The CasinoApe's Rugby Training Journal

[CasinoApe]

Saw a physio this monday, they can't tell how bad the injury is yet to my knee because there was too much swelling, estimate was 3-12 weeks, but i reckon it will be on the lower side as my knee is already feeling quite a bit better, and much of the ROM has returned.

Have been performing various physio exercises every day to help the knee recover, will be interesting to see how it progresses, hopefully i will be able to play again before the end of the term.

Bench 65kg 3x5
Row (Dumbell) 35lg 3x5



Just gonna ease back into things on the weights using SS again!

Have also begun doing more cardio, based on this article: http://rugbystrengthcoach.com/steady...-conditioning/

ATM i'm taking it very easy becuase of the knee, the physio actually recommended i cycle very gently to help blood flow to the knee:

Tuesday - 1 hour, avg speed 30 km/h
Wednesday - 1 hour avg speed 24km/h

Will be stepping this up when the knee improves to 2 - 3 times a week for 2hrs, as recommended in the article.

[CasinoApe]

Cycling 1 hour, 28km (120-130bpm)
OP - 50kg 3x5
Row 40kg 3x5

pretty easy overall.

[CasinoApe]

Sunday sesh

Row 40kg 3x5
Bench 67.5kg 3x5
cycling 35mins


knee is improving but still some way off returning to rugby, buckles in a bit every so often, quite painful, ROM has returned pretty nicely though.

[CasinoApe]

OP 52.5kg 3x5
Row (Barbell) 80kg 1x5 75kg 2x5

cycling 45mins

Physio tomorrow, fingers crossed the swelling has gone down enough for proper look at whats happened to the knee, range of motion and general knee condition has improved significantly over the past week, so I'm optimistic the injury will not be too serious, and therefore be substantially less than the maximum 12 weeks suggested last week.

[CasinoApe]

Physio reckons its probably just soft tissue damage which is good news, maybe a bit of damage to the cartilage but not enough to be too troublesome, still have to take it easy, so might not be able to play rugby again for the rest of the term

However I can now start doing some light weights on the squat and deadlift, as long as they are not causing any pain, so will be taking it easy on that too and gently working my way up, but nothing too much to come in the next week.

[CasinoApe]

Squat 80kg 3x3
Bench 70kg 3x5
Deadlift 90kg 5 x 1

So leg felt pretty good under these reasonably substantial loads, didn't want to push it to much, so will keep it easy for next few sessions, but definitely good progress

[CasinoApe]

Squat 100kg 3x3
Bench 70kg 3x5
Row 77.5kg 3x5

Bench was fairly easy, row tough. Squats could have gone heavier but didn't want to push the knee too much.

On that note physio still can't tell properly what the damage without a scan, could be cartilage, but at this stage its not looking too serious. Will just have to play it easy and do some regular exercise, aswell as avoiding any impact (like running etc).

[CasinoApe]

Two sessions:

Squat 130kg 2x1 100kg 1x3 90kg 3x5
OP 52.5kg 3x5
Deadlift 130kg 1x1 , 110kg 1x5


Squat 130kg 1x1 , 90kg 3x5
Bench 70kg 3x5
Row 75kg 3x5


Physio cleared me to start lifting heavier weights, knee felt strong, so pretty good, but its still not right. Hopefully may be able to start running again next week.

[CasinoApe]

squat 130kg 2x1 92.5kg 2x5
op 55kg 1x5 1x4 52.5kg 1x4
deadlift 130kg 1x1 115kg 3x5

[CasinoApe]

Squat 130kg 3x3 1x1 97.5 3x5
Bench 80kg 1x5 75kg 2x5
Row 80kg 3x5

Squat 130kg 2x1 100kg 3x5
OP 52.5kg 3x5
Dealift 120kg 1x5



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNND the bad news:

Physio cleared me to start jogging, did some tests like jumps etc etc, jogging felt good, she recommended that I try playing some non contact rugby, just touch, skills work, went down to training and with 1 minute felt a sharp pain in the knee from back of hamstring and drop to the floor. Knee swelled up a lot, although its gone down somewhat now, and I can walk etc.

So unfortunately seems its going to be a bigger problem and require longer off, the good news however is that I have a MRI scan on monday.

[CasinoApe]

Bad news, unfortunately.

Had a MRI this week and got the results, my ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament) is completely torn, and will require ACL reconstruction surgery.

Long and short of it is minimum 9 months post surgery till I could play rugby again, and depending on how it heals, there is the possibility of having to quit the game.


So not great news, I will be able to return to weightlifting relatively soon however, so will be bale to do something anyway. Probably last post for a while.

[CasinoApe]

So I'm not 3 months post surgery, and doing pretty well, have been seeing a physio most weeks and the recovery is on progress, even a little bit ahead.

Just to give you an idea of how the recovery is doing I'm gonna post the sort of exercises I have been doing for the last week or so.

Full squat range now recovered
Full squat on upturned bosu ball
Lunges onto one of those little gel pads.
Half squat on one leg
Hamstring curls using an exercise ball
Leg press - up to 95kg for 5 reps (on one leg)
Calf raises on a machine , about 50kg

plus lots of stretches etc, there are a few other but thats the gist of it.


Otherwise I have got back into doing upper body weights, basically just bench and pull ups, I lost quite a bit of weight after the surgery and It had been a while since I had been in the gym so I lost quite a bit of strength, however I'm working back up to similar levels.

Bench 82.5kg 3x6
Pull ups (wide grip hand over) + 7.5kg 3x5

Thats the sort of number I've been putting up, so still weaker but getting back. So my goals now for the next couple of months look like this:

Regain stability in the knee so I can return to squatting
Regain Strength
And finnaly looking to bulk up over the net few months.

[CasinoApe]

Rehab is going pretty well, now about 13 weeks in, some milestones:

-Doing light running exercises, changes of direction, running in a figure of 8.
-Can now do a one legged squat on my left leg, which is very good for this stage of recovery

My priority for the next few months is to further regain stability in the knee, and to bulk up.

Currently I weigh 91kg (or so), over the next 13 weeks I'm going to aim to gain 0.7kg per week, to a total of 9.1kg gained, taking me to 100kg by the start of July.

So i'm following a routine largely designed for hypertrophy, guided by APRE protocol (Google this if you want something interesting), routine looks like this:

Leg press 4x12 (100kg, one leg)
chin ups, 2x8, 1 x4
Bench 77.5kg 1x10, 1x8, 75kg 1 x 6, 70kg 1x6
Curls (for the gurls)
+various physio exercises for the knee

Leg press will soon be subbed for bulgarian squats.

These exercises are all performed with 90s rest in between sets to maximise hypertrophy.

After this 13 week block I will progress onto a strength building phase, exercises for legs may include some additional strength work, however hypertrophy is the primary goal of this phase.

[DCSpartan]

Sorry to hear about the ACL surgery, glad you are getting back on track. Be patient with the rehab, you re still young!

[CasinoApe]

Have had two weight training sessions, can't remember the exact details though however!

I am now back at home for the easter break, I think I will split my training into upper/lower body days, as there is now quite a lot of volume, particularly with the unilateral leg work, there will also be frequent cardio sessions.

I have put quite alot of effort into my diet, still finalising a few details, may post it here in a little bit.

Bulgarian squats are about 60kg each leg for 5 reps or so, was quite difficult, and I have to be VERY VERY careful not to twist the leg by being overzealous in my training and using to much weight, bulgarian's are quite unstable, so I may use lunges instead.

[CasinoApe]

Sorry to hear about the ACL surgery, glad you are getting back on track. Be patient with the rehab, you re still young!

Thank you very much, you are right, I should be patient, so I will be extra careful with the weight baring exercises on that leg, thanks for the support!

[CasinoApe]

Ate some dodgy seafood on the weekend at had some pretty bad stomach pains, its affected by workouts this week, which have been very limited as a result, anyway have two small ones to report on:

Bulagrian Squats
70kg 1x5
60kg 1x10 1x8 1x10

second sessions
Bulgarian squats
75kg 1x2
55kg 2x8 1x6

Ab exercsises - leg raise and thrust
calf raises
Hamstring curls with exercise ball.

I have also found that I have more difficulty doing Bulgarian squats on my right leg (the good one) then I do on my left, however I think this is to do with the fact my bad leg isn't as good as supporting as my left leg, rather than the right leg actually being stronger.

[CasinoApe]

Lower day:
Bulgarian squat
70kg 1x2
55kg 3x8

Leg raise and hip thrust 1x12 1x10 1x8

Still having a harder time performing these on my good leg as I'm not really able to provide the same support as I can using my bad leg, will try to sort this out with some technical practice but if things don't improve I may just switch to doing lower reps for the right leg as there is a clear imbalance.

Upper day:
Pull ups
+10kg 1x1
bodyweight 1x10 1x8 1x6

Overhead press
65kg 1x1
52.5kg 1x10 1x8
47.5kg 1x8
37.5kg 1x6

I then tried to do some trap exercises, sitting down with a barbell beneath my legs, as I can't really stand with such a weight atm, used about 80kg, was just trying it out, may add these in later.

Barbell curls
35kg 1x12 1x10
30kg 1x12



All sets had 90s in between them, currently eating around 4300 calories a day to gain weight, will use that for a few weeks and see how the weight gain goes.

Also, still not feeling too great after the prawns so not at full volume yet, will be including other exercises of the next weeks

[CasinoApe]

Lower day:

Bulgarian squats:
left leg:
70kg 1x2
55kg 1x10 2x8

right leg:
70kg 1x2
55kg 2x7 1x6

I have started doing less reps on my right leg as its stronger and I cannot support it as well with my bad leg, I have worked on technique doing lots of lighter reps (I don't bother noting these), I have got better at using equal form, but for now there is a clear imbalance between the legs so I will just do less reps on the right for a little bit.

Leg raise and hip thrust 2x20 1x15

Doing bilateral leg work really tires me out so I'm leaving the assistance exercises out of it for now, but as I improve these will enter into the program

[CasinoApe]

Upper day:
Chin up:
+15kg 1x1
1x10 1x8 1x5

Overhead Press:
65kg 2x1
52.5kg 1x10
47.5kg 1x6
42.5kg 1x6
35kg 1x11

Barbell curls:
37.5kg 1x12 1x10
35kg 1x10
30kg 1x12


Bodyweight now up to 94kg so gained a few kilos

[CasinoApe]

Bodyweight now at 96kg

Lower Body:
Bulgarians squats:
Left leg
-70kg 1x2
-55kg 1x8 1x12 1x8
-40kg 1x8

Right leg
-70kg 1x2
-55kg 1x8 1x10 1x7
40kg 1x8


Leg raise with hip thrust:
-1x25 1x20 1x18 1x14

Calf raise 1x27 1x23 1x18

[CasinoApe]

Upper body:
Chins:
1x10 1x8 1x6 1x4

OP:
52.5kg 1x10 1x8
46.5kg 1x6
35kg 1x11

Curls
37.5kg 1x12 1x10
32.5kg 1x10
27.5kg 1x10

Just to make a note, at this point in my training I'm in a volumisation period, I'm looking to increases the volume of work and reduce rest, so more reps/sets, rather than do more weight as a priority, and doing the squats is absolute murder atm, something about unilateral work just kills me haha!

[CasinoApe]

Lower Body:
Bulgarians squats:
Left leg
-70kg 1x4
-55kg 3x12
-40kg 1x8

Right leg
-70kg 1x4
-55kg 1x12 1x7 1x8
40kg 1x8

Doing lower reps on the right leg to help left leg catch up, didn't include the ab/calf work this session as I was pretty shattered after adding some more volume into the training, mass gain is now actually visible, I have been gaining weight very fast, was concerned it would be to much fat but so far so good imo.

[CasinoApe]

Lower Body

Bulgarian squats:
left leg:
80kg 1x2
55kg 2x12 1x10
20kg 1x10

Right leg
80kg 1x1
55kg 2x6 1x7
20kg 1x8

Leg raise with hip thrust:
1x20
1x15
1x8


Gonna significantly drop the weight being used on the right leg, to help the left leg catch up.

[CasinoApe]

Upper body
Pull up:
20kg 2x1
1x10 1x8 1x6

Bench
80kg 1x1
70kg 3x10 1x6

Jogged for about 5 mins aswell, have been giving some jumping and more running exercises by the physio to do.

[CasinoApe]

Lower body:
Switched to trying a mix between skater squats and bulgarians, basically just using the supporting leg a lot less, much harder to balance, becomes like a one legged squat.
left:
70kg 2x2
55kg 1x10 2x8
27.5kg 1x8

right:
70kg 2x2
55kg 3x8
27.5kg 1x8

ab exercises after.

[CasinoApe]

Upper body: Had a go at a max on bench, I didn't feel a bit **** today though so I think I could do a little better, but interesting nontheless.
Bench:
90kg 1x2
100kg failed rep
90k 1x2
70kg 2x12 1x8

Chin ups:
+7.5kg 1x2
1x10 1x8 1x6

[CasinoApe]

Lower body:
Bulgarians:
Left
70kg 1x2 1x1
55kg 1x12 2x10
35kg 2x8

Right
70kg 1x2 1x1
50kg 1x12 2x10
35kg 2x8

abs:
1x25 1x23 1x20 1 min rest in between.

[CasinoApe]

Upper body:
Bench:
75kg 2x10 1x6
65kg 1x8

chin ups:
1x8 2x6

Felt very tired today, so decided to take it easy, will take a few days off so not to accumulate fatigue.

[CasinoApe]

Haven been pretty ill the last week and a half and still shaking off a flu so won't be much activity or any real intensity for a few days.

However some good news! I have been cleared to do deadlifts, sprints, non contact sports and so on by the physio, so I will be able to move into a full strength training program a little earlier than I had expected!

This will probably be an intermediate program like bill starr's 5x5 or the like in about a month or so, for now I will continue on in the same vein until then.