If I remember right it just sort of clicked one day - I had been working hard at barbell lunges and I tried it and managed one, having tried and failed loads of times before. There aren’t any tricks as such. One thing that I found very hard initially was keeping the non-working leg up, and a way round that is to do them standing on a box, so that your non-working leg can hang down a little. That helps keep the whole thing feel natural. I’d also recommend keeping your whole body tight and braced in the bottom position, as you would for any heavy lift. I feel like the first part of the movement comes more from bracing than anything else if that makes sense. Also don’t sit down onto your knee, your knee should come out to the side like a barbell squat. Hope that helps!
Week 37: Upper Body
Pull-Ups
BW: 5x5
One-Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Crosstrainer
30min
Stationary Bike
30min
Bodyweight: 97.1kg
I have unholy ass DOMS since those pistol squats, like ripping muscle from the bone level DOMS. That’s what I get for completely neglecting proper leg training for the last two months. I did some of the usual upper body stuff, and the one arm push-ups felt better than usual. I also did lots of high resistance cardio to flush blood into my legs.
For me, I’ve been more impressed with the One Arm Push Ups and Pistol Squats you’ve been doing lately. Every time I say I’m going to work on Pistols or One Arm Push Ups I always put them on the shelf because I am so bad at them!! Good stuff!!!
Thanks man, but it’s really not impressive, just different :).
Week 37: Lower Body
Deadlifts
140kg: 5x1 - double overhand
EMOM
Pistol Squats
BW: 5x1 (left leg - freestanding)
BW: 5x5 (right leg - to a 51cm box)
Bodyweight: 96.5kg
This was a good session, as I was very pushed for time. I’m just bringing the deadlifts right back to 140kg and I’m going to work on my double overhand grip while I focus on pistol squats.
Week 37: Whole Body
Deadlifts
140kg: 1
160kg: 1 - mixed grip, beltless
180kg: 1
Pistol Squats
BW: 5x1 (left leg - freestanding)
BW: 5x5 (right leg - to 51cm box)
Pull-Up/One Arm Push-Up Superset
BW: 4x5/1
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
This was a pretty perfect session all told. Nothing special to look at, but it was great to put that terrible deadlift session from last week behind me with a solid beltless 180kg single. I had a lot of knee pain in my bad leg doing the pistol squats, I’m going to have to be a bit careful with them. The one arm push-ups are continuing to feel more and more secure.
Week 37: Summary
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
Training: 4 sessions, good stuff
Nutrition: Reasonable
Tomorrow morning we’re heading off for our (late) honeymoon, which is very exciting. I don’t imagine I’ll get to the gym but it will be easy to practice pistol squats and one arm push-ups.
Week 38: Bodyweight
Pistol Squats
BW: 5x1 (left leg - freestanding)
BW: 5x5 (right leg - to chair)
One Am Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Having an awesome time on our honeymoon! Snuck this quick bodyweight session in this morning and it felt good.
Week 38: Pistol Squats
Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1
I did some pistol squats on the beach today - the left leg reps were done on land and the right leg reps were done in knee deep water for a bit of buoyancy assistance lol.
Week 38: Bodyweight
Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1 (left leg - freestanding)
BW: 3x5 (right leg - to chair)
One Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
I tried a freestanding right leg pistol squat and completely collapsed again lol, I think this will take a while. Getting pretty fat too - that needs to become a priority, but it can wait until I get home.
Week 38: Summary
Bodyweight: ?
Training: 3 bodyweight sessions
Nutrition: too much!
We fly back home tomorrow, having had a great honeymoon (despite some pretty impressive sunburn). I’m happy with how training has gone - I didn’t have high expectations. My first priority when I get back is to get in control of my nutrition and bodyweight, as well as continue to progress with pistol squats.
Week 39: Lower Body
Deadlifts
140kg: 1
160kg: 1 - belt on
180kg: 1
Pistol Squats
BW: 8x1 (left leg freestanding, right leg to low box)
Stationary Bike
30min
Bodyweight: 97.6kg
Exhausted today - landed back home at 4am. Had an incredible time, but I’ve been so tired the whole time! 180kg was a nasty rep, but I’m just happy I got it. I did some experimenting with right leg pistol height and ended up doing them to just below parallel which was nice. Eating 100% paleo today.
Feeling pretty unwell today - I slept for 14 hours last night and I keep feeling like I’m going to faint. Ate well at lunch - sweet potato and omelette - but I’ve had a red bull and a coke with dinner at work, in case it’s a caffeine withdrawal thing. That’s my justification anyway. Will skip the upper body stuff I planned for after work.
Week 39: Bodyweight
Pull-Ups
BW: 5x5
One-Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1
Left leg freestanding, right leg 5x to box 5x TRX assisted.
Stationary Bike
30min
Bodyweight: 97.8kg
I felt a bit better today. The TRX assisted pistols felt more useful than the box ones, although they caused some knee pain. The pull-ups, push-ups and first 5 sets of pistols were done as giant sets (E2MOM). Reasonable session.
Week 39: Deadlifts
Deadlifts
140kg: 1
160kg: 1 - belt on, mixed grip
180kg: 5x1
Stationary Bike
40min
Bodyweight: 98.0kg
This was a volume PR for 180kg deadlifts, although they were belted and the last rep was such a grind lol. Things felt pretty good today. My bodyweight isn’t great, but I think it’s just fluctuating after honeymoon excesses. I haven’t stuck to the paleo diet this week - I kept having headaches and then consuming sugar. I think it was quite a shock to the system to jump from months of eating poorly to strict paleo. I’ve been gradually improving - for the rest of the week I’ll avoid all sugar then go paleo next week.
Goals
It’s 3 months until the anniversary of my injury and I’ve been thinking about goals. My priority is to bring up the strength in my right leg, and so my main goal is to be able to perform solid pistol squats. My next goal is to lose fat - I want to drop as low as 90kg (I’m confident I have enough fat to do this without impacting my strength). This should have a dramatic effect on my physique, as well as improving energy and health. My final goal is just to be able to run a mile with decent pace and technique - I’m not that bothered about performance, I just want to be able to get it done.
The overall plan is to be at least back to baseline (pistols, running), but where possible better than I ever was before (physique, deadlifts, cardio), by the 16th of January. I’m very happy with how things have gone so far, but now is the time to push things up a gear.
Week 39: Whole Body
Bench Press
100kg: 3x2
Pistol Squats
BW: 15x1
Left leg - freestanding
Right leg - 10 TRX assisted, 5 partial ROM free
TRX Rows
BW: 10, 10, 8, 5
Bodyweight: 97.4kg
I got the urge to bench today and it felt OK considering the time away from it, I knew it was just some practice holding me back. The TRX rows were a little humbling.
Week 39: Summary
Bodyweight: 97.7kg
Training: Pretty good - 4 sessions
Nutrition: Improving
Bodyweight is up but I feel I’m in a good place. Training was unspectacular, but solid. Things are good.
Week 40: Pistol Squats
Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1 (left leg - freestanding)
BW: 10x5 (right leg - to chair)
Kettlebell Rows (Two-Handed)
40kg: 2x30
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
Just a nice quick session before my nightshift. I think doing the right leg pistol squats to a chair is probably the best way to do them - any lower and I use momentum, and the freestanding attempts (with TRX/partial ROM) really hurt my knee. I think I need to stick with chair pistols and build up my strength.
Week 40: Bodyweight
Pistol Squats
BW: 8x1 - both legs freestanding - PR!
One-Arm Push-Ups
BW: 5x1
Bodyweight: 97.3kg
Boom! I can’t believe I have already nailed some right leg pistol squats! They were extremely sloppy, but you can’t really cheat a pistol squat - I went all the way down and came all the way back up using just one leg which is more than good enough for just now. I’m still a long way off getting them as smooth as my left leg, and I had to use a 10kg kettlebell as a counter balance for 5 of the reps. My knee was crunching like hell.
I did this session after a night shift, and something completely horrible had happened. It was like that time back when I got my first beltless 180kg deadlift - it just really fired me up. We have so little time on this planet, and it can all end so suddenly - I guess there’s nothing more motivational than that. It’s strange how it affected the pistols - it’s not like I’ve been half-assing them up until now, I really have been pushing myself, there was just something in my attitude today - I couldn’t fail.
In terms of diet things have been going well - I’ve done 3 nightshifts, which I find very hard to eat well on, and I haven’t deviated from the paleo diet. Well, I’ve allowed a couple of slight non-paleo things, but nothing that detracts at all in any way - a nurse very kindly made me a coffee with some milk in last night, and I think there was a minuscule quantity of sugar in the tomato cooking sauce I used. I’m not going to be ridiculous about this (as I was last time lol) - if it’s a tiny quantity of something unoutrageous I’ll let it slip. I feel good - I’m getting used to being hungry again.
Week 40: Pull/Pistols
Deadlifts
140kg: 1
160kg: 1 - mixed grip
180kg: 1
Pull-Ups
BW: 5x5
Back Extensions
BW: 3x30
Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1
Bodyweight: 95.3kg
I’m not sure what’s up exactly but yesterday sucked - I slept in, had lunch and spent the afternoon heaving my guts up. I felt exhausted and slept at 23:00 but inexplicably woke up at 04:00 unable to get back to sleep. Hence today’s bodyweight, don’t worry @MaazerSmiit lol, it’s all dehydration. I wasn’t sure whether I should stick the course with the paleo diet or take a cheat breakfast and I’m really glad I chose the latter - I had a Rockstar energy drink and Mars bar and felt ready to take on the world! At least comparatively - still pretty nauseous and weak lol.
My cheat meal allowed me to hit the first decent volume workout of week 40. I’m always happy to get a 180kg beltless deadlift, although this one was pretty rough. The pull-ups felt good - EMOM for the first 4 sets, with a longer break before the final set.
The first right leg pistols were tough and I had to keep touching the ground with my other leg/hands to steady myself through sticking points, but I started using a 5kg dumbbell as a counter balance and it helped a tonne - I guess this points towards flexibility being a big factor here. @theBird I wonder if using a light counterbalance would work well for you with your pistols? I remember you mentioning that flexibility was a big issue - doing them on a box with a counterbalance could help a lot? Worth a shot. My right knee buckles inwards a lot just now, but I’m really focussing on pushing it out and I’m confident it’ll improve. My right leg technique has always been less solid than my left, I’m taking this opportunity to get better than ever.