Eventine Tackles Waterbury

Training Training Logs
41

[quote]Sagat wrote:
190kgs in the rollouts?? I never did with a barbell but i’m sure its a lot… Have you tried weighting yourself with a pair of ankle weights around the hips? It works for planks so it should work for rollouts too.[/quote]

I haven’t tried weighting myself with anything, but I agree, I’m sure it would make the exercise harder. I am keen to follow the programme, which calls for changing reps rather than weight on the rollouts so I shalln’t change for the last set, but it’s definately something I’ll consider in future.

I think, to a certain extent, for the rollouts the weight is a little immaterial, you could end up with a far lower weight on the bar if the friction was much higher for example.

42

Day 19:

Front Squat day.

Exercises as follows:

Front Squat: 5 x 10 x 72.5 kgs
supersetted with Standing calf raise: 5 x 10 x 95 kg
then
Reverse Crunch: 5 x 14

Got through it fine although felt a little tired after benching etc last night. Don’t seem to feel the front squats in my quads though, felt the muscles in my abs more.

Also seem to have a problem keeping the bar up on my delts, by the final couple of reps in each set, its rolling down onto the top of my biceps. I suspect that I lack mobility in my spine and am therefore not keeping my body as upright as I should when I get tired.

43

Day 20: Rest Day

Rest day today and I’m glad, doing the two days in a row has given me some seriously tight quads and chest!

Hopefully this will pass over the course of the day and I’ll be good to go for my dips and chins tomorrow.

44

Day 21:

Now it seems my log has moved, so I’ll get on with the posting!

Today was dips and chins day, and not one I was looking forward to. I think the day less rest meant that I was still fairly stiff and sore in around my chest, delts and triceps, but still, I worked the best I good to get on and get the sets done.

Dips were done at bodyweight, which is now approaching 130 kgs, plus 20 kg. CHins were done again with bodyweight but tried to increase the numbers done. Again, if I failed before I returned the numbers required, I went to either bodyweight dips or close grip pull downs with 85 kgs.

Here is the set/ reps done. THe first number is the number done at the correct weight, the second is the number completed if I had to step down the weight.

Dips: 10(0), 10(0), 5(5),0(10),0(10)
Chins: 6(4), 4(6), 3(7), 2(8), 0(10)

45

Day 22: Rest day

Not much done today, my new supprt trainers have arrived so I’ll now be able to increase the amount of cardio on my rest days. Also have my jump rope now as I am required to skip on the next section of the programme. Funny that something that looks so easy could prove so difficult for a uncoordinated oaf like myself!

46

Day 23:

This is the last day of the ABBH section of the programme. Deadlifts are the main focus of the day.

Reps done as follows:

Deadlift: 10 x 5 x 145 kgs
Seated calf raise: 5 x 14 x 145 kgs
Ab rollouts: 10 x 5 x 190 kgs.

Under a bit of time pressure today as my rugby club is playing in the cup final so not too long to post. I’ll be taking a rest day tomorrow to finish this programme then will be starting the “Strength |Focused Mesocycle” on Monday. I’ll post more then to fill you all in both on my thoughts on this programme and on what’s involved in the new section.

And fingers crossed for the cup!!

47

Well, after taking yesterday as a rest day, today I started the “Strength Focused Mesocycle” programme from “Muscle Revolution”. I’ll see how it pans out, and report on it and my thoughts on the ABBh when I have a little more time, but for today, here was today’s workout.

Good Mornings: 3 x 5 x 80kgs
supersetted with Dips: 3 x 5 x bodyweight + 25 kgs.
then
Chins: 3 x 5 x Bodyweight
supersetted with Front Squat: 3 x 5 x 90 kgs.

All rest intervals were 90 seconds.

After all of that, I had my first 5 mins on the jump rope. After 6 months with little or no high intensity cardio, and a serious inability to skip, this was pretty tough. Hopefully my technique will improve over the next couple of weeks.

48

Well, after a rest day, it was Day Two of SFM.

Sets today are 3 x 8, again, with two pairs of exercises supersetted. Rest time is fairly long with 120 secs between sets.

First pair was BB Military Press and BB Box Squat, second was supposed to be Glute Ham Raises and Seated Row.

After the surgery, I do still have a fair amount of scar tissue and weakness in my left hamstring, which, coupled with the lack of a glute ham raise machine, pushed me down the route of straight leg curl instead.

Here’s how the exercises went:

BB MIlitary Press: 3 x 8 x 62.5 kgs
BB Box Squat: 2 x 8 x 110 kgs

Leg Curl: 3 x 8 x 30 kgs
Seated Row: 3 x 8 x 85 kgs

49

[quote]Just rememebred something else to add, and please feel free to add comment.

Firstly, I know people advocate the use of bare feet or flat shoes for squatting.

The podiatrist thinks it would be wise for me to squat in my trainers once they are modified as it will help with my knee flexion and positioning while squatting.

Wondered if anyone had any comment on that, anyone had similar issues? I will, of course, try it. It would seem sensible to at least try what a qualified medical professional is suggesting.[/quote]

If I were you I’d do whatever let me go deep without pain, but work toward Converse All-Stars (flat soles) or barefoot squats. I think your podiatrist is worried about you just collapsing if you attempt that right off. You should be able to decide, as long as you remain safe and don’t use tons of weight to feel out the form.

A lacrosse or similar ball, like a tennis ball, should work wonders for loosening up scar tissue and such in your legs and calves and feet. There’s tons of stuff on here, check out Tony Gentilcore’s Soft Tissue Work for Tough Guys.

Pay careful attention to the balance of the muscles around your hip…stretch the hip flexors/psoas, iliotibial band, (rotational stretch), and rectus femoris - basically all the front muscles - as well as the hams and glutes. Never try to gain mobility in the knee…just do safe deep squats with no pain and you will improve the stability there. Also, plenty of mobility work for the ankle. IMO that will really safeguard the knee. Also check out Robertson’s article on Mobility vs Stability.

50

Oh, adductor/abductor work would be good too. X-band walks, “birthing machine” work (you know, leg-spreading machine), step-ups, lateral lunges, etc…

51

Many Thanks for the input, Conwict.

I do have a whole set of stretches for the many of the muscles groups you mention, and am getting deep massage to help remove some of the scar tissue.

Your help is appreciated though, I do accept that I need to up the amount of that sort of thing that I do.

52

Be sure to tell your therapist(s) you’re embarking on some treatment of your own. If you sound educated about it they should be cool with it. Frankly, if you can do it without pain, it’s fine. If they’re against it it’s most likely because you’re doing what they’re getting paid to do yourself.

Just remember to strengthen the muscles in question with proper exercise selection. That’s what I meant about balancing the muscles. It’s a almost a sure bet that your glutes, abductors/adductors, and perhaps hamstrings are weak right now. Stretching alone is not enough. Some actual mobility work would be great, as well. Have a look at the Mike Boyle article on mobility for sure.

Good luck.

53

2 sets of each
A1. Hip flexor stretch, 20sec on each side
A2. One-leg bridge (on floor) hold for 20 seconds on each side = one “set”
A3. Lateral lunge, keep both feet flat and torso upright - 10 reps
A4. Medium-height (16-20" box or so) step-ups - 10 reps

Add a rep each new time you do it, or if you feel very confident start holding a 5 lb dumbbell or something to progress.

That is something you can do, if you like, before or after workouts. I’d recommend doing everything unweighted with meticulous form. Particularly, on the step-ups, be sure to lift the toes of the foot on the ground before you do the concentric part of the rep. In other words, don’t assist with the leg that’s on the ground.

Obviously it’s your call whether to do it or not, but I bet if you did it one or two times a week it’d pay dividends in joint health.

54

How goes the training, Eventine?

55

[quote]InCorporeSano wrote:
How goes the training, Eventine? [/quote]

My bad, been naughty at keeping my log. I’ve been pretty busy at work, and although I have been training and eating as dilligently as ever, the daily posting of a log has been tricky. Good to see that someone is interested though.

Training is going ok though. As well as moving through the “Strength focused mesocycle program”, which, incidentally, I only have one more session at, I am now back doing proper running.

Basically, I am doing weights one day, then running on my rest day.

Started by running 2,400 metres, or 1 1/2 miles as I like to think of it. Every time I run, I have been told to add 1/2 a mile until I am doing 5 miles. I am running on a track to minimise impact on my knee, so it’s easy to work out, I started with 6 laps and add two every time I run till I get to 20. At that point, my base cardio fitness should be back and I’ll start some ladder drills and more speed/agility training too.

As far as the “SFM” weights program goes, I am not sure what I how I feel about it, I know that I have increased my weights in line with the program requirements, but it seems odd to have done no bench pressing for three weeks or so.

I guess the proof of the method is when I move onto the next training block, which is “Waterbury Method”. It looks a lot more like a traditional full body training program and I am really looking forward to getting back to that. Here’s hoping the weights have bumped up for that.

I am going to be buying myself a digital camera too, so I guess it’s time, after the couple of months that has passed since the last lot, for some progress photos. I suspect I am leaner, but it will be interesting to get some decent photos down and see if I have gained any size. I suspect that most things will be similar size apart from the legs which are playing catch up after the op and seem to be growing well.

I’m glad people are interested in the log, and it adds to my motivation to keep it going. If there is anything that I’ve skipped over by not posting that people are interested in, please post and I’ll go into specifics.

56

Last session of the SFM done today.

Looking forward to going onto the “Waterbury Method” next. Seems a bit more like the sort of workout I was used to, expecting big things from it now I should be stronger.

Today’s exercises were as follows:

Power Clean: 3 x 3 95 kg
Pull up: 3 x 3 x Body Weight

Tricep Lockout: 3 x 3 x 150 kgs
Lunge: 3 x 3 x 70 kgs on each leg