Are Weak Men Allowed To Post Routines!?

[lifesnotfair]

01.05.2009

My bike is assembled and ready to be ridden. I am probably not gonna use it today though, although the weather is good (it's incredibly hot in here), hopefully tomorrow wont rain or something.

I skipped the little wrist work I had planned to do daily for two days, today I did it and feels fine. That muscle on top of the forearm is still a bit tender but nowhere near the level it was 3 days ago when I hurt it with the rubber band. I have been doing my crappy daily drills which take me about an hour, but are not worth posting. Although it's a lot of total work, doesn't feel like a true workout.

[lifesnotfair]

03.05.2009

Five rounds, EACH for time, with exactly 3 minutes rest between them, of:

20 kipping chin-ups (on a tree, v-shaped)

20 push-ups on my fists

20 sit-ups (feet unanchored, legs straight)

20 air squats

3:09, 3:08, 3:33, 4:07, 4:20.

I screwed up this as the original workout calls for 20, 30, 40 and 50 respectively. The sit-ups and squats were all unbroken, I had a lot of problems with the push-ups, I'm stinking at those lately. Maybe being on the fists doesn't help too. Oh, I had to walk up some stairs from the tree to where I was doing the rest of the movements, which took maybe 10 seconds and tired me a bit more, heh. Tore a big hole in each palm because of the darned tree.

[lifesnotfair]

05.05.2009

After a long warm-up, five rounds for time of:

20 GHD-sit-ups (only down to parallel)

15 hip extensions

Time: 9:17.

I was performing full GHD sit-ups with the arm swing and explosive locking of the knees and it gave me a strange low back pain. Maybe I was doing them wrong or the setting of the GHD isn't what it's supossed to be, I need to film myself and review it. So today I just lowered myself to parallel, with the knees locked all the time. These feel as hard if not harder than the full ones, because the stop at parallel is really hard and you don't build any momentum to go up. These were much tougher than the hip extensions which were straight through in all sets actually. Not easy though, hamstrings really felt these. I tried to "squeeze the glutes" to begin each rep but it seems my hammies do most of the work? Hrm... darn. I did some glute activation drills beforehand as always. Been doing some rotator cuff work and the shoulder is feeling much better! That is some good news. And I even did an upper body workout 2 days ago. With the pegasus today I did 11#x13 extension and 25 (5+10+10) x25 in flexion. Yesterday I did some lower leg drills I try to do as frequently as possible also, but not today. Just stretched afterwards. I think the seat was too close to the feet pad for the sit-ups so my quads had to work a bit to keep those knees locked. Hopefully tomorrow I wont have the odd low back pain then I will know it was definitely the full GHD's from last week that caused it. I got this same pain about 3+ years ago when, by suggestion of my sister's husband, I started rope-jumping "like Bruce Lee did", you see, according to him, Bruce would twist his lower body in each jump, ideally trying to land with the feet pointing to the right in one jump, then pointing to the left in the next jump, etc... while the torso faces forward the whole time. This style of rope jumping gave me a horrible low back pain even when standing up from a chair!! So I obviously quit and never got that pain again, until last week when I did full GHD sit-ups since I bought the equipment recently. I even tried building them slowly (sets of 6 the first day, then 10, then 12 or 15....) but if they cause pain they're a no-no. I bought this piece of equipment for hip extensions and, eventually, GH-raises.

[lifesnotfair]

08.05.2009

So, I am sick of not doing what I want, nursing injuries, and just doing rehab/prehab stuff. I decided I could do this workout today, replacing the necessary elements not to hurt myself. I had done this workout twice in my life.. once at the end of july 2008 or so (in 37+ minutes) and a second time in November, about two weeks before my shoulder injury which still hasn't healed 100%. But it's getting better as time goes by, or so I feel. That second time was in 30 minutes and some seconds.

35 Box jump, about 20" height.

35 Jumping pull-ups, bar could've been a bit higher but even so it got hard at the last bit of the ROM.

35 Kettlebell swings, 36 lbs, I used a ~33# dumbbell.

35 Walking Lunge steps

35 Knees to elbows

35 Push press, used 46# plus the EZ bar which feels like less than a pound plus the two collars.

35 Hip extensions on the GHD.

35 thrusters (a front squat with a push press at the end), used same as in push press.

35 Burpees, with a good jump every rep plus a little clap overhead.

35 Tuck Jumps.

Total time: 24:33.

Well, it was indeed a huge improvement, specially since I haven't done any real strength training or even metcons in the past few months, it surprised me, but I was happy to beat my previous time, and by several minutes. I'll comment quickly on each: the box is supossed to be 24" but I don't have a box and wanted to jump to something solid, so I picked a spot about 20" in height, it was still hard and I needed several pauses believe it or not. For the jumping PU's, the bar felt like it could've been a bit higher, but still I wasn't jumping all the way to the top, the last part of the ROM felt hard and I needed a few breaks as well so it wasn't easy. The DB swings surprised me as I needed just 1 break. I had not done swings in about 6 months, and I remember this being harder than it felt today - cool. Walking Lunges were cool, I had better balance than last time, they are tiring, as I let my back knee gently touch the floor. KTE's were the second toughest in the whole list, I think I did 10 then sets of 5! Killer. Push press was 21+14, I remember that. Hip extensions were all straight! (I've used that movement in a couple of workouts recently, I think I'm getting better at them). Now, for the thrusters, which are originally Wall Ball shots, I didn't use my home-made wallball (basketball filled with sand) because of my right wrist I'm nursing.. so, since you have to throw the ball in the air in every rep, the substitution is to use twice the weight, but not throw it, just push press it after the front squat part... the problem is, for the squat part, it taxes you more to use more weight, heh, specially at this point during the workout, they were 10+10+15 I remember. At this point I was doing great (time-wise) and my wife thought I was gonna beat my record by a lot, but she didn't know that the Burpees are what always take me the longest. I did sets of 5 with huge breaks in between, I think they took like 7 or 8 minutes. I felt like I was gonna die. I don't have my jump rope so the last exercise, which should be Double Unders, is substituted for tuck jumps, which actually tax you more than DU's, but I did them straight through (two out of ten exercises I could do straight through).

Shoulder not hurt, wrist not hurt, and a PR.... so I'm happy. Oh, and I'm losing weight, hopefully fat, since I've been eating right for a few days (and plan to keep it up!). Don't get me wrong, I'm eating a lot, I don't count calories and eat a good share of fat, not on a "diet" but just cutting out what I believe I'm not meant to eat. Didn't seem to affect my performance, the fact that for the past few days my only carbs have come from tons of vegetables, nuts and some fruit.

[maidenfan]

B+70 for pullups is outstandin

Get your bike yet? I'm curious to how you'll like it as I need one too.

[lifesnotfair]

B+70 for pullups is outstandin

Get your bike yet? I'm curious to how you'll like it as I need one too.

Hey maiden! Thanks. It was kindof of nice to see I matched my PR after 6 months of no weighted pull-ups, and no real strength training (no heavy presses of ANY kind and no squats!! just some DL here and there but not that much).

I did get my bike, last week actually! Had it assembled for an equivalent of about US$12 at a bike shop. I love it. This is my first bike where the gears are changed like that, my old bike had a little stick you had to press or pull with your thumb.. that was many years ago. I love this new style of gear changing. This is also my first bike with front shocks, as you can see, I'm no bike person, otherwise I would've had one with shocks looong ago. I bought a "cruiser" seat but didn't install it, I rode about 20+km last saturday to test it and I had no butt pain the next day. Two weeks before that I rode a friend's bike and had butt pain but it was because of years of not riding. I got used to it now, and wonder why the heck I bought that cruiser seat. Might only come in useful if I ever plan to ride for many hours, like a very long trip... dunno. But the bike is cool, I mean, for it's price, it was $224 man. Sure there are better bikes but it seemed to me you would have to be willing to pay more, and since I don't compete or anything like that, I figured this was a good choice. You should check the Amazon reviews, they seemed pretty good, I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, it has 4 or 4.5 stars out of 5, in about 20 reviews?? So it can't be bad. Sorry I can't be of more help

Oh, forgot to add something for the sake of my blog: yesterday, halfway through the workout (after KTE's) I felt my right glute almost cramping. Today it is VERY sore. KTE's obviously didn't do this, but I felt it after them since I had to go up some stairs at that point. Either DB swings or Walking Lunges did this... wow, could it be my right glute is now firing like it's supossed to, because of all the glute activation drills I've been doing? (I always do 2 or 3 sets rightie and 1 leftie on the glute drills). If so, I'm happy, and hopefully it'll start to catch up and help me in the two legged lifts as well!!

Edited May 9, 2009 by Arturo

[lifesnotfair]

09.05.2009

Very sore traps and right glute, slightly sore left glute. Still went to ride my bike! First of all, I needed air for my back tire... I went to 3 gas stations looking for it, and in all 3 it was damaged, jeez... came back home and used my manual little pump. As I had done some warm-up here at home, at this point, between warm-up and riding in search of air for my tires, I had already done a lot, so I decided I would only do 2 laps instead of 3, around the park I usually do this at (about 6+ km with ups and downs). I went hard on that first lap and got 16+ minutes. A bit disappointed, I rested about 4-5 minutes and tried to go harder to see if I could get 15+ minutes, and I got it. I guess sub-15 is a good short term goal.

[lifesnotfair]

10.05.2009

Total rest. Went to the beach, my son loves it, being there in the water, and playing in the sand. That was in the morning. I took him to the playground in the afternoon for over an hour, he loves that too, and sees other kids and stuff. I hung from parallel bars, feeling all tired and stuff, and banged 5 L-pull-ups which is a PR, lol... They feel great with the parallel grip. The cool thing was that after those 5 in L possition, I banged about 3 more... then did a few hanging leg raises, and then another couple of pull-ups.. it was at least a total of 10 pull-ups without letting go of the bar, and with a couple of hanging leg-raises in between, AND, like I said, the first five were in L which are harder. Makes me believe that had I tried just regular pull-ups I could've easily set a new PR. I think the most I've done is like 12 deadhangs? Good day. I ate right the entire weekend. At night we went to a b-day party, I drank 1 and half beers (shared one). Gotta live life of course. I've been drinking a glass of wine almost daily lately too. I'm not trying to eat religiously, and it's working out for the better, because I don't go nuts and can live like this very nicely. I think it is finally time for me to achieve this goal of mine...

11.05.2009

My goodness is it hot today! Supossedly only 30* with 71% humidity. Incredibly hot. I did some hip-mobility stuff, a little rotator cuff stuff, some single leg calf raises, IT band and hip flexors foam rolling, pegasus extension (9.75#x16) and flexion (30#x25), some glute stuff and 2 sets of both sit-ups and hip extensions in the GHD. Just to keep track of this, the Cuban Rotations were done with 10# per hand for 20 reps. After this I was all sweaty and ready for a short little workout:

5 rounds for time of:

10 total walking lunge steps, ONE ~52# dumbell (just one dumbell). Let trailing knee gently touch the ground in each step.

10 push-ups on my fists.

Total time: 5:43.

For the first four sets I alternated right and left hand holding the DB. In the fifth I took the first 5 steps with it in my right, and the other 5 with it in my left. Yes, just one dumbell hanging from one hand, your other hand being empty. Challenges your balance a little bit, good for a change. The push-ups weren't straight, BUT I only rested with my feet and fists on the floor (rubber mat for fists), so technically all 10 in all rounds were done in one "set", although the latter 3 rounds or so had brief pauses somewhere in them. I'm weak, pressing wise. Waiting for my shoulder to become better soon.

[lifesnotfair]

12.05.2009

I did this workout back in December!!

30, 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 reps of:

Virtual Shoveling**

Push-ups on my fists.

Total time: 23:05. (Time in December: 26:26, improved by 3:21).

** Virtual Shoveling: Back in December I loaded a 35lb plate only on one end of my Olympic barbell. I then grabbed it like a shovel, one hand close to the plate, and the other hand in the center knurling. I would touch the end of the bar (on the plate side, obviously, which was in front of me) in the floor, and then raise it above a barrier I set at 36" and touch the right side of the floor. For the "barrier", I used my sledgehammer, 36" tall. I was clearing the sledge with the barbell's end, and not the plate. Touching both left and right side equaled one rep, so it's pretty tough. I alternated left arm/foot in front and right arm/foot halfway between the sets.

Like I said, that description was of December's workout, I'm not at home today so I used a crappy EZ bar and rusty weights, I loaded 83# total, 23# in the back, 60# in front, (not counting the bar, which seems to weight nothing, and two collars). The weights might weight a bit less due to some rust, but it felt darn heavy. This time I was clearing a 24" barrier with the plates (unlike last time, in which I cleared the sledge with the end of the barbell). I don't know which time was harder but today I had to pull up quite a bit in order to go over the barrier without flexing the elbow. I saw a video example of this and the person didn't flex the elbow so I assumed I shouldn't either.

This workout is a killer and because of my differences in limbs, I was much, MUCH more comfortable when my left foot was in front (and left hand close to most of the weight) than with my right. My lower back is DEAD right now, it doesn't even have strength for me to sit straight on my chair right now, lol.

[lifesnotfair]

13.05.2009

30*C with 76% humidity.... and this workout was UNDER THE SUN!! My goodness. I worked out at noon, yesterday I workoued after work, so it was less than 24 hours between workouts... it kinda gives me piece of mind to have 24hrs in between workouts, but oh well, I wanted to do this one at a time where noone would be around me, so this hour is perfect for that, as noone is dumb enough to be under the sun at noon in this country.

The original workout calls for as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes, of: 400m run, and max. reps kipping pull-ups. I did:

7 rounds

run some distance

max. (?) kipping pull-ups

Total time: 16 minutes and whatever seconds.

Pull-ups were: 15, 10, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10.

Ok, first of all, the max rep pull-ups aren't really max... I hate doing that, next time I will modify it and set a goal number. I didn't let go of the bar in any set though.

Now, for the run.. it was odd, I don't know how long it was. It even had a couple of steps to go up (and later down, when coming back).. I know it was less than a true 400m, but not sure of the distance. It was, however, very pleasing to have NOT walked in any of the 7 rounds!!! I jogged, not ran, but still, didn't walk, which was great. Keep in mind there were no shadows where I was running, and no shadow around what I used for my pull-ups either! ... to make up for that, I stopped at 16 minutes and whatever seconds.. I reckon there was time for at least one more full round (run and pull-ups) and probably some of the run part of another round, but I wasn't going for it, no way. I warmed up a lot for this too, and my lower back is SORE from yesterday's "virtual shoveling"

The bad news: this is why I haven't done kipping pull-ups for time in a long while... unless I keep my shoulder "tight", I risk aggravating that left shoulder of mine, and I did, in the first set or so! Darnit! .. I reckon tomorrow should be a rest day, even rest from glute stuff or any type of activity.

[lifesnotfair]

On 13.05.2009 like I mentioned, because of doing kipping pull-ups for time with my loose left shoulder which was still not healed from that injury since NOVEMBER 29th (*sigh*), I went to have acupuncture that afternoon, there and my right wrist.. which I think it's really my right index finger extensor tendon, but I could be wrong since I'm no doctor. I am using the mouse at work with my left hand now, was hard at first but got used to it now! Hah.

14.05.2009 was complete rest, nothing at all.. oh, wait, before taking a shower and before going to watch the Angels and Demons on it's first day, I stretched my hammies and calves for maybe 5 minutes. :P

15.05.2009 - I decided to take two rest days in a row, BUT, that decision didn't last too long. After work I decided to at least do a little bit of hip mobility and that's what I did, and I truly kept it light and easy, I barely even sweat. I hope sweat in past tense is also sweat. Weird language, english On this day at night I went out with the wife and she had dessert and I made the horrible mistake of trying it! Man, that made me eat a ton of honey when I got home, LOL.. I've been eating right these past few days, a lot, but quality food, that's been my only mistake, oh well. I also went to have acupuncture on this day as well.

16.05.2009

Ok, let me just say that the two days before this one were absolutely horrible, lower-back-wise. I'm still cursing the CF people who came up with the Virtual Shoveling crap, lol. Today I'm still sore, quite a bit actually, but better than the two previous days. I decided I would only do mobility and mild stuff today.. and I got on with it. After a lot of glute stuff and about 4 sets of 10 of sit-ups in the GHD.. I decided to try a GH raise, and got 8 consecutive. No pause at the hip extension though, like I've seen them prescribed sometimes (extend the hip, pause, flex the knee). So I know I used momentum as I came from all the way down to the top of the movement in one move, but it was still tough. With little rest, I changed the settings, moving the feet pad closer to the thigh pads which increases difficulty, and I got 6 reps. The funny thing is that the hammies feel like they're doing a tremendous amount of work, but they didn't cramp or anything, so I am happy. I need to film myself from the side and see how I'm keeping my torso in these reps.

I was feeling energetic today. I wanted to workout, I thought about some sprints... but the calves are sore from those runs 3 days ago, and the very sore lower back maybe needs a bit more rest.. I wanted to do something short but intense, but without limited shoulder use as I'm somewhat nursing it. So I chose this:

50 burpees for time, with the push-up part on my fists.

Total time: 4:25 - PR! On April 8th, I did this in 5:40. Huge PR it seems. I wanted sub-5mins and got it and with time to spare. And today it was hotter, lol. I felt like I would have PR'd in anything today, feeling pretty good, maybe all the carbs from last night? Hah. Burpees are great as they tax the entire body and not just a particular muscle group. Good jump every time, driving from the heels, and with a clap overhead. Shoulder never complained so I'm glad about that too. It sucks that I had been doing pull-ups for time a couple of times recently, but strict ones, and the first time I tried kipping for a higher output, I aggravated it, argh. The thing is that it's oh-so-hard to do strict pull-ups when you're out of breath!

[lifesnotfair]

17.05.2009 - Mobility drills, glute stuff, stretched a good bit, some psoas exercise (made me sore in the hip flexors today).

18.05.2009

I went to the doctor. I have a pain in my right wrist, and left foot, that wont go away. The foot one never bothers me, NEVER, as I can only bring it up with certain movements I never do in any activity at all. The wrist one scares me a bit and it's why I haven't done grip in a few weeks, and have been doing push-ups in my wrists. The veredict: it's not a tendon. Once again, as I've been told by several orthos and physios, my ligaments are very loose. This is why I can subluxate my shoulders at will. My feet are loose, he said. Not flexible in any direction, because he just moved it but without rotating it anywhere, and he said it was loose. He said my wrists are very loose too, specially the left one. Damn. It makes sense, though. Why have I always been able to sublux the left shoulder with much more ease? Coz the right one has received much more indirect training (years of tennis and table tennis). Same for the wrist, probably, that is why it's stronger, considerable, specially in extension. He said it wasn't a tendon or a bone, he didn't even prescribed any medications. I just have bad luck.

Anyways, I did this workout about 4 weeks ago, on the day I assembled my GHD.

7 rounds for time of:

21 hip extensions

15 push-ups on my fists

Total time: 12:52 - murdered that previous time of 18:30.

I know it sounds like a huge improvement, but before I get all excited I must point out that on that day (21.04.2009) I had just assembled the GHD and was not as proficent on the extensions as I've gotten now. That day most sets were 14+7, today all sets were straight through. Push-ups on my fists were horrible though: 1st set straight, 2nd and 3rd set with one break, 4th and 5th with two breaks, 6th with 3 breaks, 7th set with 4 breaks!!! My goodness, this is horrible. It would be a totally different workout if I did them on my hands, I know this. Still, I expected an improvement but not by this much, it was cool. Warm-ups had glute stuff and post workout I actually stretched a good bit.

[lifesnotfair]

On 19.05.2009 I started getting a flu, probably caught it from son who got one. It was not wise to eat from the same forks as him, and stuff like that, lol.. I thought that I was infection-proof because I'm eating healthy, but I took it to the extreme and I still got sick, lol. But it hit me much less hard than him. On that day I did some mobility and stretching, and I held a plank for 2 minutes (on my forearms) just to feel like I did something.

20.05.2009 was a bad day, I had a slight sore throat, so I did nothing at all.

21.05.2009 with a blocked nostril (heh), but feeling much better, after massive eating last night, with beers and wine and 5 hours of sleep, I somehow woke up feeling good. WTF? ... I'll try to get a good night's sleep today though, for sure. Anyways, I still didn't want to "work out" the way I do so I again did mobility stuff, stretching, and this time I tried side planks and set PR's on both sides with 1:40 each side. Could've gone a few seconds more each side but didn't wanna go 100% to failure, although this was very close, I was shaking probably halfway through those sets, or before!. I also did some sets of a compression exercise I did last week which left my hip flexors sore for a few days. I have come to the conclusion that I have weak psoas (hip flexor that works the most after 90 degrees of hip flexon) and that is, in part, why I have troubles keeping that left leg straight in front when doing pistols. It just cannot be hamstring flexibilty as that left hammie is a bit more flexible than the right in every single hamstring stretch I can think of, and I can do pistols leftie with the right knee perfectly locked. This compression exercise is a static hold, seated, legs straight, hands on the floor, on the sides of my knees, just lift both legs straight and hold for 10 secs, I did about 5 sets with not too much rest. This is MUCH tougher than it sounds, key point is the hands by your knees! And apparently, to progress, you move the hands forward each time.. this is a piece of cake if you place your hands by the sides of your butt or behind, but in the front like that, it sucks!! Also did some toe raising stuff and I'm now doing 20 reps of some toe lifts, this is strengthening my plantar fasciia I believe. Important is to note that the past 2 or 3 days I've been waking up without the plantar fasciitis!!! No pain even in the first steps! Or almost no pain.. so something is indeed getting better in that area. Must keep the toe stuff and single leg calf raises, which I skipped today as my right calf felt like it wanted to cramp, I probably should've stretched it some before trying it. Glutes and hams still sore from that last workout 3 days ago! Incredible.

Another funny thing. I weighted myself today on a very accurate scale, and I was 180! I cannot believe this, I "feel" about 170, judging by the last times I weighed myself, months ago. The pants are loose. This can only mean one thing.. I must have put a couple of pounds of muscle somewhere. I hope this is the case.

[lifesnotfair]

23.05.2009

Deadlifts:

115x5, 165x5, 215x5

235x3, 255x3, 265x1, 255x3.

All DO. Had not deadlifted in about a month or so, and had not done a "strength" workout in ages, so it came to me as no surprise that I've lost some strength. Gonna try to DL at least once a week though.

Parallel grip chins: 10

Push-ups on my fists: 20

Pistols: 5 each leg

Compression exercise: 4 sets of 15 seconds.

And some stretching. I wanted to do push-press but the warm-up set with 75# already made my left shoulder feel weird so I quit.

24.05.2009

Nothing was really sore from the DL's the day before, which came as a surprise. I guess the hip extensions and stuff I've been doing have hit similar muscles. I decided to do a workout I had not done since december:

10 rounds for time of:

8 hang squat cleans, 43# dumbells

8 push-ups on my fists

Time: 14:55. (Time in December: 17:48! Made me happy).

This workout makes me nervous, I kid you not! "Hang Squat Cleans" are just EVIL, they make my body itch, it's a horrible, HORRIBLE feeling. Since I suck at fist push-ups but that's how I've been doing them lately, they usually are the hard part of these workouts for time.. but on this day I was so glad everytime I had to do those push-ups and no more HSC, lol. Only first round had straight push-ups though, most were 4+4. Hard to push-up while not being able to breathe! Forearms were incredibly pumped, hands were just dead, completely dead afterwards, and traps... traps were screaming for mercy halfway through the workout, I guess the fact that I did the heavy DL's the day before didn't help, today they are very sore. And today my quads are also very sore since I basically did 80 front squats with those dumbells... man, I'll be nervous again the next day I decide to do this one.

Went to a b-day party at night, ate a ton and drank a ton, not good for me probably, but oh well, that doesn't happen very often.

[lifesnotfair]

I have decided (for the millionth time) that I truly, really need to rest my left shoulder. Today is May 29th, which means I injured this shoulder exactly 6 months ago. Just to think that I could've have maytbe took 3 or 6 weeks rest, and I could have been training hard for over 4+ months now, makes me angry at myself. I am too stubborn, always thinking this or that exercise wont hurt me... "just a few push-ups", or "just some controlled pull-ups"... this is gonna get chronic, if it isn't already... six months man!! That workout last sunday with the hang squat cleans and push-ups took it's toll on that shoulder. I decided to REALLY rest it, starting on tuesday. So...

26.05.2009 - total rest.

27.05.2009 - hip drills, warm-ups, stretching.

28.05.2009 - hip drills, warm-ups, stretching... decided to also press something for the first time in many months, right handed only.

DB push press: 33x8, 53x5, 63x5, 73x5, 83x5, 88x5, 93x3 PR.

This is what bothers me, I don't press for 6 months and I set a PR. I am still at such a newbie level, that I can set PR's like that. Injuries have prevented me from getting past that begginer stage where you just progress in a linear fashion doing whatever... LOL, it's depressing to think about it from this point of view. So stubborn!!! ARGH!! That PR of 93# was tough, I missed the 3rd rep, took a few breaths and tried again, and after fighting what seemed like 2 seconds a couple of inches below lockout, I got it, and held it solidly for at least 5 seconds locked out before lowering it. Felt pretty stable overhead.

Shoulder feeling a bit better by now, it hurts less when I try to subluxate it. Not that I'm trying all the time, just maybe once a day to see if it hurts less, although I probably shouldn't even try it that much! I set a personal goal of going at least 14 days without doing any exercise with that arm. That means two weeks of no push-ups, no pull-ups.. I might do some right arm stuff in these two weeks (like this push presses yesterday), and I might deadlift once a week or so, I feel that one doesn't really hurt at all. If after 14 days the shoulder is much better, but still not at least 90% recovered, I will aim for 21 days without taxing it. This is truly the hardest thing for me... I'm always thinking I'll lose strength or muscle or whatever, but thinking this way has got me handicapped for 6 months!! Like I said, looking back, I would have prefered to take a whole 2 months off, and then 4 months at full intensity! I remember I was setting a few PR's back then in November, in DB bench (80# for 5 reps), weighted chins (1 rep with 70#) and even strict press and push press too! I was doing great. Argh, enough complaining. Today is day 4 of the resting... I will do some stuff, maybe a workout for time of only core stuff, I'll post later.

[lifesnotfair]

29.05.2009

5 rounds for time of:

20 GHD sit-ups (stopping at parallel, arms crossed over chest).

20 hip extensions (arms crossed as well).

Time: 9:47. I got 9:17 3.5 weeks ago but did 15 extensions (so 25 less reps) so this was faster taking that in account (proportionately).

30.05.2009 - complete rest, ate a lot, drank quite a bit, had a great day with a friend and his spanish brother who's visiting the country.

31.05.2009

After the warm-ups, etc:

Deadlift: 115, 165, 215 all x5.

255x4, 255x1 (!) .. should've maybe left it at one "heavy" set. That one rep of the second set felt so hard, I decided to not even try for more. Then I was in the mood to try stuff out, so...

One hand deadlift, no hook: up to 155 both hands, 165 was there but I didn't wanna drop the weight so I settled it down after raising it almost to lockout rightie. Leftie I got a few inches of air but felt it rolling out so put it down.

I lifted my 35# blob just to see if I still could and got it, both hands, didn't seem like a max effort either. I then did 2-25's which felt hard for some reason, I think that being I didn't chalk my hands for this and chalk had worn out and my hands were slippery as heck.

As can be noticed, I've rested that left shoulder as planned. And I will keep this up. Also trying to kindof rest the right wrist.

[lifesnotfair]

01.06.2009

6 rounds for time of:

15 DB snatches, 42#, right hand only (NOT squatting)

15 sit-ups on the GHD, going to parallel or a tad below.

Time: 12:37.

02.06.2009 - was gonna rest but ended up stretching and doing some glute med. stuff.

[Magnus]

Arturo, I've tweaked my shoulder twice, and both times I tried something that seemed to have worked. Could just be a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting, anyway. The first time, I messed up my left medial delt from attempting a max shoulder press w/o a warm-up. It was bothering me for days, and just wouldn't let up (felt like it was getting worse, actually). Seriously, just driving or raising my arm to the side at a 45* angle hurt really bad. So, just for the heck of it, I took, in the period of about 24hrs, 4 scoops of creatine/dextrose mix (which would be 24g of creatine).

Next day, the pain was completely GONE. Zip. Then, few weak later, I did the same thing ( ), but as soon as I tweaked it, I took another scoop of creatine mix. Never bothered me past that night. So, it could be 100% sheer coincindence, or it might just have been the nature of my injury, but...I dunno...still something to think about.

Oh, just for clarification, I only normally take 5g a day.

Edited June 3, 2009 by Magnus

[lifesnotfair]

Thanks for the advice Magnus! I have never in my life taken creatine, and I'm very careful with these stuff usually, so if all else fails (like my current rest plan) I might do some research of my own on that.

02.06.2009 - stretched for a bit, otherwise rest.

03.06.2009

Tabata box jumps, maybe 21" or so: 16, 15, 14, 13, 13, 15, 14, 16.

Tabata sit-ups, legs straight, feet unanchored, arms by my side, nothing under lower back: all 10's and 11's. See note on these.

Tabata squats: 20, 20, 20, 20, 18, 18, 19, 19.

Note: the sit-ups were very slow as I forgot to put something (rolled towel or something) under my lower back, it's slower and less efficient this way, as the abs don't have anything to push against in the first part of the ROM. In the squats I actually did 20 straight in the first three rounds, but could've done 21 so it wasn't honestly all out, I'm not happy about that. That fourth round of 20 had a mini-break, and the other rounds had about 2 mini-breaks. I rested about 5 minutes between tabatas.

04.06.2009

Legs not that sore, great! Maybe because I sometimes do a set of 40 squats in warm-ups, so the tabata didn't kill me. The only muscle a bit sore today was my left calf, probably from box jumps. Weird that it's only the left one!

Pistols: All sets of 3 reps: BW, +20, +25, +30, +35, +35, +35.

One-arm-push-ups (left leg out to the side, not strong enough to do them otherwise), right arm only: 3 sets of 5, very tough actually.

Then I set up a DB at 73#, the other DB at 53#, and started by pinching a 25 and 2-5's (so 35#) and doing 15 bent over rows, right arm only. Almost immediately 12 reps with the 53# dumbell and almost immediately 8 with the 73# ... tiring stuff. Just playing with new ideas, heh.

[lifesnotfair]

05.06.2009

3 rounds for time of:

Run 600m

25 supermans

35 sit-ups

Total time: 15:30 ---- Time in December: 17:15. Kinda happy I guess!

Temperature today, 31* with 70% humidity. It's almost summer. As usual when I go to the track at noon, I was the ONLY one there. It had been a couple of months since I've been to the track, I missed it. The conditions were the same as the last time: one lap around the track, followed by the "straight" 100m with a turn at that point, so I'd end the 600m at the same point I started. There I set a towel under a shadow under a tree so I could do the other stuff. The supermen were straight and felt easy, holding the possition for about a second or so. The sit-ups, with legs straight, feet unanchored, arms by my side, nothing under lower back, were all consecutive! Last time I did this, all sit-ups sets were broken. Also, last time the third run was broken, while this time all three runs were unbroken!!! That's unbelievable for me. I absolutely SUCK at running and I hate it. To have completed those three runs is huge for me. I am the absolute worst runner ever, I used to blame it on being fat a few years ago, but for about 3 years now I've got no excuse, and I don't know why I suck so much at it. I actually spent a couple of seconds looking at the time after the first 600m run, and I estimated it at around 2:50. As you can see, I was barely speed-walking, lol. I guess I was going at a pace where a 400m would have taken almost 2 minutes. Another thing is that since I didn't rest in the middle of any sets (just between exercises) I found the rounds to be pretty close to one another, although I judge this by "feel". The track was very hot and my feet were literally burning by the time I ended the third run, so much that I had to waste a few seconds getting my Vibrams off so I could do those last supermans and sit-ups barefooted, heh.

Then I got home and watched Roger win those last two sets of the Roland Garros semi-finals, cool. I like Del Potro, and he's Argentinian and I lived there for years so I should have rooted for him, but I want Roger to finally win his Roland Garros, I hope he does it on sunday. Tomorrow I ought to rest, so feel free to spank me if I post a workout. Also, I went to the acupuncturist today, who was overseas for the past week. Today seems to be my 11th day of no direct shoulder work (Left shoulder, that is). I went to a nutrition center and got a Glucosamine/Choindritin/MSM supplement, 60 caps, 3 a day, should last 20 days. I'm gonna see if it makes any difference. I should've started at least a week ago, dumb on my part. Hopefully it will help.

[blueviper42]

Arturo you're going to have to change your log title

[lifesnotfair]

Arturo you're going to have to change your log title

Yes, I will have to, in a few years

The 6th and 7th of this month were both complete rest. No warm-ups, no stretching, no nothing.

08.06.2009

Warm up and mobility drills... I didn't feel like doing much to be honest, as I didn't have most of my weights, just the GHD... there was a ~43# dumbell there so I did 3x5 hammer curls with it (right hand only), and 3x8 strict presses (right arm only) with it. I could've reached 10 reps in one set where I used some "shoulder drive".. meaning, kindof an explosive "shrug" motion to begin the rep, makes it much easier and helps quite a bit, even without hip or leg drive. But mostly they were slow, paused, controlled reps. After the 5 reps of hammer curls I also held it at parallel for about 5 seconds. I did some Glute Ham Raises, about 3x8 or so. I need to film myself on these. Also the compression exercise I had been doing, 4 holds of 15 second counts. I'm kinda angry I couldn't deadlift yesterday and it seems I wont be able to deadlift until the weekend, darn.

Oh, yesterday though, with a friend at home, I was showing him grip stuff so I did 4-10's both hands, RT 120# right handed (seemed like a max, not sure if I tried left, think not) and levered my 8# sledge with my left arm (nursing my right wrist, which is feeling a bit better!). He only maxed at 140# in the RT, I thought he'd do more as he has a big hand, his thumb and middle finger can touch in the RT, barely, but they touch. He too did 4-10's easily and 2-25's. He gave 1 inch of air on my 2-35's.. he's got potential. He obviously sucked with grippers as they require the most technique. I think he did 5-10's with a PVC pipe through them, couldn't do it without it.

[lifesnotfair]

09.06.2009

I went to the pool with my son, he's 2 years and six months old and what I love the most in this life. He will have a brother by late October it seems. After he was done and my wife took care of him and bought some food, etc., I swam for a while.. I don't know how to swim with styles, I just get under water and move, heh. Was refreshing, very hot day despite some rain. I got home and did some sit-ups in the GHD and some back extensions as well.

10.06.2009

Weather supossedly only 29*C but humidity at 78%, yikes. Went to the track! I warmed up here at home and asked my wife to come with my boy.. he liked running all around, heh. Very hot day. I did a workout I had done a long while ago:

02.10.2008

3 rounds for time of:

400m run

35 squats

Time: 8:40

First two runs unbroken. Second one was 200m, walk while breathing 10 times, continue running.

Squats were 15+10+10 on the first set, 12+8+8+7 second, and don't remember the last one, but it got really hard.

I remember that day, 8 months ago, being at night, so heat was not a factor. Still, that's an avg. of 2:53 per round.

Today, I did:

4 rounds for time of:

400m run

35 squats

Time: 11:47. It seems the avg. time today was a bit slower, at 2:57 or so. Still, the added round made a big difference, and so did this horrible, HORRIBLE heat. All four runs were unbroken (!!!) which is huge for me. First set of squats unbroken, all others were 25+10 so not that bad actually. Also, that day I did the squats right there where I finished my lap. Today I had to move extra, as I finished my lap in the inner lane, but was doing my squats outside, about 4 meters from the OUTER lane, to take advantage of a little shadow provided by a tree. Track was so hot, ball of feet were burning by last round so I had to take my Vibrams off and do that last set of squats barefooted. Given the conditions I'm thinking this was a better performance than the old one despite the added 4 seconds per round in average time.

[lifesnotfair]

11th and 12th were rest. 12th was a holiday here, went to the beach, tiring day.

13.06.2009

Warm-ups, then:

Deadlift: 115x8, 165x5, 215x5

255x5, 255x5, 255x4 - rested about 6-7 minutes between these efforts. That last rep was very slow so I didn't try for a fifth. Mixed grip as to be able to focus on pulling hard. Wanted to do a bit of grip but forearms too pumped.

One arm push-ups with left leg out to the side, right arm only: 3x5.

DB hammer curls: 33x8, 43x5, 43x5 with a 5 secs hold at the end of both sets.

14.06.2009

Tabata box jumps, around 23" this time: 13, 13, 14, 13, 13, 11, 12, 12.

I missed that last jump on the sixth set where I got 11. I took a ~1.5 second break in the latter sets.

Tabata sit-ups, with a towel rolled under lower back this time, arm straight by my side, legs straight and unanchored: 12, 12, 12, 12, 11, 11, 10, 11.

No breaks, they get slower in the latter sets.

Tabata squats: 21, 21, 22, 22, 22, 21, 21, 22.

Wow, how did this happen? I know for sure I was not fully locking out the knees at the top. I was also focusing on sitting back and now down, so I might not have been fully extending the hip at the top, I don't know now.. still, I took almost no breaks, 1 or 2 if that, big PR for me, endurance might be increasing on these... at least some good news. Lower back sore from the deads yesterday and burned a bit while doing these.

[lifesnotfair]

15.06.2009 - rest, stretched for 10 mins before taking a shower after work, before the movies.

16.06.2009

DB snatch, right arm only: never tried this before for max weight. Rusty plates, I don't trust the weight, but I'll post it as if they weighed what they say, and as if the handle plus collars are 3#, so: 43#x5, 63#x3, 73#x3 which felt very hard so I stopped there.

DB push press, right arm only, no double knee bend, cleaning it into possition: 83#x5, 93#x5, 103#x3. I failed a 4th rep twice! Heh, stubborn. Felt pretty good at these, I wonder what the true weight of this DB is. I set a PR less than 3 weeks ago at 93# (good plates) so I wonder how close this was to that weight.

Then:

5 rounds for time of:

12 walking lunges, holding just one 53# dumbbell.

20 hip extensions, fingers crossed behind head.

Time: 8:32.

First time ever doing these. Just one DB, switching hands every set, last set I switched halfway through. Due to lack of space, I had to take 3 steps, and back, and repeat that, for every set. I let the trailing knee gently touch the ground. So these are a bit slow, and the single DB challenges the balance. I rested much more than I wanted to, but at least not in the middle of a set, everything was straight through, just some rest when switching from lunges to extensions. My right glute is still weak as I would feel my right lower back burn a bit with the extensions and that never happened before, it's probably that I use it more in the lunges than I should! Proof #2 is how my right glute feels like shaking if I put any weight on it right now, heh. We'll see if it's sore or something tomorrow. All this means is I could probably benefit from doing more lunges!