Mini Workout

7 April 2012

Bench pressing was on the menu for today but I had a late night yesterday and barely made it to the gym. SO I did a mini workout for the upper back and biceps:

Seated HammerStrength Row x 4 sets x 10

Bicep supersets (DB preacher curl with straight-bar preacher curl) x 3 sets

Some Squats and Deadlifts

17 July 2011

Today I had a squat session followed by some deadlifting. My lower back injury is still bothering me, but I am already at around 60% of my pre-injury weights and hoping to improve further in the coming couple of weeks.

It's going to be a long way back to decent weights, but now I'm confident I can do it.

(All in lbs., of course):

Full squat bar x 2 x 5,95x5, 145x5, 175x5, 195x5, 220x3, 245x2, 265x1, 285x1

High box squat 285x5, 305x5, 335x3, 355x3, 375x2

Deadlift 135x2, 225x2, 275x2, 295x2, 315x2, 325x1 (post-injury PR)

Leg curl 3 sets x 10

Leg extension 3 sets x 10

Calf raise, seated 3 sets x 10

Incline board situps 2x12, crunches 2x25

More Squats

8 July 2011

Did some more squats today. The weight is coming back up, I managed to hit a pain-free single with 270 lbs. today as opposed to 195 lbs. last week, made some progress on the high box squats too. I am hopeful that I'll be back to normal strength levels in a week or two. The deadlift might take longer to recover, though - did a few doubles with 225 lbs. and they hurt.

Full squat bar x 2 sets x 5, 95x5, 145x5, 175x5, 195x5, 215x3, 235x2, 250x1, 270x1

High box squat 245x5, 285x5, 325x5, 355x2, 375x1

Deadlift 205x2, 225x2x2

(All weights in lbs., of course)

Pullups 5x5

Squats And Some Deadlifts

6 July 2011

Tried some deadlifts after the squats, super light weight and very careful of form. There was pain, but only in a certain range (at the very bottom of the deadlift). Might try pulling off blocks or pins in the power rack if I can do it pain free. Anything to get back into deadlift training. Lower back keeps feeling better, but still nowhere near ready for heavy weights.

Full squat bar x 2 sets x 5, 95x5, 115x5, 145x5, 175x5, 195x3, 215x3, 235x1, 250x1

High box squat 250x5, 285x5, 300x5, 335x3, 355x1

Deadlift 95x5, 145x3, 195x1 - new pain-free record

Standing band crunches x a bunch of sets

Upper Back + Squats

5 July 2011

Full squat bar x 2 sets x 5, 95x5, 115x5, 145x5, 165x5, 195x3, 215x3, 235x1, 245x1

High box squat 235x5, 285x5 - back started feeling funny so I stopped there

Deadlifts 135 lbs. x 3 - finally can do these again. They hurt.

Pullups 5x5

Seated rows 3 sets

Pulldowns 3 sets

EZ bar preacher curls 3 sets

Upper Back Training + Squats

1 July 2011

Limited myself to full squats only, the above-parallel ones are hurting my knees. Back is feeling much better again. Went a bit heavier, it was still pain-free.

Full squat barx5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 145x5, 165x5, 175x5, 185x5, 195x3, 215x3, 235x2

Pullups 5x5

Neutral-grip pulldowns 3 sets

Seated DB shrugs 3 sets x 10

Rear delt raises 2 sets x 10

Incline bench DB curl 4 sets

EZ bar reverse curls 3 sets

Wrist curl 2 sets

Seated good mornings 3 sets x 10

Standing band crunches 1 set

Bodyweight 198.7 lbs. Added some weight despite all the squat volume.

Overhead Press Training + Squats

30 June 2011

Continued with the squat saga in addition to the scheduled overhead press workout. Back is feeling better.

Full squats barx5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 145x5, 165x5, 175x5

Overhead press 175 lbs. x 5, 200 lbs. x 3, 220 lbs. x 2 (so now my press is higher than my squat)

High box squats 220x5, 265x5, 285x5, 295x5, 300x5

Seated good mornings 45x5, 65x2x5

Light bench press 200 lbs. x 2 sets x 10

Seated behind-the-neck press 115x2, 135x2, 145x2, 155x2, 165x2

Close-grip bench lockouts in power rack - a few sets

Light abdominal work 2 sets

Leg Training - Rehab Squats

29 June 2011

Followed my decision to try squatting five days this week. So today was Day 3. I even managed to add some weight to the bar for real squats, but my hips are still mysteriously stiff, despite doing several minutes of hip stretching.

Full squat barx5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 145x5, 165x5

High box squat 195x5, 215x5, 245x5, 265x5, 285x5

Again, kept form perfect, avoided forward lean and quit at the slightest sign of pain. This might work.

Seated good mornings bar x 10, 55 lbs. x 2 sets x 10

Standing band crunches 3 sets

Leg extension 3 sets x 10

Seated calf raise 4 sets x 10

Lower Back Rehab + Some Upper Back Work

28 June 2011

Managed to hit a few sets of high box squats, which makes me very happy. Also squatted to depth some with an empty bar.

High box squats 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5 - back started to hurt a bit here, so I stopped.

Pullups 5x5

Pulldowns 4 sets x 5, progressively heavier

EZ bar preacher curls 3 sets

Did a lot of standing band crunches, I think they help te lower back a bit.

Lower Back Rehab + Upper Back + Biceps

23 June 2011

Some light lower back work, seated upper back and biceps exercises. Injured area is slightly better, I keep doing stretches and abdominal exercises when at home. Hoping to get back to very light squats and deadlifts next week, then maybe heavier stuff the week after that.

The pain is now bearable and I hope no permanent damage has been done.

Morning: pushup planks, planks and crunches, lower back stretching

Afternoon (gym): Seated good mornings: bar only x 3 sets x 10, 65 lbs. x 1 set x 10

Pullups 5 sets x 5

Leg extensions 3 sets x 10

Machine pulldowns 5 progressively heavier sets

Leg curl 3 sets x 10

Chest-supported seated row 3 sets x 10

Seated shrugs 3 sets x 10 w. 80 lb. dumbbells (this was not a good idea, as picking the DBs up was sort of painful)

Incline bench seated DB curl 4 sets

Concnetration curl 4 sets

Evening: light abdominal work, back stretches

A New Take On Bodybuilding

I might have stumbled on the perfect training program for my present condition, and it's... BODYBUILDING TRAINING. I did a brief high-rep, light weight, full-body workout yesterday, and I'm feeling it today. I might stick with it until fully healed.

Bench press: 100 kgs x 30 reps (broken down into several sets with a brief rest in between)

Bent-over row: 70 kgs x 40 reps (very light on these because anything even moderately heavy sets off tendinitis like a flare, varied grips to hit different muscles)

Squat: 110 kgs x 20 reps total (barely managed this - have been hitting the lower body with partials and isometrics three days in a row prior to this)

Overhead press: 60 kgs x 28 reps (miscounted actually, was going for 30, alternated between front and behind-the-neck press)

Bicep curls: 27.5 kgs x 30 reps (EZ bar, again very light to keep the elbow pain-free)

So not a whole lot of joint stress, but got a decent workout. Will try to do this 3 x per week, increasing reps rather than weight. After all the time I've spent bashing bodybuilding-type routines, they may prove to be the answer in these trying times

Test Day At The Gym

Went to the gym to see if there are any exercises that I can do without aggravating my elbow:

Bench presses - I set out pretty gingerly on these, mostly singles and doubles. Worked up to 275 lbs. Wohooo. A SLIGHT bit of pain in the right elbow, so I stopped there.

Clean&press - 135 lbs., needless to say this was a bad idea. Funny thing is, the elbow hurt on the presses, not the clean.

Bent-over row - 135 lbs x several sets x high reps. Not a lot of discomfort here either. But the weight was very light.

Deadlift - a few full-ROM reps, some partial pulls, up to 430 lbs on the partials. Elbow is fine as long as I don't try to bend it while pulling.

High pulls above waist - yeah, bad idea.

Shrugs - okay, cca. 320 lbs. max single.

Dips - these are 100% fine! That's good news.

Also looks like left elbow is healed, no more pain there.

I don't think I'll be going back to regular workouts for a while, though.