OHP: 5 x 5 with 40kg (3 reps of pull-ups b/w sets)
Superset: 3 sets; Dips (8 x BW), BB curls (10 x 30 kg).
Bunch if suitcase farmer walks.
I then went to my BJJ Sunday class which is more about self defence.
notes:
Nice and easy session. This is the end of my “deload” week where I have taken it easy and taken the opportunity to test out my routine which I will do for 3-4 weeks. First time I have OHP for a few years. I probably can’t start on 45-50 kg.
Haha wondered where you’d got to. Good to see you back, glad you’re feeling better.
I can’t offer any advice on landmine squats since I’ve never done them, but I’m wondering about the floor press. Are you doing it because benching irritates your shoulders? Gym doesn’t have enough benches? Just felt like switching things up?
I sometimes throw in a high rep set of DB floor pressing on upper body day. Makes my shoulders feel good.
@TheWolfMan: Thanks buddy. Im doing floor press just to give my shoulders a break. My shoulders are probably one of my better joints and Im trying to keep it that way. I will have a break from the bench press for 2-3 weeks.
Monday, 17th October 2016.
TRAINING
AM
Max Upper
Bike ride to the gym.
Warm-up including archer push-ups and back bridges.
Floor press: 5 x 5 with 80 kg (4 reps of pull-ups in between sets)
Superset: 3 sets of t-bar rows (10 x 30kg), hammer curls (10 x 15kg with Fat Gripz)
Finished off with a bunch of face-pulls
Bike ride home.
notes:
Happy with todays session. Next week I will up all weights.
In other news I feel some slight irritation in my lower back again. Im spewing. Hoping it will subside in the next 36 hours. Im seeing my GP on Thursday for a routine check-up and I might ask him for an X-ray of that hip. In the meantime Im going to roll the fuck out of it with my lacrosse ball.
So, I feel like a total idiot, but I think those “land mine” squats I did have irritated my famous lower back. I should of had known. At the time the land mine squats felt extremely awkward.
The pain is not as bad as it usually is. I would give it a 6/10, and its more of a dull achy pain, which is better than the sharp contusion-causing pain I usually get when I do my back. Im hoping I will be back int he gym in 3-5 days time.
I had visited my GP who has given me a referral for an MRI for my lumbar spine and hip. Its ex[pensive and Im not sure if I will go ahead with the scan, but Im desperate for answers. Any medicos here that can tell me what an MRI could reveal? Im guessing I have either SI joint issues or just general spine arthritis/degeneration.
In the meantime I will continue with my daily ROMWOD (online stretching course), and my daily barefoot walks. Now that I have a few days off I think I might try a 24 hour fast tomorrow. I have an interest in intermittent fasting, but I have always been too active to try it.
Alrighty then… after a week of doing nothing but romwod and treading water at the beach, Im back in the gym. Lower back is feeling a lot better, although I still need to be cautious. Im booked in for an MRI on Thursday and Im hoping the scan might help to provide some answers.
Anyway Ive decided to start the current “training cycle” again. I will see how I feel, but I may not do legs this week.
Monday, 24th October 2016.
TRAINING
Bike ride to the gym.
Warm-up including handstand practice and bird dogs (thanks @Yogi1).
Floor press: 5 x 5 with 80 kg. (3 reps of pull-ups in b/w sets)
Superset: 4 sets of: chest supported t-bar rows (10 x 30kg) x 4, incline hammer curls (10 x 15kg) x 2, (7 x 15kg) x 2.
3 sets of face pulls (10 x 25 kg)
Bike ride home.
notes:
Im glad I have not lost much strength, although I did feel sluggish. Obviously that was to be expected after a week off and since my diet has not been the best over the past few days. When injured I get depressed and often binge eat and have a few extra beers than I normally would.
Warm-up including archer push-ups, and eccentric pistol squats onto a box.
Barbell step-ups; 5 sets of 10 (5 each leg) with 50 kg (3 reps of pull-ups b/w sets).
Walking dB lunges: 3 sets of 20 steps (10 each leg) with 2 x 15 kg dBs.
Ham curls: 3 sets of 10 x 30 kg.
Bike ride home.
notes:
Happy with today. Any session where I don’t hurt/injure myself can only be considered a good session. Concentrated on bracing and making all movements strong and explosive. Next week I can increase all weights. My back is still recovering and I am booked in for the MRI tomorrow morning.
For future reference I did step-up on the “little white” box on top of the “big white” box.
Warm-up including: planking, back-bends, BW squats and push-ups and archer push-ups.
BB floor press: 5 x 5 with 85 kg. (3 reps of pull-ups in b/w sets)
Superset 4 sets of: t-bar chest supported row (10 x 35 kg) x 4, incline hammer curls (10 x 15kg) x 2, (10 x 12.5 kg) x 2.
Finished off with some face-pulls
Bike ride home
notes:
Woke up feeling a little sore and beat-up after Sundays BJJ class where we drilled some takedowns. My sleep was not the best either, but Im guessing that has got something to do with the 4 coffee’s I had on Sunday. Might try to get down to the ocean after work and tread some water. That always makes me feel better and will probably help with my sleep.
“There are mild spondylotic changes in the lumbar vertebrae with degydrative changes in all intervertebral discs.
Moderate left posterior disc profusion seen at level L4/L% causing moderate indentation on left traversing nerves.
There is mild posterior disc protrusion at L5/S1 level causing mild indentation on the thecae sac and traversing nerves.
There is mild facet joint athropathy at L4/L5 and L5/S1 level.
Distal spinal cord and the caudal equine are normal. the bony spiny canal is normal in dimensions.
The SI joints on both sides are unremarkable. Para articular marrow shows normal thickness, No joint effusion seen.
Pre and paraspinal soft tissues are normal.”
Im pleasantly surprised that my SI joint is good, although disappointed that I have some protruding discs. I have done some research and apparently its almost normal for someone who leads an active life to have some protruding discs at that level.
The GP suggested a PT, who I may visit as I am covered with my health insurance.
I am kind of unsure of what I should be doing now. I am assuming I can continue with normal training as long as I am not aggravating the injury. Any advice wold be appreciated??
Honestly I don’t think that MRI has told you much useful, although it is a very thorough report. TL;DR: some wear and tear, nothing nasty - it didn’t reveal anything unexpected. I think going by how you’re feeling is far more important than getting bogged down in what exactly is going on. Its so easy to get fixated on specific diagnoses when often function and symptom relief are far more important. I’m no expert though.
@furo: thanks for the advice mate. I agree with what you say, but I suppose seeing it all in image and listening to the words of the Dr’s have made me think about it a bit more.
As @Yogi1 has pointed out, sometimes MRI are not very sensitive/specific to the correlation of MRI images and symptoms.
Im thinking that as long as I don’t do things that directly aggravate the injury, I should be ok.
I’d like to share some (somewhat) relevant thoughts here, Bird, if you don’t mind? (TLDR: I think Furo’s right).
I’ve been lucky enough to have some good physios over the years, and I’ve certainly learned a lot from both them and some textbooks (yeah I’m a geek). Ultimately though I think that nobody knows your body better then you do, and that it’s 100% your (not you personally; ‘your’ meaning anyone who is not interested in being an average couch potato) responsibility to get to know yourself, how you move, what kind of training works best, and how you should rehab.
Some of my biggest training related epiphanies have actually happened while I was recovering from injuries, because that forced me to slow down a little and think about what I was doing. The key point there is that I had to do the thinking and put in the work. It actually wasn’t enough for me to simply do everything the physio said (although I did, and I don’t regret that for a second) because they didn’t know the full story of my body and my goals and my history.
I’m a huge fan of just going somewhere quiet for ten minutes and doing some deep breathing while I tune in to each area of my body in turn and listen to what it’s trying to tell me. Then I act on it.
ex.
“Hm… that quad that I tore a few months ago feels a bit tight. Maybe that’s why my squats felt a little off yesterday. Better get the lacrosse ball into it and see if that improves it.”
or, “dorsiflexion in the right ankle seems better then last time I checked, but it’s still restricted due to the EHL tendon I severed two years ago. Maybe some visualisation will help.”
“Hey… that visualisation did help. What’s more, my left glute trouble has sorted itself out. Better keep that in mind for the future.”
Standard disclaimers - just my two cents, I’m not a doctor, if something hurts and doesn’t get better see a professional etc.
Anyway, all the best Bird. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to keep us posted
As I get older I think the approach that you describe is probably advantageous. I think I was a little tired and stressed out from work and lack of sleep, that I was pushing the panic buttons.
I made the trip down to the city for the weekend. Had a few things to do and I just needed a change of scenery.
I met up with an old buddy on Friday night and we spent the night hopping bars in the city. Consumed about 8 beers, ate a giant hotdog and then finished the night with some takeaway Chinese. Its amazing how a few beers and a couple of bad meals can make you feel and look like shit. I don’t do it often so Im not trying to beat myself up about it.
TRAINING
PM
Upper Rep
Warm-up including planks, back-bends, BW squats and push-ups, frog jumps and archer push-ups.
BB overhead press: 5 x 5 with 50 kg (3 reps of pull-ups b/w sets)
Supersetted 4 sets of: dips BW x 8, and BB curls: 8 x 35 kg.
Finished off with some suitcase walks.
notes:
Feels great to be moving after a night drinking beers and eating crap food. The press felt heavy, but i should be able to bump up the weight again next week. Im loving the suitcase walks. There is something about the movement that makes my lower back/core feel great.
Funny story: the only other person in the gym today was in the rack next to me and was supersetting the press with pull-ups as well. He started his workout about 20 seconds before me, so it probably looked like I was just copying him. Probably freaked him out a bit lol.
Warm-up including: planing, back-bends, BW squats and pushups, handstand practice
BB floor press: (5 x 90kg) x 2, (5 x 87.5kg) x 3. Pull-ups in between sets
Superseded 4 sets: t-bar rows (10 x 35kg), incline hammer curls (10 x 15kg)
Finished off with some face-pulls.
Bike ride home.
notes:
Good to be back in my usual gym. Hopefully I get back to my routine eating habits after 3 days of eating takeaway food and more beer than usual. Making a note to keep doing my daily ROMWOD stretching.
Warm up including archer push-ups and eccentric pistols.
BB step-ups: (5 x 60kg) x 1, (5 x 55kg) x 4. (3 reps of pull-ups in b/w sets)
dB lunges: 3 sets of 10 steps each leg holding 2 x 20kg dBs.
Ham curls: 3 sets of 9 x 35 kg.
Bike ride home, which turned into a “walk home” for the last 2 kms thanks to a busted tyre.
notes:
60kg was too heavy for the BB step-ups. Even the 55 kg was a little heavy as I wasn’t getting that explosive movement which is required for this exercise, although I figured that a little “grind” isn’t always a bad thing. I failed to do the last half of final set of lunges as fatigue hit me. Probably not the best session, but any session in which I don’t injure myself is a good session. Lower back is still recovering, although Im confident Im not doing any more damage with my current routine.
