How severe was the injury, frayed, partial tear, completely torn, rotator cuff issues as well?
[quote]dean12345 wrote:
How severe was the injury, frayed, partial tear, completely torn, rotator cuff issues as well? [/quote]
My rotator cuff is 100%. In fact my musculature is helping to keep my shoulder as functional as it is. I have a SLAP lesion, which will require surgery to make any improvement. I don’t know the full extent of the injury, and won’t until the pre-surgery arthroscopy, but it’s pretty bad as far as function goes. Everyday activities bother it–carrying groceries, leaning on my elbow, certain resting positions, driving, you name it.
What’s nice is that it either hurts or it doesn’t with certain movements, so I’m not worried about injuring it further. For example, if I do any pressing movement it hurts like hell, so I know I can’t do it. With back exercises, some hurt a little (so I don’t do them) and some don’t hurt at all (so I can push it and know there’s no involvement of the injured tissues). It makes my workouts a bit limited, but at least I know what I can and can’t do.
Wednesday 11/28
8:00am - legs (60 min)
supersets
A1 Single leg extension - 4x15 @ 60
A2 DB Split squat - 4x10 @ 50 (each hand)
B1 RDL - 3x10 @ 225, 315, 405
B2 Calves - 3x45
B3 Abs - 3x20
The split squats are basically a lunge with the back leg elevated on a bench. For those who don’t know, this is by far the worst leg exercise ever invented, or best if you’re in a masochistic mood, which I was certainly in this morning. This is probably the reason I decided to superset them after leg extensions to failure. The drugs have certainly kicked in, and I was in that mood where the workout sucks but you get off on it for some reason. I also had a pretty solid pump going, and a ton of lactic acid, both of which are surprising considering I don’t eat carbs. For calves I used the calf machine at the gym with 15 full reps with pauses between reps, 15 partials at the top, and 15 partials at the bottom of the movement.
After the workout I sat in the corner for ten minutes feeling disoriented and confused, all while fighting the urge to hold down my protein shake. I guess my sushi-flavored 1000 calorie high-fat protein shake wasn’t a good idea immediately post-workout. Blood pressure has risen considerably, though I haven’t had it tested (I’ll probably do it tonight) I am more vascular and can feel the pressure in my chest and head when I bend over. I can’t imagine what everything would be like with adequate carbs. I’ll carb up at the end of the week and see how it goes. For now I’ve got probably two days off, maybe just one depending on how I feel. My back was extremely sore yesterday, but today, when it would normally be even worse, it feels like it’s recovered considerably, so I may be able to go again with just one day of rest.
3:30 pm - elliptical, 30 min
I totally agree about about split squats. Between my non-Spiderman like balance and the general difficulty, I really don’t look forward to them. But I’m trying to do more single leg stuff so I’ll just have to suck it up. Glad you hate them, everyone seems so positive about lunges…
And sushi-flavoured? Okay, you got me on the olive oil shakes but this one…?
It’s the olive oil shake, but instead of 80g olive oil it’s 60g, with 20g of fish oil, and of course extra greens added. It’s actually really good if you can get past the texture.
Seriously, am I the only one that’s almost regimental about minimizing fats in his PWO shake?
Interesting read swartz.
Hopefully the surgery goes well for you once it finally gets here. Once your past the injuries you will turn into a real beast im sure.
I just recently took 7 weeks off from lifting due to the tendonitis flaring up pretty severely in my elbows. Lots of cardio during and now 4 weeks back things are coming along well.
I would figure Im within a few weeks from starting again and still debating on what to do. Likely a 15wk test E and EQ moderate dose. Looking at the possibility of some 1-2 wk blasts in that as well.
I got my body fat tested this afternoon. Apparently I’m between 12.0 and 12.2 depending on the numbers used.
I’m not trying to say it’s wrong, but it was at 6pm, I had already eaten 4000 calories and drank over a gallon of water, did legs this morning and cardio in the afternoon, and I’ve never been hydrostatically weighed before, so there was a learning curve as far as breathing out, which I’m not sure I did as much as I could have as the guy took a while to take the measurement and I couldn’t hold my breath that long.
However, I have lost almost 25 pound from my max weight about three months ago, all while not lifting much at all (think 3-4 times per month) and doing cardio. I guess I lost more muscle than I thought, which is what I would have expected, though from my appearance I figured I was leaner, as I look very similar to the pics I posted a couple months ago, but just smaller. Perhaps I hold my fat well, with striations in my chest and biceps and stuff, lol. to be fair I have softened up, but I actually do have very good definition in most parts of my body still.
I definitely don’t feel as dense when I flex, from not being able to work out, so I’m sure my density has greatly diminished. I really wouldn’t expect to be better than 12% with three months of almost exclusively cardio, so I’m content.
[quote]Schwarzenegger wrote:
dean12345 wrote:
How severe was the injury, frayed, partial tear, completely torn, rotator cuff issues as well?
My rotator cuff is 100%. In fact my musculature is helping to keep my shoulder as functional as it is. I have a SLAP lesion, which will require surgery to make any improvement. I don’t know the full extent of the injury, and won’t until the pre-surgery arthroscopy, but it’s pretty bad as far as function goes. Everyday activities bother it–carrying groceries, leaning on my elbow, certain resting positions, driving, you name it.
What’s nice is that it either hurts or it doesn’t with certain movements, so I’m not worried about injuring it further. For example, if I do any pressing movement it hurts like hell, so I know I can’t do it. With back exercises, some hurt a little (so I don’t do them) and some don’t hurt at all (so I can push it and know there’s no involvement of the injured tissues). It makes my workouts a bit limited, but at least I know what I can and can’t do.[/quote]
A couple good friends of mine are going through or have gone through the same thing, with some variation in the degree of injury. Hopefully they dont get in there and find alot more is wrong than first percieved, this is also what happened to my friends. Labrum repairs are starting to become big business around here. Ha ha , maybe you can post the scope pics they give you, those are always interesting.
Today I’m taking a rest day, but will do some light cardio and shoulder rehab around 11:00am. I already did about 30 minutes of stretching this morning.
My weight this morning was 227.6, up from 223.8, all while not having any carbs. I’m going to munch on some carbs today and see how I feel and how much weight I gain. I can barely walk my legs and ass hurt to the touch. A good feeling.
I have been ridiculously warm since the night of the first day (three days ago). I’ll attribute some of it to increased food intake, but it’s definitely more pronounced. Maybe the anabolic gears are turning at full speed.
Friday 11/30
Weight this morning was 228.8
11:20am - elliptical, 20 min
This felt surprisingly very easy.
12:00pm - back, 50 min
BB row - 5x10 @ 135, 185, 225, 245, 275
Pullup - 5x10 @ bodyweight
Shrugs - 3x15 @ 225, 315, 405
supersetted with scapular circuit
Single arm band row - 5x20 @ blue band
My weights definitely went up. I had to keep an eye on my shoulder as I wanted to push it and grind out more reps, but I had to hold myself back and keep it under control. I did extra weight (a lot more) or an extra set for everything. I attribute this to coming back from a layoff, but it wouldn’t be this pronounced without the AAS. I even had to hold myself back due to shoulder discomfort.
Saturday 12/1
I haven’t work out yet today, but just wanted to post that I weighed in at 232.0! I started at 223.8 on Monday, so that’s about 8 lbs in 5 days. I know you blow up with orals with the water retention, though with the anavar and adex I’m hoping to avoid that. I’ll be interested to see how much I keep afterwards.
EDIT: here’s today’s workout…
11:30am, arms
Rotator cuff circuit - 1x20 @ green Theraband
Alternate sets:
A1. SA DB preacher curl - 4x10 @ 40
A2. Cable pressdown - 4x10 @ 80, 100, 100, 100
B1. BB wrist curl - 5x20 @ 185
B2. Band curl & extension - 3x10 @ Blue band
C1. Lateral raise - 5x10 @ 40, 40, 40, 55, 55
C2. DB Hammer curl - 1x10 @ 40, 1x5 @ 65
I took it pretty easy today. I mean, I put out effort, but I can’t go balls out or my shoulder hurts, and arms are virtually impossible to make difficult without straining the biceps tendon (which is attached to my torn labrum, yay!). I tried to get some volume in, but nothing was overly difficult. I can’t do hammer curl for shit, or pressdowns, without shoulder pain, so I tried to modify the movement. I’ll probably cut them out.
I ate carbs the past two days, and will continue eating more fruit and some trail mix throughout the cycle to have some carbs to work with. That’s probably why I blew up a couple pounds since yesterday. I definitely feel heavier, and a bit more full, and smoother since eating the carbs. My face is a bit rounder, but nothing significant.
Ive read many guys experiences about two weekers Anvar cycles to lose fat and most are thrilled with the results.
Personnaly I’ve gained 12 “seemingly solid” (no puffiness) pounds on 2 weekers, even while cutting, but hardly retained any gains afterwards.
From my personal observations, going say on a 8 week fat loss program, using HOT-ROX and two 2 weekers with Anavar is a great fat loss strategy.
IMO real, “permanent” muscle mass is hard to retain after short cycles, but losing significant amounts of fat while retaining current muscle mass is really possible.
Yeah, I’m thinking the gains will be mostly transient. I’m going to take two weeks off after this cycle and then do another two-weeker with the same compounds, but do it with a hefty caloric restriction, so we’ll hopefully see some comparison. I’m hoping that my HRT dose throughout helps me maintain the gains better than a “normal” person.
Alright, here’s my update after about two weeks mostly away from posting. I ended up gaining almost exactly 10 pounds in 7 days. Needless to say I felt like absolute shit. I also thought I was getting a bit of a sore throat and feeling run down with the weather turning shitty, but thought it may have been due to the high dose of orals. My urine was lightly colored, and I was drinking plenty of water, but I chose not to push it any further, and ended the cycle at one week.
The second week also brought on finishing up finals, presentations, plus everyone wanting to schedule appointments with me where I work before the semester ending. I ended up not working out for like five days straight due to sleep deprivation and a serious lack of time, and thought there was no point in continue taking anything as this just added to the feeling like shit effect.
Overall my strength was increaseing before starting the cycle, but it skyrocketed while on. Even that week showed marked improvements that were beyond anything naturally explainable. The thing with oral cycles I tend to experience is a large gain in weight (5-10 lbs) and and large gain in strength, followed by losing all of the weight while maintaining the strength gains. This is exactly what happened. I’m currently sitting at 224 and am a bit leaner (or maybe I just think I am from all the water loss, but I really can tell a bit more in my quads and serratus, and I was eating a ton more food than usual), and even with a serious lack of training, sleep, and adequate nutrition the second week I retained all my strength gains.
I completely expected to lose everything with the time off during the second week, but it didn’t turn out that way. As far as dosing, I could probably get away with 100mg/day (50mg dbol, 50mg var), and it would probably keep me from feeling like crap and gaining too much weight.
Again, no weight gain and about four weeks worth of natural strengh gains in a week’s time. I’d imagine two weeks of it would have been much more pronounced. I’d imagine running a 7-10 day cycle once per month would be a viable strength-gaining approach to training, though not sure about the size. Perhaps have a moderate injectable cycle for the size, and blitz orals one week each month to enhance strength gains, which would enhance the size gains during the other weeks.
Right now I’m about two weeks post-cycle, and my strength is still gaining, albeit much slower. I will say I had great motivation and overall wellbeing while on cycle. Training was always fun and I felt very motivated, much more so than usual. I almost felt high (like a runner’s high) while exercising. Perhaps there’s an extra bit of endorphin release or related effect from working out with the AAS. Of course dbol does have a feel-good mental effect, though I’ve never experienced it as much before (even upwards of 100mg dbol/day), so the bdol/var combo must have helped.
Really intresting info Schwarz, thank you 
I have tried last december a TBOL+VAR cycle, 5weeks. And i got intrestring strenght gains. However raising over 60mg var make me too much letargic (the cycle was 50/50).
How do you find var relating fat reduction and overall body composition?
50/50 var-strol was great for body comp.