Hi, reformed wall puncher here. My right hand’s knuckles are noticeably larger than those of my left hand due to repeated microfractures.
A bit of advice: punching walls is 100% Deet Female Repellent.
Thinking back over events that led to physical outbursts, you’ll find a ‘tell’. When i say ‘events leading up to’, i mean RIGHT before you act. Everyone has their own trigger; mine is that i stop breathing… took a while to realize it was the shutdown of an autonomous bodily function, but i can recognize it now when it’s happening.
I strongly recommend looking back over these outbursts in your life and seeing if you can spot your ‘tell’. I guess therapists tend to not understand what its like to wake up wanting to punch shit, because I found the better part of 2 years and 6 therapists to be an absolute waste, except for this one thing.
Anyways, thats probably the only mentally healthy post you’ll ever see me make - but i hope it helps. Take care.
I appreciate it. I went through a phase 10+ years ago in my early twenties of angry outbursts after a childhood best friend died and did actually get some therapy, mostly CBT. Aside from that it’s never been an issue really. If anything I am sometimes too disassociated, distracted, or maybe even too stoic to react to the problems around me.
Stopping drinking alcohol was my cheat code for managing my emotions better. I had felt myself building up to this for a few days though so definitely should have realized, spotted the signs, and done something to make sure my reactions was more in line with who I want to be.
Went to gym today, can’t get my wrist in a comfortable position to back squat, but did some front squats 2x10 with just around 70kg. If only they had a SSB. I followed that up with some RDLs and worked up to 110kg for 2x12 which is great. It appears I can hold a lot of weight and might be able to push myself a little more in the next couple of sessions with pulls. Flexion/stability is still an issue and therefore I still can’t do any pressing, machine shoulder press with a light weight feels okay but machine chest press even though I could get reps out, feels like I could be delaying recovery with it.
This time off from any real training has me realigning my goals, figuring out what I want from training and what I will enjoy. Despite making consistent progress with what I was doing I may very well end up going against my rule and change what isn’t broken. Part of the enjoyment was smashing PRs every week and taking another step back to then climb back up so soon after regaining those lost reps lost on my cut is a mental battle I’m not in favour of.
I’m toying with the idea of more variation, only 2 sets per exercise. I already transitioned to 2 sets with the squat and deadlift, and am thinking that aiming for a similar amount of volume shared amongst more exercises will allow me to hit PRs in things I don’t have much history with which will motivate me whilst the lifts that may have gone down can catch up to what they were. Hopefully the latter won’t take long, just hope the wrists feeling as strong as the other one as sharpish as possible!
Bench pressed 30kg on smith machine for 25ish reps, leaving a ton in the tank but not wanting to do anything that resembles a grind. The standard bench just isn’t comfortable at all.
Just going in and doing 1 “top” set of whatever I can do that doesn’t hurt.
Went in today, starting the feel the hunger again but my wrist is still not great. I did some stabilization with an upsidedown 10kg kettlebell which was okay and just DB benched a few reps of 14kg. It’s not great but it’s miles better than last week.
Tried stiff-legged deadlifts with some dumbells and they felt awesome in the muscles, I can see why so many use them for hypertrophy or a deadlift accessory.
Leg presses felt good for once! Must be to do with barely doing anything else!
I’m crazy to get grinding again tomorrow but can’t really do it without my wrist being perfect. Even though this 2 weeks of little training has been tough, I think there have been positives as I’ve taken a step back from training and what I want from the next period.
My training was working great - and I really do mean great, progress was coming so consistently. Despite that I feel a little bit like I could be progressing just as much whilst doing a little less. Spending a little less time in the gym and feeling a bit better day to day. Just because I was recovering and PRing every week, it does not mean that I could not still do that with a little less volume. I am very much the guy that takes sets on 95% of exercises as deep as possible as my methodology is about proximity to failure. “Maximum safe reps”. Doing mostly 3 sets across in that way is likely not required, especially not at the level I’m at now… and I’m not about to start to purposefully leave a couple of reps in the tank (not that that’s wrong, it’s just not my way). I probably was doing a little too much. I’m not implying I was overtrained or anything like that (clearly not hence the progress), but maybe my balance of volume and intensity may have been a little off. I’ve been listening to so many seminars, reading so many articles, and listening to so many different people outside of the realm I’d usually listen to and decided that when I’m recovered I’m going to lower most of the volume by at least a third.
I don’t like it when I see people argue the volume vs intensity thing as I believe it’s all down to how you enjoy to train. The best bodies have been built by all methods, and as repeated by Paul Carter several times “Pick two of volume, frequency, and intensity and downregulate the other one”. I love to train intensely, so some volume has to go. It doesn’t matter that I was progressing, it wouldn’t be a complete stretch of the imagination to suggest that the reason for my irritability and feeling down was to do with going a little too hard.
It’s likely I will do a sort of 2 sets per exercise, top set 6-9, back-off set 12-15 kind of thing depending on the exercise. Will end up at around 8-10 sets per muscle group per week depending on how I decide to cycle through exercises. From ~64 total sets to somewhere in the 40s. I have no doubt in my mind I will progress well on this and end up feeling better day to day, look forward to my workouts more, and maybe end up doing a teeny bit of that other stuff in the gym people do, I think it’s called conditioning, cardio or some shit. cough
Still trying to solve the trap bar deadlift noise issue and whether or not I’m going to keep them in or not because of it. I stand on a plate to do mine and noticed that someone else doing them that doesn’t it was definitely quieter. Perhaps that extra few inches when I let gravity do more work below my knee creates the problem. Using the high handles and therefore cutting the range of motion, and then adding a single set of trap bar stiff-legged or rdls to make up for it could be the answer. Or maybe I end up dropping them and incorporating stiff legged deadlifts/good mornings as the main movement for that day.
Low Incline Smith Machine Bench
40kg x 21
40kg x 21
Cable flies
17.5kg x 22
22.5kg x 15
Tricep pushdowns
DC Rest-Pause Set
20kg x 25
20kg x 14
20kg x 10
The trap bar didn’t really fit on the J-hooks and I got a ton of awkward looks, but at least the neutral grip allowed me to lift some weight. Any more than that started to hurt, same goes for the smith machine incline bench so I didn’t want to add any more weight. The most difficult thing was rotating the bar to re-rack it! I managed to do it with just my good wrist in the end but not without struggle!
Not really sure how long this working around injury is gonna last but at least I managed to do something.
I was able to do the pushdowns because the bar spins as I do the rep meaning I don’t have to do any flexion which is nice. I liked the DC Rest-Pause on them. When I get around to figuring out my next phase once recovered, I may end up doing that for several exercises.
The bar doesn’t sit right on either the pins or the hooks. The collar will be up one side and down the other, and whether I do that or get it really off centre the plates end up half way down the sleeve. Super awkward.
I went to the doctor this evening for a couple of other issues (she’s tried putting me on Sertraline), and said about my wrist. She said I should maybe go and get an X-Ray. There was never any swelling or bruising though, and the pain was never at a big intensity. I dunno. 5 hours sitting in A&E doesn’t sound fun when it’s probably not broken lol.
Started warming up for front squats, just didn’t feel comfortable with my wrist even though I was crossing arms. A strange one.
Stiff-legged deadlifts
70kg x 15
90kg x 15
Leg Press
140kg x 15
Leg extension
85kg x 16
70kg x 20
Leg Curls
65kg x 9
55kg x 15
Stiff-legged deadlifts feel quite nice at the moment, but that might just be because the weight is light. The movement feels amazing for the posterior chain. I’m actually considering dropping trap bar deadlifts and doing something like. Leg day 1: Squat + SLDL, Leg day 2: Front Squat and RDL. Getting more out of less weight potentially, and great from a recovery and hypertrophy standpoint. The injury allows me to run all these ideas through my head.
Planned for today really but I’ve been a little concerned about whether doing this light work with substitute exercises could be delaying the healing process. We always hear about returning to light exercise and building up slowly for rehab but I’m not sure if “light” means bastardizing usual movements at 30-40% of maxes. v_v
I do think it’s a little better and I have a full range of motion except for deep flexion which makes something like a pushup completely impossible and severely limits all standard grip presses.
Appreciate you asking. Not sure when I can get back to it, will see how today goes and might give myself this weekend off. Hopefully once a week even with light weights is enough to maintain most of my muscle.
Invested in some wrist wraps. Managed to get some work in. There was a couple of a reps I probably shouldn’t have pushed due to wrist and i’m hoping I haven’t been stupid but will wait and see.
Cable curls (wrist irritation, light weight, short rests)
15kg x 15
15kg x 15
15kg x 15
A somewhat decent workout for the first time in almost a month. Didn’t feel any wrist pain with the pulls which is great. Still feel like I’m miles off being able to back squat. My front squat is terrible and don’t feel like I can go as intense as I’d like because even with cross-arm grip I feel I could be myself in a bad situation.
Neutral pulldown top set was the same as 3 weeks ago so haven’t lost anything there which is awesome. Next legs/back day will be chinups which’ll probably be a different story though.
Still can’t go into wrist extension very well but I do feel I am on the mend. Pressing will be depressing for a while though I fear.
Looking at these programs a small contingent of you guys are jumping on, it’s actually pretty crazy how my overthinking, obsessive reading, and experimentation over time have led me to something that’s pretty damn close to a Jordan Peters program. Since my injury I’ve been hashing together stuff for my next long phase of training and it is 90% similar to a Jordan Peters Upper/Lower.
As you guys have witnessed, I have learned that I love top set, back-off. I learned I like training hard and that volume isn’t for me, I learned that 2 sets will be enough for me to get the stimulus I want if I endeavor to continue training at this intensity, and I learned that I can’t recover from pushing hard on more than that. Most important to all that is how I enjoy to train.
There is a chance that this injury and being told off for deadlifting came at the right time for me and I can draw many positives from it.
I’ve been able to meticulously study books, podcasts, and programs by the likes of Paul Carter, Scott Stevenson, John Meadows, and a lot of the lesser known guys with very similar ideas. The way that my self-experiments align with what they preach makes me know I’m understanding my body and have been going down the correct learning paths.
Great way to look at things, buddy. I’m had a similar experience.
Sometimes random injuries jolt your brain into thinking “wait, why am i doing this again?” Do i LIKE this training or is this just “what i do”
Getting stuck going through the motions VS training with heart and passion is not a place i like to be.
Sounds like you have some rewarding training up ahead.
Deloads can do the same thing in a way, but the folly with them is I’m back in the gym before I’ve had time to really take myself out of the motions and analyze things from a top-down objective view. Enjoying training to me once I’m in the thick of it is all about progression, and with that being the main factor I often let other things take a back seat. In the long-term from a mental perspective probably isn’t the best thing to do.
