Gaaaahhh Airdyne, the tried and true invention of the devil.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Everythings lookin pretty solid man, good shit.[/quote]
Thanks a lot, BlackLabel!
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Gaaaahhh Airdyne, the tried and true invention of the devil.[/quote]
I really can’t argue with that. . . the thing is terrible. . .
[u][i]7-11-09[/u][/i]
[u][i]Day 3: Horizontal Pressing and Pulling[/u][/i]
Dynamic Flexibility
A. Bench Press
195X5
205X5
225X3F4 PR
205X3
B1. Close Grip Pin Press from # 16
175X5
185X5
175X5
175X5
Rest 45 seconds-1 minute
B2. Chest Supported T-Bar Row
115X10X3
Rest 45 seconds-1 minute
C. Reverse Pec Dec (different one than last week)
120X12,11
C. Skull Crusher
40X6
60X6
80X5 PR
D. Airdyne
30 seconds sprinting at 80rpm
60 seconds recovering at 50rpm
X8 reps for a total of 12:00 minutes:seconds
I’ll get 225X5 next week. It won’t matter if my intestines completely fall out anyway, as I’ll be in surgery the next morning. One night of pain would be worth 225X5 
They can fix me, right?
Overall, this program is giving me the same progress on upper body stuff you’d like to see from 1 week of training in a 4 day period.
I’m happy with how the program turned out.
I have to thank Mahwah for suggesting the organization. For anyone reading, listen to Mahwah. (Mahwah=T-Nation visiter, CSCS, strong as hell, and cool as hell guy).
Alright, time to eat too much and enjoy the spaced-out EPOC feeling.
bows
Well damn, thanks Flow.
I’m blushing over here…
Just speaking the truth.
Remind me to tell you what Anthony, an Athlete’s Performance trainer, told me about your squat. I haven’t had a chance to relay his observation to you yet. . .
Looking back on my progress. . .
It was great until my hernia, which has proved to be quite to speed-bump. I’ve decided that when I get back at things I need to focus on pressing. My back is much stronger than my pressing capabilities, and, honestly I think my quads being week is what holds my deadlift back. Pulling 470X10 from the knee and having a hard time with 350X5 from the ground tells me that my first half of the motion is weak. Quads and low back are a big factor there (along with glutes, obviously), so I think I need to put more emphasis there when I get back.
I think a big part of my bench being a slow lift to progress is the fact that I can’t do much full ROM work there without my pec getting messed up. I’m going to compensate for that by doing more full ROM overhead pressing when I get back to things. Down the road (after my recovery to previous strength), I’m going to do a pressing specialization cycle. Been reading about how to organize spec cycles lately.
Aside from that, I think my progress has been alright. Always can be better, though.
Anyway, if you guys have anything to add about my progress, what you think I should focus more on in the future, or maybe a general critique of my approach, please let me know. Thanks for your time in reading this.
Later
[u][i]7-13-09[/u][/i]
[u][i]Day 1: Vertical Pressing and Pulling[/u][/i]
Dynamic Flexibility
A. Seated Barbell Overhead Press
45X12
75X3
95X1
115X1
135X5
145X5
160X3 PR
145X5X2
B1. Seated Dumbbell Press
50X10X2
Rest 1 minute
B2. Pull Up or Chin Up varying grips
24 total reps
Rest 1 minute
Spent 7 hours at AP, worked, and finally got home at 10:00ish. Deja vu! I got in the gym at 10:30PM. Definitely felt fatigued. Started the day at 9AM and ending at 10:00 PM Glad to see a few PRs in spite of that. I cut out the assistance stuff because I’ve been participating in a study looking at upper back muscle activation during certain exercises. The tests (can’t remember how many I did) were maximal, so I reckon they had an effect on my exercise performance. Still 160X3 for a cheap PR, though.
[u][i]7-14-09[/u][/i]
[u][i]Day 2: Light Legs and Heavy Biceps[/u][/i]
A. Single leg squat to bench
+35X20X4 PR
R45-60s
B. Swiss Ball Leg Curl
X15X4
R45-60s
C. Biceps Curl
20X6
30X6
40X6
50X6 PR
D. Hammer Curl
40X6X3 PR
E. Thick Bar Reverse Curl
50X12X2 PR
Alright, so tomorrow I work all day, and the next day I’ll be under the knife. So I guess you can say the plan is to get paid and then get filleted.
Horay.
Take care!
[u][i]7-15-09[/u][/i]
[u][i]Day 3: Horizontal Pressing and Pulling[/u][/i]
Dynamic Flexibility
A. Bench Press
205X1
185X8X3 PR
B1. CGBP
175X6,5
165X7
Rest 45 seconds-1 minute
B2. Chest Supported T-Bar Row
125X10X3 PR
Rest 45 seconds-1 minute
C. Reverse Pec Dec
110X12X2
C. Skull Crusher
40X6
60X6
80X6 PR
225X5 wasn’t going to fly. Felt weak and my pec was bothering me somewhat. Not used to morning work outs.
Tomorrow is the surgery. Having a protein, healthy fat, and fiber loaded shake, going to sleep, then it’s awake at 530AM to be under the knife at 830. They want me there by 7.
The surgery won’t be a problem. The problem will be keeping it real when it comes to getting back to things. I really am going to have to exercise caution. One surgery is bad. Two would be worse, especially on the same thing.
This will turn into (primarily) a nutrition log for the next week or so. I’m going to get back at things ASAP, starting with cardio and that sort of thing. A friend of mine is the #2 ranked Air Force PT guy in the country. Earlier he gave me some great ideas for getting back at things asap.
Alright, I may or may not post tomorrow. Depends on how cognizant I am.
Take care. Thanks for stopping by!
Break a leg buddy 
good luck brother! I wish you a fast recovery!
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Break a leg buddy :D[/quote]
Thanks, man.
[quote]Alpha wrote:
good luck brother! I wish you a fast recovery![/quote]
I appreciate it. I’m going to take it slow, do things right, and then get back on the path to insane strength.
[b][i]7-17-09[/i][/b]
[b][i]DIET[/i][/b]
Meal 1: 1 cup blueberries, 2T flaxseed, 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 scoops ON whey protein, 2 Fish Oil, 4 Calcium, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 2: 3/4 cup navy beans, 9 oz. Tilapia, 1/2T EVOO, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 3: 1/4 cup mixed nuts
Meal 4: 2 oz. Gouda Cheese
Meal 5: 7 oz. 98% lean ground beef, some tomato paste, 1 cup blueberries, 1 small orange, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 6: 1 scoop whey, 1 cup cottage cheese, 2T flaxseed, cinnamon
Totals
Kcal.: 2,347
Protein (g): 261
Fat (g): 85
Carb (g): 131
Fiber (g): 32
I’m just sitting around most of the day, so this should be good to keep recovery quick.
My supps contain:
1 Fish Oil: 400mg EPA/200mg DHA
1 Vitamin C: 1000mg Ascorbic Acid, 25 mg Bioflavonoids Complex
4 Calcium: 200 IU Vitamin D, 800mg Calcium, 100 mg Magnesium, 99mg Potassium
Nothing crazy. I need more greens in my diet. That’s the big critique I see.
Today I did tons of scap wall slides, no-money drills, and standing wall dances to keep the blood flowing and give my body reason to maintain some semblance of good posture
I haven’t been able to stand much due to pain, but I force myself to get up occasionally to keep blood flowing and expedite recovery.
As soon as things start to feel a bit less painful, I’ll be doing some supine hip raise variations and whatnot. Gotta get over this recovery quickly, but intelligently as well.
I hope everything is going very well!
It’s funny that I’m out of action but the first thing I do every morning is look at people’s training logs, check my e-mails for training related e-mails from my clients, and then start thinking about what I’ll be doing when I get back to action.
After that I’m reading Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes (courtesy of Mahwah) and that’s the plan till this evening where I’ll watch a few movies with my gf.
The only thing that sucks is that, admittedly, I’m far better at the text-based, scholarly side of this stuff than I am in the trenches. I can’t wait to get back to things so I can fix that.
The great news is that I’ve put together a training crew for this coming fall, and they are ALL much stronger, faster, and better than me at this stuff. Not to mention everyone in the crew has awesome in-the-trenches knowledge.
Also helps that they’re just a bunch of badasses, so it looks like I’m finally getting the opportunity to take Monopoly’s advice and hit it hard with a dedicated training crew. Here is what the crew looks like:
-Semi-Pro Football Player (34 inch vert, 420-440 squat, insane work capacity)
-Powerlifter (485 lbs. bench)
-Strongman Competitor/Bodybuilder (weighs 175 but looks 215, strict overhead presses 225)
-Strongman Competitor/Bodybuilder
-Weak, pathetic, small me (20 inch vert :P, ~245 bench, ~175 strict overhead press)
Also, a friend of mine is a bike-technician (:P) and he has some welding skills. What does that mean? STRONGMAN EQUIPMENT. YEAH BUDDDAAAY
LoL, is it bad that I’m excited to suck compared to everyone around me?
Anyway, Theuofh, Vader, IronAbrams, Aplha, Gabex, WhiteFlash, Jhardee, Mahwah, BlackLabel, Monopoly, BugeishAD, Ad B, Bloobird, and anyone else staying updated with my stuff, I appreciate you stopping by.
Who is this crew you are speaking of, and where is this proposed training taking place??? And why was I not invited…
Hope your recovery is going well.
Thanks Mahwah!
Check your PMs
Brother, with your knowledge and commitment you’re gonna get wherever you want to go, in the weightroom and out. We can all learn from your example. Be easy homey.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Brother, with your knowledge and commitment you’re gonna get wherever you want to go, in the weightroom and out. We can all learn from your example. Be easy homey.[/quote]
Damn, thanks man. Means a lot. I have a lot of work to do, but I will get there.
[b][i]7-18-09[/i][/b]
[b][i]DIET[/i][/b]
Meal 1: 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup oats, 4 whole eggs, 2 Fish Oil, 4 Calcium, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 2: half can navy beans, 9 oz. Tilapia, 3/4T EVOO, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 3: 1/4 cup mixed nuts
Meal 4: 2 oz. Gouda Cheese
Meal 5: 6 oz. chicken breast, 1 cup broccoli, 1 apple, half can navy beans, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 6: 2 scoop whey, half can coconut milk, 2T flaxseed, cinnamon
Totals
Kcal.: 3,062
Protein (g): 261
Fat (g): 136
Carb (g): 215
Fiber (g): 50
I took the calories higher today because I was hungry. The pain medications were wearing off.
Speaking of pain meds, at one point I took 2 (the recommended dose), and I started to have a hard time breathing, the world started to spin around me, the water I was drinking seemed to electrify my mouth and throat as it went down, and I was COMPLETELY pain-free.
I actually got up as normal, walked into the kitchen with a perfectly upright posture (something I haven’t been able to pull off since) and was in this shocked “WTF!?” state. It eventually wore off, but this gave me an idea of what people that do abuse this crap are looking for. I’ll never understand. . .
And to think, MJ and other rich folks have/had 24/7 access to these types of drugs, regardless of need. I heard some will actually have an ANESTHESIOLOGIST on duty so that they don’t have to be awake for a PLANE TRIP.
lolwut?
[b][i]7-19-09[/i][/b]
[b][i]DIET[/i][/b]
Meal 1: 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup cheerios, 1/4 cup milk, 3 whole eggs, 2 oz. turkey, 1 slice cheese, 2 Fish Oil, 4 Calcium, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 2: 1 cup broccoli, 6 oz. chicken breast, 1 apple, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 3: 1/4 cup mixed nuts
Meal 4: 2 oz. Gouda Cheese
Meal 5: 6 oz. chicken breast, 1 cup broccoli, 1 apple, 1 plum, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 6: 2 scoop whey, half can coconut milk, 1/4 cup milk, 2T flaxseed, cocoa
Totals
Kcal.: 2,699
Protein (g): 232
Fat (g): 140
Carb (g): 129
Fiber (g): 27
Wasn’t as hungry yesterday, so I kept things over 2,400 and ate how much I wanted to.
Did scap wall slides, crawled around for a while (yes, crawled), and stood up as often as possible.
[b][i]7-20-09[/i][/b]
[b][i]DIET[/i][/b]
Meal 1: 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup cheerios, 1/4 cup milk, 3 whole eggs, 2 oz. turkey, 1 slice cheese, 2 Fish Oil, 4 Calcium, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 2: 6 oz. chicken breast, 1 apple, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 3: 1/4 cup mixed nuts
Meal 4: 2 oz. Gouda Cheese
Meal 5: 5 oz. 97% lean ground beef, 1/2 cup pasta, 1 plum, 1 cup mixed salad, 1T EVOO, vinegar, 1 apple, 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin C
Meal 6: 2 scoop whey, half can coconut milk, 1/4 cup milk, 2T flaxseed, cocoa
Totals
Kcal.: 2,552
Protein (g): 187
Fat (g): 134
Carb (g): 150
Fiber (g): 30
After looking at that, I’m going to add something else later. We’ll see what I decide on. I’m not worried about piling on lots of fat, because I definitely keep things clean. My worry is that I don’t give myself enough nutrients to repair this stuff so I can get back to lifting heavy shit.
Today I went on a 20 minute walk. That felt great. Normal stuff on top of that: scap wall slides, no money drills, generally keeping good posture most of the time, and getting up instead of asking for my family to get stuff for me. Good progress, but it’s never enough.
Good training everyone!
A bit about my diet. . .
-The big part of my diet that I should change for the time being is my use of milk. I really could substitute that for better nutrient sources.
-I know I’m putting carbs in the diet, but it’s only 20-30% of my daily total kcal. amount, which is pretty low in the grand scheme of things. Also, the high fiber content of the carb sources I’m getting (fruits, veggies, cheerios/oats) keeps me regular and a far-cry from having to tape my wounds down and bear down in constipation. Ok, that was too much information. I apologize. (not really)
–To ‘counter’ the carbs in this surgery-recovery diet, I include low-glycemic index sources, fish oil and cinnamon to improve insulin sensitivity, and protein and fat primarily toward the end of the day. Yes, I have included some carbs toward the end of the day (at dinner), but I think this a good idea because a controlled influx of insulin is associated with increased tissue repair.
-Why am I eating cheese everyday? It has CLA. CLA is anti-inflammatory. CLA+EPA+DHA=YAY
-Vitamin C helps develop collagen. Collagen is in skin. My skin is broken. - YouTube go to 1:56
–I’m going to knock the 3,000mg/daily vitamin C supplementation down to 1,000mg/daily. For now I’m superdosing to increase tissue repair rate.
-The calcium supp I am taking includes Vitamin D, which is great because I’m not going outside much.
-If you’ve read much on this website you’ve had the benefits of fish oil preached at you over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Rightfully so. Suffice to say that when I asked the Performance Physical Therapy Manager at the Andrews Institute what I should work on after the surgery, he said “Do some cardio, work on some flexibility drills, and supplement with fish oil.” LOLOLOLOL Yeah budday
It’s interesting to note that my waistline was way up after surgery (loads of inflammation), but has since came back down. It still has some more to go, but inflammation is an interesting thing to see. Cool to think about all the stuff that is going on inside my body. I’m going to cut out the pain medications today. I don’t need the hardcore stuff anymore. I have this odd numb feeling with the stuff, so removing it will be an interesting step. . .
I’ll post today’s dietary and movement stuff later.
Thanks for stopping by.
P.S. I miss lifting heavy stuff.
Over at a friend’s place while I recover. Diet is still in place.
In the past two days my only changes from the previous diet have been:
-2 Scoops ON Whey Protein instead of Eggs
-I had 2 scoops of ice cream
-I had a curry dinner, which wasn’t much of a cheat aside from the white rice I had. So yeah, I’m counting it due to carbs.
Good thing is that I’ve been cheating between 0-3 times a week, so things have been clean.
It hurts to get out of bed. Walking around is sometimes painful, but I’m not avoiding it because that’d just be surrendering to slight pain. Sometimes in recovery moderate pain is just to be worked through.
I’m feeling progress on a daily basis, I’ve been getting at least 20 minutes of walking around every day, along with as much standing up as I can, and basic mobility drills whenever I think about it.
Damnit I need to be back to the weights. Can’t wait to at least load up the seated and machine movements. Need to do this intelligently though.
The worst thing about this surgery is my loss of autonomy. I hate asking people to do shit for me. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that much anymore, but I feel like part of me is gone because I can’t push myself physically or even pick up certain items. This really makes me think of how much I take mobility for granted. EC is right, Maslow should have mentioned mobility.
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your time.
Good training
Aren’t you better yet? stop being such a pansy!
Just kidding bro, I hope your feeling at least a little bit better!
Hey man. I’ve been checking in a little, but not posting as much (been a little busy)… but it looks like you’ve got everything planned out after recovery.
Also, props for eating right while recovering. I know when I’m sick, or taking a week off, nutrition usually goes to shit. I’ll have my morning smoothie/shake… but after that, I don’t stick to any guidelines.
Good luck with everything.