Mike's Log - The Road to Recovery

Re: landmine press - how do these feel, joints wise? Obviously you wouldn't be doing anything you didn't trust and that didn't feel comfortable, but is it one of those exercises that has a 'groove' to it?
 
AlexAustralia said:
Re: landmine press - how do these feel, joints wise? Obviously you wouldn't be doing anything you didn't trust and that didn't feel comfortable, but is it one of those exercises that has a 'groove' to it?
Click to expand...

The only thing I can offer is to give it a shot. I wasn't really sure what it would feel like, but my impression is that it feels quite good. There is definitely a groove to it, but also an element of balance, as you have to prevent side to side motion, obviously. Either way, I think it feels quite good/natural.
 
AlexAustralia said:
Re: landmine press - how do these feel, joints wise? Obviously you wouldn't be doing anything you didn't trust and that didn't feel comfortable, but is it one of those exercises that has a 'groove' to it?
Click to expand...
To me, it feels much more like a closed-kinetic-chain exercise even though there is still plenty of open-kinetic-chaininess about it, ie. it feels more like a machine press than a db press. There's definitely a groove to it, so efficiency will no doubt improve over a few sessions.
 
Last edited:
Another bootleg day at home after spending the day at Starved Rock State Park with the parents.

Lower Body - Day 2, Week 8

Back Extensions (flat)
Warmup
Me + 90 x 14

Hip Thrusts (continuous tension)
Warmup
95 x 12 (lots of burn, no idea what my real strength is here as I do it so infrequently)

Leg Curls
80 x 12

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 35 x 15/side

Notes:

Lots of warmups with squats, mostly with an empty bar. With high bar, I'm sometimes reminded of the simplicity of Broz's squatting advice - sit down, stand up. When I think about sitting down on a little stool right behind me, keeping my chest up, most of the rest seems to click. Actively shoving my knees out ala Rippetoe/Westside advice can work, but sometimes leaves me in a slightly more bent over position, for reasons unknown.

But yah, the rest was fine. After walking around all day, I was pretty juiced.
 
Last edited:
Regarding laterals, I usually do them lying on my side propped up on the other elbow. I also start with the dumbell out in front of my thigh, it seems to bring more infraspinitis and posterior deltoid into play that way. I read somewhere that this style of laterals activates all the external rotator cuff muscles at once, which makes sense kinesiologically.

If I happen to do these at the gym, I do them lying sideways on an incline bench, eliminating the need to prop my torso up on my elbow. http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/DBInclineLateralRaise.html
 
Last edited:
A couple of days worth of logs...

Wednesday, July 3rd

Upper Body - Day 1, Week 9

Pause Bench (BARELY touching chest, i.e. not relaxing at all at the bottom)
Warmup to 205 for a single
170 x 7 (oops, meant to do 8)

Chins
Warmup
Me + 85 x 7

Landmine Press
Warmup
Bar + 45 x 10/side

1-Arm Cable Rows
65 x 5,8 per side

45 Degree Lateral Raises
10 x 12,7 per side (short-ish rests)

Side-lying DB External Rotations
10 x 8/side

Notes:

Bench is actually feeling fine at this point, maybe even better than dumbbell benching did? Kind of surprising.

In finding form that doesn't irritate my shoulder, I think I've picked up on bad habits I used to have in both chins and bench, which is "relaxing a little" at the bottom. For example, in paused bench pressing, I think of it now as touching my chest almost as lightly as I can, holding it there for a split second, then driving up. It's definitely more fatiguing this way, as the muscles are under constant tension. Same logic for chins, I am "holding" my shoulders back/tight at the bottom of chins, never really relaxing anything, and the result is a slightly weaker performance and more of a feeling of continuous tension. This is definitely the path of wisdom, imo.

Thursday, July 4th

Lower Body - Day 1, Week 9

Back Extensions (flat)
Warmup
Me + 55's (110) x 10

Side-lying Hip Abduction
My own leg x 30/side

Leg Curls
85 x 10

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 45 x 10/side

Notes:

Nothing too wacky here, I continue to warm up with super light squats. I re-tried getting the groove of knees out + sit down/back + chest up, and it felt pretty good today. Warming up with a band definitely helps the knees out aspect.
 
Last edited:
In finding form that doesn't irritate my shoulder, I think I've picked up on bad habits I used to have in both chins and bench, which is "relaxing a little" at the bottom. For example, in paused bench pressing, I think of it now as touching my chest almost as lightly as I can, holding it there for a split second, then driving up. It's definitely more fatiguing this way, as the muscles are under constant tension. Same logic for chins, I am "holding" my shoulders back/tight at the bottom of chins, never really relaxing anything, and the result is a slightly weaker performance and more of a feeling of continuous tension. This is definitely the path of wisdom, imo.
Click to expand...

So, now you aren't relaxing at all at the peak eccentric point (essentially) ?
 
AlexAustralia said:
So, now you aren't relaxing at all at the peak eccentric point (essentially) ?
Click to expand...

Basically. It's not like it was an overt thing before, it's just that when the going gets tough in a paused bench (or in a full range of motion chin), it's easy to "let go" a little before initiating another/fatigued rep. In both exercises, I now have to be very conscious of staying tight, not allowing anything to relax at all.
 
Upper Body - Day 2, Week 9 (last upper body day of cycle)

Paused Close-Grip Bench Press
Warmup to 205 x 1
175 x 6

Chins
Warmup to Me + 125 x 1
Me + 90 x 6 (or 7, but we'll be safe and call it 6)

Landmine Press
Warmup
Bar + 50 x 10/side

Cable Rows
160 x 5,8

45 Degree Lateral Raises
15 x 5/side
10 x 15/side

Side-Lying External Rotations
10 x 10/side

Notes:

Did most of this workout at the gym. Nothing too interesting to report here, other than the obvious fact that my strength is down. I think this is a combination of the low bodyweight and the avoidance of 5's, other than the obvious fact that I spent over 6 months without barbell benching. I really think 5's bleed over better into 8+ reps than vice versa, based on experience, and will attempt to incorporate this into future programs.

Here's a picture I snapped after the workout today, this is probably about as lean as I'll care to get:

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5066/vzra.jpg
 
Last edited:
Wow. I didn't realize you were cutting. I would be interested in learing more about your cut; how long it took, what you did diet/supplement-wise, and if you did any cardio.

Everything looks great, but your pecs and delts look especially great!
 
Last edited:
nativetroutbum said:
Wow. I didn't realize you were cutting. I would be interested in learing more about your cut; how long it took, what you did diet/supplement-wise, and if you did any cardio.

Everything looks great, but your pecs and delts look especially great!
Click to expand...

Initially my plan (which started in the beginning of May) was kind of all over the place, but the gist was high-ish protein (1+ grams per lb of bodyweight), high-ish carb (similar to protein, probably ~40%), and low-ish fat (~20%). Daily calorie intake was something like ~2100-2250 per day. It's worth noting that I was using an IF setup (~16 hours fasting to 8 hours feeding) and 3 meals per day in that 8 hour window.

However, starting some time near the end of May/beginning of June, I was finding hunger to be an issue, so I experimented with something more paleo-ish, still in the context of IF. This actually worked surprisingly well, hunger-wise. Average daily calories were ~2000-2100.

Basically, my meals were meat + a ****load of veggies + nuts (or avocado) for any non-post-workout meal. So lots of fiber/fat/protein, but low carb. My meals post-training were the same amount of protein, but I swapped all the fat calories for carbs, primarily in the form of fruit (particularly apples and watermelon, two of my favorites). The result is what you see in that previous picture. To be honest, I did notice a bit of a dip in strength, so it's possible that the low-ish carb format of most of my meals impaired my performance. In terms of cardio, my main form was simply walking for a couple miles a few times a week, a bike ride here and there, just very low intensity stuff.

Either way, I figure this is good enough for now, I'll ride this out until the end of my vacation (I'm leaving Wednesday and getting back the following Tuesday), at which time I will crank up calories and attempt to safely push my strength to new levels. This will be a gradual rebuilding process, however.
 
Last edited:
Lol said:
Heck, Mikey! Nice work. You should grace us with a back shot too. A lean, ripped back is such a splendid thing.

Are you going to do a bit of one-armed chin training again now you are lighter, or would that mess with your shoulders too much?
Click to expand...

One armed chin training might be a thought at some point but is actually a pretty hard exercise on the stability of the shoulder, so will probably not be introduced any time soon.
 
Lower Body - Day 2, Week 9 (final day of cycle)

45 Degree Back Extensions
Warmup
Me + 80 x 13 (PR)

Hip Abduction
130 x 15 (PR I guess?)

Leg Curls
95 x 13

Calf Raise Stack
Me + 195 x 15 (again, PR I guess)

Notes:

Nothing too exciting here. The back extension strength is PR level, though it's a PR in something I'm not super concerned about, so take that for what you will. This cycle (which lasted 9.5 weeks) has been reasonably productive, I guess, my body composition seems decent, though strength is down. This is at least partially a product of using higher reps (15 --> 12 --> 8), I'm sure, but I wanted to play things extra cautiously after my shoulder PRP injections. I'll be going on vacation for a week Wednesday, thus SDing for ~10 days, and will be giving some thought as to my future training goals in the interim.
 
Last edited:
I'm also turning today into one last, impromptu carb up day, since I haven't had a high calorie day in a month, and am feeling a little hungry.
 
Your program looks really solid, and as long as you keep avoiding what hurts, and playing it safe, I give you the green light to go into the 5s again. Just my 2cents.

You are definitely really lean, a hardy congratulations on that, you also get the green light from me on doing a bulk. I think if your going to go ahead and do a regular HST cycle with 5s and heavyish loads, you should definitely pack on some weight. Your already sub10% bodyfat, so a little bulking will probably put some nice lean mass in your frame.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top