hand with benching and i dont think you will be benching enough to make you huge and out of proportion yet so dont worry. i would actually suggest a protein supplement for you to take. it will help you in every workout at your age.

do HIIT training in the morning is a great idea. It will ramp up your metabolism for most of the day and you will burn all of that stored energy called fat in your body. Make sure you do the HIIT before breakfast so you burn adipose tissue instead of carbs.

HIIT is great first thing in the morning for increasing metabolism, but don't forget your compound lifts!!! Full body lifts such as squats and deadlifts trigger the release of HGH.

-AP

also make sure you eat every three hours at least so your metabolism doesn't slow down, even if its only a light snack

i do close grip chest and dumbells on monday and then i do widegrip on thursday and incline. the close grip works out your chest but not enough to kill it and by thursday you are 100% and good to go. i do back tuesday and friday but again i do a somewhat lighter day on tuesday and kill it on friday. do work!

so your saying 2-3 days would be enough rest for each body part before training again?

3 days yea, for example, my schedule is as follows.
mon- chest and shoulders
tue- back and bis
wed- legs and abs
thu- chest and tris
fri- back and bis
saturday- cardio and abs
sunday- rest

alrgiht thanks man

i think it my have been the kettle bells that are bothering it turn your workout around and do those last see if you get any further without it giving out on you you may have stressed or torn that mid delt and it will continue to give you problems untill it heals completely lots of stretching even some massaging will help instead of just icing it give yourself an ice massage but if you are going to do any resistance training with it do light weight delt raises front and side slow and steady you need to focus on the muscles surround that one and drop your weights down so that you dont initiate your delt as a secondary power source. chech out and compare both of your delts if that muscle is harder or softer that the opposite one there is deffinately some tissue damage

mon- chest & shoulders
tue- back & bis
wednesday- legs & abs
thursday- chest & tris
friday- back and bis
saturday- cardio or rest
sunday- rest

that program seems like there isnt enough shoulders and tris but it depends how you do your chest workouts. on mondays i do close grip bench and decline which incorporates almost as much tri as your chest. on thursdays i do wide grip bench and incline which has a lot of shoulder involvement.

i have had a rotator cuff problem in my right shoulder and i popped out my left and it was messed up for a little while too. i didnt train my for close to a month. i didnt bench either. i used my rubber band thing i got from physical therapy every morning for 30 mins doing all kinds of shoulder exercises. you have to strengthen all the tendons and ligaments back up and doin that worked great. when i started lifting again i started light doing more reps and that lasted less than a month and i started heavy lifting again. if you messed up your rotator cuff i would recommend never doing behind the head shoulder presses and sometimes not even military presses. dumbells let the shoulders have a more free motion and puts less stress on the joint. so my advice is get a physical therapy band and stop weight training shoulders or if you dont want to do that do less weight with a lot of reps until it feels really good. if anything starts to hurt stop doing it.

OK, first things first. Ive read some of your previous Q's so I know youve got it together as far as multi's, fitness programs, and supplementation and diet. All I would add is a joint support supp, preferably BioAstin, if you can get it. Its legit, but hard to find. Its an antioxidant and anti inflammatory thats 53X more powerful than Vit E. It REALLY helped with my shoulder. I have also tried USPLabs Supercissus RX, thats a winner too. And lastly, for maintenance on my shoulder, wrist, and forearm, I found a workout "toy" called Dynaflex. Sports Authority and VS both have it, its $20 and really helped me also.

i used to work in a physical therapy clinic as a technician so if you can give me a few more details i may be able to help you out or get you pointed in the right direction such as what happens when it fails is it just done for the rest of the day? does it hurt when this happens? is there any popping or discomfort? is there anyinflamation and how often does it happen and how long has it been happening?

and i usaly work out forearms and abs on monday wensday and friday

you need to let your muscles rest 2 days example if you do bicep on monday you need to do it again on thursday rest a least two days not one and the legs workout i recommend to do it alone because is a large muscle..
mi scheudle si like this..

monday: back tricep shoulders
tue: chest and bicep
wed: legs
thur: same as monday
fri: same as tuesday
sat: same as wednesday
sun: off

this way i give my muscles to rest 2 to 3 days and the abs try to train your upper abs one day lower another day and obliques on a different day

thanx

you should only due too Muscle Groups a day. for example-
mon- chest & shoulders
tue- back & bis
wednesday- legs & abs
thursday- chest & tris
friday- back and bis
saturday- cardio or rest
sunday- rest

that program seems like there isnt enough shoulders and tris but it depends how you do your chest workouts. on mondays i do close grip bench and decline which incorporates almost as much tri as your chest. on thursdays i do wide grip bench and incline which has a lot of shoulder involvement. you should give something like that a shot because right now you are over-training which will have a negative effect on your gains in the gym. if you want more info let me know.

It is pretty hard to isolate an area like that. Your best bet is to work the lower leg as a whole.

-AP

if you want to be cut and still get stronger you need to do more reps but still add on wieght to each lift. i would stay start a weight you can do 15 reps of but not enough weight to tire you out, then add 10 pounds and do 12 reps, 10 pounds and 10 reps, 10 pounds 8 reps 10 pounds and 6 reps. after that i would suggest 4 sets of dumbell presses and you can do the same thing as the bench routine, adding weight and subtracting reps. you are going to want to keep your rest periods short, no more than 3 minutes. on another bench day you can do these workouts on incline and decline benches too. in between your dumbell presses i would suggest doing some pec flies or cable cross overs, it has a better effect on sculpting the chest because your chest is already burning up. for things like curls and skull crushers, i still say high reps and you can add weight then subtract reps with those workouts as well, but really concentrate on form with bi and tri workouts, you want to feel those muscles working and peaking. good luck.

o and i missed your question about number of sets. i usually spend at least an hour on chest, i dont really do sets for chest i just do 1 big routine kinda but for things like bis a tris i do 3 sets of 3 different workouts. bis for example,on tuesdays i do 3 sets of 21's, 3 sets preachers, and 3 sets of concentrations. i change up the type of workouts i do but i always shoot for 3 sets of 3 workouts. i spend at least a half hour to 40 minutes on bis and the same amount of time on tris. on chest i spend at least an hour if not more. try to workout 2 Muscle Groups a day as well, anymore than that and you arent giving enough attention to every muscle and it gives you less recovery time. let me know if this helped and if you got anymore questions ill try my best.

How do you mean your lifts were higher?? Sorry I need more information.

Also, what size bottle did you finish?? 60 or 120 pills??

at 15 years old, it would be hard to tell if creatine adds much weight onto anything you do. at your age if you find a good weight training program, you should consistantly gain until you reach your bodies natural peak. once you get up to your peak or a "plateau" is when adding things such as creatines and proteins and all types of supplements are needed to help break through a plateau, although a change of a workout that is just as good as the previous can help too. There is no reason for lifts to go down on any supplement, the only way lifts really can go down is after a cycle of prohormones or steroids or if you just dont feel like going to the gym on some days when you should have been. lifts should either remain the same, "plateua" or eventually go up. let me know if you think its your training rather than the creatine and if you need help with a new program ill help you.

Okay, the bottle was 120caps. Since may or so,my max bench press has gone up dramatically,but for the last 4 weeks while on k.a, my max bench hasn't gone up at all. It's been 205 for the last 4 weeks,and before I was I was on k.a, it has been going up at least 10 lbs. A month. I apologize for my unclear question that I asked.

Ok, so it wasn't that your lifts were higher, it was that you were still on an increase.

Listen to Jaycon. You've hit a plateau, you need to change your routine. You can't keep doing the same exercises over a full 8~10 week period and always expect increases. Eventually you were going to hit that plateau.

Now, you need to change things up. If you're measuring bench in flat bar bench, switch to barbell press, or move to a machine. Doing the movement in a new and different way will exercise new muscles, and allow your "regular" bench muscles to rest.

Rest is really important, and the best way to give a specific set of muscles rest, is just like taking supplements, cycling the types of movements that you're working on.

But in no way did your weight go down on your lifts, which is what the question made it sound like.

okay, i apologize for the bit of conFusion. your guys answers helped me a lot. thankyou

Get mass, not necessarily totally lean, then cut.

There are more supplements that gear your body towards putting on weight, and mass products like Mass XXX & Pro Complex weight gainer do a great job of adding bulk to your frame.

Then to cut down from that, it becomes easy, you just keep up your routine, but cut the weight gainers from your diet, and your body all of the sudden has a deficiency, so it burns all the excess energy it has stored, causing you to cut.

Gaining extremely lean muscle is very difficult to do. You have to really have your diet dialed into your specific BMR's and then just go slightly above that. It takes way more discipline & can go wrong by not adding enough nutrients, causing muscle waste rather than lean muscle gain.

It is easier to gain lean mass once you have cut weight. If you are 15%bf or greater I would suggest you do a cut before you do a bulk because a bulk at 15% bodyfat will yield more adipose tissue gains than if you bulked at 7% bodyfat.
If you do a bulk before you cut, you will see alot of your newly formed muscle mass dwindle more quickly than if you did you cut first.

think of a bodybuilder. in the offseason, they do whatever they can to get as big as they can, then come showtime they cut down and are looking lean and cut. in your profile it says you want to be a bodybuilder so find what weight class you want to compete in, get as big as you can, and cut to that weight class. a pretty basic cut is around 15 lbs but ppl with a really good cut routine can cut 30lbs. if this sounds crazy to you or something, talk to some wrestlers or mma guys and they should know some stuff on a good cutting routine.

jaycon, it is true that the pro bodybuilders do bulk/cut cycles, but remember that they also have 'help'.

-AP

it sounds like scoliosis to me if your doctor didnt say that, but scoliosis is a pretty common thing now. i have a bunch of friends with it and it shouldnt affect you too much unless its severe which yours is not. it is possible that playing baseball and pitching your whole life affected your growth but its not really a bad thing. ive played hockey all my life and and im a lefty and my left pec is bigger than my right. my advice is, in the gym, make sure you workout your body evenly and you should be good.

If you're dropping only fat and not muscle, you will maintain your strength. Just make sure not to cut your calories too low.

-AP

That's interesting, I always heard you should go the other way.

Set of 12-15 first, set of 8-10, then set of 4-6. Increasing the weight as you go.

I know everyone has their own philosophy, but I had just read that going up in weight and down in reps was the correct way.

In my opinion, Benching is a bit overrated, but doing different chest exercises and changing it up plays a big role in not hitting a plateau. If you always work out the same way, you're body gets used to it, makes an adaptation, and you hit a plateau. You don't even have to bench to get in a good chest exercise. try different routines and mix in flies, push ups, different dumbbell presses, decline, incline, dips, just mix it up overall.

I usually do drop sets when i do bench, 10-8-6 or 8-6-4, adding weight each time.

www.muscleandstrength.com has a large variety of exercises for every part of your body, and i find it interesting. Check it out!

if u bench twice a week like i do, then on ur first bench day do all close grip bench press and dumbells and on ur next bench day u could do ur usual workout but i would say do a lot of incline as well and u will breakthrough ur plateua in less than month.

yea u should definately start light with more reps then go heavy with low reps and it will maximize ur workout results too. im a fan of pyramiding myself.

i have done p90x for the 90 days. i experienced great results. i gained a good amount of muscle and got really cut. just make sure you have a solid diet plan, and stick with it! just because u dont see results in a week doesnt mean u wont at all. do the 90 days, your body will go through a complete transformation.
goodluck-

I am starting my first week on the p90x, and I workout in the morning and do their workout after work and coincidently its usually the same body part. But i have been really sore and either from my supps or the 2 workouts or just this one i have noticed some size and have been really sore. So it works out the muscles really well and targets the harder muscles to workout. just do what he says, like with posture and things and i think you will see great results. Also i am on their diet if that helps. But I was on their diet without their exercise program for about a week before i started, so in about two weeks i have lost 17 lbs, i also take cuts but i think their workout contributes lots to my results. Hope this helped.