Are Weak Men Allowed To Post Routines!?

[lifesnotfair]

30.07.2009

Shoulder rehab twice. Using 5# for most movements. Used 10# for overhead shrugs, and 32# for regular shrugs. Red theraband will not be used tomorrow, gotta try the next one. 8# for some movements too. And did push-ups on my knees with my hands on an elevated surface (maybe a foot), so they're even easier than just on the knees... I got 15 reps but it bothered me a bit. We shall see how they feel tomorrow and saturday. I've been pushing myself really hard, maybe I should rest both sat. and sun. and see how I'm doing monday... after all, even on monday it wont even be 4 weeks post-op (that's next tuesday to be exact, heh).

After this, I wanted to do a tabata box jumps, but wanted to push myself harder. I usually get 15 reps, with the ocational 16 in some rounds... so I told my wife to not even tell me when my time was up! I would just start each interval and do 17 consecutive reps, no matter how much it takes me, and start the next interval 30 secs. after I started the first. I managed to finish it and got all 8 rounds of 17 reps with no breaks. I thought it would be taking me 21-22 seconds each time, and therefore I would've been resting 8-9 seconds between intervals, but my wife told me I would always finish at 20 seconds exactly. What a surprise. Next time it's 18 reps in all rounds... it sounds like it's just a little harder but the extra rep also means less resting time (which already is very little time, 10 secs!).. we'll see.

[lifesnotfair]

31.07.2009

Shoulder rehab just once. Used blue theraband for the first time. Upped to 6-1/4 pounds for most movements. Used 10# for one I do laying on my side, 15# for OH shrugs, 46# for regular shrugs...

In between I was fooling around and did some pistols, did 5 each leg, then holding a 20# plate, then holding a 30# plate got 5 each leg as well. Then curled 60x8 which felt hard (oh my gosh!!), but maybe 'cause it bothered my left shoulder a bit and I was trying to kinda use my right arm more... so I didn't curl anymore. I can't wait to be totally recovered.

[lifesnotfair]

01.08 and 02.08 were both rest. Two days rest for the shoulder ... hoping to start strong on monday the 3rd. Oh, I did some push presses, got 92#x5 right hand only, on 01.08.2009.

03.08.2009 - Shoulder rehab. I was in a bad mood, started a metcon and quit 3 minutes in.

04.08.2009 - Shoulder rehab. Used more weight for some movements now, and did some regular push-ups on my feet (and fists).

[lifesnotfair]

05.08.2009 - complete rest. I hammered that shoulder hard the previous two days.

06.08.2009

Shoulder rehab. Using more weight now. Empty Db handle for front raises and bent over rear delt flyes, also for laying external rotation. 15.5# for laying side raise to 45* with a pause. 25.5# for OH shrug (20 reps here). And blue band for other stuff. Was doing some hip extensions and abs in between just to break a sweat (ended up very sweaty, hah). Also did 2 sets of 5 fist push-ups, without that much pain.

Tomorrow I'm going to a beach resort with my wife, until sunday, so 2 nights (but almost 3 days). I will do my best trying not eat as if I were gonna die the minute after each meal.

In other news, I set-up my rings yesterday just to test them, they are awesome, I did just 3-4 reps of body rows, and tried a push-up, and despite them being quite high above the ground, the push-up was incredibly hard and made my pecs a bit sore for the rest of today, and I'm still feeling it a bit today.. and I only did like 3 reps. (It's been a long while since I trained pressing motions to be honest). It felt so unstable, it was unbelievable. I really need it. I also realized I never ever do anything for my rear delt... so it's not just some RC muscles I need to address, but the rear delt seems to be used in motions which I never perform! Hence I've done some flyes with a DB and will make them a regular after I get back. I'm gonna turn my shoulders into shoulders of steel, I've got a plan!

[lifesnotfair]

My log is gonna be boring for the next 4 weeks (yes, even MORE than lately!!) but I'll write some stuff in here just so I don't forget it, as I am indeed following a little plan that consists of rehab-prehab movements and some other stuff.

10.08.2009

Long warm-up with mobility and feet stuff (hitting the feet really hard lately):

Pistols: 3 sets of 10, resting 1 min between legs.

Hamstring raise, from parallel, 3 sets of 5, 2 mins rest between sets.

No upper body movements.

11.08.2009

Long warm-up with mobility and feet stuff (hitting the feet really hard lately)

Ring rows: 3x8 with 1.5 min rest, tougher than expected.

Ring push-ups: 3x10 using the same height as in the rows. I am pathetic! My hands were WAY higherthan my feet, and this was still brutal to perform.

The next I'll just write to remember the weights, but wont be specific as to sets, reps, rest, etc.

Cuban press with 10, 16, 22.

L-side raise and press with 7.5 per hand.

Laying side raise with empty DB handle.

Band ext. rotation with doubled blue band, standing with feet inside the rhomboid next to where it's attached.

OH shrugs felt heavy and awkward, will omit next time, and will do:

Shrug with arms front raised at about 120 degrees from one another, did 10# and felt hard.

Rear delt flyes with 10# felt ridiculous, lowered to 6.25# and even then felt somewhat hard!

[lifesnotfair]

12.08.2009 rest.

13.08.2009

I jogged home from work, in Vibrams and jeans, and there was light rain on top of that. Cool.

Pistols: 3 sets of 10 each leg, 1 min rest between sets and between legs.

Glute Ham Raises: 3x5 ... seems my glute is weak as I find it hard to keep a straight body from knees to shoulders.

[lifesnotfair]

14.08.2009

Ring push-ups: 3x10. In the 2nd and 3rd set my feet were higher than previously. In the third set I had to pause between 9th and 10th rep, tough stuff. Resting 90 seconds only.

Ring rows: 3x8, I've gotten quite weak!

Cuban presses: 3x8 @ 16, 20, 26 lbs with 1 min rest.

L-side raise plus rotation: 1x10 @ 10lbs.

Laying side raise with 2s pause: 2x12 @ DB+1.25#, supersetted with

Blue band external rotation: 1x9 @ feet too far, 1x12 @ feet in the middle of the rhomboid on the floor. Killer.

Shrug after side raising 30 degrees in front, 2x10 @ 10lbs. Tough!

Bent over rear delt flyes: 2x10 @ 7.5lbs.

[lifesnotfair]

15.08.2009

Hill sprints, 3 attemps at some distance, all in 12.x seconds.

Hill sprints using just one leg: 3 attempts each leg, they varied, faster was 13.x seconds (almost 14). Less distance!

[lifesnotfair]

17.08.2009

Ring push-ups, 3x10, still tough but I should lower the rings at least a bit more next time, maybe two inches.

Ring Rows: 3x8, the last few reps of each set still feel tough.

Cuban presses: 3x8 @ 20, 26, 30 lbs with 1 min rest. Starting to feel quite heavy.

L-side raise plus rotation: 1x10 @ 11.25lbs per hand.

Laying side raise with 2s pause: 2x12 @ DB+1.25#, supersetted with

Blue band external rotation: 1x12 @ outer foot in the middle of the rhomboid on the floor. Killer.

Shrug after side raising 30 degrees in front, 2x10 @ 10lbs. Used same weight as last session as it felt so tough last time. Still tough but a bit better.

Bent over rear delt flyes, thumbs pointing down: 2x10 @ 8.75lbs.

I think I will actually raise the rings a little bit, and use a chair under my feet. If I lower them and keep using the floor for my feet, they'll be too low to perform the inverted rows.

[lifesnotfair]

18.08.2009

Warm-up, included 20+ double unders, first time jumping rope in ages. Could get over 20 straight, didn't try again as it was just part of the warm-up with other stuff. Oddly enough, I tried single leg hyper-extensions on the GHD, and after these, some reverse lunges I do for warm-up felt so much better than usual... I'm gonna do single leg extensions like that more often now.

Pistols:

3 sets of 13 each leg. 1 minute rest between legs. You might think that with a total of probably 2.5 minutes rest between legs this would be easy, but it's not, a set on one side makes me breathe quite heavily! I thought I had done 12 reps last time, that's why I chose 13 today. I just found out I had done 10 last time?? Dang. Anyways, 14 next time for sure.

1 leg hip extensions on the GHD.. I did a few holds of 10 seconds and then 10 reps. Just starting with these, seeing what I can do and stuff. I need to strengthen my glutes more, they're not strong enough as my hip flexes a bit when doing GHRaises. Or I might do those single leg hyperextensions as they seemed to activate my glute so nicely.

[lifesnotfair]

19.08.2009

Played tennis, no workouts.

20.08.2009

Ring push-ups, 3x10, rings about 2" lower than last time. Filmed second set, looks good.

Ring Rows: 3x8, felt easier than last times.

Cuban presses: 3x8 @ 22, 26, 32 lbs with 1 min rest.

L-side raise plus rotation: 1x10 @ 12.5lbs per hand. This was hard on the fingers as I used a 10 and a 2.5#.

Laying side raise with 2s pause: 2x12 @ DB+2.5#, supersetted with

Blue band external rotation with 2s pause: 1x12 @ outer foot in the middle of the rhomboid on the floor. Still a Killer.

Shrug after side raising 30 degrees in front, 2x12 @ 10lbs. 2 more reps per set than last time.

Bent over rear delt flyes, thumbs pointing down: 2x10 @ 10lbs. Feels tough!!

[lifesnotfair]

I haven't posted because what I've been doing is boring.

I think on 21.08 I just warm-ed up, stretched, and might have done some single leg glute stuff, but nothing heavy and no pistols. It seems I rested two days in a row then?

24.08.2009

Ring push-ups, 3x10. Lowered the rings some more for each set!

Ring Rows: 3x10, felt good despite being closer to the ground. I have to grab the ring at the top, with the strap between my middle and ring finger, to stay above the ground.

Cuban presses: 3x8 @ 26, 32, 36 lbs with 1 min rest.

L-side raise plus rotation: 1x10 @ 12.5lbs per hand. Hard!

Laying side raise with 2s pause: 2x12 @ DB+2.5#, supersetted with

Blue band external rotation with 2s pause: 1x12 @ outer foot in the middle of the rhomboid on the floor. Still a Killer. That pause makes it burn a lot.

Shrug after side raising 30 degrees in front, 2x12 @ 10lbs. 2 more reps per set than last time, although last reps of 2nd set were shaky.

Bent over rear delt flyes, thumbs pointing down: 2x10 @ 10lbs. Feels tough!!

Overall feeling good. The slow cuban presses are getting really heavy, to the point where I was making faces in that last set. The 1 minute rest doesn't help, heh. Feeling a bit stronger on the ring push-ups, and I'm lowering them each workout.. today I actually lowered them twice or so. Also a bit stronger on the ring rows. Tomorrow it will be 7 weeks post surgery. Maybe soon I can start pushing myself a bit harder. I miss workouts for time, those are truly benefitial but it sucks when you have to limit it to certain body parts, full body is the best.

[lifesnotfair]

25.08.2009

I have not done a timed workout in a looong time, I miss them, and they are truly effective.

150 alternate pistols for time.

Total time: 8:42. Apparently the last time I did this was in january (!!), and I was a whole 1:03 slower back then. Nice improvement I guess.

I cannot wait to do full body workouts for time. Today it's been exactly 7 weeks post surgery, shoulder is feeling quite good and in yesterday's ring push-ups session I felt almost nothing. During the other RC exercises I'm doing, it's as strong as the right shoulder, or so it would seem! And pretty much pain free. So I might do a timed workout soon. I haven't done a pull-up in over 7 weeks, it feels strange, I miss them....

I went and had accupuncture in my right wrist today. It's been bothering me for looooong now. I had a session on friday as well. I'm resting it, except for the ring push-ups but even those don't affect it that much, and they're the only pressing I'm doing, and good for the shoulder stability I think. Need to heal this dang wrist.

[lifesnotfair]

26.08.2009

Decided to stop acting like a girl and do something that felt like a workout again! It's been a long while... I invented this one:

10 rounds for time of:

5 box jumps, 4th step of a stair.

5 ring push-ups, hands at a higher level than feet.

5 ring rows, grabbing the rings from the top part (strap between middle and index fingers, heh).

Total time: 14:55.

Turned out to be quite exhausting. The one muscle that was burning was, surprisingly, ABS!!! Wow, I must have very weak abs.

The box jump was tough, they were slow, several breathes between each rep, and I stepped down with 4 backward steps, carefully, heh. I was afraid of failing on each of them. It's not only a bit high, but far away since they're steps. Didn't want to hit the shin bone or anything. Luckily I didn't miss one, but they were slow and took forever. The push-ups were all consecutive, I guess because they were only 5. The ring rows were harder than the push-ups! I lowered the rings a little bit before the workout. I think I will up them next time I train on them, so I can do rows grabbing them from the bottom, and just use a chair to up my feet on the push-ups.

I must note this workout was done with very sore glutes and quads. The pistols from yesterday did this. I've said this before, about a million times, and keep saying it... I should never stop doing pistols, they are truly the only exercise that work my glutes and in which the hamstring doesn't seem to help much, because they're not sore at all. With pretty much every hip extension exercise (single leg jumps, single leg hip extensions, sprinting, etc) I have a sore right hamstring the next day (probably due to overworking because of a weak right glute). I will keep doing pistols. And I've noticed I've gotten a bit better at the single leg RDL (weightless, though)... a bit more balance on that right leg. So I might start doing them with weight soon as they feel so easy weightless.

[lifesnotfair]

27.08.2009 complete rest.

28.08.2009

Cuban presses: 3x8 @ 30, 36, 36 lbs with 1 min rest.

L-side raise plus rotation: 1x10 @ 12.5lbs per hand. Hard!

Laying side raise with 2s pause: 2x12 @ DB+2.5#, supersetted with

Blue band external rotation with 2s pause: 1x12 @ outer foot in the middle of the rhomboid on the floor. Still a Killer. That pause makes it burn a lot.

Shrug after side raising 30 degrees in front, 2x12 @ 10lbs. Last reps of 2nd set were shaky.

Bent over rear delt flyes, thumbs pointing down: 2x10 @ 10lbs. Tough.

Quite a bit of foot stuff... but funnily enough, no sorness today. Wearing VFF's all day for the past month must be doing some good.

[lifesnotfair]

29.08.2009

5 rounds for time of:

12 alternate pistols

21 hip extensions, arms crossed behind head

Time: 7:30 I think. Butt and low back burning a good bit. All hip extension sets except first one had one break in the middle. I must also add that my quads are still sore from the last workout with pistols.

I pushed the button twice on the stopwatch and could not see the exact time, but saw it at 7 minutes and something. Two months ago I did this with 10 and 20 reps and got 8:05, so today with more reps and less time is cool I guess. Thought of including an upper body movement in the workout but decided to let my shoulder rest, only did 10 push-ups on my fists during the warm-up as I've been doing lately.

[lifesnotfair]

30.08.2009

Some DB rows, feeling weak. First time in ages.

Chin-ups, two sets of 5... same as above.

Push-ups on fists with feet elevated, 8, 8, 6... tougher than I thought.

Felt weak today. Also started a wrist strengthening exercise to see if I get rid of a pain that wont go away. Luckily it's just one exercise and doesnt hurt at all, so: great!

[lifesnotfair]

31.08.2009

A bit bummed because of my right wrist, I went to the doc.. I didn't think it was my wrist extensor main tendon because, from parallel, it didn't hurt to try and extend it. But when he bent my wrist (flexed completely) and told me to try and extend it from there against his resistance, my goodness, it hurt like heck! To him it was obvious, what it was, and he injected cortisone. I put my wrist brace back on and now hopeully it will heal nicely. I know the shot was effective because right after it I tried the same movement and it didn't hurt at all, it worked like magic.. BUT, I wont use this wrist for at least a week or so just to make sure it heals fine.

I stretched most of the body, and did some single leg balancing, single leg calf raises and single leg RDL's. That was it for today.

Shoulder is feeling great. Tomorrow it'll be 8 weeks post surgery, feels great for such a short time. Supossedly it's 3-4 months until full strength is back.

[lifesnotfair]

01.09.2009

Ran home from work at noon.

Time: 8:40.

Done in VFF's. Besides lungs, only muscle to feel fatigued was ABS!! Dang weak abs. It's on the streets so it has ups and downs and stuff, but not with high degrees. Wearing jeans too, which probably didn't help. I think I measured it with my car and it's like 1.3 miles, but I'm not sure. I felt dead at the end though, running is a huge weakness of mine.

After getting home I did shoulder strengthening only on the left side:

Cuban rotations plus press: DB, DB+2.5, DB+2.5 all x8 with 1 min rest.

L-side raise with cuban rotation at the top: DB+10.

Laying side raise with 2s hold: DB+2.5, 2x12, supersetted with:

Blue band external rotation with 2s hold: 2x12.

Lateral raise 30 degrees in front with a shrug: DB, 2x10.

Bent over rear delt flyes, thumbs pointing down: DBx10, DB+2.5x10.

[lifesnotfair]

02.09.2009

Couldn't think of a good workout. I didn't wanna jump or run since I ran a bit over a mile yesterday in VFF's in concrete and asphalt, so I want my feet to rest a bit. I can't do upper body since I took that cortisone shot in my wrist on monday and am wearing a brace for 10 days. I just did the one exercise I like to do, and can be done everywhere, and did it in Tabata style, I had never done it before:

Tabata alternate pistols:

10 reps in all 8 rounds.

Not as hard as I thought. Since I can't go very fast I didn't hit muscular failure in any set. If I had done one side in the first set, and then the other side in the next set, I would've trashed these muscles for sure and probably end up with much lower numbers towards the end. Still, 80 alternate pistols in 4 miuntes (3:50 actually) is not that bad, seems to go in accordance with the 150 pistols in 8:42 I did about a week ago. Left it at that on this day, so a light day for sure.

[lifesnotfair]

03.09.2009 - complete rest.

04.09.2009

Been a bit angry lately because my shoulder feels good but I cannot train full body because of the dang right wrist. Did this workout I found with almost no warmup and only about an hour after binging on bananas and mangoes.

4 rounds for time of:

1 minute forearms plank

1 minute forearm right side plank

1 minute forearm left side plank

1 minute forearms plank

1 minute rest

No extra resting besides the 1 minute between rounds. The toughest was the 2nd minute. Muscular fatigue kicked in but not the heavy breathing. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a good one.

[lifesnotfair]

05.09.2009

Left arm only:

Cuban rotations plus press: DB, DB+2.5, DB+5 all x8 with 1 min rest.

L-side raise with cuban rotation at the top: DB+2.5 x10. (last workout was DBx10 but typed wrong)

Laying side raise with 2s hold: DB+2.5, 2x12, supersetted with:

Blue band external rotation with 2s hold: 2x12. This has finally started to feel more doable.

Skipped the other two exercises. Maybe next time I can do both arms, for the moment I'm nursing that right wrist.

Then I did this:

5 rounds for time of:

25 hip extensions, arms crossed behind head

60 reverse bycicle abs, torso statically raised as in the top possition of a crunch, hands by sides of head, counting on same side only.

Time: 10:06.

About 5 or 6 weeks ago I got about 10 seconds faster, but I did regular bycicle abs.. the reverse ones are much more taxing. Also, of importance to me is that the first 4 hip extension sets were unbroken, and that time I took a break in all but the first set.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Arturo

[lifesnotfair]

06.09.2009

4 hill sprints, with exactly 5 minutes rest between efforts. The first two runs were about 22 seconds, the other two 23 seconds. After each run I felt nausea, this was a KILLER workout even if it sounds so simple. 5 minutes didn't seem to allow me to recover at all, not even close to full recovery. The hill is very inclined, and the last bit is the most inclined bit, incredibly hard to finish without walking that last part. Legs were so dead after each run, that going downhill while resting in preparation for the next set became a very tough task.

[lifesnotfair]

07.09.2009 - my birthday, I'm 26 now... so old. No training. The previous night I almost drank myself to death with some rum from Guatemala.

08.09.2009

Today it's been 9 weeks since surgery. Left arm only:

Cuban rotations plus press: DB+2.5, DB+5, DB+6.25 all x8 with 1 min rest.

L-side raise with cuban rotation at the top: DB+3.75 x10 (very hard)

Laying side raise with 2s hold: DB+3.75, 2x12 (decided to finally add weight), supersetted with:

Blue band external rotation with 2s hold: 2x12. Still hard but without extra rest between reps.

Then I did this. For time:

42 alternate pistols

21 box jumps

30 alternate pistols

15 box jumps

18 alternate pistols

9 box jumps

Total time: 9:37. The height I was jumping must be at least 30 inches, but I gotta check to be sure.

In other news, I took off my wrist brace before this workout (right wrist), and don't think I'll be wearing it again. I had that cortisone shot 8 days ago and the wrist feels great now. I will just start strengthening it with mild exercises tomorrow. I will still not workout with it. I will use the rice bucket method, inserting the fist and doing circles in both directions. Gotta prevent any future injuries. But I'm pretty close to being 100% injury free which is a great thing. The left shoulder is feeling strong and in about 3 weeks or so I will start doing Turkish Get-ups. I will be out of the country for about 18 days starting next friday, so more time for my body to recover. But I'll train until friday, without using my right wrist, in any way I can.

[lifesnotfair]

09.09.2009

Decided to use my hand today, but in nothing that was wrist demanding. It is also the first time I do pull-ups in a workout in over two months.

10 rounds for time of:

3 N-pull-ups on rings

6 walking lunges, 33# dumbell in each hand.

Time: 7:36.

I did the original workout almost a year ago, with 25# DB's but 10 walking lunges and 5 n-pull-ups. Since today was my first time chinning I decided to cut it short and make it a faster workout. My rings are set-up too wide, I can tell you that much. As I pulled up I think the grip turned neutral or even palms facing me. I tried hard not to let my shoulder girdle move upward, but by keeping my shoulders tight like that, I think I didn't reach elbow extensions at the bottom of the ROM, in any reps.

Wrist circles in rice bucket: 2x15 in both directions.