High incline DB shoulder press (5): (350 method)
30x17
30x13
30x10
Dips:
x50 rest/pause
Lateral raise:
5x100 rest/pause
DB reverse curls:
20x15
20x10
20x8
MOBILITY
“Active yoga”
Solid enough working considering my back is feeling fully torqued today. My back is actually fine, but I managed to have my hips/glutes both go into complete spasm this morning so my SI joint feels awful. Sitting in the car on my way to work was torturous, but once I got moving I felt better.
I opted out of the usual conditioning for a mobility session, which was basically meathead yoga flows. I stretched all the muscles I need to release by moving between passive and active stretches/contractions. Seemed to help quite a bit and I’ll probably do it once or twice more tonight. Going to hike tomorrow either way.
This was a really awesome hike, super fun. South peak doesn’t count on the list due to prominence but so technically only two peaks.
Included a couple action shots my friend took to highlight the trail. Super steep slab climbing that required significant stretches of hand hold use. This would be legit scary if the trail was wet.
I can’t be certain what was different about this hike, but my knee seems to be free of swelling. That’s pretty rad too.
EMOM x 20 minutes:
10 pushups + fill in remainder of minute
Pretty light workout today. Cycled through a whole mess of moves to try and get my hips to cooperate. Hiking yesterday was fine, but I’m still experiencing pretty noteworthy discomfort in the car and if I try to relax at home.
Half now, half later. Got what I could in before I have to take my dog to the vet for her hopefully final follow up appointment.
Squats felt better than I expected them too. Was having trouble getting into position yesterday but the extra weight on my shoulders helped facilitate that. On the final set of the supplemental work my lower traps/lats tightened up and haven’t let go. Not sure what’s going on with these muscle spasms, but, if that means my hips will release in favor of a mid-back spasm I’ll take that every single time.
Alright, now that I have a dip belt those belt squats were a much different story. Still going to take some figuring out, but I can definitely use a 45lb plate and get a long ROM with them so that’s going to be the move. Then I have 4 35s and 4 25s at my disposal to play with weights. I’ll need to mark off which link so I can just rig it up and go in the future.
I also noticed for the first time that my landmine set up can slide, so I’ll need to make use of the rack as additional bracing. Found this out because you can rest at the top of the squat and just keep hammering reps which is both good and bad.
Everything else was pretty standard. Hamstrings were torched by the end of those curls, and legs were smoked as a whole after the lunges. Made the burpees suck big time.
Minimal equipment, maximal suck. Forgot to look at the clock to get a time on this. Less than 20 minutes for sure, grossly humid lately so the sweat is pouring.
Body is still locked up. I can squat just fine, and burpees are tight on the way up, but I can do them. Can’t wait for this to sort itself out.
NG chins: (widest to narrowest grips)
BWx10 - middle grips
+35x2x6
+35x3x5
Axle press: (from rack)
50x10
90x5
100x5
115x4
Band oblique crunch:
x10/side
SUPER SETS (press - band)
Axle press: (from rack)
100x5x5
Band pull aparts:
5x20
Inverted row: (middle grips)
x21, 9 rest/pause
CARDIO
Airdyne - 10 minutes moderate pace
Workout got delayed due to an over time budget meeting, so decided to do half today and half tomorrow. This was also a good test to see what I could get away with. Last night I put our bed frame back together and then couldn’t get off the floor. Back was absolutely torqued. Still not sure what I did, but I spoke to a neurosurgeon who thinks it’s a muscular thing and that I need to talk with a PT. Beats the alternatives.
Cut the cleans out and took my presses from the rack. Everything was groovy up until the last rep of my top set. That would have required a bit of layback, which just isn’t happening for me right now.
He suggested I use the exercise bike, so I hit up the Airdyne rather than conditioning work. I know better than to completely rest a muscular injury, but I also know better than to overdo it so it just doesn’t start the healing process.
Sleeping continues to be a struggle, as does sitting. Standing and walking are the only things that are reasonably comfortable right now. Feeling better today at least.
I’ll finish this tomorrow and hit up another Airdyne session.
Nice pump session. Back is feeling better today. Tempted to go for a run later due to how nice it is, but might be smart and just go for a long walk instead.
Went with minimum reps today. Going to have to change gears for a minute until I get this back thing sorted out. The strength for the full workout was there, but my body is shutting down and trying to protect itself any time my core gets stressed and I’m still locking up any time I sit/lay down for a bit. Started working with a PT on this.
I like what I had come up with here, but it’s only going to work if I can really attack the lifting and conditioning with gusto. Right now I’ll just need to figure out what I can do, and chase that because I know I’m just going to get frustrated trying to stay on this road with a vehicle not suited for it.
Okay, so, just some experimenting tonight. I’ve noticed that stressing my core while in a state of flexion or extension is flaring my back thing up, so I figured I’d take a stab at zerchers. Felt mostly fine, that rep at 220 was pretty smooth, but it started to pull me over a bit so I killed it there. I can stay pretty upright with these and there’s a good component of suck to them, so I think I have a couple ideas to come up with some hard training around these that should carry me through until I’m functioning right again.
Belt squats are going to be a key piece of the puzzle I suspect. I spent a good amount of time experimenting with rigging them up and knocking out a bunch of reps. Same with reverse hypers, they seem to have a therapeutic effect on me right now.
I think I also discovered something else today. I actually warmed up a bit for the first time in a long time, and discovered that if I do a pendulum style squat I can get through a long ROM completely pain free in both my back and my leg. It’s toned down but I’m still dealing with that IT band thing from a while back. I have an idea and it might just be crazy enough to work.
This injury has been a strange one for me. I can’t pinpoint a specific mechanism of injury that caused it, and the symptoms are weird. I’ve always pushed through and trained around pulls and strains, but being unable to get off the floor last week was a gnarly experience and I’m taking this one more seriously. It’s been 12 days and I’m still having trouble with any form of sitting, and laying down is only a bit better. Trying to get up from those positions isn’t exactly straight forward right now, and any kind of sudden movement or twisting motion is an adventure. I don’t even want to imagine trying to do something athletic right now. I’ve been doing a good job living a mostly normal life through it, but I’m in no way “ready for action” which is a big bummer for me at the moment. I don’t have any nerve symptoms which is super promising, but my profession revolves around understanding spinal injuries so these awful thoughts have been eating away at my psyche trying to convince me it’s more than just a weird muscle strain.
Anyway, a lot of typing mostly just to get shit off my chest. Sucks being banged up and moving around like an old man at 32. That said, I’m slowly improving and feeling more normal. My usual piss and vinegar disregard towards conventional recovery has taken a back seat on this one to trying to be “smart” about it. Hunting season is less than two weeks away and I’d like to be able to haul out anything I harvest so I need to get right before I worry about anything else.
I also did something wierd to my lower back (pinched nerve) - physio helped a bit. Chiro helped a lot. Alas keen to get back moving here when more rest is likely the better option…
I understand the wierd/strangeness of such annoying injuries!
Trap bar press:
60x10
80x5
90x5
100x3
110x0
80x3x5
Band pull aparts:
4x10
3x20
GIANT SETS (chin - dip - core)
NG chins: (widest to narrowest grips)
5x10
Dips:
5x15
Palloff press:
5x5 (2 second hold)
Lateral raise:
10x50 rest/pause
DB hammer curls:
20x40 rest/pause
Tricep push down:
x50
Airdyne:
x10 minutes moderate pace
Man, the hits keep coming. Had an absurd spell of vertigo at work today. Legit felt like I was in a movie with the way the world started spinning around me. Didn’t last long but I was out of sorts for a good hour after. Also contending with a ton of Covid exposure and feeling symptomatic, picking up a test in the AM to see whether or not I’m facing round two of the bug. Good shit.
Trap bar press is a pretty rad lift. Unfortunately I’m just a hair too tall to make it work in my basement. The high handles hit the floor joists just before lockout. I could make it work by kneeling in the rack to do them, which I may do in the future. Other option is to walk it back and turn 90* so the handles go between the joists, or just take it from the floor to accomplish the same. Seems like too long a run for that slide though. Good workout despite all the noise.
@raven78 I started working with a PT this week. He’s a sports medicine guy so we should be able to get something figured out here soon. I tend to steer away from chiros, but that’s just personal bias and I know lots of folks have good luck with them. This is the first injury I’ve had that’s actually concerned me because I can’t point at it and proclaim nothing but a flesh wound, or a broken bone, haha. Hopefully on the mend at this point.
Almost 24 hours to the minute I had another vertigo spell today. It’s almost fun, in a messed up kind of way. Managed to get this done anyway, because I get to hold onto something so I don’t tip over. On my first rep with just the bar it tipped far enough back to fall off my shoulders. Funny, but once I added some weight it stayed put.
Need to experiment with how elevated pulling feels, I’ve got a programming idea that might just be what I need. I also need to figure out what’s going on with these dizzy spells. Between that and my back, which is improving by the day thankfully, I’m starting to find my state of being hilarious in comparison to three weeks ago.
Forgot to look at the clock before taking off for this, but it was a slower run. Still fighting through some head fog from those vertigo episodes, but they haven’t made a come back yet today which is good. Beautiful day outside for a nice easy jog. Going to sight in the last of my hunting rifles this afternoon and then chill the rest of the day.
Consists of a bunch of stretches and core work. Nothing too crazy, just tugging on some tight muscles and getting my abs and lower back fired up.
Rode my motorcycle for a couple hours today, which wasn’t particularly comfortable after about 30 minutes. The fun wound up being the prevailing factor though and it was great to get out.
@hillbillyk Hell yeah man! I see about 40-50 dear every year walking on my road, but I’ll be damned if they’re easy to find next month. Planning a trip to NC to hunt with a friend where white tail harvesting is essentially grocery shopping, so that should be great.
Alright, pretty solid first go at this. Didn’t change too much, just swapped the type of squat I’m doing to one I have no baseline for. Going to change up the supplemental each work, but ultimately it’s going to be all based around 5x5 FSL.
The workout will evolve as time goes on I’m sure, but right now it seemed to answer the mail.
Core work is going to be suggestions from my PT for a bit. Ab wheel is out for a while. It’ll make a come back some day, and I’ll probably be better off taking a break for a bit.
Airdyne sprints is a generous description, but it gets the point across.
