Lol's New HST Log

1/07/09

a.m.

Standing Calf-raises: 6 x 10 x 220lb - plus burns and extra stretches.

These felt great. Six sets seems like a lot but the previous sessions four sets didn't give me much of a problem. Calves are tough as heck so I'm going to give them something to think about over the next month. If my strength seems to be dropping off, I'll reduce the volume. Actually, I'll probably reduce the volume as a natural consequence of increasing the load. I'd like to maintain a min of 40 reps if possible.

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A section of my left trap has been really sore since returning from Birmingham. My neck was giving me loads of bother while driving which I put down to my left rhomboid 'spasming'.

This morning when picking up the bar to perform my calf-raises I got a horrid sharp pain either in my left upper/mid trap, or it could have been my Levator Scapula (or both). Shrugging made it worse. In trying to massage the area I found that my C7 and T1 vertebrae were sore to the touch on their left sides.

LevatorScapulaMuscle.gif


I'm pretty much certain that this is just muscle pain from prolonged tightness and spasming but it is surprisingly sharp and unpleasant, almost like a pull (which it definitely is not - I haven't done anything to cause that to happen and I would have known about it if I had).

I really need to find the time to get to a good sports physio. Self-help massage of this area is not particularly easy. I have to push really hard with my fingers, which in turn causes the muscles in the area to tighten. Not too clever.

I'm pretty sure it's not a bone issue so I'm not planning on seeing an osteopath or a chiropractor although they might be able to give me some helpful info for my AC joint issue.

I love getting older!  
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<div>
(Lol @ Jul. 01 2009,9:08)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I really need to find the time to get to a good sports physio. Self-help massage of this area is not particularly easy. I have to push really hard with my fingers, which in turn causes the muscles in the area to tighten. Not too clever.</div>
Have you tried putting a tennis ball on the floor and laying down over it, near the area you want to massage and rolling over it until it hits the spot? You can somewhat control the pressure by putting more or less of your body weight over the ball.
 
Thanks for the suggestion electric. Yup, I have done that and I also have a door knob set at the right height for specific back massage. Both methods help to keep my rhomboids under control but this muscle seems a lot more difficult to target successfully. I just had a lass have a go at it with small fingers. After a bit of digging she said she could feel something in deep that was like a bone! When she reached it, it was definitely the offending spot. Strangely pleasant. Pain is so close to pleasure, as they say! That'll be the beggar in spasm.

Until I can get to a physio or chiro I'll combine the tennis ball and door knob methods. I'm also going to get hold of a theracane (http://www.theracane.com/) which I meant to do ages ago. I think Amazon sell them too. I've been able to try it out as a friend has one; I think it'll be pretty useful.
 
Geez Lol - you're falling apart!

Nice to know you had a kind lady to assist in your time of need.
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1/07/09

p.m.

1 hour attempting shoulder/back massage with various balls and door knobs!

10 mins on bike - medium intensity for 8 mins, high intensity for 2 mins.

Dips: 5, 5, 10, 15 x bw - ouch! These used to be my favourite 'pexercise' but not right now.

Chins: 10 x bw+10kg (22lb) + 10MS reps with a shortish M-time ~5-10 seconds.

EZ-bar Curls: 5 x 51kg (112lb) - hard after chins. Only did them because the loaded bar was lying there.

I was supposed to be doing some front squats tonight but I skipped them and went out for a nosh-up instead.

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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Geez Lol - you're falling apart!</div>

I agree Tim. I'm starting to get more than a little cheesed. I had no fun at all trying to do some dips tonight (not even weighted). My shoulder is all to hell, my bowels are bulging out of my groin, and my cancer has recurred. My cancer op has been delayed too which is frustrating as I had to postpone my hernia op until after I've healed from the cancer op. This year has not exactly turned out as I hoped it would (thus far, at any rate).

Pretty much the only exercises I can do without much discomfort or pain are back squats and calf raises, which I'm very grateful for.

I have had very little sleep recently which can't help either. I've had back-to-back nights getting just 2 to 4 hours sleep a night. I'm going to try to get a full 7 hours tonight and see if that helps. It might cheer me up a bit at least. What a misery guts I am right now!  
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I hate to hear this, Lol. Lord knows you've dealt with quite a lot in the past few years.

I hope you get the rest you need, because I have to agree that the lack of sleep is a factor in the big picture. I know that you're very capable of handling this all in stride - and I hope you know that you have all of us behind you.

Take care of yourself.
 
2/07/09

Cheers Tim.

This country is so weird as far as the weather is concerned: one day it's cold and wet and the next it's hotter than hell. Now the forecast is for thunderstorms which should clear the air a bit.

Managed to get to bed by midnight but it was so hot and humid that it was hard to drift off. I reckon I got a good 6 hours of rest though, so I'm feeling jollier today. Shoulder is much the same.

a.m.

Standing Calf-raises: 12 x 100kg, 4 x 10 x 105kg (231lb) + pulsed stretches - apart from the joyous feeling in my left traps, these were good. Fantastic pump to boot (and calf - fnar fnar). Used straps for the last four sets.

That's probably it for today although I really should hit the squat rack later to make up for yesterday.
 
2/07/09

p.m.

Low-bar Back Squats: 4 x 10 x 105kg (231lb) - not heavy but got a good pump. Aimed to go really deep and to keep the reps moving as quickly as possible but always under control.

That's definitely it for today as my shoulder is still suffering.
 
LOL your tenacity is inspiring and your kind , patient advice is always right on. My thoughts and prayers are with you but to be honest you're such a scrapper that I'm not sure they're really needed!
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3/07/09

Thanks for the kind words Russ. I'm feeling a lot more positive again after a few reasonably good nights (for me). Lack of sleep is a definite downer. I should be prevented from logging stuff here when I'm tired.
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This was supposed to be just a calf day to give my traps and shoulder a bit of a break but I did a little bit of maintenance for arms too.

EZ-bar Curls: 12, 10, 3 x 51kg (112lb) - just for fun

Overhead Tri-Extensions: many, many x 25kg! - just picked up a plate and repped out a few times for a bit more fun.

Standing Calf-raises: 5 x 12 x 105kg (231lb) + pulsed stretches - same load, more reps. Had to grind out the last few reps of the last few sets and with probably slightly reduced ROM.

I've trained calves 5 times in the last 7 days. I'll train them again tomorrow and then give them a break on Sunday. They seem to be getting stronger every session but I suspect that's about to slow down. I've decided to increment the load by just 5kg (11lb) as and when I feel the need. That should allow me to keep working them for a while before I have to reset. I probably won't increase the load above my 5/6RM (whatever that turns out to be) and then I'll do multiple sets of 3-5 reps with as little rest as necessary between sets to still allow a full ROM.
 
04/07/09

p.m.

Standing Calf-raises: 5 x 10 x 110kg (242lb) - plus burns and stretches on last two sets only.

EZ-bar Chest-supported Rows: 10 x 51kg, 10 x 81kg (178lb), 5 x 91kg (200lb), 4 x 5 x 96kg (211lb)

Added some Kelso shrugs at the end of the last two sets.

Grip Work: CoC grippers, 2&quot; bar and regular bar static holds.
 
<div>
(RUSS @ Jul. 02 2009,11:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">LOL your tenacity is inspiring and your kind , patient advice is always right on. My thoughts and prayers are with you but to be honest you're such a scrapper that I'm not sure they're really needed!
smile.gif
</div>
Yah, you stoopid bodybuilders never know when to quit; ya just keep on pumpin'.
Dangerous combination: insanity and strength!

My prayers are with ya man, heal fast!
 
05/07/09

Cheers Quadman. I agree that, to most folks, anyone who regularly lifts iron seems at least mildly unhinged. Even my mates think I'm odd/mad.

Upper-mid back nicely sore from yesterday's rows. Decided to add some db rows in today for some unilateral work. I'm missing the effect of deads.

SA DB Rows: 10 x 41kg (90lb), 10 x 51kg (112lb), 2 x 5 x 61kg (134lb) - no bench, free forearm resting against knee. Good ROM. Didn't push these too hard but they are feeling heavy now.

Low-bar Squat: 10 x 60kg, 5 x 90kg, 5 x 110kg, 2 x 10 x 120kg (264lb) - Oly shoes, no belt, nice and deep for low-bar.

Keeping upper back tight for squats made left trap hurt a fair bit.

Was going to add in some cleans but had to go out - probably not too daft giving my traps a break.
 
07/07/09

Had an afternoon of op prelim tests at the hospital: general health checks, various swabs to check for MRSA, blood tests, lengthy questionnaire, etc. Didn't have to do all this last time I had an op. Assuming all is well, I should get my appointment soon.

Decided to do a metcon workout.

Some hang cleans for warmups with 40kg

Clean and Jerks for time:

Oly shoes, hook grip, each lockout held overhead for about a second.

10 x 60kg : 1 min 24 sec (8.4 sec/rep)
10 x 60kg : 1 min 46 sec (10.6 sec/rep)
10 x 60kg : 1 min 15 sec (7.5 sec/rep) - Kept better control of the bar on the way down so, although I was more fatigued, I got a better time.

I actually intended to do 30 consecutive reps but, by the tenth rep, I realised it wasn't going to happen without lots of pauses. So I decided to break it up into 3 sets of 10.

I can do 30 consecutive cleans with 60Kg without too much difficulty but adding in the jerks seemed to make it a lot more fatiguing than for just cleans.

Think I'm going to aim to get the times down to 1 min for each round before I try to get 30 consecutive reps in a reasonable time.

Almost forgot to do these:

Standing Calf-raises: 4 x 10 x 110kg (242lb) - plus burns and stretches on all sets.

Push-ups: 30, 30, 35, 5 for 100 total - for shoulder rehab work.
 
Thurs 09/07/09

Complete rest yesterday (Weds).

Today, traps still sore as heck from cleans on Tuesday and from the light lateral raises I've been doing to try to get plenty of blood moving around my shoulder area. Did some push-ups too.

a.m.

Standing Calf-raises: 3 x 12, 2 x 10 x 115kg (253lb) - plus burns and stretches on last two sets.

p.m.

Front Squats: 10 x 40kg, 5 x 80kg, 5 x 90kg ... ouch!

Sadly, that's as far as I could take these; hernia stopped play. Much more unpleasant in this position than for back squats. I hope I haven't made it worse doing these tonight. Not going to risk front squats again until I've had me op or until I can figure out a way to stop things popping out down there. Euch!

EZ-bar Chest-supported Rows: 15 x 41kg, 5 x 91kg (200lb), 2 x 5 x 96kg (211lb), 4 x 5 x 101kg (222lb) - added some Kelso shrugs to the end of the last few sets.

Left shoulder was a bit annoying but I got through these without too much bother. I can still go heavier for sets of 5.

EZ-bar Press: Decided against these due to my condition tonight. Anything where I'm standing more upright and having to try hard is bad news, even with my 'custom pad' in place.

Finished up feeling pretty cheesed but tomorrow I'll have to try some seated presses and see how I get on with those.
 
Fri 10/09/09

a.m.

Unilateral Seated DB Press: 20 x 11kg, 15 x 16kg, 10 x 21kg, 4 x 5 x 26kg (57lb)

Left shoulder didn't complain too much. I'm pretty pleased about that. However, it is evident that I am now quite a bit weaker on my left side; the four sets of 5 with 26kg were hard on the left side but I could probably have managed four sets of 10 with that load on the right.

My priority is to get my left shoulder functioning without pain, if at all possible, rather than worry about strength levels. I hope that strength levels will pick up naturally as healing continues. I just have to be careful not to do anything to set it back again which means no benching or dipping - although I am going to keep doing some high-rep push-ups once or twice a week, as long as it seems ok to do so.

p.m.

Standing Calf-raises: 15 x 110kg (242lb), 2 x 12, 2 x 10 x 120kg (264lb) - plus burns and stretches on last two sets.

Progress seems to be continuing well with these so far. Frequency is still quite high at around 5 x weekly and I'm incrementing the loads by 5kg every few workouts. Reps haven't really dropped off yet but I am having to ratchet up the effort now so I'll have to be careful about that. If possible, I'll keep incrementing the load until I can only get 5 strict reps.

Left trap starting to ease up a bit by the last set; I'll try some high-rep shrugs next week if all seems well.

I've been figuring out what I can do until my body is sorted. So far I have this list:

Low-bar Back squats - as long as I don't push too hard
Standing Calf Raises
Chest-supported Rows
Unilateral DB Rows
Chins/Pull-ups
Seated DB Press
Shrugs - possibly
Clean &amp; Jerks - not heavy
Pull-overs/Tri-extensions
Seated DB Curls

Not such a bad choice from which to make a workout selection. Plus I have grip work.
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Sat 11/09/09

Crossfit Games Individual event starts today: http://games2009.crossfit.com/

I'm rooting for Josh Everett. He says he's not a great runner though, so the first event might kill him off for the deads to follow.

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Whilst that's all happening I decided to do some grip work:

BB Static Holds: 140kg (308lb) - held until grip failed then rested for 1 min; rinse &amp; repeat. Did as many as I could until grip failed after a couple of seconds. Following final hold, I switched to reverse-grip and went to failure.

Shrugs: 20 x 140kg (308lb)

Couldn't wait till next week to try these so donned some straps and then took them nice and slow and carefully, with a hold at the top of each rep but not a hard contraction. No pain, just some soreness, so whatever the problem was it seems to be easing. I'm getting a lot of muscle twitching deep in my left traps now. Feels weird but not in bad way.

Unilateral DB Deadlift: 5 x 66kg (145lb), 2 x 5 x 68.5kg (151lb) - reset grip between reps; plenty of chalk.

I'm doing these with the DB to one side rather than Sumo style. It seems to be a lot less bother to the old hernia because it's not heavy for my legs so I don't have to strain like I would for a BB deadlift. It still feels like I'm lifting something though, which is a good thing.

Whilst doing the DB deads, I noticed that my pinky and third finger grip started to fail first so I should probably get in the habit of training that by using a CoC gripper the wrong way round and just using those fingers to close it.

Pinky &amp; 3rd-finger gripper work using CoC Guide Gripper: 15,15,10,10,8 clicks

Bought the Guide gripper for my lad to use and never thought I'd use it. It's a pretty easy gripper but it worked really well for those two fingers.

Hopefully, I'll get some squats in later...
 
As dangerous as upright rows are to the shoulders, maybe pulling those just up to the nipple height would be a good trap alternative for you, and you can go pretty heavy that way. I mean if you have problems come up from the regular shrugging.
 
Sun 12/07/09

Back Squats: 10 x 70kg, 2 x 10 x 110kg (242lb), 10 x 120kg (264lb) - fairly easy day on these but I really focussed on depth and quality, and tried to drive out of the hole as fast as possible. Last set really got the old blood pumping.

Unilateral DB Deadlift: 1 x 76kg (167lb), 1 x 81kg (178lb), 1 x 86kg (190lb) - just for fun. DB to one side ie. not sumo style.

I couldn't manage 190lb without using a hook grip. That's as much weight as I can add to my db handle in 5kg plates. I could add more if I use large plates but I won't have to bend down so far to pick it up. I suppose I could build a small platform to stand on.

Cheers Quadman. If my shoulder continues to heal like it is now I may give URs a shot again. Always liked them but my left AC joint issue meant I had to stop them. I don't think they caused the problem or added to it, it's just that they felt really uncomfortable.
 
I'm not sure if those or side db laterals did mine in, but the right side is definitely impinged. Don't know if you'd seen my &quot;log&quot; or not, but the face pulls are definitely helping, enough to start benching again. (and probably scroo myself)
 
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