Are Weak Men Allowed To Post Routines!?

[lifesnotfair]

Thanks for the comment AnimalCage!

I've been doing this crappy glute drills every single day. Bulgarian Split Squats are tough.

Today, just because I felt like it, I closed the #1.5 for about 3 consecutive singles (not reps, but no rest betwen closes, just re-setting it). So I grabbed the RB160 before I got burnt with the #1.5 (could've kept going with that one) and closed it too, with almost no rest from the #1.5 closes. The grippers are in a box and I wanted to try the #2 but grabbed the #2.5 instead, used a set like I used with the previous grippers (probably 30mm or more, wider than parallel) and got it to 5/16". I could hold it at that possition for a while though. So I rested, and tried again, same result... I would like to say 1/4" but I don't know, I'll say 5/16" for now. I remember missing this one by more distance even when I was inconsistently closing my #2 with a deep set, a long time ago. I feel I have stronger hands now.

My right thumb is hurt, I hit it a few days ago... after last sunday's blob session, I could feel it, although it doesn't hurt to flex it, I think I hurt an extensor. Today I did a couple of hammer curls and it hurt a bit. Sucks. I will still try to do my blob session next sunday though, and see if it bothers it.

I'm starting to get tired of all this "dumb" things I'm doing... but gotta keep them up. My right glute feels much weaker than my left one. To make sessions more brief, and to keep me sane and not quit, I'm thinking of doing more sets with my right than with my left, at least until it catches up. EVERYTHING glute-related is easier with my legt. Laying side leg lifts, bulgarian split squats, lunges... everything, really. I'm thinking of adding weight to the laying side leg lifts... for Bulgarians I'm using 23# per hand for 10 reps, with the back leg up in 7 wooden blocks, and 3 feet between my front foot and the blocks. It's TOUGH, really tough.

My left shoulder... that's another story. IT STILL HURTS. Even after that cortisone a couple of weeks ago. Doesn't hurt as bad as before it, but still does... so I haven't done a pull-up in ages... the most I've done is some push-ups with a plus (pushing the ground away as far as possible at the top). I think I will start some rehab on it anyways, I don't think stuff like external rotations hurt.

Can't wait till sunday. I like sundays because I do deadlifts and blobs...

[lifesnotfair]

07.03.2009

A fine day! After glute drills... for some reason, I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to try blobs.. I had to try them!! I have read about "firing your CNS" before grip workouts, so I kinda liked doing blobs after my deadlifting on sundays... so today I didn't have high hopes, BUT...

The 35# blob was lifted a LOT of times. Didn't count. No formal method.. just alternate lifts...

Sooo... I just had to try it, the beast, my 37.5# which feels so wide for my tiny hands!! I GOT IT!!! About three full deadlifts with my right hand. I gave it air with my left hand several times. Odd, my left hand always seemed stronger with blobs.. with this one, it was not the case. Wow, it feels good. Even with my hurting right thumb... (doesn't hurt to lift blobs though.. well, it kinda did at first when I lifted the 30#.. but then it was fine).

I then strict pressed it for 9 reps rightie, grip was the limiting factor, not shoulder, in getting 10 reps, heh. Didn't try leftie.

[lifesnotfair]

11.03.2009

Lots of hip warm-up. I will talk about hip in a moment.

DeadLifts (should've done these on sunday but got delayed... oh well).

115x5 x2 sets.

165x5, 215x5. DO grip.

265x8 - mixed grip. First 6 or 7 reps with just one breath in between.. I think the last rep or two had a couple of breaths before doing it, but no more than 2-3, so maybe 5 seconds between the last rep (or two). As the 8th rep was kinda hard (but not so much a grinder, but just felt hard) I wussed out and decided to leave it at 8.

Parallel-grip chins, about 8" appart on very thin bars: 10 reps.

Same set-up: 5 reps... wtf? Felt so tired! I think maybe I didn't rest enough. Fingers didn't like this thin bar at all.

Pull-ups on a thicker bar: 5, and felt SUPER hard. I was wasted.... first time doing chins in a loooong while. Focused on keeping shoulders sucked into the socket.

I just could not help it.... with just 3 days rest from them, I saw the blobs and had to try them. I didn't even start with the 30 and 32.5 this time.. went straight to the 35 and did many alternate lifts.

Then tried the 37.5 ... just one succesfull deadlift right handed, so I did worse than last time with this hand. Leftie, though, I gave it much more air than last time, raising it about a foot off the ground several times, and never letting it slip from my hand, in all my failed attempts I decide to lower it, but I never go all out until it slips from me, I kinda don't like to drop them.

I then decided I'd do 30 alternate reps on the 35, and got them, missing about 3 reps leftie. When I missed I didn't count it, but continued with the right, then left again, and so on. Re-chalked about twice.. this pumped my lower back! lol.

Then I strict pressed the 37.5 nine times rightie... went for the 10th but it was gonna fall so I didn't do it. This is very hard to do left handed, didn't try much because of the left shoulder though.

Cleaned the 32.5.

Tried tosses with the 30# and I cannot do it! Wow, you truly have to dominate a blob to be able to catch it in the air. Either that, or I was very wasted by now.

I tried to deadlift 2-35's with the help of my thumb+pinky of the other hand, and got a few lifts with each hand in this manner. I don't know how much my thumb+pinky could assist but I'm guessing not much, so maybe I'm not THAT far from this lift???? Nahh, who am I kidding. It felt super hard and slow though... once I'm repping them in this manner I'll try a negative or something.

Pegasus extension: 15 reps on whatever was loaded.

My right glute is very weak, I finally found out. I had been doing some glute drills, but recently have moved to more advanced progression, and I can very easily see my right glute is weak and causing all my problems in my right leg. Both the gluteus maximus, and gluteus medius, are MUCH weaker on the right side. Some exercises I've been incorporating lately have showed this very, very clearly. I gotta stick to them, I'm doing them daily. I wont get into detail.. but I'm hoping eventually it will help.

Right thumb still hurts, iced after training.

[lifesnotfair]

Still doing stuff not worth posting.

16.03.2009

This day I decided to up from 23 to 28 pound dumbells for some sets of the two most difficult exercises (for me) that I do for the glute issue, as I felt good with the 23# in the first set with my right leg. I did Bulgarian Split Squats, and single leg romanian deadlifts. In the SLRDL, it's funny how when doing them with my left leg, it doesn't even feel like I'm working out at all, so easy it's a joke, so I don't do as many sets as with my right. In the Bulgarians, I put my back foot in 7 wooden blocks, and I measure 3 feet (my own shoes) of distance between the blocks and the back of my front foot. This is incredibly hard with my right leg, but my left at least feels like it's doing something. I just don't wanna increase one leg more than the other so I'll keep the weights light until my right glute catches up.

In between these two exercises I did grippers, Right hand only as my left doesn't like grippers. My right thumb is injured after I hit it with something over a week ago, I'm beggining to think I might have broken something at the base of it (where the bone meets the wrist). I might go to the doctor to have an x-ray tomorrow. Anyways, it didn't bother me with grippers.

#1x5

#1.5x10 wide-ish reps, this is a PR, was planning to do 5 and knew this would take out from me if I wanted a heavy single.

RB160 x2 reps (PR also) and almost 3. Wide-ish reps. Going for that third took a lot of effort, I knew I would miss it, shouldn't have tried.

#2x0 - I felt it slipping, this one is covered in chalk and doesn't "stick" fine to my palm.. so I decided to try a gripper I always felt was harder than this #2, but has much better knurling:

BBMx0 - 1/8" miss at most. Best attempt ever I think, and the set was well over an inch wide.

Finished with a Filed #1.5 overcrush of about 5 seconds giving it all I have. I've never trained with OC's but I figured I should try this with the filed gripper because both the #2 and BBM felt like I could've held them at 1/8" for ever. The #2 attempt doesn't truly represent where I'm at, my performances with the Rb160 and BBM tell me I might be at my strongest ever at grippers... and I never touch them anymore, lol.

[lifesnotfair]

19.03.2009

My legs have felt soooo tired since that session 3 days ago, I must've hit them like never before somehow.

Today, for a change, I tried doing the exercises with a barbell.. well, the EZ bar is what I had where I'm at today. I loaded it to 66# but some plates are very rusty, it might weight less.. but hopefully it's more than the 28# dumbells per side I was using. I don't know if holding the bar like in a squat is any different than holding DB's.. but I did my sets of Bulgarian Split Squats and this KILLED me, I never felt so tired before. 2 sets leftie and 3 rightie, of 10 reps, mighty hard, but I did it, without falling or anything, so this is a sign of improvement! I used to have problems doing these unweighted with my right.

For the single leg RDL I held the ezbar normally, it was super hard with my right, but got it done.

Just wanted to post because this feels like an improvement, I'm focusing on form and not weight yet, I'm sure I could handle more weight in both but don't wanna push it too early. First I need my right leg/glute to catch up with my left.

[lifesnotfair]

20.03.2009

Blobs, left hand only: worked up to several reps with the 35#. Only gave little air to the 37.5#... not particulary strong today.

Grippers, right hand only: #1x5, #1.5x10 wide-ish reps (harder than last session), BBMx0 ... 3 attempts, held for 5 seconds each, at 1/8" or so. Then an OC of the filed #1.5 which I don't even think was closed!! Tough to close filed grippers from where I set them nowdays.

[lifesnotfair]

Yesterday I also did some push-ups with a little weight on my back (45# to be exact, but feels darn heavy to me). Just testing if it bothers the left shoulder, which is healing but still not 100%.

21.03.2009

Deadlifts: 115, 165, 215 all x5.

275x4 - wow... sucks.

275x1 - felt so hard I called it quits.

I might be losing weight, might be a reason. Legs have felt very tired lately because of all the stuff I've been doing for the glutes and hip flexors, could also be a reason.

Bulgarian split squats (back foot in 7 wooden blocks, 3 feet between that and front foot): 28# per hand, 3x10 rightie, 1x10 left. More weight next time.

Skipped the single leg RDL today.

Pull-ups, OH grip (thumb over) on a 2-3/8" bar (doesnt work the grip at all, fyi): 5 sets of 6. These didn't seem to bother the shoulder. Focused on keeping it sucked in.

Pegasus extension: 12-1/4# x15 tough reps.

[lifesnotfair]

24.03.2009

I don't know why or how I got it, but since yesterday I have a pain in my right hip flexor? The very top part, where it attaches to the bone. Odd, yesterday was a rest day for me??? Anywyas, today:

Regular warm-up, glute activation, hip flexor and all those drills.. this takes like 30 mins, I hate it but have been doing it a lot!

Bulgarian split squats, 7 wooden blocks, 3 feet distance: upped to 33# dumbells, got 10, 9, 9.5 reps rightie, 10, 10 leftie easily.

Single leg RDL: 3x10 right, 2x10 left. Easy left. Used same 33# dumbells.

I saw the RT and just for fun decided to give it a go....

Both hands: 70x6, 100x15! - this might be a PR, at least left handed. And it didn't feel like a max effort grip-wise, as I held the last rep for a good 3-4 seconds before deciding to put it down, I had more reps in me with both hands! The RT felt "sticky" today. I re-gripped every rep... lower back pumped like heck!

Right thumb still hurts... the ice and the cream I'm applying aint helping. I might try NSAIDs soon... it hurt during RT. And it sucks that I can't do my blobs!! Now that I finally like blob lifting, after owning those 4 blobs for over a year, I get an injured thumb! ARGH!@!#$%^&*(

Did contrast baths afterwards to help thumb.

[lifesnotfair]

26.03.2009

After all the hip drills....

Pull-ups: 5 sets of 6, 90 secs rest between sets. I don't let my shoulders get up to my ears now, keeping them tight at all times.

Push-ups with 2-25's on my back: 10, 10, 6. Tiring stuff. Weak core, I think it gave out before my upper body in that last set.

[lifesnotfair]

Ok, just an update.

After so many wasted time spent on glute drills, I was becoming depressed after not seeing progress in some exercises. One particular drill that makes me wanna cry is called the Cook Hip Lift. In this one you lay on your back, and to ENSURE you don't use your back to extend the hip, you bring one knee to your chest and hold it tight against your chest with your hands, and just squeeze the glute of the leg that's on the floor (knee bent of course, maybe 1-2 feet ahead of your butt? just the heel in contact with the floor)... In this one, I see a HUGE difference between right and left glute.

The second exercise that prooves the glutes aint firing correctly is the "Birddog". How do I know it? Because the lower back gets pumped/tired and the glutes don't!

Thanks to a member of the exrx.net forums (I signed up just to msg him) I got a tip I tried today. I tried Birddogs but I braced my abs hard... oh boy, the first muscle that fatighed was the abs themselves, and then, surprisingly, the darn glute!!! So I cannot lose hope now, it was like my first "good" session. I also realized my abs are weak, I did some tests I read about and they are weak indeed. Gotta work on them a bit more. I could not last even close to 2 minutes in a forearm Plank possition. Failing miserably at that test, and having the abs get fatigued so quickly while bracing them hard doing the Birddogs, tells me they're weak. But I see hope now, as this one particulary could help me fire that glute, and maybe eventually I will see progress in the Cook Hip Lift... the difference in right and left when doing this one is huge, and depresses me a bit everytime!!!

Gonna keep it up for a few more weeks with this newfound trick, and see what happens.

[lifesnotfair]

31.03.2009

Just updating. I haven't trained today yet.

I have realized several things in the past few days, and I shall work on it now:

#1) I was doing things WRONG. When doing the Birddog variation, I was getting a tired lower back! The "abs bracing" tip helped wonders, now I feel the burn in the glute... BUT, the abs start to burn first! That is because I have weak abs! That will be point #2, but before stating that one, I must also say that on my bulgarian split squats, I was also getting a tired lower back instead of glute! So I gotta check my ego and not use that much weight (if any at all) and focus on using the glutes. I think the ab-bracing might help in this one too, but I'm not sure, as the back leg kinda places the hip in extension?? So I may try "step ups" for the moment, on a high platform so I can have my non-working leg just straight down and I could make sure to brace the abs hard and not allow the lower back to help in the extension.

The more I learn anatomy the more sense my "condition" makes.

#2) I have a weak core. I can't last anywhere near 2 minutes in the Plank possition (forearms on the floor). I also cannot last 90 seconds in a side plank possition. I have, approximately, about 45 secs to go in the plank, and 30 to go in the side planks. I will do these timed planks and side planks everyday until I reach those goals. It seems if my abs are not strong enough, I will not be able to "hold the pelvis in place" when I brace them, and if my glutes (in my case, the right one only) is weak enough, then the lower back will try to compensate and will arch the pelvis, "beating" the force my abs would be making to keep the pelvis in that possition.

This "bracing the abs" while trying to use the glute has opened my eyes and now, instead of being "working on it" for a few weeks, I guess I truly started working on it about 3 days ago ever since finding out I was doing it wrong. Now I gotta keep at it for a few weeks and see if there will be any results... it sucks that I "wasted" a few weeks still working my lower back and not so much that darned glute.

On other news, a couple of days ago I did some DB rows up to 68#x10 each arm, and the next day my left shoulder wasn't very happy. It was just a test. I should stick to my plan, which originally was, to heal it first, then ONLY do re-hab of the rotator cuff specifically for a few weeks... but stubborn old me, I wanted to jump in right into heavy exercises.

On (yet) another news, I did 30 push-ups about 3 days ago, was happy to get that amount consecutively.

[lifesnotfair]

Still doing the crap I do.

I did RT leftie, cold with almost no warmup, 105# x10 reps. Only left hand. Also lifted the 35# blob to see if I could still do it, only leftie.

Edit: Just noticed I haven't mentioned I got injected in my right thumb extensor. It hurt, receiving the shot right in the tendon, which is kinda hard. Thumb was unusable for nearly 3 days. Today I'm using it a bit more, but still the thought of training with it gives me the creeps or whatever it's called. Goosebumps maybe. This is why only did a little bit of grip left handed.

Edited April 5, 2009 by Arturo

[lifesnotfair]

Still doing the glute crap, and I am finally seeing results now. I think it's because I've been doing them more correctly lately. I wish I would have known since the beggining, argh. But it is at least a little motivating to see some kind of result.

Monday, after all the glute stuff I decided to do a little workout... I had not done a workout for time in many weeks! I chose a short and easy one:

50 burpees - 5:40 or so. Slow.. pushups on my fists though, nursing my right wrist. Clap overhead on the jump, and with a good jump, no pansy jump.

I am also seeing improvement in my planks. Ever since I saw on a webpage that 2 minutes in the regular forearm plank, and 90 seconds on the side plank is what divides a "weak core" from a decent one, I'm doing one set of all 3 planks when I do this glute stuff, to failure. I think I'm close to 75 seconds on the side ones, and close to 90 on the front one. A week ago I was at maybe 45 on the side and 60 on the front so it's coming along. I feel like such a girl, doing planks...

Right thumb has recovered from the cortisone shot very fine. I still have not trained it and will not for a few more days. Just been doing stuff to increase blood flow, a bit of dexterity balls and stuff. I'm dying to do RT and blobs And I cannot wait to deadlift!

I think soon I will at least get back to pistols. Now that I know more about how the body functions, I am well aware of my flaws, of why some muscle groups got more tired than others, and why some stuff happened while doing these. I did a few yesterday for the first time in a long while and they felt very good. I think the increased strength in the glute med. now prevents my knee from going inwards. And now that I'm relearning how to fire the right glute max I think it'll feel much easier to get out of the hole. I now know why Pistols used to be the ONLY exercise to give me soreness in the glutes, NOTHING else did it, and I know why now: it's because pistols, with the front leg straight ahead, flexes the pelvis and and it is definitely pure glute strength that gets you out of the hole. As I raise I usually lower that leg, so maybe I should try to keep it parallel to the floor throughout the whole movement to use more glute. My lowerback used to get tired if I did many pistols!! Ridiculous!! .. and it was always my lower back tired on squats, deads, lunges, bulgarian squats.. every movement in which it could help with added lumbar extension. Maybe if I would have focused on "bracing the abs hard" in these movements, the low back would have been taken out of the movement, but with my weak core, who knows, maybe I wouldn't have been strong enough to keep it out of the movements... that's why I'm doing the girlish planks and stuff :P Ok I wrote too much already.

[lifesnotfair]

Have not skipped a day of "training", if you can call all the hip drills and the little core stuff I do, training. Still, I have done a lot of things in this weekend, not having to work friday or saturday...

Friday I spent all day doing pull-ups, N-pull-ups and even L-pullups (these last ones in sets of 2 reps, sometimes 1). All pronated grip, maybe a couple of sets of neutral grip, no chin-ups.. but throughout the day I must've done at least 100. My abs hurt quite a bit the day after (yesterday), and still just a bit sore today.

Yesterday I climbed a very high incline of maybe like 125 meters with my wife on my shoulders. Walking, not for time, but without stopping. Tough. I then walked a similar incline all alone and felt hard coz I didn't rest. But less than a minute later, my older sister got over my shoulders (she's not like my wife at all, she must be like 130-ish at least) and I walked the last of the inclines, maybe 100 meters, without stopping. Breathing heavily towards the top. This last incline is the one I used to run down and up for time 10 times, I don't remember my PR, it was like 15 minutes or 16?? I haven't done it in a while since I got a little case of plantar fasciitis and all that downhill sprinting gave me a little left knee pain for a little while (went away quickly after I stopped).

Anyways, today I reached a couple of goals, doing both Side Planks for 90 seconds. However, on the regular front plank on my forearms I lasted 82 seconds! What? Worse than two days ago when I reached 90 secs. I think, however, that the sore abs from all the L-pullups affected this.

Later today I walked by my RT loaded to 105 and got 5 reps before it felt slippery.

I've been doing band external rotations throughout the day for the past 3 days, in hope of fixing my left shoulder. I thought the other day, that the only reason my right shoulder is so much more stable than the left, is coz I played tennis and ping pong a lot... doing a lot of external rotation. But never with the left arm. So I'm trying to strengthen those muscles.

That's it, nothing too great.

[lifesnotfair]

I was at a playground with my son today and did 5 sets of pull-ups with several minutes rest between them. I like that bar because I can do pull-ups with my legs fully extended... I guess I was used to having to bend the knees in my power rack to do them. I did 10, 10, 10, 8, 6. The first of 10 felt pretty easy! Nice. Overhand grip in all sets, maybe 6 inches between hands only, because of the pipe, can't go much wider. Thick pipe, but I used thumb-over so it didn't tax the grip at all. This pumped my arms quite a bit, I wonder why the lats don't feel pumped?

Got home and did 20 push-ups on my fists and about 5 minutes of stretching. So today was a "day off" I would say, since I didn't do anything else really. I did a couple of external rotations with the bands.. my mid back feels kinda sore from doing this a lot.

[Magnus]

Haha, I guess you're not bored when you go to the playground

[lifesnotfair]

Haha, I guess you're not bored when you go to the playground

Well I used to be chasing my boy around, watching that he didnt trip or something, but now (2 years and 4 months) he does stuff alone, even plays with some other kids... so I can do a few pull-ups

15.04.2009

Deadlifts: 115, 165, 215 and 255 all x5. Lower back a bit sore today.

Darn injuries have been preventing me from training the way I want to for too long now.

[lifesnotfair]

I think I havent mentioned it in here, but I have an injured right wrist... same hand where the thumb was injured and needed a cortisone shot a couple of weeks ago. Thumb feels great now, but hand isn't totally recovered, that is why I've been kinda nursing it. If I have to lay on the floor I use my fists instead of my hand, and so on. I remember having a bad left wrist late last year and by avoiding any pressing movements and doing push-ups only on my fists, it eventually got fixed. This right wrist is getting better, slowly, but getting better. Also my plantar fasciitis is much better, I think gone or almost completely gone. I have not tried to sprint in a LONG while because of this, but I'm dying to!!! I may need to begin stretching the calves and toes daily to avoid getting that thing again, it was very painful at first when I got up in the morning.

I also advanced to level 7 of the Barefoot Science insoles. I hope they have helped. I'm thinking of buying some Vivo shoes to wear to work so I can be "barefoot" all the time, I cant go to work in Vibrams. I am thinking, once the pain is 100% gone, about trying to go barefoot at ALL times (or as close as possible, wearing Vivo's or Vibrams depending on the ocation) and see if this strengthens my feet some more. My right foot feels a bit more stable nowdays, it could be the insoles have worked, it could be I've gained strength in the gluteus medius by doing many band side-steps I do with the hip stuff.

Anyways, today I rode a bike with 3 friends. Only one of them, who rides regulary, is a bit better than me.. the others, one did 1 lap, other did 2 laps. The one who rides and me did 3 laps and were not that gassed. I got gassed at a certain uphill that's very inclined, but I got up without having to walk with the bike by my side (which I saw a few people doing). So it's kinda good to know I'm not that unfit. First time riding a bike in AGES. I think I will buy one to make it a habit to ride sometimes, after all, they are not that expensive and last a looong time usually.

Another thing: my right glute has been a bit sore since the day I deadlifted. Although the numbers sucked that day, I might have hit like never before, because the left one wasn't sore at all! Odd. I gotta keep that up. Today I'm gonna skip all that though, because of the bike riding. I did stretch about 5 mins before taking a shower (back, hip flexors and calves).

What is scaring me is my left shoulder. It is STILL bothering me. I have not lifted real weights since November 29th with this arm.. almost 5 months!! My goodness.... I think I'll go to the Doctor on monday and ask him. Maybe I ought to have surgery, after all, the one in my right arm went very very well, I was working out 7 weeks after surgery, and with my insurance it cost like an equivalent of US$50 dollars + the therapy (therapy was maybe US$200 total for 10 days, then I kept on my own at home). I am seriously considering it. All I have is a scar, but I don't care!! I'd rather have 20 of those scars around my body if I could workout like I really want to!!! ARGH!^&%@*&%^(#*&%

[lifesnotfair]

It's been too long since I did a workout for time, I missed it, so I said screw it and went for this:

5 strict pull-ups

10 fist push-ups

15 air squats

9 rounds + 5 pull-ups + 2 push-up in 20 minutes.

Sucks, I know, I've lost both strength and endurance I think. Although the squat endurance is better, the upper body strength just aint there. I had to do most sets of pushups with TWO rest breaks between them!! And it was just 10!! Being on the fists didn't help though, I can do less that way. The pull-ups started to feel incredibly hard as I fatigued too. Oh well.

[lifesnotfair]

I'm gonna eat how I should eat now. Which is more, and better food choices. Been at it for 3 days now and already feel better. I wake up energetic, instead of wanting to stay in bed forever.

Today (20.04.2009) was unusually early, so I decided to do a bit of hip drills in the morning to get that out of the way for the day... I didn't do as many things as I usually do, but most of it. The highlight, and a shock to me, was the front forearm plank. I lasted 2:25 beating my previous best by 55 (WTF?) seconds. This came as a shock, but it makes sense. The last few times I did it, I was progressing slowly, about 90 seconds was my tops. Then one day I did L-pullups throughout the day and had sore abs the next few days, and my performance actually dropped, reaching barely 75 seconds... now, I hadn't tried in a couple of days. Yesterday I did that workout but it didn't seem to tax me that much and I didn't do the planks in the warmup or anything. Today, from the beggining, it felt comfortable... I started to kinda shake and I check the watch, and cannot believe m eyes at 2:12.. kept at it for a little more and I think I stopped at 2:25 or so, which is 145 seconds, reaching my goal of over 2 minutes. I didn't try the side planks but maybe I should have. At least in those I already reached my goals of 90 seconds but maybe I'll crush my previous best now with a couple of day's rest?

Quads sore, probably from the squats, although they were by far the easiest exercise yesterday, all sets unbroken. Pecs, shoulders and triceps sore too.

I ordered a bike today! http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-Timber-Mount...281&sr=1-66

With a seat, an air pump, and a cage for a water bottle. In total: $260 with free shipping. I will try to make it a habit to ride at least once a week, probably on weekends. I HATE cardio and I don't do any cardio, BUT, bike-riding is outdoors, it's different everytime, and I do it with friends, it's kindof a social activity. I truly enjoyed riding a bike last saturday, even though I had to use a friend's very, very crappy bike (he uses a very expensive one which he let me try for one lap, felt awesome). I was on a budget so I chose this one, it seems to be a good brand (I know nothing about bikes) and had pretty good reviews.

[lifesnotfair]

21.04.2009

I assembled my Glute-Ham Developer from New York Barbells today. It is something I can take advantage of despite my injuries... it should help strengthen the hip, both front and back, I reckon. Today I wanted to do a workout for time on it though, I found an old one in the CF site that was: 7 rounds for time of 21 hip extensions and 21 presses with 75#. I don't wanna press overhead, so I replaced that with:

7 rounds for time of:

21 hip extensions (arms crossed over chest)

15 fist push-ups

Time: 18:30. I felt like dying, seriously, despite resting a ton in the latter sets. Most hip exts. were 14+7. The first few push-up sets had one minibreak, the second half had 2 breaks, and the last set took forever with four breaks (6+3+3+3).

I think I may be using more glute now... I remember in my old setup (bench across hip flexors with back of ankles anchored with the power rack) I used to feel the burn mostly in the lower back. Today I didn't feel it there. I tried to squeeze my glute to get up.

It might be important to note that in the "warmup" (already all sweaty after screwing all those bolts and stuff) I tried to do a glute ham raise and I got it, without that much struggle actually. It is adjustable, though, and I do not know if I had the feet anchoring pads too close or too far. I will search for guidance on recommended distances tomorrow. I shall also notice what I worked the most tomorrow, judging by where the sorness will be located, heh heh.

I'm gonna use this a lot. Maybe to do single leg hyperextensions, glute-ham raises, and I'm gonna slowly build the glute-ham sit-ups going all the way down. I did (literally) 2 or 3 today, because I haven't done them in ages. I've heard too many stories of people getting rhabdo from them, so I wont use them in a timed workout for a while. Will just do 10 or so with my daily drills and slowly increase the ammount. I remember the soreness these could give me (in my other setup, bench across buttocks with ankles anchored in power rack). It feels much more comfortable now though, the padding is great, I like the equipment quite a bit.

[Magnus]

...I HATE cardio and I don't do any cardio...

Join the club, bro

I actually decided today to start riding my bike again, too. At least it's the most enjoyable form of cardio.

[lifesnotfair]

Amazon delivered my bike to my freight forwarder, hopefully I'll have it soon, I wanted it by saturday but I don't know...

Yesterday I did some hip drills, about 4 sets of 6 reps of GHD sit-ups (easying into them).. and at the park with my son I did quite a few easy sets of 5 pull-ups, don't know how many though... maybe 6.

23.04.2009

Some hip drills, and 3 sets of 10 sit-ups in the GHD machine, as today I had absolutely no soreness from yesterday. It should be noted my hamstrings are extremely sore from the hip extensions 2 days ago. Lower back a bit too, but hams much more.

Then I went for this workout, I scaled a CF one:

70 air squats

2 "Muscle Up Replacement" (below I will explain)

55 air squats

4 "Muscle Up Replacement" (below I will explain)

40 air squats

6 "Muscle Up Replacement" (below I will explain)

25 air squats

8 "Muscle Up Replacement" (below I will explain)

10 air squats

Time: 16:00 give or take a few seconds.

First of all, I failed to do what I had set myself to do, which was this, but after those 10 air squats I had to finish with 10 of my Replacement exercise, but I was too darn tired . You see, the original workout calls for muscle ups, but I cannot do those, so I just set-up a towell and for every muscle up I was supossed to do, I did 2 strict towell chin-ups and 3 fist push-ups. I had to do the 2 chins 3 push-ups, and stand up and repeat it for every rep. It was becoming really, really hard by the end. So I wussed out and quit, because the set of 6 seemed very long and the set of 8 seemed to take forever. But looking back, I should've done them even if it would've added some 5 minutes (or more) to the final time. I was seriously out of breath.

I originally wanted to do 200 air squats (which I did) total and 30 of these replacements, but only got 20. The towel grip is a killer (had not used it in months), and combined with the fist push-ups they were tiring my fingers quite a bit. The biggest set of squats was 45 at the beggining, which I stopped because I didn't wanna go to complete failure. After that, I think the most I got was 25 or 20... needed many breaks on all sets, but I tried to rest as little as possible. Needless to say, my quads are very pumped and it's hard to walk right now.

[lifesnotfair]

26.04.2009

Two full days of rest. I may have needed them, my thighs have been trashed ever since all those air squats.

Deadlifts: 115x8, 165x8, 205x3, 255x1 - wow, it felt so incredibly hard that I quit. I don't know, maybe it's the recent change in diet and the fact that I'm losing weight.... anyways:

Chin-ups on a tree branch, V-shaped: BWx3, +25x3, +50x3, +60x2, +70x1, +75xfail. First time doing weighted chins since November.

On other news, my hamstrings, which had been dead since that workout with tons of hip extensions, are not sore anymore. I think it's good that the soreness was equal on both of them. I think I will be using my GHD a lot in the weeks to come.

[lifesnotfair]

28.04.2009

I have horrible luck.

Today, I devised a plan to rehab/strengthen all my weaknesses. I wrote down a good plan, it includes hip drills, stuff in my GHD, glute-specific drills and a little bit of core, calf drills (will explain why), foot drills, and wrist drills (basic flexion and extension using the pegasus). Trying to keep high reps on everything and gradually increase. Today it took about 70 mins but that included some experimenting. I figure it'll take 1 hour tops tomorrow and the other days, we'll see. Calf raises because I finally figured out I got plantar fasciitis months ago from hill sprints and downhill sprints. I used to think that I worked my calves enough with some rope jumping here and there, but the rope jump never trains the full ROM, you never go below parallel! And you don't train with the knee bent which hits a different muscle than leg straight. So I improvised a setup for seated calf raises, and standing calf raises too. My plan is so strengthen the feet (I do two more exercises, one for dorsiflexion of the foot, and one balancing on one foot, lifting the big toe for reps, then lifting the other toes for reps while keeping the toe down.. sounds crappy but it "feels" very effective already!). After strengthening my feet for a couple of weeks I'll try going barefoot (Vibrams) at all times and see what that does for me. But this workout was good, that's not my bad luck.

After work I went with my wife, son, and two naphews to a club nearby. While my wife watched the kids in the playground, I went to shoot some hoops with a brand new basketball I bought (US$11 more or less). Immediately some guys in the court next to it asked me if I wanted to play; they obviously didn't know I had not played in YEARS (literally) and I told them, but they seemed a bit younger than me and just wanted to play, so I joined and played 3on3 on one side of the court only. Another guy showed up so we did 4on4 using full court... man, that is EXHAUSTING. When I was fat, I absolutely hated playing full court, I remember this distinctively. But I held my own, I scored some points and did a good defense. When I got home I stretched those calves quite a bit and iced my whole feet, up to over the ankle, in iced water for 15 mins. I can't afford aggravating plantar fasciitis. But this isn't why I have horrible luck either, it all went fine... except for my left shoulder a little irritated. I had planned to shoot some hoops with my 10yr old naphew, but he want to the playground instead, and I couldn't take it light since I was playing for real and not just shooting some hoops.

At home, I was gonna steam some asparragus, zucchini and cook an ~8oz hamburguer for dinner. The white asparragus (my wife couldn't find green ones) had a white band to hold them together. I grabbed one and did finger extensions, about 80 reps each hand. Now I thing I strained a muscle in the top of my forearm, about halfway through (from wrist to top of elbow). It hurts a ton when I massage it, and when I stretch the wrist extensors, but I'm doing those two. My goodness... some of us are just so prone to injury, I cannot believe this. F**king asparragus. Or dumb me. I just hope I wake up tomorrow without a new injury bothering me.