So here's the scoop... nothing too exciting.
1) I've managed to find a sustainable system for my workouts. I go to the gym right after work every Tuesday and Thursday, and do the same routine as previously outlined. I'm up to 8 pound weights, and as a whole feel much more fit than before. As a whole I am injured less and more active on a regular basis. I try to exercise both Saturday and Sunday as well (by swimming or another activity).
2) Activities such as bike riding and paintball are feasible and I have been playing regularly.
I have also added new elements to my routine, including a run at the end of each day:
Tuesday:
- Superset: Bicep Curls (2x10) + "Lawnmower" Rows (2x10) - 15 lb dumbells
- One arm dumbell military presses - 15 lbs (need to move up)
- Tricep Pull-Downs (2x10) - 70 lbs
- Pull-Downs (2x10) - 80 lbs
- Pushups (15 reps, 20 reps)
- Planks (2x)
Thursday:
- Butt-Burners (yeah, yeah... 2x10) - 4 lbs
- Rows (new, weight not yet established)
- Pushups (15 reps, 20 reps)
- Planks (2x)
Since I'm finally sustaining a workout without hurting anything, I'm not totally solid on what to do each day (besides the Physical Therapy routine). Tuesday is solid. Thursday is in construction. I'm currently lacking a mid-back exercise like rows and upper pec exercises. But everything will be added slowly and carefully. Yes. I actually learned my lesson.
When I can comfortably use 10 lb dumbells for my physical therapy routine and can comfortably do 20 pushups per set I will consider new exercises such as Dumbell Bench Press and light Dead Lifts. I look forward to lifting more normally... and hope I don't screw this up again :)
Current Weight: 150 lbs
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
the fire burns once again
I have not posted in a very very very long time, I had all but given up my quest for true fitness and good health until recently. I have decided that given my personality (and its flaws) I have a very hard time with sticking to things that are not scheduled or structured. This has been an ongoing struggle with most things in my life, but I have decided to try something which I have not had the opportunity to do by normal means for some time. I am starting a food delivery program to help me with the nutrition part of getting in shape. This way I will have a consultant who will check up on me and give me some help in the structure and organizational areas which were lacking in my previous attempts. The few times in which i considered myself to be in good shape took place only with programs involving mentors or partners which helped keep motivation levels high. I feel that this is required for me..at least for a jump start into a serious effort.
Updates soon..
Updates soon..
Friday, June 27, 2008
Month 6 (Almost) Complete
Apologies for the hiatus! I'm not dead yet, but the captin might be.
Over the past two and a half months I've completed my Physical Therapy prescription and kept on the routine in my own time. I'll go into further detail regarding a breakdown of the exercises and everything that I have learned at another time, so for now I'll provide an overview of accomplishments and an outline of my current routine.
Accomplishments:
1) My knees are much stronger, in fact they are hardly sore at all!
2) My shoulder literally popped itself back into shape. After months of being tight and motion-hampered, I now have full range of motion in my right shoulder and have been slowly building strength.
3) My back is no longer bothered by day-to-day activities.
4) I have returned to swimming and hiking without significant impairment.
Sounds like a pretty successful run, huh? I'm very happy that things have turned out as well as they have, but I'm still not back to "normal". There is still work to be done, and unfortunately I don't heal as quickly as I used to. Apparently the springiness of youth is over :(
Challenges:
1) There is still a long way to go before I can return to normal weight lifting. My knees may be in decent shape but my shoulder and upper body are now in pretty weak physical condition. I have been mainly training lower body and core strength, so there will need to be slow and steady effort put into strengthening my arms and upper torso.
2) My lower back is still sensitive to twisting movements and heavy lifting & pushing. There will still be a bit of work to do here, too. My current routine is working well, so patience and gradual additions to the workout are all that can be done for now.
CURRENT ROUTINE:
Daily Mat Exercises:
Single Leg-to-Chest Stretches (each side) 2 x 10 reps
Both Legs-to-Chest Stretches 2 x 10 reps
Exercise Ball Leg Twists (each side) 2 x 10 reps
Wall-Hamstring Stretch (each leg)
Bug on its Back (?) 2 x 10 reps
Kneeling Balance Thing (?) 2 x 10 reps
Bridges 2 x 10 reps
Twice-Weekly Weight Exercises:
(These are all using dumbells)
Weighted Punches (horse stance) 10 x 5 lbs
Weighted Punches (forward stance, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Planted Lunge Reaches (?) (outer, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Planted Lunge Reaches (?) (inner, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Golf Squats (?) (each shoulder, alternating) 10 x 5 lbs
Hamstring Stretches (each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
4-point Lunge-and-Reaches 5 x 5 lbs
5-point Balance Extensions (complete all reps on one side at a time) 5 x 5 lbs
3-point Squat-and-Reaches 5 x 5 lbs
Track Lunges (outer)
Track Lunges (inner)
Track Weighted Punches
Backward Marches
I am looking to add a number of dumbell exercises, push-ups, and pull ups as soon as I am fit enough to do them without injury. I also swim one to two times per week, increasing laps based on the rule of 3 -- if it hasn't hurt me the last 3 times, it's safe to move up gently.
Over the past two and a half months I've completed my Physical Therapy prescription and kept on the routine in my own time. I'll go into further detail regarding a breakdown of the exercises and everything that I have learned at another time, so for now I'll provide an overview of accomplishments and an outline of my current routine.
Accomplishments:
1) My knees are much stronger, in fact they are hardly sore at all!
2) My shoulder literally popped itself back into shape. After months of being tight and motion-hampered, I now have full range of motion in my right shoulder and have been slowly building strength.
3) My back is no longer bothered by day-to-day activities.
4) I have returned to swimming and hiking without significant impairment.
Sounds like a pretty successful run, huh? I'm very happy that things have turned out as well as they have, but I'm still not back to "normal". There is still work to be done, and unfortunately I don't heal as quickly as I used to. Apparently the springiness of youth is over :(
Challenges:
1) There is still a long way to go before I can return to normal weight lifting. My knees may be in decent shape but my shoulder and upper body are now in pretty weak physical condition. I have been mainly training lower body and core strength, so there will need to be slow and steady effort put into strengthening my arms and upper torso.
2) My lower back is still sensitive to twisting movements and heavy lifting & pushing. There will still be a bit of work to do here, too. My current routine is working well, so patience and gradual additions to the workout are all that can be done for now.
CURRENT ROUTINE:
Daily Mat Exercises:
Single Leg-to-Chest Stretches (each side) 2 x 10 reps
Both Legs-to-Chest Stretches 2 x 10 reps
Exercise Ball Leg Twists (each side) 2 x 10 reps
Wall-Hamstring Stretch (each leg)
Bug on its Back (?) 2 x 10 reps
Kneeling Balance Thing (?) 2 x 10 reps
Bridges 2 x 10 reps
Twice-Weekly Weight Exercises:
(These are all using dumbells)
Weighted Punches (horse stance) 10 x 5 lbs
Weighted Punches (forward stance, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Planted Lunge Reaches (?) (outer, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Planted Lunge Reaches (?) (inner, each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
Golf Squats (?) (each shoulder, alternating) 10 x 5 lbs
Hamstring Stretches (each leg) 10 x 5 lbs
4-point Lunge-and-Reaches 5 x 5 lbs
5-point Balance Extensions (complete all reps on one side at a time) 5 x 5 lbs
3-point Squat-and-Reaches 5 x 5 lbs
Track Lunges (outer)
Track Lunges (inner)
Track Weighted Punches
Backward Marches
I am looking to add a number of dumbell exercises, push-ups, and pull ups as soon as I am fit enough to do them without injury. I also swim one to two times per week, increasing laps based on the rule of 3 -- if it hasn't hurt me the last 3 times, it's safe to move up gently.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Month 3 Complete - Retrospect & PT
So ends month 3 in a belated way. This post is going to be different than the previous because my lower back is still injured and I'm going through Physical Therapy to get all of my quirks figured out and resolved. As I said in earlier posts, you can't undervalue the importance of expert advice, especially in the case of injury. I've been trying to fix all of my problems on my own, and the results have revealed my lack of training. It was pretty scary when the therapist was testing the extent of my injury and made my right foot go numb from a certain back position.
My condition is relatively minor like always, and has to do with weak stabilizers in my core and a general lack of flexibility. I've always stressed having strong core muscles before doing the more complicated exercises (like dead lifts), but I was impatient and overestimated my level of fitness. Also my lack of lower-body exercises (due to agitated knees), I likely overlooked a number of important exercises. Now my lower back is "excessively mobile", which means my spine is not being well-supported by proper musculature and is causing strain to imbalanced muscle groups and some nerves.
Perhaps this time in my life will be known as the "years of injury" :) At least when everything's said and done I'll be a self-made expert on joint failure.
In this past month I've had two doctor visits regarding my physical health, and will be on a 2-3 day per week routine of Physical Therapy starting Monday. I've learned some new stretches and imbalances in my physique, and will be working to get things back on track.
New Shoulder Stretches/Exercises:
Spider Crawl:
Stand perpendicular to a wall, with your selected arm a shoulder width away. "Crawl" with your hand up the wall until there is tension or a feeling of stretching in the shoulder. Hold for 10 seconds. If your arm is normal you'll be able to reach a full extension without any pain. I was told to repeat this 10 times a day, but that seems a bit much. I'm shooting for five for the time being. Currently my right arm (bad shoulder) can only move about 2/3 of the way up the wall.
Back & Forward Arm Circles:
Swing your arm at a controlled speed in a side circle (low to high) without shrugging your shoulders. Do this forward 10 times and backwards 10 times. Repeat 10 times (?) a day (seems a bit much). For this exercise, I noticed that my forward motion on my bad shoulder is significantly better than the backward, which might be attributed to all the swimming I've been doing. It's interesting to think about, and a little astonishing at how inflexible I am with the reverse movement (it's at about 60% range of motion).
I've also been doing the stretches below as instructed by my orthopedist (back in December). They have been very helpful.
Physical Therapy - Meeting 1 Overview
I'm awaiting my PT doc's take-home routine, so for the time being I'll share what happened in our first session. I'll try to remember as much as I can :) This list will refine itself over time.
-- Laying Down
Heat
Arches (back)
Shoulder Raises (abs)
Lying exercise ball twists (obliques, abs)
Knee-to-chest-raises
-- Standing
Balancing leg extensions - 4 quadrants
Balanced leg extensions (higher raise) - 5 quadrants
Forward marching (opposite arm/leg)
Backward marching (opposite arm/leg)
Crab Walk w/ punching
10 punches (repeat w/ each leg forward)
One legged stool steps (repeat w/ each leg)
Calf Stretches
Exercise bike (5 min)
Lunges (lean forward, then reach back)
Ongoing Posts:
I hope to catalog all of the activities, exercises, stretches and techniques I learn through PT so they can be used for future mishaps. It's great to be able to learn from someone who you can count on... and with my shoddy memory this blog will serve as the perfect repository of rehab and strengthening information :)
My condition is relatively minor like always, and has to do with weak stabilizers in my core and a general lack of flexibility. I've always stressed having strong core muscles before doing the more complicated exercises (like dead lifts), but I was impatient and overestimated my level of fitness. Also my lack of lower-body exercises (due to agitated knees), I likely overlooked a number of important exercises. Now my lower back is "excessively mobile", which means my spine is not being well-supported by proper musculature and is causing strain to imbalanced muscle groups and some nerves.
Perhaps this time in my life will be known as the "years of injury" :) At least when everything's said and done I'll be a self-made expert on joint failure.
In this past month I've had two doctor visits regarding my physical health, and will be on a 2-3 day per week routine of Physical Therapy starting Monday. I've learned some new stretches and imbalances in my physique, and will be working to get things back on track.
New Shoulder Stretches/Exercises:
Spider Crawl:
Stand perpendicular to a wall, with your selected arm a shoulder width away. "Crawl" with your hand up the wall until there is tension or a feeling of stretching in the shoulder. Hold for 10 seconds. If your arm is normal you'll be able to reach a full extension without any pain. I was told to repeat this 10 times a day, but that seems a bit much. I'm shooting for five for the time being. Currently my right arm (bad shoulder) can only move about 2/3 of the way up the wall.
Back & Forward Arm Circles:
Swing your arm at a controlled speed in a side circle (low to high) without shrugging your shoulders. Do this forward 10 times and backwards 10 times. Repeat 10 times (?) a day (seems a bit much). For this exercise, I noticed that my forward motion on my bad shoulder is significantly better than the backward, which might be attributed to all the swimming I've been doing. It's interesting to think about, and a little astonishing at how inflexible I am with the reverse movement (it's at about 60% range of motion).
I've also been doing the stretches below as instructed by my orthopedist (back in December). They have been very helpful.
Physical Therapy - Meeting 1 Overview
I'm awaiting my PT doc's take-home routine, so for the time being I'll share what happened in our first session. I'll try to remember as much as I can :) This list will refine itself over time.
-- Laying Down
Heat
Arches (back)
Shoulder Raises (abs)
Lying exercise ball twists (obliques, abs)
Knee-to-chest-raises
-- Standing
Balancing leg extensions - 4 quadrants
Balanced leg extensions (higher raise) - 5 quadrants
Forward marching (opposite arm/leg)
Backward marching (opposite arm/leg)
Crab Walk w/ punching
10 punches (repeat w/ each leg forward)
One legged stool steps (repeat w/ each leg)
Calf Stretches
Exercise bike (5 min)
Lunges (lean forward, then reach back)
Ongoing Posts:
I hope to catalog all of the activities, exercises, stretches and techniques I learn through PT so they can be used for future mishaps. It's great to be able to learn from someone who you can count on... and with my shoddy memory this blog will serve as the perfect repository of rehab and strengthening information :)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
update
It has been a long time since my last post, and I feel bad for not posting more frequently. These first few months have been full of ups and downs as far as workout schedule and weight fluctuations. I originally started out my diet/workout plan at around 239 lbs. I am now around 227 lbs. A little over 10 lbs in a month and a half is not too bad, however I feel that this progress is a little slower then expected. I have changed my diet significantly from what i was eating previously (over the Thanksgiving/Christmas break), however I have not taken the extreme route yet, which I am saving for later stages in this whole getting in shape plan.
My workouts have not been very consistent in frequency or intensity however I have discovered something for myself which may just be a rediscovery of what I thought I knew during high school. Although lots of reps might not be ideal when attempting to gain significant muscle mass, it does seem to make my workouts A lot more intense and does amp up my metabolism noticeably. I have done several workouts recently that consisted of around 5 different exercises that focused on major muscle group movements. I do 50 reps of each exercises not worrying about how i should divide them into sets, but rather with the intention of just getting to 50 whatever way i could.
An example of this would be starting out by trying to do 5 sets of 10 with a moderately high intensity weight. If it gets too hard at some point then you drop down to sets of 5, but you do more. So if you do 2 sets of 10 then decide to go down to 5 reps each set, you would now have 6 more sets of 5. I did this routine for back squats, half squats, overhead barbell press, overhead dumbbell press, and single arm rows.
I also recently added a boxing/taekwando cardio variation into my workout schedual. As of now I am very disorganized so I am trying to create a better structure while testing different things out. Also For people who are hard weight losers like myself. and are willing/have the means to be very strict with their diet, this link should be of interest to you.
http://www.t-nation.com/readPhysClin.do?id=1824537
My workouts have not been very consistent in frequency or intensity however I have discovered something for myself which may just be a rediscovery of what I thought I knew during high school. Although lots of reps might not be ideal when attempting to gain significant muscle mass, it does seem to make my workouts A lot more intense and does amp up my metabolism noticeably. I have done several workouts recently that consisted of around 5 different exercises that focused on major muscle group movements. I do 50 reps of each exercises not worrying about how i should divide them into sets, but rather with the intention of just getting to 50 whatever way i could.
An example of this would be starting out by trying to do 5 sets of 10 with a moderately high intensity weight. If it gets too hard at some point then you drop down to sets of 5, but you do more. So if you do 2 sets of 10 then decide to go down to 5 reps each set, you would now have 6 more sets of 5. I did this routine for back squats, half squats, overhead barbell press, overhead dumbbell press, and single arm rows.
I also recently added a boxing/taekwando cardio variation into my workout schedual. As of now I am very disorganized so I am trying to create a better structure while testing different things out. Also For people who are hard weight losers like myself. and are willing/have the means to be very strict with their diet, this link should be of interest to you.
http://www.t-nation.com/readPhysClin.do?id=1824537
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Upcoming Posts
I've been very busy with work and I recently tweaked my back (bad form on standing military press), so I haven't had time to make a lot of posts. I'm also taking this week off from lifting, but I'll be back to light exercises next week.
Here's what's going to happen for the next month or so: due to the realization that I'm in a lot worse of physical shape than I thought I was, I'm going to return to a core and shoulder stabilization program to make sure all my joints and muscles are ready for larger lifts. This will change some elements of my program, but not everything.
Here are some articles I'm currently reading. More to report when things slow down in the office.
http://www.t-nation.com/...e.do?id=1764218
http://www.t-nation.com/...e.do?id=1765943
Here's what's going to happen for the next month or so: due to the realization that I'm in a lot worse of physical shape than I thought I was, I'm going to return to a core and shoulder stabilization program to make sure all my joints and muscles are ready for larger lifts. This will change some elements of my program, but not everything.
Here are some articles I'm currently reading. More to report when things slow down in the office.
http://www.t-nation.com/...e.do?id=1764218
http://www.t-nation.com/...e.do?id=1765943
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