Furo's Comeback Log

Week 6 - Upper Body (Morning Grip Session)

CoC Grippers
1: 20x1
Trainer: 5x5
Guide: 100

This was a really solid grip session - a huge PR with the number 1 as all reps were closed or within 2mm. Big pump set with the guide too. I also did some high rep finger extensions with an elastic band. I’ll hit the gym this evening.

I understand it completely man. I felt like a disappointment to my family for getting hurt in the first place, and dealt internally with a lot of guilt and resentment. People offering me pity would just set me off too, as I still thought of myself as a man and able, and rather than being treated as such, I was being treated as a cripple.

I can’t say this is necessarily the best approach, but I tried to focus the energy of these emotions toward improvement. Every time someone said “Oh I feel so bad for you” or something like that, I would think to myself “F**k you, I’m coming back stronger than you could ever be”. It’s why I made the new training log and adopted/embraced the Juggernaut persona, as it gave me something to channel all that into. I even went so far as to tell a few folks “Don’t forget that I’m still stronger with one leg than you are with two”, haha.

And some days, you’ll be able to actually channel that rage into a kickass workout, even with the limitations. Things will feel right and sturdy, and you’ll be able to just go blow it all out in the gym. And even when you can’t, there’s really nothing wrong with feeling frustrated. That’s a sign that you haven’t given up. You do your best to not take it out on those around you, but otherwise, sometimes it’s fun to just let the rage fires burn.

Awesome work on the #1 there. You’re well on your way to developing the sort’ve handshake that makes people wince, haha.

Thank you very much, it’s great hearing and relating to your experiences. Extremely helpful.

Week 6 - Upper Body (Evening Gym Session)

Pull-Ups (Neutral Grip)
BW: 5x8

Barbell Press (Seated)
Long warm-up
60kg: 5

Front Raise/Lateral Raise/Arnold Press (DeFranco’s Shoulder Shocker)
Approx 10kg: 3x 10/5/5

Bodyweight: 91.9kg (not fasted)

This was a fun session, although I put a lot of effort into the pull-ups and so my shoulder work wasn’t so productive. My all-time best for pull-ups is 3x10, so I’m very close with 5x8 (although my bodyweight is down). It’s interesting that I haven’t gained any weight over the last 2 weeks. My forearms feel tired from all of the high frequency grip work, but it hasn’t affected my pull-ups.

Tomorrow is my next appointment and I should hopefully get the green-light to weight-bear on my bad leg. I’m a little anxious but more excited. I have a stash of protein bars and a plan to do bodyweight squats until I can move no more, but we’ll see how things go. I imagine that psychologically it will be very strange to use my right leg, as I have been so desperately avoiding using it for the past 6 weeks!

The Next Step
I think I’ve got a good plan for my recovery now. As soon as I can begin to train properly I will restart Simple and Sinister but ridiculously light - unweighted Turkish get-ups (if I can tolerate kneeling) and 20kg one-arm swings - and I’ll build up really slowly. In the initial phase, while my S&S intensity is so low, I will additionally do whole body strength days at the gym based on bench press, pull-ups and barbell lunges. This will allow me to build up my strength using safe exercises while I slowly re-acclimatise to the more challenging kettlebell movements. Once I feel that I have reached a respectable standard with Simple and Sinister I will taper down the gym work. I think this is the best of both worlds - it allows me to gradually get back to the style of training I love, whilst also giving me the chance to push myself with heavy safe barbell exercises.

Obviously before I can do any of this I’ll have to dedicate some time to physio and basic bodyweight work.

Appointment
My appointment didn’t go how I had hoped at all. It’s my own fault - I’d interpreted no weight-bearing for 6 weeks as “you will be weight-bearing after 6 weeks” but it turns out the process is much more gradual than that. My surgeon said I’m now cleared to put approximately 40% of my weight through my leg which means I’m still dependent on crutches. He said I can’t walk, drive, work or even just do bodyweight squats for another month. I was absolutely devastated to be completely honest, but I feel better now. I just need to get my thinking cap on and make the most of my situation. I will be able to do more than I had previously, especially with my calves. If I can put 35kg through my bad leg I’ll be able to do seated calf raises with 70kg which is great. I’ll be able to add unweighted bodyweight hip thrusts to reverse hypers to slightly improve my posterior chain repertoire. Quads are the trickiest part - I don’t want to add weight to leg extensions because, although the weight would be light, the forces would be perpendicular to the bone and surely more dangerous. The only thing I can think of is a way to make some sort of leg press motion with my resistance bands. It will all take some thought.

That sucks man. I’ve noticed surgeons tend to bury the lead a little when it comes to recovery. They’ll talk about what you can’t do more than what you can. It sounds like you got your head screwed on right about this though. Creativity is going to go far for sure.

Yeah true, and I really can’t blame them. Safer to be vague and pessimistic lol. I have to admit I felt pretty upset for a couple of hours after that appointment, but it’s just a case of getting back in the saddle and pushing on eh?

Week 6 - Lower Body

Seated Calf Raises
25kg: 10x100

Reverse Hypers (Unweighted)
BW: 100

Single Leg Hip Thrusts (Unweighted)
BW: 5x10

Band Leg Press
Red: 5x50

It was good to experiment with different exercises today. The seated calf raises felt good but the weight was just too light (it was all I had available - a selection of light dumbbells). When I go back to my flat I think I will do these with my 40kg kettlebell - I imagine that will be light enough to be completely safe, but heavy enough to make some progress. The single leg hip thrusts were ok - they felt a little too unstable and uncontrolled and made me pretty nervous. The resistance band leg press was fantastic - I lay on my back holding the band, with the far end looped around my foot. I’m sure I wasn’t putting much weight through my leg, but 50 rep sets was enough to really pump up my quad, and most importantly it felt controlled and safe.

A disappointing day overall, but progress is progress.

Week 6 Summary

Bodyweight: 92.0kg

Training: Solid PRs (post injury) - 10x1 100kg (220lb) bench press (legs up); 1x5 60kg (135lb) seated barbell press; 5x8 pull-ups; 20x1 number 1 CoC grippers.

Nutrition: Good - plenty of healthy food, protein bars, fish oil and calcium/vit D supplementation. Also some unhealthy stuff - had some poptarts after my appointment and I’ve had a few Rockstar energy drinks.

Although yesterday felt like a huge set-back, it was in reality a step in the right direction. Everything is going well, just a little slower than I had hoped. The PRs above aren’t lifetime PRs (apart from the gripper), but they are PRs since my injury and I’m very happy with them. I think my bench press is greatly affected by having zero leg drive, but it’s hard to say for sure.

I’m going back to my flat this evening as I had originally planned (I was hoping to go back to work, but yesterday my surgeon advised against it). I just fancy the change of scenery for a bit and I can mess about with my kettlebells (and I’ll take my grippers and bands with me). I’m excited to see how far I can push calf training.

Week 7 - Pull

Seated Calf Raise
40kg: 5x100

Kettlebell Row (One Handed)
28kg: 5x10

Band Pull-Aparts
Red: 5x25

Band Curls
Red: 5x25

CoC Grippers
1: 5x1
Trainer: 3x20
Guide: 100

I’ve gone back to my flat for this week, so I have all of my kettlebells. I did the calf raises with my 40kg kettlebell hanging from a piece of wood resting across my knees. The weight felt a lot more productive than the 25kg I used last time, but still not really heavy enough. My bad leg felt really weird afterwards, so I’m not going to add weight.

Week 7 - Push

Seated Kettlebell Press
28kg: 3x5
10kg: 2x25

Push-Ups (Fist)
BW: 4x15

CoC Grippers
1: 2x5, 10x3

Huge PR with the number 1 gripper! I’d never done more than single reps up until now, but yesterday felt so good that I thought I’d push it today. I wasn’t even originally planning on training my grip, I was going to keep it with the “pull” sessions. The presses felt good, but doing them seated hurt my lower back a bit. I did the push-ups on my knuckles, just because I fancied doing something slightly different.

…Continued

Band Leg Press (Right Leg)
Red: 3x50

Unweighted Hip Thrusts
BW: 5x20

Pistol Squats (Left Leg - to Box)
BW: 3x10

Bodyweight: 93.1kg (after lunch)

I had more energy and so I decided to hit my lower body. This was a good session, although I got a tonne of pain in my right knee doing the band leg press, which I think is due to the surgery rather than technique etc (I did the exercise with my left leg and it was completely pain-free). The unweighted hip thrusts are obviously very light, but I actually got a big glute pump from them. The pistol squats to a box felt really good.

I’ve been spending today watching loads of stuff on strongman. I came across a really cool documentary on the Rogue Fitness youtube channel about traditional Basque strongman and I also watched a very interesting Brian Shaw video. Strongman is extremely cool.

I’m so excited by how my grip training went today. I have improved really quickly, but now I’m getting into useful rep ranges with the number 1 I think I will progress even faster. 5x5 is very close, and I reckon 5x10 should fall in the next 2 weeks.

Week 7 - Pull

Seated Calf Raise
40kg: 6x150

Kettlebell Row (One-Handed)
28kg: 5x10

Band Pull-Aparts
Red: 5x25

Kettlebell Curl
10kg: 5x15

CoC Grippers
1: 5x5
T: 3x15sec holds

Great session today. The calf raises felt much more comfortable than last time. The main reason I’m doing them is to help with healing the bone and revascularising my lower leg, as well as conditioning my leg for basic things like walking. Strength and hypertrophy are low on the priority list, so I’m not worried about how light they are. The grippers were great - I knew I’d hit 5x5 with the number 1 soon! I also experimented with holds and they felt really good.

Measurements
Bodyweight: 92.0kg (fasted)
13" forearms (cold, flexed)
15" arms (cold, flexed)
24.5"/22.5" thighs (cold, relaxed)
16"/15" calves (cold, relaxed)

I took these measurements this morning and forgot to include them in the above post. I haven’t consistently recorded measurements since the days where I sat at 100-102kg and they are all significantly down from then - my forearms were 14.5" and my arms were 16.5", while my thighs were usually around 26". The difference between my good leg and my bad leg isn’t quite as striking as I imagined - my right thigh is 2" smaller and my right calf is 1" smaller. It’s interesting that my arms are so much weedier than they used to be, as my upper body strength is about the same on the main lifts. I guess it’s just because I dropped all of the accessory and isolation work.

Week 7 - Push

Seated Calf Raise
40kg: 5x200
50kg: 5x200

Seated Kettlebell Press
28kg: 5x5

CoC Grippers
1: 5x5

Bodyweight: 91.4kg (fasted)

This was a really nice simple session. I’m especially happy with how the calf raises went - I had no discomfort yesterday so I decided to push the weight up to 50kg (I just looped my 10kg kettlebell on top of the 40kg). The jump in weight gave me a little discomfort, but I’ll quickly adapt, and I got a really solid amount of volume done - 2000 reps, 90,000kg. Tomorrow I think I’ll try something a little different and just do one max reps set with the 40kg, as 200 rep sets are so easy.

The presses were a grind, but felt good. I had a little lower back discomfort but it wasn’t as bad as last time. It’s very hard to engage the core and use correct posture when doing these seated. I stuck with 5x5 with the grippers - I’m conscious of the high volume and frequency I have been doing and I don’t want to push anything too far.

EDIT: Later in the day I did an additional 25x1 with the number 1 gripper.

The Next Phase
I’ve been thinking a lot about what routine I should do once I can weight-bear and I’ve spent some time doing bodyweight basics. I really like Th3Pwnisher’s suggestion to do something new and it would be good to focus on setting a big strength PR. In terms of exercises I think my best bets are the front squat, the barbell lunge or the trap-bar deadlift, as the other main barbell exercises always beat me up.

I think that the best exercise overall would probably be the front squat because I’ve always been very weak at the movement (even by my low standards) and the technique feels much more natural than the back squat. Additionally - out of the three exercises listed - it would place the least weight through my healing tibia, and because of this I could probably start training it earlier in my recovery. The main downfall of the front squat is the large range of motion required at the knee - those band leg presses from two days ago really aggravated my knee and I’m not sure how much abuse it can take since the operation.

If front squats don’t work out I think my second-line should be the trap-bar deadlift - the main advantages of this exercise are the reduced range of motion at the knee and that it places more of a demand across my entire body than the front squat. The main disadvantage is the sheer amount of weight it will put through my bad leg.

I have struggled to find routines based on the front squat, but I found an interesting trap-bar routine by Christian Thibadeau which is based on higher rep training. It builds up to 10x10 over 10 weeks, adding 20-40kg over the duration. I think that 100kg would be a sensible weight to start at - after all my time off I imagine it will be challenging, but it’s light enough that I should have plenty of room to improve. 10x10 with 140kg (315lbs) by the end of the routine would be fantastic, and undoubtedly it would be a strength PR (despite never training this way before it would certainly beat my conventional deadlift PR of a measly 170kg). Another advantage of this routine is that it is only once per week and CT gives you free reign to choose the rest of your training, although he prohibits any other heavy squatting or deadlifting. This would work perfectly with the my usual training style: I could hit the gym once per week to do trap-bar deadlifts as well as a low volume of bench and back (e.g. 3x5 bench press and 3x10 pull-ups), and then spend the rest of the week working on kettlebell stuff (low volume, high frequency).

The article: The 100-Rep Trap Bar Workout

Sounds like some good thinking on the way forward. Be good to have something a little different to focus on.

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Week 7 - Pull

Seated Calf Raises
40kg: 1000
50kg: 500
56kg: 250

Kettlebell Row (One-Handed)
40kg: 3x5

Band Rows
Red: 10x25

Band Back Extensions
Red: 200

I was really tired today for some reason, possibly to do with how much junk I’ve been eating. The calf raises were good, I can’t really explain it but they really feel like they make my bad leg more secure. I was so confident yesterday that I went ahead and tried a bodyweight squat - foolish given the surgeon’s recommendation but it felt really good. I think that starting next week I’ll start doing regular bodyweight squats and calf raises, but I’m not going to rush walking.

I managed to set up the band rows so that they worked better. The reps were still higher than I’d like, but much better than before. I also tried a new exercise for my lower back - I set it up like the opposite of a sit-up, using my red resistance band, and it gave me a really good pump. I attempted some grip work, but my forearms just wouldn’t cooperate - I think I’ve been overdoing it, I’ve trained with my CoC grippers 8 out of the last 9 days.

Week 7 - Push

Seated Calf Raises
40kg: 1000

Push-Ups
BW: 5x20

Bodyweight: 92.4kg (fasted)

This might look like an extremely brief session but that calf raise set took just over 30min. I’m gaining bad weight, I need to sort my diet out. I also think I need a rest day or two, as everything feels like it’s getting a little weaker.