Six Ways Being Being Isn't All Good...

[bulkybud]

Two things happened this week with clothes.

First I got a mixed compliment on how well the new polo shirt fit me through the shoulders but the waist was really baggy. It was a XXXL. Time to do a little tailoring.

Then I got a nice compliment today on how I was bulking up at the gym, but when I got to work I had to change out of my favorite work t-shirt on casual Fridays because it was too tight and digging into my armpits. It was an XXL.

XXXL's are comfortable through the shoulders, but the necks and the waists are HUGE.

Clothing could become a major problem if I keep on this program for very long.

Bulkybud

[expandingMUSCLE]

This is a bit funny, and most of these are not really problems, but it is a real problem for me to sleep on my side anymore. I must sleep on my back, because my lats and delts are in the way when I try to sleep on my side. The chiropractor says this is better for my back anyway. Now however, I also notice sometimes that the gap between my lower back and the bed is increasing as my upper back and glutes thicken. My chiropractor said to roll a towel up and put it under my lower back. It isn't very comfortable. NEVERTHELESS, I love getting bigger and just want more. My waking hours are filled with chances to feel the mass and power of my muscles, which more than makes up for a little sleep trouble.

[JeffXeno]

Originally Posted by expandingMUSCLE

This is a bit funny, and most of these are not really problems, but it is a real problem for me to sleep on my side anymore. I must sleep on my back, because my lats and delts are in the way when I try to sleep on my side. The chiropractor says this is better for my back anyway. Now however, I also notice sometimes that the gap between my lower back and the bed is increasing as my upper back and glutes thicken. My chiropractor said to roll a towel up and put it under my lower back. It isn't very comfortable. NEVERTHELESS, I love getting bigger and just want more. My waking hours are filled with chances to feel the mass and power of my muscles, which more than makes up for a little sleep trouble.

Sound hot expandingMUSCLE, but I personally have trouble sleeping on my back. You might want to try one of those Tempur-pedic mattresses to see if it helps. I don't use one, but have thought that when it's time to replace my current mattress, I'll want to try one of these myself.

http://www.tempurpedic.com/tempur-pedic/Beds.asp

[Lucas88]

Originally Posted by expandingMUSCLE

This is a bit funny, and most of these are not really problems, but it is a real problem for me to sleep on my side anymore. I must sleep on my back, because my lats and delts are in the way when I try to sleep on my side. The chiropractor says this is better for my back anyway. Now however, I also notice sometimes that the gap between my lower back and the bed is increasing as my upper back and glutes thicken. My chiropractor said to roll a towel up and put it under my lower back. It isn't very comfortable. NEVERTHELESS, I love getting bigger and just want more. My waking hours are filled with chances to feel the mass and power of my muscles, which more than makes up for a little sleep trouble.

Actually, expandingMUSCLE, if you're not getting your recuperative rest or waking up with back aches, it can become a problem over time. My partner and I are both 6'4" and 6'5" respectively and both over 300# powerlifter/bodybuilders. The extremes of our proportions have been something we've both had to work through.

Sleeping on your back is the best but putting a decent sized pillow under your knees as opposed to under your lower back (which we've both tried) is preferrable for us...it rolls the hips and pelvis and takes some of the strain off the arching lower back. That being said, I tend to end up on my side most of the time. Because of the width of my shoulders, I'd wake up with miserable neck aches...the solution was sleeping with my arm up under one or two pillows and my head (NOTE: Keep the arm straightened beyond the 90-degree point so as not to strain/stretch the nerves running through the elbow...woke up with tingling fingers a lot because of that and the chiropractor figured that one out).

The arch of the side between the lats and the hips is another problem. I've tried pillows and that helped but eventually we found a foam pad similar to the Tempurpedic mattress (only $150 vs what you'll pay for for a full mattress) on the current mattress combined with a pillow or two is the best we've been able to do. You want your spine as straight as possible in the end.

I'm with you...the feel of thick, heavy muscle is MORE than addictive!

Good luck!

Lucas

[arpeejay]

Originally Posted by Lucas88

Actually, expandingMUSCLE, if you're not getting your recuperative rest or waking up with back aches, it can become a problem over time. My partner and I are both 6'4" and 6'5" respectively and both over 300# powerlifter/bodybuilders. The extremes of our proportions have been something we've both had to work through.

As usual:

Pix, dammit, pix!

I'm not very big (5'10 1/2, 220 lbs.) but big enough that sleeping on my side is a bit of a chore because (a) I need a couple of pillows to get my head to line up properly and (b) my shoulders tend to go numb.

Sleeping on my back isn't an option, thanks to sleep apnea. Even when I tried a CPAP machine for a while, sleeping on my back was still uncomfortable; I guess my upper back is thick enough that my lower back doesn't like it.

xoxo

Richard

[Mdlftr]

This is a great thread!
While not as big as most of you guys at 210#, I am on the tall end (6'3"). I find that sleeping on my side is the most likely position where I can be comfortable. Due to my wide shoulders, I sleep with 2 pillows under my head, plus a flat pillow in between my knees. Some nights I also wrap my arms around a pillow for the cushioning.

I try to bend my arms at an angle beyond 90 degrees if I am not hugging a pillow, since I also get tingling fingers if I sleep on my arm.

I have a Posturpedic with "Memory Foam" and I have to say that it IS comfortable. However, after sleeping on it for two years, my lower back has started to complain when I get up in the morning, so I flipped the mattress over to the firmer side and found some relief.

Asking around, I have concluded that the morning aches have to do with being (way) over 40. After a few stretches, however, "it gets better"!

My posturpedic cents...

Mdlftr

[rickdaddy]

http://tinypic.com/r/okbxfo/6
I blew out my crotch climbing into my coworkers jeep. I was kinda annoyed because they were my favorite jeans and when I went to the store to buy some Levis,I didnt realized how expensive they are now a days.

[WhoDunIt]

Yea, that can happen getting into a Jeep I just bought a new car so I wasn't driving mine on a daily basis any more (better mileage and a warranty helps there plus the Jeep is starting to show it's age mechanically too), so it just gets parked until it's needed for truck type activities. My Father and I took it to the hardware store the other day and he opened the door, went to get in the passenger seat, and then and remembered that the lowest point of the opening was more than a foot off the ground. I looked at him as I was walking up to him and the truck just as he said, "I forgot how far up that was."

[saab]

It's come to the point where I have to wear spandex or boxer briefs all the time. My legs have become so thick and hard that they rub together constantly. Made the mistake of wearing regular boxers on a day i did a lot of walking around. By the end of the day I could not walk regularly due to how raw the inside of my legs were. I don't know what's gonna happen when they grow a lot more.

[Lucas88]

Originally Posted by saab

It's come to the point where I have to wear spandex or boxer briefs all the time. My legs have become so thick and hard that they rub together constantly. Made the mistake of wearing regular boxers on a day i did a lot of walking around. By the end of the day I could not walk regularly due to how raw the inside of my legs were. I don't know what's gonna happen when they grow a lot more.

Under Armour LONG boxer briefs. While I really like the look and feel of the box-cut briefs, they don't come down far enough and tend to roll up over the thighs and turn into normal briefs = chafed inner thighs. The long cut come down far enough over that inner thigh curve to hold things in place. I've even found some Under Armour baggy gym shorts with the long boxer briefs "built in"...they're GREAT for the kind of walking I do (2-5 miles at least once a day).

[JeffXeno]

Originally Posted by Lucas88

Under Armour LONG boxer briefs. While I really like the look and feel of the box-cut briefs, they don't come down far enough and tend to roll up over the thighs and turn into normal briefs = chafed inner thighs. The long cut come down far enough over that inner thigh curve to hold things in place. I've even found some Under Armour baggy gym shorts with the long boxer briefs "built in"...they're GREAT for the kind of walking I do (2-5 miles at least once a day).

In my very best arpeejay voice, Pix, dammit, pix!

Jeff