So, my training is pretty simple. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to lift twice a day. I’d much like to, but I have to face the facts that my body won’t let me do it.
Here’s why: I’ve torn a wrist ligament about 4 years ago (during a failed clean and press PR attempt). Reconstructive surgery had been done way too late (about 18 months later), so it was more or less a salvage operation. Since then I had another accident that caused TFCC lesions (it’s a cartilage-ligament-complex in the wrist that serves a similar purpose as the meniscus in the knee joint). Since ligaments and cartilage aren’t very capillarized, such stuff usually doesn’t heal.
Last week I tried twice-a-day-lifting which resulted in my wrists hurting all the time. I learned my lesson and don’t want to be forced to take a long break from lifting.
Thus I’m only going to lift once a day, everyday. I expect somewhat slower results with that approach, but on the long run it’s worth it. Because, contrary to what might be usual, it always have been injuries caused by my overeagerness in training that kept me from being truly ripped. Sure, binge-eating and the like also had their effects, but nevertheless I was constantly making progress until I’ve (re-)injured myself. So, this time Fatty takes the hint and shifts down a gear.
Having got that off my chest, here’s my training schedule.
[morning cardio]
30 min running on the spot or stationary bike
[late-day cardio]
swimming or [morning cardio] or HIIT
[lifting 1]
A1: behind-the neck press
A2: one-armed bent-over dumbbell row
A3: good-mornings
A4: squats
=> 5 x [5x A1 + 5x A2 (each side) + 5x A3 + 5x A4]
[lifting 2]
B1: bench press
B2: one-armed dumbbell-shrugs
=> 5 x [5x B1 + 5x B2 (each side)]
Schedule-wise I’m not sure if I should
a) lift for six days in a row and make the seventh day a non-lifting one or
b) lift for three days in a row and make the fourth day a non-lifting one
I guess that right now, while the loads are still low, I can get away with a).
But I guess there’ll come a point when the loads will force me to conform to b)
So, right now a sample week would look like that:
Mon: [morning cardio], [lifting 1], [late-day cardio]
Tue: [morning cardio], [lifting 2], [late-day cardio]
Wed: [morning cardio], [lifting 1], [late-day cardio]
Thu: [morning cardio], [lifting 2], [late-day cardio]
Fri: [morning cardio], [lifting 1], [late-day cardio]
Sat: [morning cardio], [lifting 2], [late-day cardio]
Sun: [morning cardio], [late-day cardio]
“Why aren’t there any deadlifts, you jerk?!” you might ask. Well, my wrists are the culprits, once again. My damaged one doesn’t agree to lifting heavy with an overhand grip. The neutral grip, however, sits fine with it.
As soon as I’ll notice my arms shrinking, I’ll incorporate some direct arm exercises. For now, I want my wrists to heal from last week’s assault.
Chins aren’t an options since I don’t have the opportunity to install a chin-rack at my place; it’s a pity, since I really love this exercise.
Do you have any suggestions in terms of exercise selection? I’m always open to new ideas.
