Sunday, November 28, 2010

Military press, 3 rep

Gorgeous day today. Crisp and cool, right around 60.

My left quad aches all the time around the scar. I'm going to take up the practice of cross-fiber massage every night, so I guess I better get a good cream or gel today. I need confidence in that muscle, that it won't fold like a pup tent next time I have a big load on me. Bob suggested it was adhesions coming loose, and I suspect he's right; but it still hurts, no matter what the situation.

Enough whining.

Started with Results and the Shelby mix. Did dynamic work only for my quad, and a bunch of bar work for my shoulders. Wore wrist wraps and elbow sleeves and got to it.

Military, fat bar, standing
110kg x 3 easy
130kg x 3 still pretty easy, though some barking
140kg x 3 fairly tough, did no extra because I kept thinking about my left knee and not about what I was doing. Great.

100kg x 5 x 10 very easy

Chins, fat grip
Alternated with the 100 kilo military sets. Alternated grips and added two full sets of 5/8" chains, which ought to be just short of 100 pounds. These were pretty smooth -- felt good about them.

All in all a good day, though still dominated by mental games surrounding my left quad. I suspect the massage will help a lot, though it'll likely take some time. Fine.

Great day, all.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Squat day, 5 rep

Late in the day, the sun is almost entirely gone. Dusk. I love this time of day, though I wish it didn't come at 4:52.

Beautiful day today. Bluebird skies, warm but still Fall-like. Great.

I love squat days, historically. Lately, I fear them, as my quad tear scar still hurts pretty much all the time. Makes me paranoid.

I used At Large Results and the Shelby protocol. Wore loose briefs, a belt for the heavier sets, and knee sleeves.

I did a lot of dynamic work and some bar work to warm up, but I got into the weight pretty quickly -- my lubbage jumps were large.

Squat, 5 reps
225kg x 5 no sweat
265kg x 5 not bad
265kg x 5 wussed and left the weight alone
155kg x 5 x 10

Here's where it gets ugly. First and second sets were smooth and easy. Even fast, maybe.

But in the middle of the third set, I felt like someone drove a screwdriver into my left quad right around the scar. Not sure if this was knee pain from doing something odd (like 600 pound walkouts), or more quad damage. But I wasn't taking any chances, so I called the whole thing and walked out. I have had a couple of pretty strong twinges since, so it's not just in my head.

I'm gonna ice it a little, shower, and ice it some more. And eat leftovers and drink bourbon all night. Sounds like a plan.

Nuts.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Bench day, 5 rep

Getting after it early today. Work is just too busy to assume I'll have any time at the end of the day, any day.

Started with the Shelby mix and Results. Wore elbow sleeves and neoprene wrist wraps. Did some dynamic work for my back and a lot of bar work to warm up.

To it:

Bench, fat bar:
185kg x 5 easy
195kg x 5 still easy
210kg x 5 got 9 reps, which I think might be a rep PR

125kg x 5 x 10 these were pretty easy too, though the last set took some grit

DB snatch 30kg, skinny handles, 3 x 10 reps

These were tough, but I like them. Feel them everywhere.

Got to keep it short today -- got to get into the office and get busy acting like I know what I'm doing. Very happy with the performance today. Weight moved easily -- more easily than expected -- and I feel good afterward. No pain anywhere.

My vastus scar is still in spasm most of the day. Not sure what to do. One doc thinks it's not yet healed, which I find hard to believe. We'll see.

Have a great day, everyone. It's beautiful and cool here -- hope likewise for you. Hang tough, Bobby, and get better soon.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Deadlift day, 5 rep

Raining here, which I like. Nothing I have to do outside today anyway, and the rain is a nice change. Feels more like Fall.

I've been looking forward to this day for a long time, particularly since it's been about six months since the last time I deadlifted.

Start with Results, Surge Workout Fuel, and the Shelby mix. Used loose briefs for hip support and a Spud DL belt for later sets. Used lots of chalk, lots of dynamic warm up, and some stretching afterward. Did some bar work to warm up, but not a lot.

Deadlift
200kg x 5
200kg x 5
200kg x 5

Kept it simple and light since it's been so long. Felt pretty good, actually, and the weight came up easily. Very happy.

160kg x 5 x 8

Five sets of 8 reps with less weight. All came up quickly, kept form good, no pain anywhere. Very nice.

Glute bridge
160kg x 3 x 8

Three sets of 8 reps with the bar I'd just used. These were downright brutal, I have to admit. Very tough.

Ab twists with the 50# stone, several sets. Went fine.

I rolled the 50# stone around as slowly and carefully as possible on my vastus scar. The thing still shows up with a lot of spasm at times -- sits up high and barks like a dog. It's weird. I wish I knew what to do, so I keep massaging it. Finally got fed up and rolled it with the stone. Talk about brutal, but it feels better after having done it. I may bring the stone inside (if the wife doesn't scream too loud) and do the same in the evenings when I'm being useless in front of the idiot box. We'll see how it feels in a few hours. Got to do something.

Great day, guys. Everybody hold up brother Bob in your thoughts.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

A new beginning: the return to 5/3/1, MP 5 day

It's been a couple of weeks and I feel weak. Came down with a vicious cold likely born out of job stress, so I took the chance to deload in a serious way.

During the two weeks, I contemplated where I'm going. I'm still tender on my vastus scar and still worried about how that's progressing. Going to start fairly serious soft tissue work to break it up. In the meantime, I've been itching to change things up, so I did. I decided to go back to 5/3/1, where I was making continuous progress prior to launching with Shelby. I made even more progress with Shelby and have nothing but positives to say about that, but just want to make changes.

So today is day one of a week spent exploring where I am. I started with Results and the Shelby mix, used elbow sleeves and wrist wraps, and did a fair amount of bar work. I'm lifting in the morning, which I hate, the day after having eaten way too little. I was hungry all day, hearing Shelby and John Berardi fussing at me in my ear all day long. So it was not likely to be a day of PRs.

Starting with Boring but Big

Military 5, 180s rest

Did my three 5 rep sets with 100 kilos, standing, reps to collar bone for full ROM. Kept it under control. Started first rep at shoulders, no knee bounce. All three sets went up pretty easily.

Military 5x10, 180s rest

Same protocol, same weight, 10 reps per set. The first three were easy, the fourth set tough, the fifth brutal. Feel it mostly in my posterior/medial deltoids. Posterior was crying.

Supersetted my 10 rep MP with Krocs with my 80kg fat DB. Pulled only ten reps per, but did five sets.

Threw some chins in without much fervor. I think I'll use them on bench days.

Feels good to train again. Looking forward to renewed purpose. Hope everyone has a great day. Hang tough, Bob -- we're pulling for you.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Day 4 week 22

I actually lifted a couple of days ago, but I'm just now getting to posting it. I've been down with a bad cold, so I guess now all I have is time and not much punch to train. Love the crud.

It started as a cool day, so I actually ran the heater in the rumpus room until I got a good sweat on. Didn't take too long.

Started with AtLarge Results and the Shelby mix, elbow sleeves, wrist wraps. No Spike or Surge Workout Fuel today. Loose briefs for the last three sets of squats.

I did some dynamic work and a lot of bar work to warm up before getting to it. Everything felt ok going in.

All exercises were 3 sets of 5-7 with about 180s between.

Military press, seated, regular bar, wide: 3 x 7 reps with 5 more kilos than last time. For some reason I thought constantly about dumping, which isn't good. I had no safety net this time, lifting outside the pins and seated at 80 degrees. Didn't dump and pressed all 7 reps for all three sets, but it was a tough session and I was feeling it when done. Good stuff

Elbows-out triceps extensions: 3x7 reps Used the 40 kilo skinnies doggcrapp style, up five kilos per hand. Flat bench and repped out. Got 20/27(huh?)/17 reps, ten deep breaths between sets. More reps for the last two sets than last time with more weight on the dumbs. Go figure. Burly day or something. Usually I'm flagging a little from the shoulder work, but today it worked. It'll be a tough mark to beat next time.

Squat
: 3 x 7 reps 180 kg on the SSB. Weight up ten kilos. My scar tissue in my left quad is still tender to touch and I get twinges in it at weird times, so I was a little more paranoid than usual this time. Nonetheless, even though I was thinking about bailing early, I got all 7 reps for each set. Rising with the weight was easy, actually, but I still don't want to do any more damage to my left vastus. Descending was slow and careful, and frankly pretty tough, but coming back up was easy. Probably should have used the knee sleeves and thought less about that leg.

I feel the need to work back up to some big squat weights. I need to come to some peace about the quad and start testing it -- maybe I should talk to people who've rehabbed this kind of thing before and see how they approached it. I need to move past this.

A great day, really. I felt like I'd been run over after it was done, but it was a very productive day. Now to get over this cold and back at it.