26/08
2 x weighted vest dog walks, a short one in the morning (20 mins or so), and then a slightly longer one in the afternoon (about 30 mins)
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27/08
Morning weighted vest dog walk @ 5.5kgs, about half an hour
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28/08
Conditioning - 5 rounds each 20s on/10s rest
DB swings - 12 @ 18
Air squats - 14 (1 rep short on second round)
Down-ups - 8
Plank - 20s
Superset
Deadlifts - 5 @ 71.25, 82.5, 93.75
Ring rows - 6 x 6
Giant set
OHP - 5 x 10 @ 26.25
Banded Y raises - 1 x 10, 4 x 8 @ yellow band
Ab wheel - 5 x 8
Banded face pulls - 5 x 10 @ yellow band
Poundstone DB curls - 100 @ 3s
Workout done in the middle of the day (about 11:30). Felt tired thus week generally, but that could be as much from the cold as from the training. Doesn’t seem to have much of an effect now, aside from a blocked right ear which is just a bit annoying.
Deadlifts felt heavyish, but I was focussing a lot on positioning and moving smoothly, with the effect being that the reps were a bit slower than normal. Otherwise they went well.
I questioned the decision to use FSL weights for the BBB sets halfway through the second set of OHP, but the later sets actually felt stronger so I don’t think there’s a need to change this. Given the low TM there’s only like a 1kg jump from one week to the next, so I ought to manage that just fine.
Ab wheel was a bit tough which might just be from doing them after deadlifting? Might be better to drop the reps slightly next time (to 5 or 6) and then bring them back up over the cycles.
Went for the poundstone curls again and got all 100 without stopping- probably slightly less strict than last time, but I wasn’t massively swinging them around or anything.
Phone signal was playing up throughout the workout for some reason so music was intermittent, and I ended up doing the curls in silence. I don’t need the music to perform, but I prefer having something to listen to than my own panting/grunting…
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No workout yesterday, but did take the puppy into the city centre and walked around a bit.
30/08
Weighted vest dog walk @ 5.5kgs, approx 30 mins. Followed by regular workout at about 9AM:
Conditioning
10 mins deck of cards workout
- Hearts = jumping jacks
- Diamonds = mountain climbers
- Spades = seal jacks
- Clubs = down-ups
Superset
Squats - 5 @ 52.5, 60, 67.5
Chinups/pullups - 6 x 3 (alt grip each set)
Giant set
Bench - 5 x 10 @ 38.75
DB rows - 5 x 10 @ 18 (ea arm)
Seated plate twists - 5 x 10 @ 10 (ea side)
Banded triceps pushdowns - 25 each @ black, red, blue, and green bands (100 reps total)
I normally do a late morning workout at the weekend, but this was a bit earlier. Didn’t notice any major issues, but just drank water rather than a protein shake during it.
Didn’t count the reps onnthe deck of cards workout, but I make it approx 245 reps, based on having 17 cards left at the end (working on averages). Clubs were going to be burpees, but my right shoulder was complaining on the push up portion, soon subbed this out to avoid aggravating it.
Annoyingly the start was all mountain climbers and down-ups, and then the middle was all jumping/seal jacks. Ended with a string of down-ups as well - I guess this teaches me to use more varied movements next time!
Squats felt smooth and strong, so no issues there. Abs are seriously achey from last time, which reinforces that I need to pull back slightly on the ab wheel next time. Didn’t affect squats majorly, but I could feel it on the chinups.
Bench press felt fine - shoulder didn’t bother me at all here. Rows and plate twists were ok too.
The banded triceps pushdowns were tough as hell! Took 5 deep breaths between sets (about 10s rest), and shook my arms out a bit, but they were seriously burning through the second half. Mega pump by the end!
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01/09
AM weighted vest dog walk @ 6.6kgs. Still only about half an hour, and possibly only a mile covered, but better pace between pauses (sniffs etc.)
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PM workout
Conditioning
1 mile run - 6:48
Superset
OHP - 5 @ 27.5, 32.5, 36.25
Ring rows - 5 x 7
Giant set
Deadlifts - 10 x 5 @ 77.5
Dips - 5 x 6, 5 x 5
Banded Y raises/face pulls - 5 x 6/6, 5 x 5/5 @ yellow band
Did a mini circuit of jumping jacks, squats, lunges, hinges before the run so it wasn’t completely cold like last time. Legs actually felt pretty tired after this, presumably from accumulated fatigue as I actually felt OK coming into this workout, and I could feel the ache only a quarter of the way into the run. Left hip gave some issues again by the end, but I came in 19s under last time so pretty good going I thought.
OHP felt fine - need to remember to get my head through early so the bar finished over the back of my head, which keeps my shoulders much happier.
Left hip still a bit funny on the warmup deadlift sets, but felt fine by the time I got to the working sets. Got a call before starting the on the BBS giant set which took 10 mins and let me cool down again a bit, but I still managed to handle everything OK. Right shoulder complaining a little on the dips, but nothing major.
Dinner was ready soon when I got to the end of this, so skipped any extras.
Left hip is a bit painful today (next morning), so I might need to change up how I do running going forwards. I’m guessing this comes from some sort of misalignment, particularly after a day of sitting at a desk, so I probably need to look into ways to assess and fix that.
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02/09
Afternoon weighted vest dog walk @ 6.6kgs, 30mins/1 mile or so. Slightly more continuous walking/less stopping than before which was good.
Probably a bad idea to have done this - left knee has been feeling odd for a little while, and general stiff/seized up but with no pain. I figured walking might help, but by the evening there was visible swelling.
I can’t remember doing anything specific to hurt it, or experiencing pain doing anything, but I’ve changed up quite a few things in the past two weeks (and past couple of months too), most notably the volume of conditioning and squats and deadlifts, so chances are it’s a cumulative thing that has just tipped over the edge.
I’ve got a holiday coming up in a couple of weeks which will involve walking around a bit, and I’d obviously like to be able to handle that, so plan for now is to rest up, take ibuprofen, and hope it recovers by then. I expect I’ll have a better idea in a few days/a week’s time.
Conditioning - can’t think of many ways to get this done well on one leg (swimming would be the best bet, but there’s nowhere nearby), so I think this will just need to be shelved for the time being.
Squats/deadlifts - these will need to be shelved for now too. I figure I can just work on pistol squats progressions or something on the right side so I’m still doing something, but that’s probably the extent of what I can manage for now.
Bit of a bummer overall, but upper-body training can go on as normal. I figure best-case scenario is I can restart this cycle for squats and deadlifts once I’m back from holiday, and just turn it into a 3-cycle leader for OHP and bench.
I’ll need to manage to the re-introduction of the activity though. I’m thinking either: back the conditioning down to less impactful stuff (though it didn’t feel particularly aggressive), change the supplemental for squats and deadlifts from BBS to something like SSL or even FSL, and/or change the movement pairing so it’s not full-body anymore (i.e. squats and deadlifts on one day, and OHP and bench on the other, so that my legs/joints get more recovery time).
Time will tell…
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For sure, dude. Sorry to hear this. Heal quickly!
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Only did a little walking yesterday (unweighted), and spent most of the day with my leg propped up on the desk (working from home), and took ibuprofen throughout the day.
Happily this morning my knee is considerably better- swelling has gone down a lot and I’ve nearly got full range of motion back. It does still feel 'tight’in general, particularly on the inner side and slightly to the rear of the knee, and I’ve felt a bit of acute pain where the inner-most hamstring ligament (?) meets the top of the calf.
Pretty comfortable now though that it’ll recover Ok, and that it was most likely the run (and subsequent deadlifts) that messed it up in the first place.
Still going to take things easy on it until I’m sure it is better and can handle stuff again. Just sticking with walking for now and might add the weight vest again in a week or so if things are feeling good. If things go really well I’ll try out air squats and split squats to test it a bit, but I won’t be trying to load it again until after the holiday.
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04/09
Superset:
Bench - 5 @ 42.5, 47.5, 53.75
Chinups/pullups - 5 x 4 (alt grips each set)
Giant set:
Seated cable row - 5 x 10 @ 20
Pushups - 1 x 8 (cut this short)
Hanging knee raises - 5 x 8
Superset:
Cable triceps pulldowns - 15, 12, 9 @ 15
DB curls - 10, 8, 6 @ 8s
Got a new toy! Been looking at cable attachments but figured I had enough stuff to work with for the time being. Prices for second hand gym equipment does finally seem to be coming down now though, so snagged this at about half price! Just a simple pulley that has a plate-loading foot, and a rope attachment, but gives me more options for exercises now!
Right shoulder was kicking up a fuss on the bench press. Pushups felt Ok when I tested them, but then gave me grief when I started on the giant set, so just cut them out.
Frustrating to be dealing with that too, but reading some stuff this morning it looks like the recommended hand placement on bench press (at least as far as shoulder health is concerned) is way closer together than I’ve been doing it (just outside shoulder width, whereas I’ve had middle finger on the ring). Think I’ll give that a go on my next bench session and see if it helps.
Did arms superset at the end just to make myself feel better.
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So not much had been done the past few days- just a bit down from the knee and shoulder issues, and resigned to this program already being messed up and needing a do-over once I’m back from holiday.
Still be doing relatively short dog walks once or twice a day, unweighted. Knee feels broadly OK, but there is still an underlying soreness and it can be a tad painful by the end of a walk. I’m moving around fairly normally, though still favouring the other leg, but I can feel it’s off whenever I do a twisting motion on it.
09/09
Did actually workout today, but changed up a bit from the stated plan:
Windmills - worked up to 3 @ 8kgs (ea side)
Superset
Bench - 5 @ 42.5, 47.5, 53.75
Chinups/pullups - 6 x 4 (alt grips each set)
Giant set
OHP - 5 x 5 @ 32.5
DB rows - 5 x 10 @ 18 (ea arm)
McGill situps - 5 x 8 (ea side)
Redid the bench weights from last workout, using the new narrower grip. Had a tiny but of shoulder pain onnthe last set, but a big improvement from last time, so probably worth sticking with. Triceps worked a lot harder unsurprisingly, given this is more like my previous close-grip, so I’ll probably need to reassess my TM for the restart.
Went with SSL for the OHP just to change things up- no issues there. Rows felt fine too. McGill situps are an absolute killer though!
Never done windmills before so just messed about a bit with those at the start- started just with single plates, and then moved onto the DB at the end. Seemed to challenge me in an odd way, but was fun to do.
I’ve been thinking about adding these sorts of odd movements to try and get my body moving in new ways and try and build stability all over (with the goal of being less injury prone).
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12/09
Windmills - ramped up to 3 @ 10 (plate) on each side
Superset
OHP - 5 @ 30, 33.75, 37.5
Ring rows - 4 x 8
Giant set
Bench press - 5 x 10 @ 42.5
Banded face pulls - 5 x 10 @ yellow band
Plank - 5 x 45s
Cable rope hammer curls - 20, 20 @ 15
Just some walking done since the last workout. Weighed in @ 13st 2.4lbs (184.4lbs/83.6kgs) on 11/09.
Felt strong on the OHP, obviously can’t say for sure without doing them but I felt like I could’ve hit 10 at the top set if I’d wanted to.
Bench was fine, and still getting comfortable with the new, closer hand position. Shoulder wasn’t kicking up much of a fuss, which was the point of changing it up, but this hits my triceps way harder than before and I don’t feel like I’m getting nearly as much pec involvement.
Did sets of unweighted ‘box squats’ between the first superset, using the bench which gets me to a little above parallel, and that felt fine. Moved on to full ROM air squats for the giant set, and that also didn’t see to give any issues.
This morning (next day) my knee was a little tender but that’s cleared up after a few hours, so most likely just slept a bit funny. Going to try hitting a few air squats and unweighted good mornings here and there during the day, and maybe also some split squats, just to keep testing the knee and try and figure out what it can and can’t do. If that goes OK then I’ll try loading the movements goblet-style.
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28/09
Bench press - ramped to 8 @ 50, then went for 60 and failed on 5th rep
DB OHP - ramped up to 9 @ 13s (brought them back down for a 10th but it wasn’t there). Followed up straight after with 8ish lateral raises @ 2.5s
Swede Press - ramped up to 10? @ 25
Rack chins - ramped up to 9 (unweighted)
Inc DB rows - ramped up to 10ish @ 18s
Notably not worked out at all for a couple of weeks. Was away last week which was really nice, but the week before I just wasn’t feeling it basically. Didn’t do much by way of activity while I was away besides some walking. Eaten pretty poorly over the past 2 weeks, and yet managed to weigh in @ 13st 1.4lbs (183.4lbs/83.2kgs) on Monday, down 1lb from last time which is odd.
Just trying out some movements and weights which is why everything is shown as ‘ramping’. Using a DC-style setup (but without the rest-pause while feeling things out), so all the movements were done with a slow negative.
Bench press was done on a slight decline, and hands are still closer together than my former regular grip.
Not sure if it really was a ‘Swede press’ or just a rolling triceps extension, or something else, but the former is much shorter to write. Felt like there was some strain on the elbows so going lighter and higher rep might be sensible, although my triceps definitely felt the effects and my elbows don’t hurt today which is good.
Not done rack chins before, but they seem interesting. Need to focus on getting a better lat contraction (maybe use a different exercise first, as it’s hard to unload the chins for warmup sets?)
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Nice to see you back at it!
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01/10
5 rounds:
10 goblet squats w/ 10kg plate
10 pushups
10 RDLs w/ 2 x 10kg plates
15 band pull aparts (5 low, 5 mid, 5 high) w/ doubled thin orange band
This probably should count more as exercising than working out, but I was indoors keeping an eye in the puppy and wanted to get something done.
Didn’t time it, but just moved through everything without stopping bar a brief pause between exercises/rounds to catch up breath etc., probably no more than 15-20s.
Last set of pushups needed a couple of pauses to complete, which is probably down to triceps getting hammered in the last workout.
Everything else felt OK, and there don’t seem to be any negative repercussions for my knee this morning which is what I really wanted to test.
Generally this felt more challenging than it should have done though, which does indicate I ought to be doing more of it!
Edit: need to expand my vocabulary a bit to include words other than ‘probably’…
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04/10
C25K - W1D1
5m walk
8 x 60s run + 7 x 90s walk
5m walk
28.5m total, 8m running. Covered approx 2.4 miles/3.8km
Pretty comfortable for the first run. Didn’t push super hard, but moved a decent clip - probably a tad faster than I would do for a longer run simply because the run:walk ratio is so low for this first week.
Using new running shoes because my old ones were a bit knackered and I thought that may have contributed to the knee injury on the last run I did. Both knees were a bit achey in the first couple of runs, but felt fine by the end. Right hop flexor was a bit tender by the end though.
Weighed in this morning at 13st 2.6lbs (184.6lbs/83.7kgs)
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05/10
3 rounds:
- Squats - 20, 20, 20 @ 20kg weighted vest
- Ring rows - 13+4+3, 12+4+2.5+2, 9+3+3+2.5+1+1, rings set to belly button height
- Pushups - 20, 20 (just), 14+4+2
- KB swings - 20, 20, 20 @ 20kg KB
Took about 30s rest between exercises and 2 mins between rounds. Total time was about 23 mins (messed up the timer part-way through).
This completely killed me - felt wasted by the end and a bit nauseous afterwards. Probably took half an hour to get back to baseline. Was really more a conditioning session even though that wasn’t the intention. Just highlights again that I need to be doing more of this so it’s not such a shock to the system!
I think it might be sensible to slow the reps a bit (as in adding a slight pause between reps, rather than using a slower tempo) to try to focus more on the muscular endurance than the conditioning, especially on the squats.
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06/10
C25K - W1D2
Same setup as Monday, and virtually identical distance covered (smidgen further as I had to briefly double-back on myself to wait for a train to pass). Pretty pleased with that considering my legs felt pretty achey from yesterday
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08/10
2 rounds:
- Squats - 20, 20 @ 20kg weighted vest
- Ring rows - 15+5, 12+3+3+2
- Pushups - 20, 20
- KB swings - 20, 20 @ 20kg KB
Completed in 14:46. Still kept 2 mins between rounds, but increased tome between exercises to more like 45s. Also paused slightly at the top of the squats and pushups to slow those sets down.
Overall felt much better than last time, although that could just be down to having one less round. Felt OK immediately afterwards, but about 5 mins later I got slight nausea again, but milder than last time and it only hung around a few mins. Don’t know if it’s simply down to the poor conditioning, core strength (as all the exercises require bracing the whole time), or possibly just the intensity from finishing on a long set of swings.
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09/10 (AM)
C25K - W1D3
Same again as before, but managed to get a bit further this time, maybe more like 2.5m/4km covered?
Legs didn’t feel particularly tires from yesterday which was good. Did feel a bit light-headed after the last couple of runs ended, which I think is most likely just down to this being done in the morning, although I was pushing a little harder as well.
Have to remember to pick my toes up at the beginning of the run - knees feel the impact much more when I first get going until I start doing that, but feel OK the rest of the time.
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