1/5 Tuesday
DL
10x135
10x155
10x205 straps
10x245 straps
PRESS
10x10 at 55lbs. Rest periods are very short still.
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I really don’t know! This is basically 3 identical workouts in a row, but I like it because there is room for progress and so far the elbow isn’t any angrier than before. Maybe need a “b” workout though… Seeing a new ortho Friday. Will see if he has any advice.
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Hey man, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
1/6 Wednesday
T-ransformation challenge has put me into a good headspace. Got up early, had coffee with coconut oil as I always do, then this time added a 3lb chain to my 40lb vest and walked about 2 miles instead of the usual 1.1.
Now making 2 eggs which I’ll top with a slice of swiss cheese and salsa.
Lunch will probably be “out” which means I’m likely to enjoy it, but it won’t help with leanness.
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1/8 Friday
Dl
10x135
10x165
10x215 straps
10x255 straps
Top set wiped me out, took a lot of breath between reps.
Press
10x10 60lbs.
That press is only 5lbs more than last time but if is a different world… feels so much heavier, moves more slowly. Had to give time between sets, around 2 minutes, whereas last time it was closer to 1 minute I felt like.
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1/11/2021
DL
10x135,175,225,265
The last set of DL was tough, slow, lots of breaths in between
PRESS
10x10 65lb
Timed rest to 2min per set, except the last 2, which were 2:30 and 3:00 respectively.
Bonus: press 85lbs 4 solid tight reps.
Bonus: front squat 95# 10
145# 3
6 months ago I visited a Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgeon. He looked at the MRI I’d just had taken, and prescribed a second CS shot. He said surgery wasn’t an option because there was nothing to operate on.
That CS shot, as documented here, wore off quickly. So last week, after much delay, I visited a different Orthopedic Surgeon.
After reviewing the same MRI and listening to my history, he stated - very quickly - that this is an easy fix, he will do surgery and I’ll be back to normal soon. He sounded very confident.
He went on to say that healthy tendon is white, inflamed tendon is yellow, and all he has to do is carve out the yellow bits, and the tendon will re-grow with healthy tissue.
Sounds easy… but… if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and surgeons like to do surgery. I’m skeptical. He seems to be completely opposite the previous ortho.
At the moment, I’m going to take Hyaluronic Acid 200mg/day and apply cross-fiber massage to the inflamed area, and soon, pick one week to totally rest the forearm (wear a sling at home, probably).
Read some stuff on the internet about HA and it looks like injecting it into tendons cures them, but unfortunately my dr won’t do that, so I’m just taking the pills I bought from Amazon. Oral HA seems to benefit osteoarthritis patients, but there’s no direct evidence of it helping my condition. However I’ve tried so many other things, might as well try this too.
The reason I’m going to focus on cross-fiber massage is because the surgeon stated that tendon blood flow is naturally quite low, but that surgery stimulates it. Well hell, can’t we stimulate without surgery? Maybe the painful massage will get blood moving in the area?
I am in no way qualified to advice here - but I do get why you are a bit sceptical of the “easy fix”. I would probably get a second (third?) opinion before jumping at that.
This is not a bad idea, if nothing else it reminds you not to use it, which can be really hard to remember going around the daily business.
1/13/2021
Finally removed GMM from the log title.
Two 1.1 mile 40# vest walks today, and one yesterday.
Did some heavy construction work in the afternoon and my elbow is super angry.
Still procrastinating on surgery, third opinion, and or a week of wearing a sling.
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1/15/2021
Two weighted walks yesterday, one with dog and one with family.
DL
135x10
185x10
235x10
275x10
Last set was more like 10 singles lol. Luckily I was strapped to the bar and couldn’t walk away. But I’m definitely stronger than when I did 285x3 and had all that spinal flexion.
PRESS
70#, 10x10.
Needed a lot of rest to accomplish this. 3 ish minutes per set after the 3rd set.
3 Likes
1/18/2021, Monday
This weekend included, as always, tons of weighted walking, heavy landscaping work (planting two shrubs, burying drainpipes, etc) and other heavy handwork (plumbing and carpentry). Elbow continues to be angry and it’s just a fact of life at this point, unless/until I either find a magic potion or do surgery.
This morning:
DL
135x10
195x10
245x10
285x7
285x3
PRESS
10X10 75lb
First few sets performed E3MOM; On set 6, nearly failed rep 10.
3 full minutes between sets after that.
I’m happy to have come this far with the deadlift. Recently I did 3 bad reps with this weight, today I did 7 reps, then 3 more after a short rest.
I have no deadlift goals; but since other pulling movements hurt my elbow so bad I feel deadlift is a good idea. I will drop to once per week though, and stick with this weight scheme until I can hit 10 reps on the top set.
For press, I’m very happy to have brought the 10x10 this far. I believe I’ll drop to once per week; unsure about progression from here on. Lifting is not high on my life priority list; having a healthy elbow should be higher.
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Nice man, your DL is shooting up real quick
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1/20/2021, Wednesday
Yesterday took a 2-point-something mile weighted walk with my dog, fasted in the morning. Later in the day, a weighted 1-mile with the family.
The dog made that walk miserable, but I’ve gotten so used to the 40lb vest its not an issue. Discussing this with my wife, she suggested I start jogging for more of a challenge.
So this morning, fasted but unweighted, I’ll try to jog the 2-point-something mile route.
Tendon hurts like hell, no better or worse over the past couple weeks.
Weighed in at 178lb this morning, 6 lbs less than January 1.
EDIT TO ADD
The jog was easy. Felt I could have gone much further at that pace. 20:17 time and Google says its 2.1 miles.
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Great work, and still hitting PRs by the look of it!
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1/22/2021, Friday
PRESS
Plan was 10x10 at 80lbs. Allowed more rest to help reach this.
On sets 7 and 8, the tenth rep felt like I was about to die. But I got it.
On set 9 I reached 8 reps and halfway up on the ninth.
On set 10 I got 7 reps and halfway up on 8.
BSS
3X10
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Thinking about how things went this morning… I knew this was coming - the day I couldn’t hit 10x10 with 5lbs more than the previous week. What I hadn’t decided on was what to do once it happens.
Out of limitless possibilities, here are a couple that spring to mind:
a) stick with this weight and keep trying to do 10x10 until you get it (may happen next workout). Then, I could even keep the same weight while focusing on reducing rest intervals down to 2 or 2.5 minutes, before progressing 5lbs more.
b) Add 5 more pounds, and do 10 sets of 8; add 5lbs per week to that until failing, then drop to 10x6, and so on. Even if I fail weekly, I could keep upping the weight and dropping reps until I was doing 10 singles, presumably at a higher weight than I could have done 10 singles before.
With either choice, after a few weeks, I could always go back to where I am now and try the alternate strategy.
@boilerman since you’ll be pressing 10x10 soon, do you have any thoughts on this? Stick with the weight and master 10x10 for a while longer, or up the weight and slide toward the other end of the strength curve? For more complete information, I’ll be pressing once a week, deadlifting once a week, and doing little else besides jogging and weighted walking; and not eating a ton.
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Hey man, to be 100% honest with you I’m probably not the right guy to ask haha. My press has been stalled out for so long now I’m hoping to jump start some progress with DW.
I’d say @Cyrrex and @dagill2 should be able to help, as they’ve made great progress judging by me creeping on their logs. They seem to incorporate push presses in their programs so that may be something you should consider? I’ll let the pros elaborate though haha.
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Without scanning through the background of this log (sorry, limited time right now), my answer is twofold:
-
Read @T3hPwnisher blog post on building a big press (google “mythical strength press”). He’s much better at this than me.
-
My own experience has been that I get my best results by having 2 components in my press training, which i typically put on separate days:
1- “pump work” for the shoulders and triceps especially. Things like extended drop sets or giant sets or whatever. Something that gets a lot of blood in the muscles.
2- “heavy work” for the pressing movement. This can be something as simple as 8 x 3 @ TM if you’re doing 531, clusters, pin presses or push presses. All of them work, just got to get used to pressing heavier weight.
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I tried something a bit similar, trying to grow my press doing 8-12-8 progression. When I seemed to stall for a while, I eventually grew tired of doing the same and failing. So ended up doing something different; low rep, heavy weight for a while, mixed up with higher rep back off sets sometimes. Seemed to work, as I increased doing that.
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1/25/2021, Monday
DL:
135x10;
195x10;
245x10;
285x5;
285x5.
Last week’s topset was
so I have gone backward, I’m afraid.
Like last time, the 285 lifts were really more like singles - probably a full 10-20 seconds between reps.
Then:
FRONT SQUAT
EMOM, 10 doubles; then the eleventh set was 20 reps with just the bar.
News:
It’s too soon to say anything, but last night I noticed my arm not hurting during the night; and at the gym it bothered me waay less than usual. I’m babying it aside from the lifts, of course; but maybe some healing has begun???!!!???!!! Hope so.
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