Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

Axle bench press
10x axle
10x75
5x115
3x165
5x195
5x225
11x255
17x195

Notes: Can actually get my foot in a benching position, which is really cool, but means I now need to watch out and keep from trying to drive off that foot. At least my ROM is better. Huge rep PRs to be sure, and I got a massive upper body pump. Forgot to wear my elbow sleeves too, so I might be able to eek out another rep.

Dips (upright)
2x25
1x20
1x30 w/rest pausing

Notes: Might’ve got the 100 in 4 sets clean with some longer rest periods, but this worked.

3 way shoulder circuit
3x18

NG chins
10x20
4x15
1x36

Notes: Sets between sets of everthing, with 1 megaset at the end. Really focusing on lat contraction/time under tension.

General notes: Woke up at 186.2. Got through all my home PT work today, with more real work tomorrow. Going to try for my super low carb day tomorrow.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Got a few thoughts in my head I want to get down. Once again, I apologize for the dramatics, but this is my reality.

As I’ve mentioned, as much as I try to keep my cool here, in reality my emotions are all over the place. I thought I was keeping things under control, but when I told my wife how I was feeling, she told me it was pretty obvious. I’ve apparently been getting unreasonably angry about small inconveniences. It really just feels like a dam wall is about to burst with me, and I can feel fire red hot bubbling rage barely contained under the surface. In truth, I don’t even know what I’m mad about. I don’t know if I’m mad that I got hurt, or that I’m not training the way I want to train, or if I just don’t have my normal outlet for these emotions. I wonder if heavy training has been my way of self-medicating away my frustrations, and now that it’s not there, they’re building up.

Probably the more interesting part of this is that I like this feeling. It’s passion, fire hot. I feel hunger like I’ve never felt before, and every time I make the smallest victory in training it just increases the hunger a millionfold. The only issue is there is nowhere to channel it, and the more I let it build, the more it spills out. It’s a tight rope.

Like I said, I’m coming back from this thing evil. I think it’s going to take a long time before the good me can be in control again. I need to focus on directing my rage where it’s appropriate. I need to fight FOR my loved ones rather than with them, and I think it also means that I need to quit taking any shit from anyone else.

On an only semi-related tangent, I’ve been thinking a bit about something I read from Camus. In “The Myth of Sisyphus”, he had a passage that really resonated with me. Much of what Camus wrote about what the inherent absurdity of our existence, and the Sisyphus story highlights it significantly. Sisyphus’ existence is absolutely absurd and meaningless. He is condemned to a task that will never end nor bear any success, rolling a boulder up a hill just to have it roll back down again. There is no meaning, no purpose, no accomplishment.

However, there is a moment that Sisyphus also lives over and over again, and that is the moment immediately after the boulder rolls down the hill. This is the moment where Sisyphus walks back to the boulder, knowing the task he has to accomplish. It is in this moment that Sisyphus exercises freedom, for instead of resigning himself to his punishment, he can instead CHOOSE to push the boulder up the hill again. As he walks back, he acknowledges that his task is meaningless and absurd, and he ALSO acknowledges that he is still going to do it, because it is what he does. He exercises a mastery over the absurd, for he recognizes it for what it is, and chooses to pursue his task in spite of the absurdity, rather than trying to hide from it.

Right now, I feel like I’m walking back to that boulder.[/quote]

Very happy to hear of the recent good news. I also really resonated well with that post. It shows that no matter how steadfast we remain, we are still human and it’s okay to own up to your darker moments of weakness.

That story was one I had not recalled in such a long time, but it’s so awesome. A select few who train with the same paradigm of the story of Sisyphus have to ask themselves the question “Why am I doing this?”. I still don’t really know myself, because sometimes it just really fucking hurts, and it’s sometimes so hot out that I feel like I’m going to die if I keep doing AMRAP death medleys. Truth be told, that’s kind of why I want to keep doing it. I need the feeling of pain, and the fear of what the next workout may hold. It keeps me chasing something. Competition is big to me, but it’s never as bold or as vast with magnitude as what goes on in my head mid training. That’s the most important to me.

Anyways, /endrant, not my log to be ranting in. If nothing else, your log is a reminder to be thankful for the virtue of being thankful! So uh, thanks!

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]TX iron wrote:
Hey man, I read your post; pretty intense stuff. Have you thought about doing like a bench-only powerlifting meet? It’d definitely give you a channel to direct said energy/frustrations and your training for now.[/quote]

Thanks man. Right now, I can’t actually brace my left leg while benching (I bench with my right leg tucked and my left leg straight). I actually think it would be illegal in most feds to bench that way, haha. I do think powerlifting is going to be the first thing I end up competing in, just because the demands are lower than strongman, but it’s going to be a while yet before I can really do something like that.

I never really got the same release from upperbody work that I did from lower, and it might be something I need to address, as maybe that’s what I was better with the latter than the former. I’ve definitely got the time to experiment with it.[/quote]

Ah, well shit. Haha. Well you’re on the right track man. Yeah plenty of time to find a groove and play around w/ stuff that just never seemed to fit in; maybe you’ll find a new passion. Best of luck!

Vinny: I appreciate the ranting dude. It’s good to get multiple perspectives on the matter, and this blog is way more about overcoming than it is about just logging training info. Thanks for stopping by.

TX Iron: Thanks man!


3rd PT Session down. Today was

-15 minutes on the bike

-Strap assisted heel slides from the prone position: 10 reps, trying my hardest to get to 120 degrees

-Gastroc/soleus/hamstring stretch, 2 sets of 30 seconds for all. The hamstring stretch is pretty much the old school hurdler stretch.

-Quad extension/contraction 1x10

-Quad isometric extension in the 60 and 90 degree bend, 1x10 (5 second hold per rep)

-4 way straight leg raises, 2x10

-Hamstring curls, 2x10

-5 minutes prone hang w/2lb ankle weight

-KT tape and 15 minutes of ice/compression

KT tape is new to me. I’ll find out if it really is the bee’s pajamas I suppose. Have to make sure I’m not cheating the movements by calling in other muscles to do the job. Old habits. Have to focus on my walking gait now too. They said the only thing causing me to limp at this point is me not actively trying NOT to limp.

General notes: Woke up at 185.4 this morning, which is a drop, but shows still a steady sign of progression compared to where I started. I imagine I’m going to be seeing a lot of instances of weight spikes followed by settling back, but if the settle back weight keeps remaining higher, it’s a good sign.

Will try to hit the grippers this afternoon.

100 dips in 3 sets. 50, 32, and 18. 2-3 Minutes rest per set. 100 in two sets seems close on the horizon.

[quote]brady888 wrote:
100 dips in 3 sets. 50, 32, and 18. 2-3 Minutes rest per set. 100 in two sets seems close on the horizon.[/quote]

Great showing dude! I can get 3 sets with the forward lean, but 4-5 being upright. Definitely shooting for 2 sets in the future as well.


Grippers

Dropset
14x#2
25x#1
25xTrainer

10x#2

43 second hold w/#1

Notes: Left isn’t really keeping up with the right, but I’m using forced reps there to match things up. Noticed the other day that my forearms are really starting to grow. Wife seems to like them too. Also complimented my massages as of recently. Nice thing is that I’m avoiding elbow and hand pain that I used to have by training so stupidly.

Prowler

4x50’ arm over arm pull

2 rounds of

1x50’ arm over arm pull

follow with

1x50’ push

1x50’ arm over arm pull w/90lbs

Notes: Somewhat hard to write out. Did a 50’ arm over arm pull 4 times unloaded. Then did 2 rounds of a 50’ arm over arm pull where, as soon as the prowler came to me, I pushed it back 50’. Then loaded up the prowler with 90lbs and pulled it 50’.

The pushes were SLOW and controlled. Was going up an incline, and made sure my footing was secure before I exerted any amount of force. I’m sure my physical therapist would still be pretty mad to hear about that, but it felt good on the knee, and it was easier than pulling it back due to the windy trial I was on.

I need to quit jumping to 90lb loads, as it radically transforms the exercise from conditioning to strength. I’m not using any lower body power here, so stick with 10s and go gradual.

Still a great workout. My back was actually sore before this. Apparently 296 chin ups is what it takes for that to happen. Good to know.

Woke up at 186.4. The super low carb day went pretty well. I think I ended up somewhere in terms of 40-50 grams total, and it was all from non-direct carb sources (primarily nuts and broccoli). However, it was pretty crazy on my digestive system too. Instead of pushing fat on this day, I might instead just really jack up the protein.

Actually got to sneak in another workout today, pretty happy about that.

Assisted box SSB squats
3x8 of 205

Dropset
1x8 of 205
1x8 of 155
1x8 of 115
1x16 of bar

Notes: Using the plyo box, I set the pins high in the rack and used my left arm to hold the pin/assist me down and up. Basically using that arm in place of my leg, like being on crutches/a cane. Goal is to keep my left leg totally out of the movement while forcing my right leg to do all the work. Feels a lot more natural than what I was doing before, and I could see myself getting even heavier with this. Still did the squat visualizations with the healing side.

I will need to make sure to be very careful in the near future, as I AM feeling a lot better, and everyone has told me that this is when the graft is at it’s weakest. Everything in my mind is telling me to push and I have to fight it as hard as I can.

Standing band hamstring curls

4x10 average/12 mini as applicable

Notes: Cut out the leg extensions since I had to do PT right after this and figured that’d be good enough.

Ab fallouts
3x15

superset in circuit w/

Neck harness 45lbs
3x40

Notes: Need to start doing some side to side with the harness.

Reverse hypers 15lbs
1x100

Notes: Very first rep made my left hamstring twinge. Gotta stay controlled on these.

After all this, I went through my full PT session. Ended up spending like 2.5 hours of training. Pretty silly, but happy I got it all done. I think I’m getting lower body figured out in terms of finding intensity again, which makes me happy, because all the biding my time was just driving me crazy.

Axle Strict press
bar x 10
75x5
115x5
130x5
150x5
170x9
130x13
115x10
115x10
115x8

Notes: Did this standing today, to see how it’d feel. I can manage, but I’m too nervous about the knee to really give it my all. I could’ve fought for a 10th rep on the 170 set, but I didn’t want to risk hyperextending the knee.

Wanted to go super heavy volume on this today, and I might keep up this approach for the future. Just more drop sets as I go.

Dips (forward lean)
50
35
15

Notes: Short rest periods and rows between sets, really trying to get 100 in 2.

Axle curls 35
1x100

Light band pushdowns
1x100

Band pull aparts
1x100

Cable rows 110
17x12

Notes: Sets in between sets of everything. My back is really starting to feel trashed from the high volume, which is kind of my goal. Just going to push it until it breaks, and keep eating.

General notes: Woke up at 185.0. Workout got interrupted for 45 minutes after the strict pressing, but I got it all in, and my PT. Cheat meal this week was once again nachos, this time from a local place. Knee is feeling a slight amount of pain, have most likely been pushing it a bit hard.

Just saw this. Good job with grabbing this little saga by the horns. I partially tore my ACL back in May decline benching of all things. Got it fixed August. I’m still having some issues with stiffness, but w/e I guess. Meniscus is/was unscathed at least.

[quote]xjusticex2013x wrote:
Just saw this. Good job with grabbing this little saga by the horns. I partially tore my ACL back in May decline benching of all things. Got it fixed August. I’m still having some issues with stiffness, but w/e I guess. Meniscus is/was unscathed at least. [/quote]

Thanks for posting man. Tearing it on the decline press sounds like it must’ve sucked. Tearing it in a contest at least made me feel a little better about “giving it my all” in a show, because at least I had a cool story to tell, haha. You end up doing any PT for it?


Chain suspended Seated SSB Good mornings
5x bar
5x115
5x155
5x205
5x245
3x295
4x335 (belted)
7x245

Notes: Really digging this movement. Reminds me a lot of deadlifting, and absolutely hammers my back. Wore the belt a little higher and it seemed to really help out on the set of 335. Followed things up with a backoff set for the sake of more volume. Been breaking the weight dead off the pins every rep, no touch and go. Actually feeling like I’m getting in some training in on my lower body days with this stuff, really feels like I’m back to normal.

Band hamstring curls
4x11/15 average/mini respectively

Notes: Performed as a circuit, switch each leg, no rest. Going to need to up the resistance on my left leg soon.

Ab fallouts
4x12

superset in a circuit w/

Neck harness side to side 45lbs
2x15
2x12

Notes: Might have to actually break out the Ironmind harness soon, as the spud harness is pretty intense on the side to sides. Training like this should hopefully help my neck from getting kinked on overhead work all the time.

Reverse hyper 20lbs
1x100

General notes: Woke up at 187.0. Doing a much better job increasing protein intake. Lots of red meat. Trying to switch out quest bars with hard boiled eggs for the future, as I was racking up quite a charge and want to try to eat fewer ingredients. Going to mean less fiber in the diet, but I think I’ll live.

VERY light work schedule next 2 weeks. Might be training more.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]xjusticex2013x wrote:
Just saw this. Good job with grabbing this little saga by the horns. I partially tore my ACL back in May decline benching of all things. Got it fixed August. I’m still having some issues with stiffness, but w/e I guess. Meniscus is/was unscathed at least. [/quote]

Thanks for posting man. Tearing it on the decline press sounds like it must’ve sucked. Tearing it in a contest at least made me feel a little better about “giving it my all” in a show, because at least I had a cool story to tell, haha. You end up doing any PT for it?
[/quote]

Yeah, it couldn’t have been much more avoidable for me. If I wasn’t trying to be Gym Batman and doing excessive work it would have never happened. I think I’m the first guy that that happened to though, so I guess I’m a pioneer of sorts.

PT is ongoing. I’m mainly trying to get them to work out as much scar tissue as possible to try and get those last couple of degrees of extension back. The way I see it, I can worry about flexion, strength, hypertrophy, and proprioception on my own time. They say that regaining it can’t really be done after a certain point but I’m not buying that.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Trying to switch out quest bars with hard boiled eggs for the future, as I was racking up quite a charge and want to try to eat fewer ingredients. Going to mean less fiber in the diet, but I think I’ll live.
[/quote]

Try making shakes with spinach in them if its a concern to you. Honestly, raspberries, spinach, whey, a dash of nuts if it fits your macros - boom.

I wanted to tell you that ROM progression and TnG reps have worked wonders for my deadlift recently. The same weight that I used to pull four dead stop reps six weeks ago came up nine times yesterday, touch and go from a single mat on each side. It’s a bit tricky to compare the two but I’ll call it an improvement.

xjusticex2013x: Best of luck with that PT. It sounds like you have the right attitude for sure. Too many people want to give up before they even try.

nighthawkz: I have no idea what fits my macros, as I never count, haha. I appreciate the tips though. I think I get enough fiber just from all the greens I eat, but if I notice some issues, I know where to go for sure.

And glad to hear about the progress. That’s insane growth in 6 weeks, great work! The first time through tends to really open up the floodgates, so hopefully you’ll have some steady growth in the future. Keep me posted.


Axle bench press

Axle x 10
75x10
115x5
165x5
210x3
240x3
270x9
210x15

Notes: Figured out how to keep the plates from hitting the rack: threw on a pair of locking collars BEFORE loading up plates. Extended the reach of the plates a touch. Felt on pretty good form with these today. Weight was a little heavy in the hands. Remembered the elbow cuffs on the 270 set, but not the 210 set.

Dips (upright)
4x25

Notes: Needed to rest pause on the very last set. Incredibly short rest times, was on a tight schedule.

3 way shoulder raise 15lb DBs
2x20

Notes: Cut out a set due to time, but my delts were fried.

NG Chins
14x20

Notes: Sets between sets of everything. Give or take a set somewhere in there.

General notes: Woke up at 187.0. Got a PT session in half an hour. If anything significant happens, I’ll update. Knee is feeling “loose”. I’m hoping that’s just part of the swelling going down.

Had my 5 week post-op follow up today. Doc says everything is healing very well and that I’m right where he expects me to be at this point, which is awesome to hear considering I got started on my PT so late. He says that the looseness I’ve been feeling is a symptom of quad weakness due to being in a brace, and that I should start strengthening it now. I’ll make sure to pass it on to my PTs. He’s given me the go ahead to walk as much as I want, but continues to warn me that now the graft is going to be at it’s weakest point, so caution is the name of the game.

Woke up at 185.2 this morning. Very gradual weight gain, which is how I wanted this to go.

1 legged SSB Box Squat
15x205+chains
15x155+chains
15x115+chains

Notes: More a squat to a box than a box squat. Height of box was a buried squat, well below powerlifting legal. Still bracing with my arm on the injured side. Was putting a little bit of pressure on it, gotta watch to make sure I don’t get too strained on that. This was an awesome workout for sure, first time since my surgery that I really felt like I trained a squat hard. Still visualized and flexed with the other side.

Blast strap fallouts
3x 1 minute

superset w/

Neck harness 45lbs
3x50

Notes: Those 1 minute holds are no joke. My grandpa used to say that, if you want to make time slow down, hang by your thumbs. I think it works the same for these too. Just wanted some variety, probably mix and match with the normal fallouts.

Reverse hyper 25lbs
1x100

Notes: Kinda cutting out the isolation stuff for now. I feel like I can train hard and heavy like I need to, and that the rehab stuff is doing a good job of isolating the healing side. Just happy to be doing some more normal training.

Seated axle press
axle x 10
75x5
115x5
140x3
160x3
180x7
140x10
115x10
115x10
115x9
115x8

Notes: Misgrooved a rep or 2 on the 180 set. Really trying my hardest to press overhead instead of in front. For the last 4 sets, I got rid of the backrest. Really trying to up the volume on my pressing without getting my shoulders buggy. Tried some behind the neck pressing, but shoulder got twinged on the set-up. Will need to start it with a higher suspended position.

Dips (forward lean)
50+15+10+5

Notes: Trying to cram in a ton of volume, so did rest pausing. 12 deep breaths between all “sets”. Managed 80 total before my right rotator cuff tapped out. Think I’ll keep this approach for the future. I like dips, but I want some more variety as well.

Axle curls 50lbs
1x100

Notes: First 70 reps I held onto the axle the whole time. After that, had to rest it on the pins every 10 reps. Think I’ll stick with this weight until I can go without resting.

Seated band pushdowns
1x100

Band pull aparts
1x100

Cable rows 130lbs
15x10

Notes: Sets between sets of everything. Really feeling the contraction in my middle back on these. I think learning to use this lift has been one of the better things to come out of my ACL tear.

So, for anyone that read my most recent blog post, this was one of those “I think I want my money back” sort’ve workouts. My lowerback has been killing me the past few days, and I woke up this morning at 0440 and just plain didn’t want to train, which in turn made me pretty pissed off at myself and created this. I figured it’d be easier to explain at the start versus justifying every ridiculous choice I made with each movement.

Seated chain suspended buffalo bar good mornings
Bar x 10
140x5
190x5
240x10
140x30

Notes: Switching out the movement and dialing down the weight to give my nerves a rest. One of the most limiting factors was my left shoulder not liking holding onto the bar. I imagine time away from a barbell has taken away some of my shoulder mobility. The 240 set was all deadstops on the chains, the 140 set was mix and match. Still a decent grind, and some more ROM than I was using with the SSB.

Buffalo bar good mornings (low bar squat position)
2x20

Notes: Seems like I can finally straighten out the left leg enough to do these. Felt the kneecap slide around on a few reps. Hopefully that’s a temporary thing. Just used the bar for today, really focused on stretching the hamstrings and contracting the glutes to move up. Happy to have a bilateral hamstring movement.

Blast strap fallouts
3x20

superset in a circuit wi/

Neck harness (side to side) 45lbs
3x20

Reverse hyper 30lbs
1x100

Notes: Had to take a few quick breaks during this, so I’m going to stick with this weight until I can do it straight through like everything else.

General notes: Woke up at 188.2. Big weight spike, partially from a good Christmas dinner, but I’ve also just plain been pushing the protein hard. I’ll see what sticks. Got “The Keys to Progress” for Christmas, been reading through a bunch of it, and so much is dedicated to gaining weight that I’ll most likely subconsciously start eating even more anyway.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Got “The Keys to Progress” for Christmas, been reading through a bunch of it, and so much is dedicated to gaining weight that I’ll most likely subconsciously start eating even more anyway. [/quote]
The John Maccallum (I can’t remember the spelling from memory). Just finished reading Dan Johns latest collection and it gets mentioned so much, I feel I need to pick up a copy.

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Got “The Keys to Progress” for Christmas, been reading through a bunch of it, and so much is dedicated to gaining weight that I’ll most likely subconsciously start eating even more anyway. [/quote]
The John Maccallum (I can’t remember the spelling from memory). Just finished reading Dan Johns latest collection and it gets mentioned so much, I feel I need to pick up a copy.[/quote]

The very same. It’s been a great read so far. Typical Ironmind stuff, but that’s not a bad thing at all. VERY small print, so you get a lot out of your book, haha.


PM WORKOUT

Prowler, arm over arm pull to SLOW high handle push 50’ each way
1x empty prowler
1x20lbs
1x40lbs

Dropset
1x40
1x20
1x empty prowler

Notes: So, pull the prowler to you, then walk it back. I’m moving VERY slow on the push just to take it very easy on the knee, but my heart rate really got jacked up still The dropset was really effective, once I’m healthy I can see that being a real ass kicker.