Of course, I’d be wondering why that x-ray wasn’t done 3 WEEKS AGO, but whaddyagonnado.
Can you do something like a single leg deadlift with the dumbbell in the non-broken hand?
Thanks for the healing thoughts–definitely need it. I guess it’s good that it did not happen in the middle of the season, but it’s still a bit frustrating.
As for why the x-ray wasn’t done earlier–I’m not sure. Back home, the first thing that would have been done was an x-ray. They seemed to be so convinced that it was just a fracture. I think they didn’t want to go through the insurance hassle if they didn’t have to. Every time I talked to my parents, they always asked me if I had gotten an x-ray done yet.
The scary thing is that there was chance that if I had continued playing, I could have shattered my finger, which would have ended my season before it even started.
Anyways, as far as one-handed stuff goes, I think I could do a 1 arm single leg deadlift. Other possibilities include:
DB clean and press
DB snatch
DB floor/bench press
DB row
DB overhead lunges
zercher squats
bodyweight squats
sprints
There are also bands in the trainer’s room, perhaps I can see if they’ll let me do banded stuff with my injured arm.
dude… wtf!!!
how’s the season??
how’s the finger???
get teh fuck back hurrr.
I’m sorry guys! I fell off the face of the earth midway through the year. Hopefully y’all will welcome the prodigal daughter back here.
To get everyone back up to speed with everything that’s happened since I disappeared…
-I successfully made it through my first semester of college and made the dean’s list.
-I never actually got to play a game this year. I was allowed to practice, but by the time my finger had gotten better, it actually just made more sense to take a medical redshirt. This means I now have another 4 full years to play hockey.
-I spent roughly 14 weeks in a splint/cast/etc. I struggled with finding ways to lift with just one arm, and stopped lifting seriously for awhile. I have to take most, if not all of the blame, for being in a cast so long. I was convinced that my finger was better at one point, and started going back to regular activities. Turns out I prevented my bone from setting properly and almost had to get pins put in. Lesson learned: Don’t be a young, naive ass–listen to the damn doctors and trainers because they know more than I do!
-In all, the team seemed to make some progress this year–we narrowly missed playoffs, but ended up challenging teams we used to struggle against. It was tough to be limited to practices and cheering from the stands (as well as doing all the grunt work–filling water bottles, running errands for the training staff, loading/unloading the stick bags and tool kit, and taking stats), but I was happy that I could still be a (small) part of the team–even if it meant doing all the bitch work.
So now, it’s offseason. I’ve been lifting on a semi-regular basis for the last month, and started logging in my notebook again about 3 weeks ago. I didn’t want to start posting again until I knew I’d be serious about it again. So far this semester, I’ve done a better job managing school, work, hockey/gym, and college life, so I decided it’s time to get back at it!
I’ve decided to change to a modified WSFSB3, which is not a huge switch, but 2 had been doing a good job before I broke my troubled digit, so I want to try it for a couple of months on a serious basis to see if I’ll still make gains.
My lifing schedule looks like this:
Monday: Max-effort Upper Body
Tuesday: Dynamic-effort Lower Body
Wednesday: Short plyometric or speed workout, plus foam rolling and stretching
Thursday: Repetition Upper Body
Friday: Max-effort Lower Body
Saturday: OFF–foam rolling/other soft tissue work, and stretching
Sunday: OFF
I’ll see how that works–I might change things around a little, but the 2 upper body and 2 lower body days will be there every week for sure. Just depends if my classes pick up at all throughout the year.
As well, next week is spring break, which I’ll be spending in Ottawa. I’ll have to find a gym nearby to where I’m staying, or just have fun with bodyweight stuff (ugh). I’d much prefer to be in a gym at least a couple times during that week–even though it is a break.
Hey! Welcome back!
That sucks about having to redshirt, but making Dean’s List is a great accomplishment and that starts out your academic career right.
I’ll look forward to hearing about your training.
Thanks Kimba!
This afternoon was my max effort upper body day. I’m still working on getting back to where I was before my injury–my upper body lifts went down a fair bit, but luckily my lower body lifts didn’t. My chin up and pushup numbers have went down a fair bit, as well as my bench.
It was kind of discouraging to see that I’d actually gotten weaker (as far as the numbers go)–but I guess it just gives me more drive to get back and push my numbers higher than before.
Max Effort Upper Body
A. BB bench press
bar X 10
65# X 8
85# X 6
95# X 5
95# X 5
105# X 5
115# X 5
B. DB floor press
2 sets of max reps
warm up set-- 25# X 15
35# X 20
35# X 18
C. i. DB rows
35# X 10
35# X 12
35# X 12
ii. face pulls
50# X 12
50# X 12
50# X 12
D. DB shrugs
45# X 15
50# X 15
50# X 15
50# X 14
E. EZ bar curls (bar = 15 lbs–I think)
35# X 12
45# X 6, 35# X 6
35# X 8
I think it was a so-so workout today. I felt that I rocked the bench today, but everything else felt really average. I really struggled with 115 last week, but today felt really, really good and I was able to hit 5 reps (struggled with 3 last week). I think I’m finally getting my benching form back the way I like it.
Everything else was very meh though–not good but not bad either. I can deal with having a bad workout once and a while, but I really hate “meh” workouts, just because it’s “meh”.
Tuesday
Dynamic Effort Lower Body Day
A. jump training
I used two different boxes–one that was ~3-4 inches above my knee (from here on referred to as little box) and one that was about crotch height (from here on referred to as the big motherfucker–well let’s just call it the big box)
–box jumps
5 on little box
5 on little box
2 on big box
1 on big box, 2 on little box
1 on big box, 2 on little box
–depth drops
3 sets of 5 drops from the little box
I had to take one step into my jumps for the big box. That big box sure is intimidating. Over the summer, I jumped on tires roughly the same height (if not a little higher) and wasn’t fazed by them at all. I think I’m afraid of missing and scraping my shin horribly. I gotta get over that fear–I’ll keep working at it.
B. Unilateral exercise
–Bulgarian split squats
warm up sets: 20# X 8 / 30# X 6
working sets:
35# X 10
35# X 10
35# X 10
The last two times I did bulgarian split squats I had to stop and couldn’t really do any other heavy leg work for the rest of my workout because of this odd twingy pain in my knee. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it would get worse as the set went on.
Looking back at it, I think my form wasn’t the greatest and I allowed my knees to bend inward during my reps. Felt much better today, no pains at all.
C. Hip extension exercise
–Romanian deadlifts
warm up set: 115# X 10
working sets:
145# X 10
145# X 8
155# X 8
The romanian deadlifts are just as good for my grip right now as it is for my posterior chain. My grip is still quite weak for my left hand, so I struggle with high rep deadlifts (anything over 6). I was supposed to go to 10 reps on my second working set, but my left hand was definitely failing at 8. I’ll keep working at it–it’ll get back to normal eventually.
D. Ab work
Hanging leg raises (knee raises) with 15 count hold
4 sets
-15 sec knee up hold + 15 knee raises
-5 sec hanging L sit + 10 sec knee up hold + 15 knee raises
-15 sec hanging L sit (started failing at 10 seconds) + 15 knee raises
-15 sec hanging L sit (started wavering @ 10 again) + 15 knee raises
Then, just for kicks, I did a quick barbell complex as a finisher:
7 RDLs
7 hang clean + front squat + push press
7 reverse lunges (each leg)
Rest 1 - 1 1/2 minutes.
3x
I used just the bar today, but it still had me sucking wind afterwards.
Hi Jrmint! Welcome back and congrats on getting back into the training after the injury.
Workouts look killer!! The box jumping is awesome. I should do this. But yeah, the big box IS intimidating. Good stuff!
the mint’s back!!! yaaaaay!!!
good deal on the red shirt. much better than wasting a year half assing it. i think u’ll see it was meant to be.
I’m at peace with my decision to redshirt (now). With 8 or 10 games left in the season, the coaches started to hint that they thought I was ready to play and wanted me to start. I weighed my options and really came to the conclusion that all the benefits to not redshirting were short term, and that redshirting will be better in the long term.
So now the athletic department is going through the necessary paperwork to apply for my redshirt. I’m quite certain that I’ll get the redshirt, as I followed all the rules set out.
I must say that a year without playing a single game was tough. I mean I got to practice, but for 3/4s of the year, I wasn’t allowed to fully participate. I was grateful that I was still treated like I was a part of the team, for the year would have been much more difficult if I had to drop hockey all together.
It really made me think of how in 3 or 4 years, I will no longer be able to play hockey at a highly competitive level (there really isn’t much beyond the college level for women) and I’ll have transition to, well–the real world. Weird. Guess I gotta join reality sometime, eh?
Alrighty, enough talky talk for now, more workout-y workout talk!
Dynamic warmups:
air squats X 15
jumping jacks X 15
skipping
backpedalling
lateral squats
lunges (forwards, backwards, spidermans)
one-legged RDL into leg swings
mountain climbers X 20
squat jumps X 10
shuffles
leg swings
Ladder drills:
-4 X sprint (1 foot ea square)
-4 X sprint (2 feet)
-3 X lateral shuffle
-3 X forward shuffle
-4 X icky shuffle
-3 X in and out
-4 X lateral hops
-4 X side hops
-4 X hop scotch
-1 foot hops (forwards/2 up, 1 back/ lateral zig zag)
Step jumping:
–I set up 8 of those step thingers with about 1 1/2 feet between them.
–The steps ranged in height, went from 1-2-3-4 risers for the first four then 4-3-2-1 risers for the last four.
-3 X hop on, over
-3 X hop over
-3 X lateral hop on, over
-3 X lateral hop over
-3 X side-to-side hops on, over
Conditioning/finisher:
A. 20 skater hops
25 double unders
4 X
B. 20 side-to-side hops
20 mountain climbers
3 X
…And my legs are done for the day. I enjoyed the workout for the most part–I really like doing ladder drills for some reason.
Random insightful words of the day:
–One never realizes how much they use their ass when they walk until it’s been fried by a workout.
The bulgarian split squats and romanian deadlifts from yesterday killed my ass. All these hills here really help to remind me of how sore I made it. Oh well, good thing there’s foam rollers here.
Ahh, youth.
That looks like such a cool workout. I’d love to try it sometime. You can jump as high as your crotch??? You are a ninja.
Very nice workouts! And that takes great dedication, training while in uni. Looking forward to following along!
Thanks for stopping in ladies!
By the way–I am definitely no ninja, for I have neither the killer instinct, nor the stealthiness!
THURSDAY–Repetition Upper Body Day
A. Repetition Exercise–> 3 sets max reps
Pushups
-18/ 15/ 15
B. Vertical Pulling/rear delt superset
i. Lat pulldowns
-80# X 12
…and then someone jacked the lat pulldown machine, so I switched to chin ups.
-1 X 5 reps (neutral grip)
-1 X 6 reps (neutral grip)
-1 X 3 reps (neutral grip) / 1 X 2 reps–switched to pronated grip
ii. Seated DB power cleans
-15# X 10
-10# X 10
-10# X 10
-10# X 10
C. Medial delts
DB lateral raises
-4 X 10 with 10#
D. Traps/arms superset
i. DB shrugs
-4 X 10 (50#/ 55#/ 55#/ 55#)
ii. hammer curls
-20# X 10
-20# X 8
-20# X 8
E. Grip work
Plate pinch gripping
-four 10 lb plates → 25 count
-three 10 lb plates → 45 count
-two 10 lb plates each hand → 25 count
-three 10 lb plates each hand → 10 count right hand/ 6 count left hand
-three 10 lb plates → 60 count
So this may or may not be my last workout of the week. I will be unable to get to the gym tomorrow because I am flying to Ottawa and have classes in the morning before I go. I think I will be able to get my max effort lower body day in on Saturday, but I’m still not completely sure what’s going on that day for me. I might have to improvise a bit with my workouts, depending on what the gym nearby my aunt and uncle’s has.
Today’s workout was alright. I’m still pretty disappointed with how much my chin up and pull up numbers have decreased, but they’re working their way back up again.
Today was another one of those days when I know that my left hand is still lacking in strength. My grip would start to slip near the end of the DB shrugs, but I didn’t have to shorten the sets because of it. Before breaking my finger, my left hand was definitely stronger, but now it’s lagging a bit behind. On the plate pinches, I struggled doing the one-handed gripping with my left hand because I still can’t grip properly with my left hand. We’ll see if that gets any better over time.
I’m back! Ottawa has been great so far. Haven’t really done any major sightseeing–I did that last time I was here. I’m more just enjoying spending time with my relatives. Still, we headed downtown yesterday and walked along Sussex and then went to the market.
Of course, I had to take in a hockey game as well; went to a major junior game in Gatineau. Speaking no French, this was an interesting experience! I couldn’t understand what the crowd was yelling (they were screaming almost the entire game), so I relied on my uncle for translations every now and then. Apparently they were really displeased with the referee. I think they were swearing a lot though too–even I was able to catch a few words here and there.
Today’s workout:
Max-Effort Upper Body Day
A. BB bench press
bar X 10
65# X 5
85# X 5
95# X 5
95# X 5
105# X 5
115# X 5
125# X 5
B. DB floor press
35# X 25
35# X 20
C. superset
i. DB rows
40# X 10
40# X 12
40# X 10
40# X 10
ii. Rear delt flyes
5# X 10
8# X 10
8# X 10
5# X 10
D. DB shrugs
55# X 12
55# X 12
55# X 12
E. Hammer curls
20# X 12
20# X 8
15# X 10
15# X 8
Pretty good workout today. Happy with how my bench numbers went up again. I kinda knew I had 125 in me–just haven’t gone that heavy for a while. In fact, I have never hit it for more than 3, so it was a bit of a PR today. Rear delt flyes were definitely humbling–can’t do them with any more than 5# DBs before start performing them improperly.
Great work on the bench PR. You do a lot of upper body work. Good stuff!
Hi juniormint - an arena filled with french folk will be loud complete with swears, insults and threats. The cheap beer just adds fuel to a hearty fire. Hope you weren’t traumatised - and that is some fine benching considering all the reps you did before hitting 125lbs.
cheers
N
Mascherano–thanks girl! I actually missed one of my leg days (a little disappointed–I was looking forward to front squats) last week due to my day of flying, so it may look like the amount of leg/arm work I do is unbalanced.
Nlmain–Defintely wasn’t traumatized! I was more amused by it–the crowds in the west are nowhere near as vocal. And the cheap beer was great too, although it would have been nice if they served something other than Budweiser (not my beer of choice).
As for the number of reps before I hit 125, I’ve been playing with it for the last couple of weeks. I try to put in a short dynamic warmup before I start on the bench, but still need a number of work up sets to feel comfortable.
For next week, I’m thinking of changing my work up set to something like this:
bar X 6-10
65# X 5
65# X 5
95# X 5
95# X 5
115# X 5
125# X 5
It still is a fair amount of sets, but with lesser loads working up (if that makes any sense). I guess I could lessen the reps in some of the work up sets as well…hmm…
No workout in the gym today–just lots of walking around town. I should be able to fit in a workout tomorrow at some point though.
lol! That explains it!
Re: the rep scheme on squats - I was actually told by a trainer to lead up to the big lift by increasing reps, then decreasing reps, then back to increase. So it would look something like:
bar X 6-10
65# X 5
95# X 5
95# X 3
115# X 3
125# X 5
I don’t know if this is a good idea, but just something to think about - especially as the numbers get higher.
Thanks for the advice–I’ll try out a scheme like that for next week when I bench next.
So, today I went for a leg workout after a walk around Parliament earlier in the day. I should have brought my camera–coulda had pictures with protesters or some of the drivers of the government officials.
Anyways, I went to the Y near my aunt and uncle’s house. Never been to a Y before–was a new experience, and a bit different than the gym at school. Was busy for the first bit I was there–lots of high school boys working on their sick abz and big gunz. I got stared at by some of them because I, wait for it, used the squat rack…for squatting. gasp! And then, later in my workout, I did romanian deadlifts double gasp and faint .
A. Front squats
bar X 8
bar X 6
95# X 5
95# X 5
115# X 5
135# X 3
145# X 3
150# X 5
B. DB Reverse lunges
warm up set–25# X 6 each
35# X 8 each
40# X 10 each
40# X 10 each
C. Romanian deadlifts
warm up set–115# X 10
145# X 10
165# X 6 or 8 (can’t remember–forgot immediately after my set…)
165# X 8
165# X 8
D. Leg raises/knee ups
15 knee ups + 5 count L-sit hold
15 knee ups + 5 count L-sit hold
10 L ups + 5 knee ups + 4 1/2-ish count L-sit hold
10 L ups + 5 knee ups + 3 count L-sit hold
Good workout–my legs are gonna be stiff tomorrow! I love my front squats. I think this is a PR, in that I haven’t gotten more than 3 reps at 150 before. It was tough, but I think I can get 5 at 155 next week.