Huh?
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
Huh? [/quote]
I second this notion.
Saturday 02/07 (Afternoon) - Sprints
This morning I did a whole bunch of SMR and then about 20 minutes of yoga.
My shoulder is a lot less sore than it normally is after my chest workout. Since the injury, when I’d wake up in the morning, I could just feel the inflammation in there. This morning I didn’t really have any, so I guess that’s good.
Then, I went down to the track and did about 12 sprints of various lengths. I say various lengths because today was ‘idiot day’ at the track. I can’t believe how stupid people are. They just walk across the track without any consideration for the people currently running on it. Really? You didn’t notice me sprinting at full speed towards you? Am I fucking invisible? I’m apparently not making any noise either. Oh, I must be one of those ‘stealth sprinters’.
I seriously almost had Christian Bale freak out I was so pissed. I go to the point where I was waving at people to get the fuck out my lane.
Saturday 02/07 (Evening) - Back, Rear Delts and Calves
Chins: 50 x 5,5,5,5,5,5
BB Row: 260 x 6,6,6,6,6
Seated HS Row: 125 x 8,8, 130 x 8,8
Incline DB Shrugs: 95 x 8,8,8,8
Rear Delt Machine: 145 x 8,8,8,8
DC-Style Leg Press Calf: 410 x 20 reps (about 8 minutes for the set)
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
Saturday 02/07 (Afternoon) - Sprints
This morning I did a whole bunch of SMR and then about 20 minutes of yoga.
My shoulder is a lot less sore than it normally is after my chest workout. Since the injury, when I’d wake up in the morning, I could just feel the inflammation in there. This morning I didn’t really have any, so I guess that’s good.
Then, I went down to the track and did about 12 sprints of various lengths. I say various lengths because today was ‘idiot day’ at the track. I can’t believe how stupid people are. They just walk across the track without any consideration for the people currently running on it. Really? You didn’t notice me sprinting at full speed towards you? Am I fucking invisible? I’m apparently not making any noise either. Oh, I must be one of those ‘stealth sprinters’.
I seriously almost had Christian Bale freak out I was so pissed. I go to the point where I was waving at people to get the fuck out my lane.[/quote]
You should have flipped. Some people really need to be yelled at for them to understand anything. Plus, sometimes it’s fun to just scream and let all that frustration out.
However, if you decide to do such a thing, be sure to record it for T-Nation viewing.
Monday 02/09 - Quads and Calves
Pin (Anderson) Front Squats: 135 x 6,6,6, 155 x 6,4,4 - It’s amazing how a few more reps on legs kicks my ass. I was beat by the 5th set.
Leg Press: 410 x 2:00 min x 26 reps, 410 x 2:00 x 27 reps, 410 x 2:00 x 29 reps
Leg Extension: 130 x 20,17,15
Standing Calf Raise: 400 x 6, 420 x 6,6,6,6,6
Seated Calf Raise: 90 x 25,22,22
Garhammer Raise: 7,7,7
Tuesday 02/10 - Arms
RGBP (Smith): 230 x 8,8,8,8, 235 x 8
PJR Pullover: 90 x 8,8,8,8
Reverse/Regular Pushdown: 140 x 8/8,8/8,10/6
DB Preacher Curl: 42.5 x 8,8,6,6
DB Hammer Curl: 50 x 8,8,8
Reverse EZ Curl: 75 x 10,10,10
The shoulder felt pretty good throughout the workout.
Thursday 02/12 - Hams and Calves
RDL: 245 x 7,6,6,6, 250 x 7
Lying Leg Curl: 155 x 5,5,5,5,5
Band Pull-through: Light band x 8,8,8,8
Leg Press Calf Raise: 520 x 6,6,6,6,6,6
Seated Calf Raise: 100 x 30,25,26
Garhammer Raise: 7,7,7
Meh, just another workout.
Friday the 13th!!! - Chest and Shoulders and Jason’s Revenge!
Band Push-up: Light Band + Mini Band x 8,8,8,8,8
Neutral Grip DB Press: 80 x 8, 85 x 8,8,8, 90 x 7
Incline DB Press: 80 x 8, 85 x 8,8,8,8
Neutral Grip Shoulder Press (Seated): 55 x 8,8,8,6
Seated Iron Cross: 20 x 20,20,20,15
DB Laterals: 37.5 x 12,12,12
The good news is my shoulder felt pretty great the whole workout. The bad news is that my lower back is spasming up on me again. I don’t know what I did to make it happen. I didn’t feel anything weird during my workout yesterday and I even backed off the weight to get more reps and work on my form.
It doesn’t make sense and I’m starting to get really frustrated with it. I guess I have a date with an ice pack and some muscle relaxers when I get home.
Saturday 02/14 - Back, Rear Delts and Calves
No sprints today because of the back. I actually think I pulled something in my glute and my back is just tightening up to compensate because there really isn’t a lot of pain in my back itself.
I did about 20 minutes of yoga and then 15 minutes on the recumbent bike this morning. That seemed to loosen things up pretty well.
I changed the workout up a bit because I figured that BB Rows would be out until I feel better.
Pulldowns: 180 x 5, 190 x 5, 200 x 5,5,5,5
One Arm HS High Row: 135 x 6,6,6,6,6
One Arm HS Low Row: 135 x 8,8,8,8
Incline DB Shrugs: 100 x 8,8,8,8
Rear Delt Machine: 145 x 8,8,8,8
DC-Style Leg Press Calf: 430 x 20 reps (about 10 minutes for the set)
This turned out to be a pretty good workout. I’m going to stick with this one for a while. I have a few modifications I’m also going to make to my Monday and Thursday workouts as well to see if I can train around the back as much as I can.
I’m going to do a little more stretching now and then take a shower before going out.
Sunday 02/15 - Cardio and Shoulder stuff.
Internal Rotation - 35 x 15,15, 37.5 x 15
External Rotation - 22.5 x 15,15,15
Incline DB Retraction - 55 x 15,15,15
Incline DB Protraction - 55 x 15,15,15
Incline Prone Internal Rotation - 15 x 15,15, 17.5 x 15
Wall Slides - 15,15,15
BTN Band Pull-aparts - Light Band x 15,15,15
Recumbent Bike - 20 minutes
Monday 02/16 - Quads and Calves
In the AM I did about 20 minutes of yoga and then 15 min on the recumbent bike. All the yoga seems to be helping with my back as it feels pretty normal right about now.
In the afternoon, I changed up the leg workout a bit:
Smith Machine Lunge: 135 x 5,5, 145 x 5,5, 150 x 5,5
Leg Press: 410 x 2:00 min x 34 reps, 410 x 2:00 min x 37 reps, 410 x 2:00 min x 38 reps
Leg Extension: 130 x 20,20,17
Standing Calf Raise: 440 x 6,6,6,6,6,6,6, 460 x 6
Seated Calf Raise: 90 x 30,30,30
Garhammer Raise: 7,7,7
When I got home I did another 15 min of yoga to stretch out the glutes and hammies.
Call me a pussy for using the Smith Machine if you want to, but this was probably one of the better leg workouts I’ve had in a while. My knees felt fine and I didn’t tweak or aggravate my back at all. I’ll play around this workout for a while. Maybe try some smith machine squats, too.
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
…Maybe try some smith machine squats, too.[/quote]
gags
Hell - if it works for you, and you feel better with it, I won’t make fun of you. Much.
Tuesday 02/17 - Arms
RGBP (Smith): 235 x 8,8,8, 240 x 8,8
PJR Pullover: 95 x 8,8,8,6
Reverse/Regular Pushdown: 85 x 8/8,8/6,8/6
DB Preacher Curl: 42.5 x 8,8,8,8
DB Hammer Curl: 50 x 8, 55 x 8,8
Reverse EZ Curl: 75 x 10, 77.5 x 10,10
Training is looking good, Vader.
I’ve heard people say they get the best leg pumps from smith machine work and leg presses- two types of exercises that many authors and internet warriors avoid like some sort of plague.
Who would argue with results?
Wait- don’t answer that question, guys. Don’t want the entire internet jumping on your thread.
[quote]Flow wrote:
Training is looking good, Vader.
I’ve heard people say they get the best leg pumps from smith machine work and leg presses- two types of exercises that many authors and internet warriors avoid like some sort of plague.
Who would argue with results?
Wait- don’t answer that question, guys. Don’t want the entire internet jumping on your thread.[/quote]
I used to be one of those people. I always used to say that ‘leg press was for pussies’ and ‘the smith machine is for fags’, but you sometimes you have to eat your words and give some of these things a shot when the stuff you’ve been doing apparently isn’t working for you anymore.
Most of my lifting career, I’ve been pretty much free weight only. Clearly, I’ve been having issues with all the free weight versions of the exercises I’ve been doing, despite most people saying they are ‘better’.
This in no way means I’m abandoning free weights for machine variations, but perhaps in my overall training career I should have been more open minded about machines and rotated them into my routines more often. This might have prevented some of the issues and injuries I’ve had.
The funny thing, my glutes right now are probably the sorest they’ve been in a long time (in a good way). So much for Smith Machine work and Leg Presses not working the glutes at all. However, this probably means that my squat technique is even more messed up than I thought. Or it’s just another example of how I’m one of those guys that needs a little more variation than I’ve been doing in the past.
[quote]AngryVader wrote:
Flow wrote:
Training is looking good, Vader.
I’ve heard people say they get the best leg pumps from smith machine work and leg presses- two types of exercises that many authors and internet warriors avoid like some sort of plague.
Who would argue with results?
Wait- don’t answer that question, guys. Don’t want the entire internet jumping on your thread.
I used to be one of those people. I always used to say that ‘leg press was for pussies’ and ‘the smith machine is for fags’, but you sometimes you have to eat your words and give some of these things a shot when the stuff you’ve been doing apparently isn’t working for you anymore.
Most of my lifting career, I’ve been pretty much free weight only. Clearly, I’ve been having issues with all the free weight versions of the exercises I’ve been doing, despite most people saying they are ‘better’.
This in no way means I’m abandoning free weights for machine variations, but perhaps in my overall training career I should have been more open minded about machines and rotated them into my routines more often. This might have prevented some of the issues and injuries I’ve had.
The funny thing, my glutes right now are probably the sorest they’ve been in a long time (in a good way). So much for Smith Machine work and Leg Presses not working the glutes at all. However, this probably means that my squat technique is even more messed up than I thought. Or it’s just another example of how I’m one of those guys that needs a little more variation than I’ve been doing in the past.[/quote]
Damn, hope you didn’t take offense to that.
It’s great that the smith works well for you.
I’ve acquired some anecdotal evidence that makes me respect the smith machine as a fantastic tool for growth. I know a guy that does a lot of smith machine stuff and literally explodes after his frequent lay-offs from training. The dude started at 150 lbs. and now, 5 weeks later, is at an even leaner 175 on a 5’4" frame.
I know he is doing something but it speaks volumes that he can use the smith a lot and get those kinds of results.
[quote]Flow wrote:
AngryVader wrote:
Flow wrote:
Training is looking good, Vader.
I’ve heard people say they get the best leg pumps from smith machine work and leg presses- two types of exercises that many authors and internet warriors avoid like some sort of plague.
Who would argue with results?
Wait- don’t answer that question, guys. Don’t want the entire internet jumping on your thread.
I used to be one of those people. I always used to say that ‘leg press was for pussies’ and ‘the smith machine is for fags’, but you sometimes you have to eat your words and give some of these things a shot when the stuff you’ve been doing apparently isn’t working for you anymore.
Most of my lifting career, I’ve been pretty much free weight only. Clearly, I’ve been having issues with all the free weight versions of the exercises I’ve been doing, despite most people saying they are ‘better’.
This in no way means I’m abandoning free weights for machine variations, but perhaps in my overall training career I should have been more open minded about machines and rotated them into my routines more often. This might have prevented some of the issues and injuries I’ve had.
The funny thing, my glutes right now are probably the sorest they’ve been in a long time (in a good way). So much for Smith Machine work and Leg Presses not working the glutes at all. However, this probably means that my squat technique is even more messed up than I thought. Or it’s just another example of how I’m one of those guys that needs a little more variation than I’ve been doing in the past.
Damn, hope you didn’t take offense to that.
It’s great that the smith works well for you.
I’ve acquired some anecdotal evidence that makes me respect the smith machine as a fantastic tool for growth. I know a guy that does a lot of smith machine stuff and literally explodes after his frequent lay-offs from training. The dude started at 150 lbs. and now, 5 weeks later, is at an even leaner 175 on a 5’4" frame.
I know he is doing something but it speaks volumes that he can use the smith a lot and get those kinds of results.[/quote]
No offense taken at all. I’m just expressing that I used to be one of those guys that used to say the Smith Machine sucks, but now I’ve found that using it is sometimes the only way I can have a good workout and not aggravate any of my existing issues.
Funny how things change…
Wednesday 02/18 - Cardio and shoulder stuff
20 minutes of yoga this morning.
Recumbent Bike: 20 minutes
Side Internal Rotation: 37.5 x 15,15,15
Side External Rotation: 25 x 15,12,12
DB Retraction: 80 x 15,12,12
DB Protraction: 80 x 12,12,12
Prone Internal Rotation: 17.5 x 15,15,15
When I get home from work, I’m going to do another 15-20 min of cardio and 15 min of yoga.
Thursday 02/19 - Hams and Calves
As usual, did another 20 min of yoga this morning. From some reason by lower back is more sore than it normally is when I wake up. Great timing, eh?
Changing things up today:
Leg Press (Wide Stance, toes off the platform): 360 x 6, 450 x 6,6, 500 x 6,6,6 - Really felt the glutes and the inner thighs on these.
Lying Leg Curl: 155 x 5, 160 x 5,5,5,5 - Don’t know why, but for some reason I felt my hamstrings working a lot more on these than I usually do.
RDL: 135 x 10, 185 x 10,10,10 - My back still doesn’t feel quite right, so I’m going to hang around with this weight and the higher reps until it does.
Leg Press Calf Raise: 540 x 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6
Seated Calf Raise: 100 x 30,30, 105 x 26
Garhammer Raise: 8,7,8