The family and I went to southwest Oklahoma to visit my grandma. She gave us a scare a couple weeks ago and my dad made it sound like she wouldn’t be around for long. She’s never met my son and hasn’t seen my daughter since she was born. I felt pretty terrible about that so we loaded up and went to visit for the weekend.
It’s only about three and a half hours each way but it’s still wore us out. My wife got her run in yesterday before we left–22 miles. I thought that I might do something once we visited my grandma but there wasn’t a lot of time or energy left. Our kids were worn out and ready for bed by 7.
I skipped Friday because I’m fighting off a sinus infection. I finally snuck in a workout late this afternoon in the basement. After reading the responses to my back thread I’ve decided that my deadlift day will now be leg day. I will save my old fashioned back work for its own day. I think the extra pulling work on leg day will only benefit me.
The Workout
Seated OHP (to chin & up)
bar x 10
95 x 10
115 x 8
135 x 5 x 3 sets
145 x 1
155 x 0— I had the rack set in the bottom position. I think I would have moved 155 if I had the stretch reflex from an eccentric movement.
Incline Bench
135 x 10 x 3 sets
Bench
185 x 5 x 3 sets
Ab Wheel
3 x 10
Push-ups
15-4-3-3 triple rest/pause — not much left in the tank
Until I run into my next bout of training ADD I’m opting for the fat guy pursuit.
My problem is going to be taking it slow instead of gaining 20 lbs in a month. As you can see, I just gained 10 lbs in a week without even trying. It’s a struggle to bulk without eating like shit and treating myself to everything I avoid most of the year.
Woke up at 227 lbs and pretty much hit my calorie goal yesterday. I’m going to go with 3600 calories a day until I’m dialed back into my training for a few weeks and then go up to 4000 from there.
Warm-up & Conditioning
2 laps dynamic warm-up
3 laps of fun the straightaway and walk the curve
1 lap walk
6 laps=1 mile and it took over 14 minutes.
Neutral Pull-ups
2 x 10
7-2-2 double rest/pause
Plate Loaded Hammer Row
180 x 10
200 x 10
220 x 10
240 x 8
260 x 6
140 x 7/7/7 (bottom half/top half/full)
140 x 7/7/7 (full/top half/bottom half)
Reverse Cable Fly (single-arm)
3 x 10 ea @ 40
Reverse Cable Fly Rear Delt Emphasis
3 x 10 @ 30
Incline DB Curl
25s x 10 x 2 sets
25s x 7/7/7 (bottom half/top half/full)
25s x 7/7/7 (full/top half/bottom half)
I enjoyed this. It was nice to do a full back workout without draining myself on deadlifts first.
I had my second MRI on my left hip this morning. I had an arthrogram first so any problems should show up bright and clear this time. I can appreciate the Doc wanting to be certain before sending me to surgery but I’m tired of dragging this out. My hip is partially numb and feels a bit stiff when I extend my leg while walking. Luckily it’s chest and shoulders day!
DB Bench
50 x 10 x 2
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x 3
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 4
I intended to work up to a heavy single or double using sets of 1-3 from 80 lbs on up but the 85’s, 95’s and one of the 100’s were missing.
DB Incline
65 x 8
65 x 8
65 x 7
65 x 6
Seated DB Military
45 x 8 x 4 sets
Lateral DB Raise
6-8-10 drop set
30 x 6
20 x 8
10 x 10
Cable Press-Down
130 x 8 x 2 sets
6-8-10 drop set: 140 x 6, 120 x 8, 100 x 10
80 x 8 top half/8 bottom half/8 full
Cable Side Crunch
80 x 15 ea pulling up
80 x 15 ea pushing down
Snatch Grip Deadlift
135 x 5 x 2
185 x 5
215 x 5
245 x 3
275 x 3
305 x 1 x 5 sets EMOM
Hang SGHP
185 x 5 x 3 sets
Squat
135 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 6
225 x 4
245 x 2
265 x 1
Boy do I have a long ways to go… This is only my 3rd squat workout since April. I did a box squat workout in June and front squatted through June. In July I started my sprinting workouts in lieu of lifting. It’s definitely been awhile.
Pull-Ups
10, 8, 8 w/ body weight. I’m a bit heavier in my uniform clothes and boots vs. my regular gym clothes.
Cable Row
150 x 10
170 x 8
190 x 6
210 x 4
230 x 2
230 x 2
210 x 4
190 x 6
170 x 8
150 x 10/10 top half/10 bottom half
45 Deg Back Ext
3 x 20
DB Crunch
100 x 15
100 x 10
100 x 10
Lying Leg Raise
2 x 15
Underhand Pull-Down
170 x 10 x 3 sets
Face Pull
120 x 10 x 3 sets
Cable Curls
80 x 10/10 top half/10 bottom half
This workout wasn’t terrible but it didn’t feel great either. I was distracted and talking to a Captain during the pull-ups and rows. My rest wasn’t well timed and I didn’t have much of a mind-muscle connection. I didn’t feel bad by any means, but I definitely didn’t feel my muscles working as well as I would’ve liked. The ab work was also kind of half-assed. But I guess an average workout is better than no workout.
DB Incline (slightly lower than Wednesday’s Incline)
40 x 10
50 x 5
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x 5
90 x 3
100 x 3
90 x 3 x 5 sets
Seated Smith Machine OHP
115 x 8 x 3 sets
85 x 8 full/8 top half/8 bottom half
Reverse Press-Down
110 x 10 full/10 top half/10 bottom half
Based on my own comments to @simo74 the other night I think I’m going to structure my workouts so that I do two-thirds of my weekly work on Mon-Wed when I’m off work. I’ll do the remaining one-third the second time through at the end of the week.
For example, my goal is to hit around 120 reps per week with each major muscle group. I’d knock out 80 to 90 of those on the first workout of the week and the remaining 30 or 40 in the second workout. This accomplishes two things: 1) it takes less time on my work days where I struggle to get in quality sessions. 2) they will serve as lower intensity workouts when I’m still a bit sore/fatigued from the first workouts of the week.
I came up with this solution when I remembered my workouts from the Olympic Training Center in 2007 which was the last time I puffed up to 240+ lbs. I did a push workout on Monday and a pull workout on Wednesday. I repeated the same workouts on Thursday and Saturday with 20% less weight. I increased the weight each week for three weeks and then on week four I decreased all weights by 20% for a deload week. This approach worked well then and I’m hopeful that reducing the volume (not intensity) in the latter half of the week will achieve similar results.
Nice work mate. I like the sound of this plan, I would love time for a second workout with lower weights to get some blood flowing and help with recovery. I’ll be watching with interest to see how you go.
I wrote out some chicken scratch on a notepad last night to get a visual for my idea to do two-thirds of my work Mon-Wed and the remaining volume on the latter half of the week. As I was writing it out with the goal of hitting 120 reps on each major muscle group I realized that I’m already there. Heck, I might even be there in one workout. I’m not going to change anything; however, I’m going to allow myself to do less volume Thurs-Sat if necessary due to time restraints. I’m also scrapping snatch grip deadlifts and replacing them with power cleans. I did clean pulls after deadlifts today instead of power cleans. It definitely makes for a high intensity workout but that’s the point—smoke myself Mon-Wed and coast/recover the rest of the week.
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 1
315 x 10 EMOM
315 x 20 E1/2MOM
315 EMOM was too easy so I decided to cut the rest in half instead of adding 50 lbs. It was also faster.
Clean Pull
315 x 3 x 2
275 x 3 x 2
I was fading here and 315 was moving slow which is kind of the opposite of what you want with power movements.
Walking Lunges
100 x 10ea x 3 sets
I usually take 60 seconds of rest between sets (even on deadlifts) but I had to increase it to a minimum of 2 minutes between sets here.
Leg Extension
100 x 20
100 x 10B/10T/10F
Seated Leg Curl
110 x 20
110 x 10B/10T/10F
I had to take my time leaving the gym today. My legs were jello and the weight room is on the third floor. I would’ve had difficulty with the stairs if I left right away.
My hip has been feeling better and I was beginning to think that I don’t have a torn labrum. And then I did lunges today and the old feeling was back. It wasn’t terrible but I felt the stabbing pain in the bottom position of the lunges. I also noticed a new feeling - - - minor pain deep in my groin. One of the more common symptoms of hip impingement and a torn labrum is pain in the groin. So it either confirms the doctor’s suspicions or I’m imagining it.
I forgot to write that I did my usual two lap warmup with three laps of running the straightway and walking the curves. I basically ran 6 x 70-80m sprints and I was struggling. I recovered pretty well during the walking but I was struggling to catch my breath at the end of the sprint. I felt more fatigued than I should after each sprint.
Well, I finally had my follow up with the orthopedic specialist today. The second MRI confirmed that I have a deformity on the head of my femur that has caused impingement and a tear to the labrum. He gave me three options:
Modify my life and do things that don’t hurt
Get a cortisone or similar injection
Surgery to smooth out the femur and repair the labrum
His opinion agrees with mine - - - surgery. Fix the damn problem and move on. I’m not about to stop lifting, running, basketball, etc. Cortisone has a short term effect and when it wears off you’re right back where you started.
I put in for our new traffic section and they want to train everyone on the new motorcycles. I’m planning surgery for Dec 20th because the training will possibly be the last week of November and first week of December. I’m not in the unit yet but I have to plan for it and I wouldn’t be released in time to complete the training. If I don’t get the spot that I want then I can move the surgery up.
