Modifying the Split. Again.

In my last workout, I realized what should have been an obvious problem: there were too many damn exercises on Day 3 than I could seriously complete.

Due to bad diet on Sunday (I missed lunch and my pre-workout "meal"), I had to cut the workout in half. If you have no fuel in the tank, you don't go anywhere. Pretty simple. But even after trying to complete the missing portion of my exercise the next day, I was too sore for external rotation exercises and the cable row. It became apparent that Mr. Waterbury had a point and I seriously needed to better divvy up the split.

Also, as you may have read in Shoulder Savers, dedicating too many exercises in a day to your shoulders may actually be detrimental. The truth in this was shown to me last night, when I reached a point that felt like my absolute limit short of injury.

So here's the updated rational: Since I'm really only lifting twice a week (for the time being - I don't want to get too gung-ho until my shoulder and knees are normal), I'm not going to be seriously able to work out my whole body more than once. I intended to move back toward the 3-day a week, full body cycle -- but not for a while.


UPDATED SPLIT:

Day 1: Chest / Shoulders (compound) / Lower-Back / Abs / Cardio: Walking
Day 2: Legs / Arms / Abs / Cardio: Swimming
Day 3: Chest / Upper-Back / Shoulders (isolated) / Abs / Cardio: Walking

(2-3 day rest after cycle completes)

diet started

Ok, today I started my serious diet..I have not put together a detailed plan as of yet but I am starting off with a basic high protein low carb diet until I get it more organized. This week my goal is to get in at least 4 healthy meals a day.

Today so far I have had 4 boiled eggs for breakfast and a protein shake after my run. I am planing on having a chicken salad soon and then another shake before bed.

New Split

I'm going to refine my split -- it was a bit unbalanced and needed optimization. Legs are still lacking, but that's in progress according to what my knees will tolerate.

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Day 1: Chest / Arms / Upper-Back / Lower-Back / Cardio: Walking
Day 2: Legs / Abs / Cardio: Swimming
Day 3: Chest / Shoulders / Upper-Back / Arms / Abs / Cardio: Walking

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Chest
Flat Bench Press
Incline DB Bench Press

Arms
Bicep Curls
Bicep 7-7-7's
Skull Crushers

Shoulders
Pull-downs (switching to pull-ups when strength returns)
Standing Military Press
Scapular Plane Lateral Raises
External Rotation Exercises

Upper Back/Traps
Yates Rows
One-Arm Rows
Plate Raises

Lower Back/Hips
Dead Lifts
Good-Mornings

Legs
Leg Extensions
Knee Strengthening & Recovery Exercises

Abs
Reverse Crunches
Bicycle Kicks
Oblique Twisting Weight Thing

Shoulder & Knee Recuperation for Hypochondriacs

So, here's the short story of how my shoulder and knees got screwed up, stayed screwed up, and are now improving. This is a story of poor training, poor technique, and a poor mentality. Keep those three things in check and you should be able to avoid my recent situation.

In June of last year (2007), I began on an intensive weight-lifting program to recoup my mass and strength losses from the stressful conclusion of my college career. This was a 3-4 day per week workout based on the Chad Waterbury's Harbinger Hypertrophy routine. [http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031]

In summary, this routine involves a total body workout every day, with four compound exercises (selected from a series targeting chest, back, deltoids, quads, or lower back/hips) and two isolated exercises (selected from a series for biceps, triceps, deltoids, hamstrings, or calves) targeted on a daily basis. The idea behind this is to keep all of your muscles groups constantly active without being too punished by extended sessions. Waterbury realized that people tend to slow down or flare out after 6 intensive exercises. If you can put 100% of your energy into a small number of essential lifts, then you get the most from your money. There's no limit to how many exercises you do in a day, but you'll find that 6-8 is enough to burn you out when you're always working a large number of muscle groups.

Sound good? There's one more aspect to this routine that makes it really clever: you have to vary your reps, sets, rest time, and order of exercises every week for 8 weeks until you start over. It's not as hard as you think, and it makes a lot of sense when you understand his reasoning. If you've ever worked out for an extended program (let's say 4-6+ months), chances are you'll have experienced a slow-down in muscular strength and growth. Waterbury makes a simple argument to why this happens: Your body is built to adapt, and it optimizes itself to your routine. If you keep the routine seemingly random, your muscles have to keep guessing and will continue to grow.

Unfortunately, I got a little too excited and had to learn a few lessons.

LESSON 1: Know your limits

So, I was on this program for over two months and it was working rapidly. From an out-of-shape beginning, I moved up in weight to the maximum I've ever dead-lifted and squatted. My shoulders and chest were building up at a slower pace, but seemed OK until I increased my weight and lowered the reps to try and expedite my growth. I had hurt myself doing similar weight in the past, but took my chances and did it anyway. Within two weeks I tore something in my shoulder from incline benching, agitated my knees squatting, and worsened things by continuing to lift without consulting a doctor. My two key joints had been disabled, and that pretty-much killed things for my weight-lifting goals.

LESSON 2: Don't be afraid to see your doctor

It took me five months to see a doctor, and my knees and shoulder remained frail and restricted for the entire course. I had tried to diagnose my own problem and figured that if I did not use my shoulder it would heal itself. Month after month, I watched the slow decline of my strength, energy, weight, and appetite, and often lingered in feelings of hopelessness. When I finally talked to an orthopedist, he pointed out that I had very common, very minor injuries but my lack of motion and exercise had made them remain that way! He gave me a series of stretches to do, and within a few weeks my shoulder was moving like normal.

LESSON 3: Be patient

I learned a very important lesson from this experience: don't rush your body's growth, and never assume you are in better shape than you really are. I jumped straight into an intensive regimen without conditioning myself. There are an endless number of exercises out there to prepare your body for weight lifting and strengthen the joints people hurt the most (knees and shoulders).

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SHOULDER STRENGTHENING & BEST PRACTICES

There are many simple ways to keep your shoulders strong and out of harm's way. Most people do their bench presses in an unsafe manner. Are you? Check out this series.

T-Nation: Shoulder Savers (pt.1)
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1053531

T-Nation:Shoulder Savers (pt.2)
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1055409
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KNEE RECUPERATION & EXERCISES

Since the dawn of time, man has fucked up his knees. Here's my (in progress) collection of how to put them back together. Never doubt the healing power of simple, ordinary movements like a 10 minute walk.

Knee Pain Exercises
http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html
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Note that I'm still healing, so until I'm back to normal these lists will grow and suggestions will be made and voided according to how they work for me. If you know of anything to add, please do.

Starting Off

Here we go again, starting another (hopefully permanent) program to get in shape, stay in shape, and become a better looking and feeling person. In my next few posts I'll talk about the major obstacles that stopped me before and the things that helped me start lifting again. This post is more of my introduction, which will state my objectives and outline my program for the first month.

This time I'm starting with a handicap - not only am I weak as hell, but my right/shoulder/torso has atrophied from disuse. I had a shoulder injury 5 months ago that I had hoped would heal on its own, but until I saw a doctor in December there was little progress. My knees were also irritated from lifting more than I had trained my body to handle. I tried to keep exercising as I could, which came down to a very light swimming program. As a result, I've got a lot of catching up to do before I even hit square one.

Current weight (as of Jan 13, 2008): 153 pounds.
Best weight (Dec 2006): 166 pounds.
Objective - 175 pounds.

The Program:

Currently, my goals are less about building mass and specific muscle groups than they are rehabilitation. I've lost a lot of flexibility, energy, and strength so my previous workouts would not be possible in my present condition.


Weekly Goal: 2-3 Sessions (spread by availability)

My current routine is not very structured, and I realize this is not ideal. I'll be working on breaking up my exercises in a better manner.

So far I have gone back and forth with the current cycle:

Day 1: Chest/Back/Shoulders/Arms/Legs/Abs/Cardio (walking)
Day 2: Chest/Back/Legs/Cardio (swimming)

As my strength improves and the number of exercises increases as well, this will not be possible to maintain. As for now, my body has been re-adjusting to the strains of lifting, and the weight I have been doing has been minimal. There is a disturbing difference in strength between the two sides of my body, and I'd like that to even out before I perform heavier weights.

I'll be looking into a better routine for month two.

Exercises (12-15 reps):

Chest:
Flat Bench Press
Incline Dumbell Bench Press
Pushups

Back:
Dead-lifts
Yates Rows
One-Armed Rows

Shoulders:
Pull-Downs
Cable-Rows
Scapular Plane Lateral Raises
Exterior Rotation Exercises
Standing Military Press

Arms:
Bicep Curls
Skull Crushers

Legs: *
Leg Extensions
* need to find more knee strengthening exercises, can't do much else until then.

Abs:*
Reverse Crunches
Bicycle Kicks
Weighted Oblique Twist Thing

Cardio:
10 min walk/jog (helps knees)
Freestyle Swim (500 meters currently)

"The Captin Doooooes"

Ok, here is my first post on this blog and it is going to be a doozy. It has been a long time since I have been to the gym, let alone touched an exercise device, so i am going to start my exercise program with a pretty simple lifting schedule of 3 times a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday. I am going to keep to this particular routine for 2 months before I even consider changing it up, just so I can see what is working and what is not.

Monday: Max Effort Upper Body

1) Incline or reg barbell bench press Work up to max set of 5 reps
2) Flat dumbbell bench press 3 sets of 10
3) Chest Supported rows 4 sets of 10
4) Rope pulls to throat 3 sets of 15
5) Hanging Leg Raises 3 sets of 15


Wednesday: Lower Body

1) Max effort Rack Pulls Work up to max set of 5 reps
2) Single leg squats, back leg elevated 3 sets of 10
3) Ham curls 3 sets of 10
4) Captains of Crush 3 sets of max reps each hand


Friday: Repetition Upper Body

1) Barbell bench press (work up to 3 sets of max reps)1 min rest inbetween
2) Rope Push downs 3 sets of 15
3) Lat pull downs 4 sets of 10
4) Lateral Raises 3 sets of 10
5) Hammer curls 3 sets of 10
6) abs extravaganza no rest ab exercises ( will vary)


So far this is what I am planing on doing for 2 months. My next post will be a rough outline explaining how I will approach diet and progress checks.

~Captin