That sounds terrible!
Is the goal still dropping some body fat?
Weight loss ended around March 1 at around 176lbs. After I was fully rehabbed from injuries, I intended to run Guaranteed Muscle Mass. Corona shut down the gyms so my goal these days is to be as badass as possible with just bodyweight and a 50lb KB.
The current focus on squats, pushups and pullups will hopefully set me up to crush it when I finally get back to the gym.
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Great job brother! You’re crushing it. This is exactly what it takes
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5/15, Friday
Awoke with surprisingly little glute soreness after yesterday’s split squats. I may need to do that routine one more time before progressing again to RFE.
A little variety/easy day for legs:
5x10 paused goblet squats, 50lb, E2MOM.
–Pause at the bottom to let all the stretch/bounce out; flex quads at the top. Each set took almost a full minute, thus did a set every 2 minutes.
5x5 Ab wheel rollout from knees
5x12 Rows: Knees straight, hand on couch arm, 50lb KB of course.
Then I got my wife’s 15lb DBs:
3x15 side lateral raises
3x12 rear delt flyes
3x20 OHP (both arms simultaneously).
5/16 Saturday
Woke up after a solid night’s sleep, no real DOMS anymore, but absolutely dreading the though of another leg workout. So instead I did this:
- Pushups 3x failure
- –58, 32, 25
- Pullups 3x failure
- –20, 13, 10
Took just above 2 mins rest between each set. Chest was so pumped!
I’m very happy with those numbers. My max benchmark 12 days ago was 46 pushups and 16 pullups.
Gyms are “opening” in Texas next week, but with full-fingered gloves required and masks recommended, and 6ft between patrons, and 25% capacity limits. I can’t see myself bothering to go under those constraints. So in the meantime, get better at pushups, pullups, overhead movements, squatting movements, maybe even figure out the 1-legged DL some people talk about…
Plan for progressing the squatting movements: I went from goblet squat to split squat (goblet hold) to increase the load per leg; brought the volume up to 10x10; constrained rest by using EMOM; I believe it’s time to elevate the rear foot. So I’ll practice that tomorrow with bodyweight only; previously the balance problems have been quite a struggle.
OTOH I also want to just do 300 bodyweight squats for time as prep for a someday Murph… and should run occasionally… Not having a real program sucks!
5/17
Pain started last night. I have appendicitis.
Will get surgery today. Probably need some time off lifting to recover.
Sucks.
5/18
Five rounds of:
Hobble up and down the hallway outside my hospital room.
Breathing deeply hurts, abdominal contractions hurt. Definitely wont be able to do the final push for the T-ransformation Challenge.
Presumably some weeks before I can train again.
On the plus side, I’m alive. If I had ignored the pain and chalked it up to bowel problems (which I routinely have) I could have died or at least ruptured the appendix before surgery, and things would have been much worse.
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5/22/2020 Friday
Surgery was sunday, which was a blur. Monday was worse, also a blur. Tuesday I was alive.
Wednesday and Thursday were much better. I have been able to lie down, stand, sit, and walk without assistance. Have done a lot of walking.
Today I feel so much more normal, if I weren’t extremely aware of the incisions in my abdominal muscles, which are a hernia risk, I would probably try some light calisthenics. But it’s still too soon for any of that so I just need to take it easy and rest.
Bodyweight 183 this morning.
5/23
Woke up at 179lbs.
Started the day with some light stretching and flexing as many joints as I can without abdominal strain. It felt good to move. I feel as though I could plank or do pushups but in definitely not supposed to do that.
I’m not supposed to have sex either but we did that this morning too.
Then I did an hour of yard work. Then I helped my mom’s fiance with some woodworking stuff.
I think I overworked myself at this stage, the stitches right below my navel feel tight. Need to relax and stop moving around!
5/24 Memorial Day 2020.
Woke up at 178lbs.
I overworked yesterday for sure, but I expect to do the same again today.
Just need to be careful I don’t damage anything.
After a morning cup of coffee, I got on the floor and did some stretching and flexing again, trying to maintain the routine. I will wait until my followup with the surgeon before doing actual calisthenics… writing this down so i’ll hold myself to it.
Curious how far bodyweight is going to drop during all this.
5/27
I feel like my surgery incisions are healed on the inside. But I’m still going to wait (6 more days) for the Dr to clear me to hit it again.
I’m thinking a week of core-focused calisthenics at home to rehab my abdomen, by then gyms will hopefully be normal and I can get back to barbells.
Continuing a morning routine of stretching and waving my arms and legs around.
Being unable to train right now is bad for me. I thought I’d slow down on food, and possibly I have, but I think the only macro I reduced was protein. I’m still eating carbs and fats, possibly more than while training, because of the lack of positive feedback training gives me.
I’m a 31yo father of 3 so I’m entitled to beer, birthday cake, and whatever else but… need to exercise discipline while I’m unable to burn off the excess.
I’ve been thinking about how to rehab once I’m cleared to exercise again and not to sure how that’s going to work. I feel (depressingly) like I’ve lost a lot of conditioning these past 2 weeks.
2 more days until I see the surgeon and hopefully am cleared.
5/31/2020 Sunday
I’ve been “in my head” a lot lately about being unable to train, but I had a realization this morning. IT"S ONLY BEEN 2 WEEKS!
Taking 2 weeks off isn’t going to destroy my strength (I wasn’t strong anyway, hadn’t touched a barbell in like 9 weeks). It probably lowered my work capacity, but I can rebuild that in a week or two. The damage to my abdominal muscles isn’t world-ending, and can probably be rebuilt in a week or two. I didn’t have an untrained, soft core to begin with, so I bet those muscles were better at repairing than a couch potato with a similar appendectomy.
So this morning I’ve taken a pivotal step: moved the breakfast sausage from the freezer to the refrigerator. I’ve always struggled with eating enough to support training, and when the surgery happened I put the sausage away because I see it as a mass-gainer supplement - why eat it if it’s just going to make my couch-potato ass fat?
But tomorrow I see the doctor, and I’m confident he’ll tell me I can get after it again, and even if I have to wait another week, why not gain a little weight? I am going to try to get bigger by the end of the year, let’s start now!
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Tuesday, 6/2/2020
1.1 mile jog (my neighborhood) in 10:34.
Doctor said I’m healing well, but still no lifting for 2 more weeks because the abs are prone to herniation prior to being fully healed.
But I can do cardio. Hmm.
No situps even. I didn’t ask about plank or pushups, but maybe I’ll sneak those in next week.
For now I’ve decided to jog every day.
Also, gyms are reopening. I checked out Golds gym, its directly on my way to work and cheaper than the Y, so I guess I’ll be switching in 2 weeks. But so far the locker rooms are still closed which doesn’t work well for before-work lifting.
Wednesday 6/3
1.1 mile in 10:30
And band pullaparts.
Thursday 6/4
Band pullaparts
1.1 mile run in 9:56
Weighed in at 179
Basically my "always and forever " weight. Which I think is depressing but maybe it’s good?
Friday 6/5
1.1 mile jog in 10:09.
Saturday 6/6
1.1 mile in 10:08.
Also did 10 pushups to see if my abdomen would explode. It didn’t. I’m going to quietly start a regimen of pushups and lunges Monday morning, maybe ditch the run. Then the following Monday I’ll start light at the gym again.
I dreamed about training last night. In the dream was some sort of hack squat machine, I knew I wasn’t supposed to use it because of the surgery, but put 35 lbs on it just for fun, then (typical dream stuff) couldn’t make it work. The levers and pivots and pads were just a mess, it wasn’t a functioning machine. So (still dreaming) I tried pullups instead. I felt like I was floating up to the bar, and thought “This is because of the weight I lost while not training!”. Then a nurse took my feet and pulled them this way and that, said it would help build my core and I wasn’t going to herniate myself.
So weird!
6/7 Sunday
1.1 mile in 9:43
Also did 2 sets of 10 pushups and 1 set of 10 lunges/side.
Sneaking them in now so I won’t be totally shocked when I’m officially allowed to do them.
And, a big problem:
Inexplicably, during my appendectomy recovery, tendonitis in my left forearm has set in severely. To the point that washing my face or pulling down my seatbelt is painful.
I’ve gotten serious with the topical anti-inflammatory cream and lidocaine cream, and am taking a few supplements that are supposed to help (I don’t have a lot of faith in those).
But it’s so bad I may not do any pulling movements when I return to lifting.
Which would suck.
6/8
First training session in 3 weeks.
Technically not supposed to do anything for one more week but this isnt much, and it will get me ready to get back in the gym 1 week from today.
3 rounds of:
10 pushups, 10 lunges/side, 30 pullaparts (10 low, 10 front, 10 high), 15 kb swings.
Tomorrow will be 4 rounds of the same.