melkor's Journal

Whoof, been a while.

Sep 08 2009 05:58

Not that I haven't been working out, but my consistency in journalling the workouts has been lacking. Thing is, I haven't felt that it's all that interesting to write entries like:

Day 60 - leg still hurts, still doing rehab and mobility exercises. This still sucks.

So okay, I've been back to doing real lifting for - well, 3 weeks now, for some values of real lifting. Like I was complaining to Jim Smiths of Diesel Crew the other day, my my flexibility is shot and form on my lifts has turned to crap, and the weights I'm pushing are almost ridiculously low.

Still, I'm doing it and as I would tell anyone else - so what if your weights have gone done down? Apply some consistency, focus on form while doing the lifts, add weight to the bar each workout when you complete all the target reps with good form, and you'll be lifting respectable weights soon enough.

In other news, I'm taking pure math this semester at Uni - mostly because there wasn't any relevant programming courses going on and I could use the practice. Even if pure calculus is rarely used in most day-to-day programming outside of specialized science applications.

Ah, well- I've got a pretty light course load which leaves me more time to play around on PubMed and other databases; and the university is kind enough to supply me with fulltext access to just about every medical database online which is potentially dangerous for my inner information sponge/geek ;)

Some notes on today's workout:

Warmup: Mobility drills from Magnificent Mobility.
Workout: Starting Strength, workout B.

Squats: ramping 5@132lbs, 5@176 to work sets 3x5@198lbs
Military press: ramping 1x5@88lbs to work sets 3x5@100lbs
Power cleans from the hang position: ramping 1x5@110lbs to work sets 5x3@121lbs

Finish: eating my own Dog Food - the circuit workout I made up for Abbey.

5 Pushups
10 Mountain climbers
10 bodyweight squats

Discussion: I'm using the Starting Strength template again rather than something more advanced 'cause I want/need to get the lift numbers up to snuff as quickly as possible and a basic barbell program is the way to do it. Could have gone with the "stripped" 5x5 template instead, but this program is an old and comfortable friend that I know just about how it'll go when I'm doing it. Numbers are up 11lbs on all the lifts from last week with better form which means I'm at least on track to getting back to semi-respectable weights within this lifetime. Depth and form was better on the squats today, though I'm wondering if I should strip some weight from the bar and practice form more before I develop bad habits I wouldn't tolerate in anyone else.

Low-calorie food for thought anyway.

After doing the heavy lifting I went and did the conditioning finisher I designed for Abbey - I could probably have done a few more rounds if I'd done it first, but there's no way I'm going to do a metabolic circuit/conditioning workout before the heavy lifting.

I still did 15 rounds in the allotted 20 minutes. Beat that, if you can ;)

Okay, getting back on the road.

Jul 07 2009 06:09

Rehab sucks. Just does. So does not training for realses; while you can do a lot with just diet and being sensible there's no denying that the body was made to be used and I just feel like crap when I'm not properly working out.

So okay; I haven't been doing anything really workout-wise since my surgery; some rehab and single-leg training doesn't count. Neither does that Pavel Tsatsouline concept I've been playing around with of sub-maximal high-frequency training. I've gone from 4-5 chinups being a bit hard to 10 being just on the edge of uncomfortable over the past two weeks which is nice, but it's time to get back to doing something a little more training-like.

At the same time, it's been a while so it's important to not overdo the beginning either; I'm not as much of a fan of being crippled by DOMS as I used to be.

Some notes on today's workout:

So today's workout I've kept pretty simple: in addition to the chinups at intervals throughout the day. (I've done 3 sets of 9 reps and one of 10 so far) Front squats supersetted with military press, 3x10/3x5; same weight (95lbs or thereabouts), which is barely a warmup for squats and a decent working weight for military press.

Back squat: 5@135lbs, 3x5@176lbs. - which is 'decent for a first workout after damn near two months off, but nowhere near my working weights before the leg surgery. I could easilyy have gone higher to be honest but meh, tomorrow's going to suck enough as it is with DOMS from first serious leg workout in forever ;)

I've been spending the down time productively though, with watching coaching videos from Dan John, Mark Rippetoe, Dave Tate and a whole bunch more people and I've tried a few new things for both setup and walkout today. And yep, I've learned that I've been doing a less than optimal setup/walkout- one of the reasons I felt like I could easily have done more today was on account of how tight the new setup felt; from the lift off the rack to returning the bar I was a lot more stable through the whole lift and increased stability translates into more weight moved.

Actually, I felt like I was gaining stability through the whole squat set which is unusual; the last set of five reps went through with a whole lot more power and drive than the first set. A function of gaining confidence in the new setup with weight on the bar instead of just doing setup and mobility drills with an unladen bar or a broomstick I think.

Finished off with a few sets of 20-rep dumbbell swings with a 50lbs dumbbell; I'd have used a kettlebell if I'd had one but the dumbbell probably works reasonably well to get a slight metabolic finisher to the workout. By rights I should have done power cleans from the floor, but I didn't feel up to that; it's a little late/early in the day to be doing an exercise that demands a high degree of coordination.

Overall, a pretty decent start I think; let's just see how I feel in the morning - that's when I'll know if all that rehab work has worked ;)

Back in the saddle - or on the floor as the case may be.

May 07 2009 13:49

Well, had the stitches out, came home, and promptly fell asleep on the couch for 4 hours.

Yeah, this whole surgery thing is a drag; second time this year I have to take a workout break to heal from incisions. Well, I guess what Dan John says is true - "surgery is nature's way of telling you to slow down". Even if technically I did volunteer for both to correct a few points of pain rather than them being necessary for injuries.

Anyway, talked to the nurse who took out the stitches and I'm allowed to do upper body work, but I need to wait with the leg work until at least next week and preferably until my leg's fully healed.

Well, doing upper body is better than nothing, soo...

Some notes on today's workout:

Warmup: not much.
Tested clapping pushups, did a couple and then thought better of it.
Pushups 3x20
Renegade rows 3x10 ea. arm, @50lbs
Dumbbell floor press, 3x10 ea. arm @50lbs.

Easy does it, when starting back up. Well, last time I didn't take it so easy when jumping back into the squat and wound up walking like a geriatric for nearly a week, so I thought I'd try to be at least a little smarter and start with some light(er) weights. Leg still hurts even if the compression bandage held up; but yeah, I'd have been screaming in pain about now if I'd tried any funny business in my squat rack I think. Leg's throbbing badly enough as it is just sitting here after using it isometrically for the pushups and renegade rows.

Well. Still good to be back in training even if I'm going to have to limit myself as far as exercise selection goes until the holes in me heal completely.

Yeah, I've been a little sedentary lately.

May 04 2009 13:34

Who knew having your leg cut open and the varicose veins pulled out would hurt quite that much?

In retrospect I suppose I should have expected something of the kind; but meh - still worth it in the long run I think and the stitches come out Wednesday ;)

I've been in a slightly retrospective mood today - I've been here for a few years, met all of you and made some great friends - some who've moved on, but I still remember them fondly; got and given a lot of help in the process, lost 63lbs of fat and gained a fair few pounds of muscle, maintained my loss for a year. Oh, going back to school was a big thing too, and has been keeping me busy from time to time, but... yeah; I've discovered new passions in the course of this.

And I am still thinking that - yeah; I should do more to make people see that Fitness is not one thing. It's about answering the question: "What do you want to be fit for".

Choose to be fit for your life. It's not about how much you squat or bench press, it's not about how fast your run or how high you jump, it's not about how many goals you score or the medals you collect. It's about being alive and being comfortable in your skin and feeling capable of living joyfully in your body.

I think this gets lost sometimes.

It's not about looking fit; it's about being fit - for your life.

We have achieved Friday!

Apr 17 2009 15:59

'course - having fallen out of the regular update habit I'm going to be compressing the last few days into one post.

Last workout is going to make my friend O. a little amused; it was just bodyweight-based with one-legged squats, Gironda dips, and those 1-arm elevated t-pushups. Circuit-fasion, AMRAP, minimal rest, 4 circuits. More of a calorie-burner and metabolic conditioning than anything; good cardio but not that much of a strength workout.

Going to be helping my brother move some stuff later today so my timing on doing this workout might have been better, but when you gotta, you gotta. It was ether today, or blow it off until next week and that just wouldn't do.

Some notes on today's workout:

Warmup:general calisthenics, mobility drill.

Back squat: 5x132lbs, 5x176lbs, 3x5@231lbs

Military press: 5x66lbs, 3x5@99lbs

Power clean: 5x3@110lbs.

A1 Chinups: 9,8, 4.5
A2: Mountain Climbers 3x20reps.

231lbs was interesting. I'm a little off in some elements of my technique I think, but I powered through with about the same level of strain as the last set of squats so I'm still able to maintain linear progress which is interesting seeing as I've now cut back down to 188lbs. I've still got a ways to go before hitting a 1.5xbodyweight squat, but with a little less bodyweight (aiming for 180 this time before I stop) and maintaining linear progression I'll hit it in a few months.

I want to say before summer, but what with the next bit of surgery on my varicose veins in my leg it's going to be a while before I get to train legs again. I assume stitches in my leg isn't going to be conducive to doing a lot of barbell squatting at least ;)

Milpress - well, nice jump obviously, but I think I started a little low on this current progression so it's going to take me a while before I surpass my old training weight. Not too long though, and hopefully something I'll be allowed to keep working a little even if my leg will be out of commission.

Power clean: Meh. I need to work more on technique on this I think; though performance is pretty explosive and the bar moves pretty straight there's something about my technique that's flawed. I might need to go back to hang cleans and work on that portion of the pull before doing the whole move from the floor 'cause I can feel I didn't quite engage the traps in that second pull like I should. Eh, well - on the other hand, strong off the floor and pretty much straight bar path all the way up isn't so bad and my catch has developed pretty well.

Chins - up until the third set when I started losing focus and pulling with my biceps instead of lats and back I was doing fine. 'course, when you start trying to pull your entire frickin' bodyweight up with just biceps it becomes near-impossible which is why I got only 4.5 reps on the last once; I think I'd have made at least 6-7 if I hadn't effed up my focus.

Eh, well, still - not unhappy overall. I just need to keep my mind on what I'm doing and train a little more technique. Oh, yeah, and get through having my leg cut open ;)

Yeah, so, about this regular updates thing....

Apr 14 2009 14:41

�Not being real conistent here yet, am I?

Getting back into it though. Let me just have a quick run-through on a few things: Disciplined? Hah - if I was, I'd have answered your comments like a good little Melkor when you made them and wrote down what I've been up to this easter as I did it ;)

�Keeping a regular journal and hanging out with my friends in Journal-land is what keeps me on track, really. When I slack off on the journalling I tend to get a bit lax about everything else that goes along with it as well. admittedly not to the point of blowing off my workouts entirely or completely dropping this whole "diet" thing in favour of snorkeling in the corn chips (though they did look mighty tempting when I was shopping saturday, I came home with carrots and milk like it said on my grocery list.)

�Still. There's something about commiting to and staying consistent about writing down that you're up to that's very helpful in terms of staying on track in relation to your goals. Frequently it's only been the thought of having to write down that "I skipped todays' workout" that's kept me from in fact skipping today's workout ;)

�Currently I'm doing a sort of half-assed version of Starting Strength as the basis for my workout, though Rippetoe would probably snort a little at the thought of that. I could probably do HIIT, but it seems counterproductive to add even more high-intensity leg training to a program that has you squatting 3xweek; so I'm sticking to a sedate walk for my cardio.

�How deep you squat during the performance of the exercise is a matter of how deep you can squat safely - I had to do a great deal of hamstring flexibility work before I could get low enough without my back rounding. So don't go overdoing depth either, only go as far as possible for you, work on flexibility in general and get down to proper depth when you're actually able to do so without injury risk.

�Some notes on today's workout:

�Warmup:general calisthenics, mobility drill.

A: Back squat: 5x132lbs, 5x176lbs, 3x5@220lbs

B: One-arm Dumbbell floor presses , 62.5lbs dumbbell, 3x10reps ea. side.

C1 Chinups: 9,8,6
C2: Dumbbell swings, 43lbs DB, 20,30,30

D: Mountain Climber 2x20.

No problem hitting the target for the back squat - had some moments feeling reluctant after the second set but when I got under the bar and lifted it was tough but doable. So much so that I think I can carry this progression rate further for at least one or two more workouts before I need to slow down how much I add to the bar each workout ;)

�DB floor presses - added weight and reps so I should be happy, but I have inconsistent technique which makes it hard to judge progress. I switch between tucked-in and flared elbows and I should just pick one and stick to it in order to be able to have a meaningful measurement here; there's no point to use a mechanical advantage to add more weight without it resulting in an adde training effect on the muscles in that kinetic chain.

�Apart from the chinups the rest is more or less a bit of fun, really - conditioning and core stability isn't a real big part of my plan right now since I'm on a deadline what with my upcoming spot of surgery, but I'll put in a bit at the end like here if there's time.

Naughty Melkor. no updatey.

Apr 09 2009 20:35

Oh yeah. as predicted, I was in pain. Walking like a geriatric until about Monday/Tuesday, in fact ;)

Stopping by Mom's on sunday for dinner may actually have helped with recovery - it hurt like hell to walk and I'm pretty sure I looked kinda funny from a distance the way I swung my legs from the hip and kept my knees straight when walking ;) But the movement, painful as it was, did force blood into the muscles which speeded up recovery. Helped along by the nutrient intake from a family dinner of course.

Still, I had a lazy and legs that were slightly painful so I waited until very early this morning to do a new squat workout - I did do an upper body push workout on Saturday that I should have journalled as well.

Some notes on Saturdays' workout:

Upper body focus; general calisthenics-based warmup w/some mobility drills.

A1:Chinups reps: 7,7,6.5
A2:One-arm Dumbbell floor presses , 60.5lbs dumbbell, 3x8reps ea. side.

B1: Military press 5x88lbs, 2x5@92lbs.
B2:one-arm Dumbbell Row 60.5lbs db, 3x10 ea. side.

Not a bad set of exercises, and done in about 25-30 minutes. I'd have done more except the leg pain convinced me I'd better start slow ;)

Some notes on today's workout:

Warmup:general calisthenics, mobility drill.

A: Back squat: 5x132lbs, 5x176lbs, 3x5@210lbs

B: Renegade row: 60.5db, 3x10 reps ea. arm.

C: one-armed, one-legged, stiff-legged dumbbell deadlifts from a deficit. 5x60.5lbs ea side, 2x5@71.5 ea. side.

D: Chinups: 8,6

Squats were up 11lbs from last time but I don't expect to be walking like a crippled geriatric for the better part of a week this time ;) I've changed foot position to a slightly narrower one and removed a few of the external depth quest I used to rely on, so I'm going practically ass-to-grass on these. And man am I ever feeling the change, particularily in the Vastus Medialis - I'm pretty certain that my old, wider-stance squat was a lot more hamstring dominant and based on how much pain I was in, didn't properly target the medialis.

Well, the flexibility work I've been doing to work on getting lower in the squat has obviously paid off since I'm now hurting in new and interesting ways ;)

Proper training for the first time in months.

Apr 03 2009 11:52

Man, I'll be hurtin' in the morning ;)

Probably, at any rate. Hanging out at the good gym with O. for the first time in 1.5 months; and it's interesting to note that I haven't lost much in the way of base strength; though peak strength is probably down a bit.

O.s quite a bit stronger than me these days, btw. Must fix. After the upcoming new round of surgery at least; I doubt I'll be able to do much in the way of gaining peak strength until after the leg's healed from the upcoming operation.

Some notes on today's workout:

First proper workout in a while so I didn't want to go too heavy.

Warmup: dynamic mobility drills, bodyweight calisthenics.
(Watching O. juggle kettlebells for his warmup was impressive, btw.)

Exercise 1: Back squat: 5@132lbs, 5@176lbs, 3x5@198lbs. Not bad for a layover, even if my form sucked on some of them. Kicked off my shoes for the last set and things went a lot more smoothly.

Exercise 2: front squat, 2x5@132lbs. Quads were a bit understimulated, so I added these two sets of light front squats at the end - and man, I'll be feeling that in the morning ;)

Exercise 3: deadlift. 2@308lbs; 8@308lbs. Pulled two singles at 308 with overhand grip, rested a bit, and then pulled 8 singles with mixed grip, alternating grip between reps.

And that concluded the strength part of the workout; after that I headed over to the cable station for a bit of fun, circuit-style.
1: Face pull, 44lbs on the stack, 10 reps.
2: Farmer's walk, 2x70lbs kettlebells, back and forth across the gym, about 15 yards each way.
3: Pallof press, 44lbs on the stack, 10 reps ea. hand.

Rest 30 seconds between exercises, 4 circuits.

And then hit the home stretch by - well, stretching ;)

So; GPP training in progress:

Mar 30 2009 13:34

Before I start anything really intense in the way of training I still need to do the GPP part where I 'work in' the muscles so I'm sure that my flexibility is intact, my joints, tendons and ligamets are up to the stress, and muscles are ready for heavy loading.

Oh yeah, and so I don't accidentally cripple myself by training everything in new ways so I get DOMS all over, dammit. That hurts ;)

Btw: sorry about not getting back to you on the mobility issue: I'm borrowing some of the exercises from 8 Weeks to Monster Shoulders and Essential 8 Mobility Drills adapted to adress the specific issues with A.s shoulders. I've given him some homework to do, but so far he's only been half-assing them which is why I'm nagging him to call the PT he's got a referral for ;)

Some notes on yesterday's workout:

It was an early sunday morn and sunny for once, so I went for a bit of a walk. 15 minutes out the front door at the fastest clip I could manage, and turn around to head home at same speed. Not much of a workout in terms of physical strain but the movement helped dispose of the last bits of DOM lingering from the previous workout.

Some notes on today's workout:

Warmup: General calisthenics/agility/dynamic mobility drills somewhat inspired by what Nick Tumnello's been doing in his seminars.

Exercises performed:

1: Power clean to front squat to push press; 5x3@110lb, 1min rest between sets.

2: Strict form chinups/ Dumbbell floor press@50lbs; 5 reps/5reps ea. hand, 3 sets, 45/90 sec rest.

3: Renegade rows@50lbs/dynamic bodyweight lunge; 10 reps ea. arm/ 10 reps ea.leg. 0/90sec rest.

Mostly just finding my correct training weight - I need to go up by about 10-15lbs on the floor presses, add more reps to the chins, the renegade rows were about correct weight so next time I'll just add 2-4lbs, and the lunges are strictly for mobility/flexibility work. Legs get hit enough on squat days that I don't need to add more pain to the mix, but it's good to work in some mobility/stability/flexibility work as well wherever appropriate.

Right now I think this is a "good enough" workout; I'm going to try doing some more of this GPP with higher intensities in the coming week leading up to trying one of Cosgrove's programs later on.

Oh man, been a while...

Mar 24 2009 09:32

Well, I was feeling a bit uninspired, and then the bleeping surgery sidelined me for weeks, dammit, and various things sidetracked me.

Anyway. I'm still coaching A. - his shoulder mobility has improved somewhat though I'm still nagging him to pick up the phone and make that appointment with a physiotherapist. We'll see how he does today; the mobility restrictions in his shoulders means he can't squat due to not being able to hold the bar. Not being able to squat is teh suck for my favourite beginner's program so I've been making him do stepups instead. He thinks I'm mean and says he's got trouble walking for days afterwards, which I think is a good sign ;)

'Course, I've but on a couple pounds due to the downtime that I could do with not having on me so I suppose I'm going to have to start counting for real again if I want to get the sixpack instead of this 4-pack I have right now. The interesting thing is that while I've gained about 10-11lbs since my low last summer, I haven't lost much of anythign in the way of definition. Which I think is pretty encouraging, all things considered.

Some notes on today's workout:

I'm engaged in what I have to call general physical preparedness right now; I'm not pushing myself nearly as hard as I am capable of. I'll be sticking to a conditioning program like this for at least this week, and then I think I'm going to commit to doing one of Alwyn's workouts again.

Warmup: Tabata jump rope intervals - these are probably not true Tabatas, that would require a bit more loading to hit 170% of VOMax but 4 minutes of 20sec all-out/10sec rest still kicks my ass. especially since it's been forever since I've done them.

Exercises performed:

superset 1: Chinups/stepups - 5 chins, then 5 stepups ea. leg. No weights, no rest between sets.

Superset 2: 1-arm elevated t-pushup*/1-legged elevated stiff-legged deadlift - 5 reps ea. limb, 60lbs DB on the deads.

superset 3: Gironda dips/1-arm row 5@60lbs ea. arm.

4: curl-to-overhead press, 38.5lbs, 3x5 reps ea. arm.

Each superset performed 3 times.

*elevated pushups look like this - I added difficulty by continuing into a T-pushup on reaching the top of the elevated pushup. Fun ;) One-legged deads performed on top of same elevated blocks, so ROM is increased. Also fun.

Well, when I count reps I must say that the last chinup series I didn't get 5 reps, I got 3, then had a 30 second pause and did 1.5. So 3x5 with the recovery period being the time it takes me to do 5 stepups per leg is more in the way of a goal than actuality.

Yeah, exercse 4 is pointless when I've already done chins, but it was still fun to include ;)