Month 2 Complete - Looking Back

Here I am again, looking back to report "ups and downs", but the slope is slowly and surely upward. My routine is not what I wanted it to be when I first laid plans two months ago, but I can at least say it is working. Even though it may not be as rapid as I had hoped, regaining strength and flexibility in my knees and shoulder is a very nice thing.

The biggest changes I've made this month are regular upper and lower body stretches, and a routine based on how I feel rather than strict 1 or 2 day resting periods. If you don't feel recuperated, chances are higher of injury. My knee stretches have made a world of difference in my day-to-day activities and I can feel them strengthening every week.

ACHIEVEMENTS
1) Improved Flexibility in Knees.
2) Small but sure improvement in overall strength.
3) Now able to do push-ups without pain (hopefully this will continue)
4) Swimming strength/endurance increased.
5) Overall joint pain has significantly decreased.
6) Attained a better sense of rest time, when to stop, and how to keep exercising without injury.

SETBACKS
1) Tweaked my back doing standing military presses with bad form. It is getting back to normal.
2) Emotional unsteadiness last month (which should be better now) disrupted diet.
3) Excessive workload last month also resulted in irregular lifting sessions.

GOALS FOR MONTH 3
1) Continue current routine (updated below)
2) Work up to three comfortable sessions a week (right now it is 2-3)
3) Strengthen back/core
4) Improve with push-ups to the extent that 20 in a row is comfortable and without sensation of strain.
5) Regulate diet, maintain weight of 155, attempt to increase mass (but this is still not the primary objective).

GOOD READING FROM MONTH 2
1) Shoulder Savers pt 3:
Although I am not quite able to use these exercises at the moment, this is the logical progression from pt2 and has a lot of interesting advice and movements to keep your shoulders from becoming like mine :)

2) Push-ups, Face-pulls, and Shrugs... for Strong and Healthy Shoulders!:
This article touches on some of the least-appreciated and yet most beneficial exercises for your shoulders. I've been doing light bench presses for the past two months to strengthen my pecs and get the general motion down for my tight right side, but I had NO IDEA how much a difference push-ups make. My pecs and shoulders are more sore right now than they have been since I restarted lifting in January. Give this thing a read and respect your push-ups!

CURRENT ROUTINE:

Day 1:
Pushups
Bench Press (if necessary)
Incline DB Bench Press
Straight Cable Rows
Bicep 7-7-7's
Skull Crushers
Lat Pull-downs
Scapular Plane Lateral Raises (with shrug)

Day 2:
Stretches
Planks
Reverse Crunch
Swimming (20+ lengths freestyle)

Day 3:
Still figuring out a solid plan for this one. Lately I've been repeating Day 1 or Day 2 depending on the way the order lies. As I am able to do more exercises it will be easier to split them up.