Edit 9/4/2020
Starting GMM again now that I’m decently rehabbed AGAIN! Starting at post 174.
This time it was rehab from both the appendectomy and epicondylitis.
Edit 1/13/2021
Finished GMM months ago, epicondylitis is absolutely killing me, and I’ve been doing boring workouts and weighted walks ever since.
Edit 6/3/2021
The first half of this year has been phenomenal for me. Epicondylitis doesn’t interfere with training; I’ve set PRs in all the major lifts recently; my body comp is better than every (for the last several years anyway), and I’ve learned a lot about lifting and how to dig deep.
From early 2021 to now I ran a very boring routine, mostly consisting of front squats and strict presses, slowly but surely increasing weight. Hit a lifetime press goal of 135 a few days ago. Now I’m keeping focus on the press but switching to my shame, back squats, which I will improve. If the second half of the year is anything like the first, I’ll be very pleased in 2022.
Edit 7/9/2021
Changing the log title to “A New Animal” in recognition of the changes I’ve made in mind and body. The goal now is to hit 1-2-3-4 plates in press, bench, squat, deadlift. I’ve hit 135lb press and am close to 225 on the bench press. Squats and deadlifts are another matter but I’m going to get there by this time next year.
Current photo, much improved from when I started:
I had gotten carried away with pullups, doing 50-60 during certain workouts and 10-20 basically every day (had a bar up at work); and generally high pulling volume with DLs, power cleans, DB rows as well.
Front squats places some strain on them too I guess.
But none of that seems out of the ordinary based on logs here…
The pain is located near the elbow, where tendon meets bone I guess, or close, and arises from hard gripping, loaded wrist flexion or loaded finger flexion.
With no load there is no pain.
Depends on how long it took you to build up to that volume. Either way, it’s obviously too much for you right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tendonitis.
Most people can squat 3+ times weekly, I can do twice safely and three times is a gamble.
At least with pull-ups, once you’ve healed, you should vary your grip. Neutral/pronated/supinated. Get rings if you can. Do towel variants if not. Do not test it, often, let it heal.
Thanks!
You’re probably onto the root cause there, I jumped into that volume as fast as I could, and didn’t stop when symptoms started. I only stopped when it became unbearable.
Getting help on the 15th though so hopefully I can get back on track and, as you suggested, progress slowly with varying grips.
What’s the purpose of the towel grip? Seems even more punishing on the forearms?
Your muscles adapt far quicker than your tendons. Learn from this experience, next time, back off once you feel that whatever pain you at experiencing is accumulating. It’s alright to be in pain, sometimes, but if it gets progressively worse stop what you are doing and do something else while you try to figure out what is the root cause of the pain.
It is. But, the exact stimulus is slightly altered. If you do pull-ups the same way every single day you are causing repeated wear and tear at whatever angles that puts your body in. By varying your grip, you alleviate this problem somewhat.
So, to be safe, it’s better to alternate grips. Ring pull-ups would arguably be the best as it allows your wrist to rotate as they need to during the movement but I prefer changing grips every other workout. I also climb 2-3 times a week, so my needs might be different than yours.
I’m weak and (until 2019) scrawny. When I was a kid, pullups were an ego thing, like, “I cant squat or bench like you but I can do a crapload of pullups!”
So they have always made me feel good.
I’m 31 now and things are different. I ran 5/3/1 BBB Challenge this year, first time I genuinely followed a program, gained 15lbs and felt good, but of course I decided my next program needed pullups!
In summary, No particular goal in chasing pullup numbers, just the ego boost.
I’ll eventually edit my intro post above to explain more about my training history and goals but that’s a decent summary lol.
Once you can do fifteen in a set with good form start adding weight. If that’s not feasible, do Frenchies (basically pull-ups with isometric holds). Your program can absolutely include pull-ups, after you’ve healed, but it’s not something you have to do every day for that many reps.
1/6
30 sweaty minutes on the stationary bike, following some spin workout on YouTube. It kicked my ass.
Weighed 190 this morning, which is nearly 10 lbs down in 6 weeks. My fear is that much of the loss is muscle.
Now in the waiting room for the first vein thingy.
If your injury were in your finger tendons, this could help. It’s something you can probably do without aggrevating your bicep tendonitis if that is indeed what you are suffering from,
1/8/2020.
Weight:189.8 before breakfast. Steady downward trend continues.
Walked 1.3 miles this morning and yesterday, which is all I can do after the vein surgery.
Just finished my second of 3 treatments, both my lower legs are wrapped up but not as painful this time.
One more week until I meet with orthopedist re: shoulder and forearm.
Another morning walk. All I can do!
Legs are very uncomfortable, cant wait for this to be over.
Also really missing weight training. Even if I could just do 5x5 everything with an empty barbell it would be so much better than nothing…
Trying to eat mostly protein hoping muscle stays on while fat melts, but seems unlikely given a complete lack of stimulus. Depressing!
Luckily I have lots of other things to keep me busy.
1/11/20
Ran 2 miles (street).
1/12/20
Ran 1 mile (street).
1/13/20:
First day back at the gym in a couple weeks! Lower body only, and taking that easy too considering the legs still hurt like hell from the vein treatment.
Squat 5x5 155lbs
Leg press 5x8 360lbs
Hip thrusts 5x8-10 95lbs
Never done hip thrusts before, I think I’ll do them regularly during this lower-body-only time of life. But damn they feel awkward! No eye contact permissible!
1/15
Squat 5x5@165lbs
Leg press 50 total reps @ 270*
Hip thrusts 4x10@135
*different gym, this leg press has WAY less mechanical advantage! 270 here felt like 360 at my usual gym.
At orthopedist today, hope to learn more about my painful acromion bump and make a plan to rehab the forearm tendonitis.
I’m definitely losing weight, I can see the difference, I wonder how much I can stave off upper body muscle loss through lower body workouts?
Good news!
Got a corticosteroid shot in the elbow for the tendinitis, doc says start lifting in 1 week, but take 6 weeks to ramp up to pre-injury levels vis-a-vis gripping and pulling.
Doc is not concerned about shoulder. The time off thus far has been good for it, have scrip for s good topical anti-inflammatory, and as long as I ramp up slowly it shouldn’t be in trouble.
There is a bone spur on my acromion, but if I dont impinge the joint I should be ok.
To that end, I am planning a simple 5x5 progression to ease back in to lifting.
I’ll use
Workout A: squat5x5, bench 5x5, row5x5;
Workout B: squat5x5, press 5x5, DL 1x5
Alternating A/B, M/W/F, starting in a week.
Six week Ramps:
Squat 175. 180. 185. 190. 195. 200.
Bench 135. 155. 160. 165 170 175
Press Db. Db. 55. 65. 75. 80.
Row. 95. 100. 105. 110. 115. 120.
Dl. 155. 165. 175. 185. 195. 205.
Pretty low demands on grip; and press starts very low, with some light single arm DB press work for the first two weeks. I’ll play by ear of course and pay closer attention to injuries from now on.
I’ll be doing some some ab work too as they should start becoming visible in another couple weeks, and continue jogging/cycling to prepare for beach vacation march 1st.