Lol's New HST Log

Sun 18/10/09

Been feeling a bit like a wet flannel for the past few days. Today I definitely know I am fighting some kind of bug so that explains why I am just coasting gently along tonight. (At least I had a good excuse to take some time out to watch Jenson Button win this years F1 driver's championship.)

Warmups: lunges and dislocates

Low-bar Squat:
10 x 60kg P
10 x 110kg (242lb)
10 x 110kg (242lb)
10 x 120kg (264lb)
5 x 130kg (286lb)
5 x 130kg (286lb)

Didn't push beyond an RPE of 8 for anything so as not to give my poor old CNS too much bother. Still, none of it felt easy - even 60kg felt heavier than usual!

Would have added some C&Js but my left shoulder has been playing up again so I'm giving it another day off.

Creatine should arrive this week after I finally got around to ordering some. It'll be interesting to see if I notice any difference in my lifting ability before my op. If I do, I might try to nail a 400lb squat beforehand. Then I'll be able to enjoy the enforced time-off a little bit.
 
Mon 19/10/09

Still with the cold so not much tonight, but it is on its way out now. Hopefully, I'll feel a bit more energetic tomorrow.

Cleans:
10 x 70kg (154lb)
5 x 70kg
5 x 70kg
5 x 70kg

A few of these were with jerks. I did a strict press for one rep too. Even with this relatively light weight, old Ernie complained so I shoved extra packing in his face!

Dips:
25 x bw

Haven't dipped in ages as I wanted to let my left shoulder heal a bit. Not too uncomfortable. I have really missed these. Hope I can include them regularly again soon.

Chins:
6+3,3,2,1,1 x bw+20kg(44lb) (M-R)

Left shoulder felt more sore doing these than dipping.
 
Tue 20/10/09

Cold has gone to my chest a bit now.  
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Rack Pulls:
5 x 140kg (308lb)
1 x 150kg
1 x 160kg
1 x 170kg
1 x 180kg
1 x 190kg
1 x 200kg
1 x 210kg
1 x 220kg
1 x 230kg
1 x 230kg
1 x 230kg (506lb)

These were only shallow pulls (from knee level); I really just wanted to check my grip was still up to a 500 pull. No real trouble holding on to the bar but my hands got pretty sore in the process. Various nerve twinges in my forearms, arm and shoulder joints following this session.

I need to toughen up.
 
So my cold turned into more of a flu. The worst is over but I am still feeling completely washed out, so I'm taking a break from training until I feel my body has recovered a bit more. I have a trip to Norway (the land of Blade and Myo-reps!) this week which will give me something to do while I'm off training.

Interestingly, since I haven't been training for almost a week now, my left shoulder has been bothering me quite a lot. If it doesn't improve at all with the extra rest it's going to get this week, I think I'm going to get it checked out. I keep getting sharp pains during regular daily activities - similar to when getting hit on the 'funny' bone. Maybe there's a bone spur in there?

Anyway, have a good week folks.
 
Wed 04/11/09

Norway was a blast! What a great place. Among other things, took in the stunning view from Preikestolen (vertical drop of 604m to fjord level!). I may consider moving out there in a few years time if I can sort my work situation out.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped....len.jpg

My left shoulder didn't improve with the time off; in fact, if anything, it felt more uncomfortable. I forgot to take my fish oil to Norway so I've been off that for a week too.

Still not fully recovered from the flu bug I had before I went out there; I've been left with horrid thick catarrh.

Did a bit of light bench (2 x 25 x 60kg, 13 x 80kg - t&g) and some bw chins last night just to get my blood flowing and I am now pretty sore.

Hernia op is only 6 days away so I won't be able to get started on a proper cycle, and then I'll be recovering for a little while before I can start up again.
 
05/11/09

Just a few squats tonight to ease me back in.

Shoulder dislocates and lunges for warm-ups.

Low-bar Squat:
10 x 60kg
10 x 110kg
10 x 110kg (242lb) P

Felt great. My hips have really healed up after the break from training. I didn't realise quite how sore my hip joints had become after my Smolov squat cycle.

Proper session tomorrow.

@Krieger: Cheers mate. I intend to go back in the summer and do plenty of rowing and swimming in the fjords. Winter in Norway is great if you like to ski or snowboard.
 
Darn, I never expected to get such sore quads, hams, glutes and adductors from just a few sets of relatively light squats! It's a job just to sit in a chair!
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So, instead of a workout tonight, did a few chins, a bike session and a bit of stretching. I'll workout tomorrow instead.
 
07/11/09

Shoulder dislocates and lunges for warm-ups.

Bench:
10 x 60kg P
10 x 80kg P
10 x 80kg P + 3,3,3,2 (M-R)

For the last set, I actually hit failure close to the top of the 10th paused rep. The Myo-reps were very difficult after that.

EZ-bar Pendlay Rows:
15 x 61kg
15 x 61kg

EZ-bar Rows:
20 x 61kg P

Low-bar Squat:
10 x 80kg P
10 x 110kg (242lb) P

Legs were still very sore before squatting so I only did two sets.

I actually felt a bit pukey after bench. Amazing how detrained I felt after two weeks off.

For the final set of rows I actually didn't set the bar down between reps as in a regular Pendlay. I lowered until the plates touched the floor, then lifted the bar a little for a pause before starting the next pull. It felt good to really stretch out the bottom position but it was difficult to get my breathing right. I had to put the bar down at rep 15 for a good breath before the final 5 reps.

Next time I'll try regular Pendlay style reps, so I can get a good breath between reps, but I'll pause with the load just off the floor before pulling.

I'm treating the paused reps for sets of 10 like 15s. In fact, I think it takes me longer to complete a paused set of 10 than an equivalent set of 15 with the same load.
 
Mon 09/11/09

I spent much of this evening helping my lad and two of his mates with their training session, including learning to power clean. They didn't do too badly but it did take up a lot of my training time hence the brief workout.

Clean and Jerks:
Warmups
3 x 80kg (176lb) - not hard. Power cleaned the bar for each rep without much of a problem.

Front Squats:
10 x 80kg (176lb) - heavy enough to bother 'Ernie' by the end of the set.

Paused Bench:
Warmups
10+5,5,3,2,1 x 80kg (176lb) (M-R)
5 x 90kg (198lb)
All reps paused for one second on chest.

Paused Chins:
10 x bw
5 x bw+10kg
6 x bw+10kg
8 x bw+10kg
All reps paused at full-hang.

EZ-bar Curls:
5 x 61kg (135lb) - arms felt tired after chins.
3 x 61kg
3 x 61kg

One day to go before my hernia op on Wednesday. I'll have to hit the squat rack tomorrow night because I suspect I'll be out of action for the rest of this week while the stitches heal.
 
Tue 10/11/09

Two crowns fitted today, adding to my already alarming dentistry bill for this year. Have to postpone getting my Concept 2 rower again.  
sad.gif
 

Shoulder dislocates and lunges for warmups.

Low-bar Squat:
10 x 60kg
5 x 110kg (242lb)
5 x 140kg (308lb) @8
5 x 140kg (308lb) @8.5
10P x 110kg (242lb)

140kg felt heavy. Haven't squatted with 140kg for almost a month. It doesn't take long for my strength levels to drop off but I hope I can pick them up again just as quickly once I'm back up to speed.
 
Thu 12/11/09

Had me op yesterday. 'Ernie' has finally bitten the dust. Poor Ernie! (I feel a Benny Hill song coming on... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVYz6hLOlsE )

Got the timing of my painkillers wrong last night and nearly passed out just trying to get to the loo; en route, I suddenly felt like all the blood had drained out of my head, my hearing faded and I felt like I was going to collapse! Just managed to stagger to a sofa and after lying down for a few minutes my hearing restored itself! What the heck?! Took some more codeine and had a more successful attempt half-an-hour later.

I would describe the feeling as being similar to being hoofed in the parts along with a few knife stabs thrown in for good measure. Joy!

Things should be easier today although I am still pretty darn sore. I am supposed to be as active as possible and can apparently lift and strain as desired. Well, I have no plans to do much but I managed a gentle 20 min stationary bike session first thing this morning. Much less painful than getting into and out of a chair, or walking about for that matter.

I'm pretty sure that I have had the old mesh fitted rather than the new ProGrip mesh (I'm taking part in a blind study) because I was able to see the Prof putting in some permanent-looking sutures which I think were to hold the mesh in place. These are not needed with the Progrip mesh as it is self-gripping (like velcro). Ne'er mind.

Anyway, I won't be lifting for a few days but I'm looking forward to seeing how everything feels once the pain and swelling subsides.

Here's a link to when I got my hernia back on 08/04/09 during my deadlift session while doing 5/3/1:

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.info/cgi-bin....y148037
 
Save back a half tab or 2 for those returning workouts...you might enjoy that. Glad you finally did Ernie in. Now you can play "catchup", 'cuz I ain't waitin' on ya! (chek the log...)
 
Wed 18/11/09

Just a quick progress report after my first week on the healing road:

I am still a long way from being able to anything much apart from gentle walks and stationary bike riding. Even getting into and out of a chair (or bed) remains unpleasant.

I stopped taking pain killers after a couple of days because I hate taking pills but it probably wasn't a smart move. Last night I sneezed without thinking and the pain nearly shot me through the roof. Got an urge to sneeze today too; I tried to stop myself but it didn't work. This time I put some pressure on the area but as I sneezed I got another exquisite flash of pain and something went 'pop' inside. I hope it was just an internal stitch and nothing more serious. I'll be talking to the support nurse about it tomorrow.

I used my CoC No1 gripper yesterday and found it was okay as long as I breath steadily the whole time. At least my grip may not suffer from a long lay-off. Yay! I tried some body-weight single-leg calf raises today and they were okay too. Better that than nothing.

Whilst on my pathetically slow walk/hobble today, I saw someone running and felt extremely envious! I have to keep telling myself it has only been a week...
 
Sun 22/11/09

Things are finally starting to improve and I'm feeling a lot more positive. No nasty sharp pains at all today. The swelling has reduced some more and I have managed to avoid sneezing and coughing almost entirely since the last painful episode.

I have been trying to be as active as possible as per doc's orders: pain killers and anti-inflams helped with this a lot. I'm stat biking for 10 mins a day, gradually picking up intensity so that I am now getting over 5k with the resistance setting at the second highest. That requires about 85 RPM. No nasty pain walking anymore, but I'm not up to jogging just yet.

As well as the biking, I've been cautiously hanging from my pull-up bar while taking some weight with my feet as necessary just to stretch the area out; it felt a whole lot better today so I tried a nice steady pull-up. No pain so tried another, and then another... In the end, I managed two very careful sets of 10. Everything stayed in place and there was no pain or the weird gut-popping sensation that I have become accustomed to. That's the first time that my insides have stayed in place since March! Annoyingly, my left shoulder was less happy about this; it felt much stiffer than my right and twinged quite a bit. It definitely has a reduced ROM in certain directions.

Now things are improving, I have to be especially patient and not start doing too much too soon. I think when I feel happy to jog about again I'll start on a new lifting program and take things nice and steadily.
 
Fri 27/11/09

Swelling around wound has decreased a bit more but there's still a lump. I have some kind of shingles-like pain around the area which is apparently due to nerve damage and should improve with time. It's more annoying than anything else as it feels like I have sunburn and a rash all around the area but I don't.

Throughout the week: more biking, walking, stretching, gripper work, ... yawn.

Yesterday, I set the resistance on the bike at max to see how many more cals I would burn if I kept to the same 85 rpm for a 10 mins session. I had to pause the session after 5 mins because I was completely spent, then after a brief rest I lowered the resistance back down to my usual setting and finished the final 5 mins. It didn't make any real difference to the final totals; cals used were about the same as usual (~120) and the distance travelled was the usual just over 5km (as it should have been for consistent RPM). So now I know that the control panel ignores the resistance setting. Great. Why are these things even made?

Today, I tried a couple of sets each of high-rep curls and tri extensions with 32kg. That seemed okay so I moved on to some light bench with 60kg. Got a few twinges when benching because of the stretch and getting on and off the bench still not fine.

EZ-bar Curls:
2 x 20 x 32kg (70lb)

EZ-bar Tri-extensions:
2 x 25 x 32kg (70lb)

Paused Bench:
2 x 20 x 60kg (132lb)

20 paused reps seemed to take ages and I got a great burn. Didn't stretch to get as much of an arch as I normally would so left shoulder complained a bit more than it usually would.

Tomorrow I may try some light squats and/or some light deads. Maybe even a some front squats.
 
Sat 28/11/09

Two and a half weeks after my op.

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>I'm back baby!</span>
Albeit, in a very small way.  
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Plenty of lunges and dislocates for warmups.

Overhead Squats:
20 x 50lb
Yeah, I know. Don't laugh.

Low-bar Squat:
20+5,5,5 x 60kg (M-R)

Front Squat:
10 x 60kg

Well, no twinges of any kind. Just a little sore is all. I'll keep taking it slow and steadily but I feel confident that things can only get better from this point on.

Lower back was extremely fatigued after just this. That means I'm going to have to strengthen it up, probably with some GHD work.
 
Thanks Tim. Same to you too. I hope to be able to start pushing myself again in the new year.

Seems I overdid the squats a bit the other day even though they were light. Too much volume too soon. My whole lower body has been DOMed to death; legs constantly pumped!  
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 I haven't had DOMS like this for years. Certainly shows how light a load and how little volume you need for a decent training effect after a lay-off of a couple of weeks. I should have known better. :rolleyes:

To try to help things along, I did a 10 min bike session, forced myself to stretch and to do some deep, paused free-hand squats followed by a self-applied massage.
 
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