You’ll whip that trainers ass next time.
Aww Brute and Nikki, you guys are so sweet to say that. I had totally forgotten that my avi was a plank!
Betty, yup. With changes of feet (close v. wide) and arms (elbow v. pushup position) every 30 sec. or so.
alexus, I agree! sneaky does pay off sometimes.
Joe, thanks for the encouragement. Sadly, he seems to pick the challenges that he knows he can win.
Yesterday turned into a rest day, even though I intended to run. I just couldn’t motivate myself to get out there between work stresses and crappy weather.
Today, however, I made up the run. Completing the final portion of my run/walk recovery program with a 1 min run/4 min walk x 5 = 20 minutes of running. My body parts actually felt better AFTER the run than before, so I feel pretty good about that. From here on out, its all running with a gradual adding of time.
Gym later.
YAY! I was waiting for your update!
Glad to hear things are improving! Patience was key and you totally won this battle. Well done!
Sorry about the work stresses of course, but clearly you’ve managed.
Looking forward to hearing about tonights gym sesh. Go get em, Tiger!
You’re just being like Sun Tzu with the rack pulls; attacking the enemy where it is weakest. You’ll have beaten down your old sticking points in short order and be looking for the next challenge. 
I am also a fan of the plank avatar. nods with authority
Easing back into an activity after an injury and realizing it doesn’t hurt is one of the best things ever. I’m happy to hear you’re trotting around with easy knees.
It’s so great when you come back with good news about the running.
Glad your knee is better. Actually, glad your whole “rehab” thing is going good. Sometimes it takes steps backward to actually move forward, yes?
Maschy, I feel so wanted.
Kristoph, I like the concept of attacking the weak spot of the enemy. Thank you.
Nikki, I really like sharing the good news.
Greeney, thanks for your encouragement!
Last night’s training started a bit late and suffered from the effects of a tiring, stressful day. Ah well.
Military Press (5/3/1 week)
46.5# 1 x 5
53# 1 x 3
59# 1 x 3 <–money set. I was happy with this, and having erased all my prior PRs this is my new benchmark
BBB with the light bar plus fractional plates = 30 lbs. 5 x 10
This was appropriately challenging, with the last few reps of the last sets being hard but not impossible. I’ll add a couple of more pounds next time.
Squats
Bar 1 x 5
75# 1 x 3 ← low enough, knees OK
95# 1 x 2 ← cut slightly high, knees OK
added 3 risers plus step to curb depth-cheating
95# 1 x 1 ← knee cave at proper depth
added 4 risers plus step
95# 1 x 2 ← some knee cave even right at parallel
Gave up on squats for the night. Wasn’t happening
Farmers Walks
40s 3 x length of weight room
This was fun until my grip started to fail. Clearly I need to train my grip.
Double Waiters Walk
15s 4 x length of weight room
This was my first time trying this. Fun! I have a hard time keep my arms completely straight overhead
Good girl/bad girl machine doing Adduction
35# 1 x 10
50# 1 x 10
60# 1 x 10 <–finally challenging
First time doing the out-to-in movement in response to Snapper’s suggestion that my knee cave issues could be the result of weak ADDUCTORS rather than week abductors. I’d be willing to try this again.
And then it was off to a late dinner. Sadly, a crappy nights sleep then ensued, which makes my work day today all the sadder. Alas. Everybody, enjoy your Saturday for me!
I hear you on the crappy sleep. Too many nights of those have flared my left twitchy eye sydrome. not a pretty sight. Hope you find time to relax and have fun once the work is done.
Glad you had fun with the waiters’ walks. They are challenging, but rewarding for me.
Grip training, huh. That stuff works if you do it. I’ve really improved mine over the last few months and farmers’ walks have been a big part of that.
I can also commiserate about sleep quality. I think a lot of it has to do with the change of seasons. My acupuncturist pointed that out. I’ve actually noticed that my sleep is worst and energy lowest around the the equinoxes and best around the solstices. Anecdotal and I am basically a freak, but a thought none the less.
Happy re: your knee!
That looks like a damn effective workout very good work.
Good news about the knee and the running. The cardio conditioning will come back quickly and that’s when you’ll need to take care. Remember your heart and muscle strength will improve much faster than your connective tissue strength.
Sucks about the work stress. I’m going to pay for my March holidays this April. I’m behind in my cases and I have to write a stupid chapter for some trial bar publication on “Evaluating appellate issues.” Fucking sucks.
I thought we figured the problem to knee cave was adduction. I could’ve swore that it was mentioned, because I could have definetely helped with that tidbit of advice.
Onward to knee-cave free squats Dahlin
Kimba, for my knee cave rehab, I tried the band around the knees today on my squat work. Definitely made the weights feel heavier than normal, meaning I am working a bit diff area than normal. Not sure if it will help, but have read a few times its something to try. I’ll link 1 of my vids from my log of it in here, to show you how I did it.
Frenchy, I hope your sleep has improved. Mine has…insomnia comes and goes for me. Luckily its mostly gone these days.
Veggie, I sometimes get worse sleep issues at a certain time of the month. Mostly, however, its related to stress of some sort.
Joe, thanks for the encouragement!
Nadia, love your new avi! Oh, how I feel your work-pain. My next two weeks are totally fucked.
Nikki, I’ll admit to being totally confused about the abduction/adduction which-is-which. I had been training the push out motion, but not the squeeze-together motion. Now I’m squeezing and seeing what happens.
Ogre, nice to see you squatting! I have tried the band around the knee suggestion before. Perhaps I should try it again. With me, its an absolute INABILITY to keep my knees out even with the band “reminder”. You, I see, don’t have this problem quite as badly as I do.
Sunday training started out with a 25 minute run, my first “all-run” in months. I went on a new route which included a big more uneven sidewalk pavement, but also a cool stretch of paved bicycle path and then some lovely trail running. I REALLY LOVED the trail running, and will look forward to doing that again. My knee felt good until the last five minutes of the run, when it went a bit achey. I still consider this a success and wouldn’t hesitate to run a few more minutes next time.
Then I went to the gym. Granted, it would have been better to run AFTER the gym, but my work day yesterday didn’t allow that.
Bench Press
Bar 1 x 5
65# 1 x 5
75# 1 x 3
85# 1 x 1
90# 1 x 1
95# 1 x 1 <–all time PR +3 lbs!
This was supposed to be my “deload” bench day. Instead I just felt like testing my one-rep max, so that is what I did. For me, a gain of 3 lbs. on this lift since I last tested it 6 months ago is great! It went up kind of slow, but now I’m even more motivated to work on this lift.
BBB 64# 5 x 10
The last few reps of the last sets were quite challenging. Volume is helping me alot. Next time I’ll add a bit more weight to this.
Sumo Deadlifts
95# 1 x 5 <–from floor with HORRIBLE back form
115# 1 x 3 ← from floor, with good form
When a measly 115# went up slow and putting a hurt on my butt and hammies, I knew it was pointless to continue. Clearly my run had fried me for deadlifting.
Pull-throughs
57.5 3 x 10
supersetted with
One-armed cable rows on Swiss ball
37.5 3 x 10
I still wanted to work my glutes, and thought that pull-throughs would be a safer option. Since I was at the cable machine already and hadn’t worked my back much this week, I threw in some rows.
Neutral grip pullups
4/1
When I only could get one on the second set, I realized that now my upper and lower body were both fried, and it was time to go home.
Congrats on the PR, you’ve got to be pleased with that.
Honestly I can’t even believe you tired to do pulls after running. I’d end up driving the chair with my lips if I tried that.
WOOHOO for the bench PR! and I’m with Joe on pulling after running (or biking)
That’s a nice long run, take care of the knee until the next longer one =)
Awesome bench PR, that BBB is doing wonders. So close to that BW bench!
Yay for pulling from the floor again as well.
Wonderful bench PR! Yay Kimba.
giggling at ‘driving with my lips’
There hasn’t been a picture in this log for awhile. Today I happen to be wearing one of my favorite lingerie items, so motive + opportunity + boredom = picture.
Joe, George, Nikki and Spider, thanks for the support!
First of Big Wolf Whistle^^^^ You look great! Look at those cut lower abs!
I just realized that I haven’t been over in awhile. Catching up on the last few pages of your log. I’m thinking about the rack pulls as a way to get my DLs moving. The floor is my sticking point too. Those sumo rack pulls at 200 lbs were awesome. And big congrats on your Bench PR! I’m going for another one in a day or two. We shall see!