From Y to X

[hieronymous]

Today's gym visit made me feel like a million bucks. I decided to do conditioning work. I am going to have to up the cardio since winter means less general moving around - and I like it right now.

5 times through 10 roll to stand ups - 10 star jumps - 5 burpees

Between each of those sets did an animal walk:

40 ft forward crab walk
40 ft frog hops
20ft/rest/20ft gator walk
40 ft forward bear crawl - 20ft/rest/20ft reverse bear crawl (f-ing difficult - first time I tried them reverse)

4 x 12 wide grip lat pull down
3 x 10 hyperextension w 35 lb plate

1 x 10 25 lb DB shoulder press

1 x 10 w 25s of this thing where you move the DBs from the front of your body and around the back until they touch. If you have any idea what these are called - let me know.

A fair bit of stretching.

Ran my mile in 9:09.

[thehobbes]

1 x 10 w 25s of this thing where you move the DBs from the front of your body and around the back until they touch. If you have any idea what these are called - let me know.

What?? Do you mean starting out in front of your stomach and kinda circling around your torso, ending with your fists palms up? I have no idea what that is, but sure does sound good for getting your shoulders flexable. Hmmm... I should try this, I can barely take off a button down shirt without getting stuck as it is, lol.

[hieronymous]

What?? Do you mean starting out in front of your stomach and kinda circling around your torso, ending with your fists palms up? I have no idea what that is, but sure does sound good for getting your shoulders flexable. Hmmm... I should try this, I can barely take off a button down shirt without getting stuck as it is, lol.

Fists palms down, sort of like an awkward reverse hug - hands at waist level. I have been doing them randomly for years. Its for a part of the middle back, and I have some memory of the word scapula - possible, not sure. I really don't remember what the heck they were called. But they feel good. And yeah, about the flexibility, a few times when I did them last year I remember cramping up because of lack of flexibility at that time.

LOL about the shirts.

[punxnotdead309]

Isn't it called an arnold press??

[hieronymous]

Isn't it called an arnold press??

No, not the same thing.

Today was DL day.

135 x 10, 145 x 10, 155 x 10, 185 x 2,1,1

Military press - I hate these and am going to stop as soon as I can do 6 with 75.

55lb 1 x 8, 1 x 6, 65lb 1 x 3

Lateral one-arm rope pull down 3 x 10 w 20

Assisted dips - 1 x 6 -55lbs, 1 x 8 -70 lbs, discovered major strength difference when doing unilateral 1 x 6 -145 was way harder with the left side.

Cable wide lat pull down

10 x 80

unilateral 2 x 10 w 40, then I did another 1 x 10 on the left side because I didn't have the form correct.

Seated leg curl - 4 x 15 w 75lbs
*Rant* - They have LifeFitness machines for these and people (men or really strong-handed women) overtighten the thing that adjusts the leg length and it makes me so mad since I can't turn them.

TRX tucks - 3 x 8

Ran 1 mile in 10:24 - was out of gas.

[punxnotdead309]

Awesome work! Strong numbers on the deadlift too and I hate when the guys over tighten things. I always have the tendancy to struggle with the little nobs at the gym, get really angry and start shaking the machines. lol Good thing no one sees my mini-tantrums! Lol

[thehobbes]

Nice job on the DL sets! Way to power through on that military press, I'm not a fan of those either. Justified rant - I'm one of those people who usually just doesn't know how to adjust something so I go full ham rage and end up accidentally detaching the thing and smacking myself in the head with it, lol.

[shmalex4]

Seated leg curl - 4 x 15 w 75lbs
*Rant* - They have LifeFitness machines for these and people (men or really strong-handed women) overtighten the thing that adjusts the leg length and it makes me so mad since I can't turn them.
.

Oh how I can relate...people just get too aggressive with the machines and then I'm doing leg extensions with the pad on my big toe

[priceor]

Nice DL's!! The most I've been able to lift has been 100 lbs

[toodlepip]

I can't believe you are close to military pressing 75. Friggin' outstanding. I sit there with my piddly 20/25s and think I'm strong...hahahahahaha.

I love the conditioning workout you did last week - actually I have to look up what the bear crawl is...not familiar with that. I've been thinking of adding in something similar (possibly a squence from Rachel Cosgrove's book) as the winter blahs set in.

[hieronymous]

I am glad to know that I am not the only one with knob issues!

All right, so today is officially the last day of my holiday eating. I made a super yummy reese's pieces new york cheesecake for me and my boyfriend yesterday and I ate a whole heck of a lot of it. I did manage to save a piece in the freezer for a month or two from now. But anyway I have to stop being a pig because I do NOT need to be in a bulk mode.

Today I was still sore from the DLs last time and had low motivation but went to the gym anyhow. Did not do any leg work as I like to be able to do a good job when I do leg work.

So it ended up being random, again.

Cable flyes 10 x 40, 60, 80

Straight arm cable push down 10 x 40, 50, 60

Machine lateral raises - increased to 50lbs - 3 x 12

Assisted pullups - no weight assist - only the platform you kneel on - 1,1,1

Decline sit ups - Hands behind head 1 x 10
10 lb plate behind head 1 x 10
5lb plate held in fully extended arms 1 x 5 (too hard)
10 lb plate behind head 1 x 10

So, obviously, my new goal will be to do 3 x 10 with the 5 lb plate arms extended and move up from there. Really liked this as they were super hard and a lot of my core work doesn't hit the lower abs this much. Finally got Richard to try the arms extended with weight. Have been suggesting to him to do them for a while now, since he is doing 35lb plates on his chest while he does them. He did them with a 10lb plate to start and he found them difficult. He may be a convert.

Decline chest press - 1 x 5 w 95 (just fooling around while spotting Rich)

8 minutes Crossrobics weird cardio machine
8 minutes elliptical
8 minutes on treadmill at 15% incline various speeds (major oxygen debt here!)

[hieronymous]

All right - today was a good day in the gymmygym.

Leg press
unilateral 12 x 90
4 x 12 @ 230

Reverse flyes - 3 x 10 @ 45

Leg extensions 4 x 12 @ 120 (quite the struggle to complete these)

Bent over one-arm cable row
50 x 6,7,8

Overhead triceps extension 1 x 10 w 10lbs

DB chest press

3 x 10 w 30s
3 x 5 w 40s, 1 x 4 w 40s (sad face - could not get 5th one up)

Ran out of time - no cardio.

I have decided to give lat work its own day of concentration so I will be on a 4-day rotation now - glutes, hams, quads, lats.

In non-training related news. I am getting a teak couch this weekend! I have been in love with mid-century modern furniture since this summer and I bought a few cheap dressers and coffee tables (under $20) and one slightly more expensive designer piece for the living room and bedroom. I don't have a lot of free cash so I mostly just drool at stuff I want to buy on Kijiji. Well, I found a teak couch for $50 in Burlington and Rich is borrowing his boss's truck so with gas and straps that I will have to buy it will only be about $150 total. That is an awesome deal for a teak couch - it looks in good condition and the back and entire frame is completely wood.

[Rowyn]

I have decided to give lat work its own day of concentration so I will be on a 4-day rotation now - glutes, hams, quads, lats.

What about the rest of your body, lol? Why only lats? Is there a reason your training is so randomn? Glutes and hams are lower chain, why do them seperately?

Just giving you food for thought, not trying to be negatively critical. You may make much better progress actually following a progressive full body program.

Love the wood too, do you refurbish the furniture yourself?

[hieronymous]

What about the rest of your body, lol? Why only lats? Is there a reason your training is so randomn? Glutes and hams are lower chain, why do them seperately?

Just giving you food for thought, not trying to be negatively critical. You may make much better progress actually following a progressive full body program.

Love the wood too, do you refurbish the furniture yourself?

No worries Rowyn, I am starting to learn your tone.

It's actually not as random as it may seem. I was doing full body for about 6 months and then split my legs up so that I could focus more on each major muscle group of the leg. So, as it goes there is a generally a compound movement and an isolation movement or two for the area of concentration. Then pretty much every other part gets either a compound or isolation movement as well - I will change this up depending on my soreness level, motivation, what I feel like doing, when was the last time I did it, etc.

Since I have a pretty crappy mind muscle connection with my lats and they are lagging I have decided to give them a day. So I am thinking BB or DB row as compound followed by lat pulldown, or cable row of some sort and then the other body parts.

My other lagging part is my glutes but I am quite slowly but surely improving my brain connection with them and it is starting to show. That is why they get their own day.

I did redo the one coffee table I bought. I bought it for $5 and my Mum and I stripped and sanded it and I finished it with teak oil. It turned out really well.

[hieronymous]

Something is wrong with my left shoulder. It was sore yesterday and clicked a bit but I figured it would go away. This morning I noticed that there is a little bone kind of poking out. I compared it to the other side and it's like some kind of cover has come off. So, tomorrow evening I will be at the walk-in clinic to get it checked out.

That meant I couldn't do anything with my arms today at the gym.

I had to ask at the desk for an ankle attachment for the cable stack and they keep one in a drawer behind the desk - maybe people steal them. We couldn't fit the chin up bar in the house and had to return it so maybe I will get my own personal ankle attachment.

Cable step back 50lbs - 3 x 12

Cable abductor step out

1 x 12 @ 30
1 x 9 @ 40,50
1 x 10 @ 60

45 degree step back 3 x 12 @ 30

6 x 10 BW squats ATG

Decline sit ups arms extended (no weight) - 3 x 10

One leg hyperextension - 1 x 10, 8, 4 (these got difficult really quickly)

10 minutes walking on 12 percent incline at 2.5 - didn't want to jostle the arm.

[britchick884]

Your work out looks great and your numbers are awesome.

Eek! on the shoulder though...hope you're ok.

[thehobbes]

Something is wrong with my left shoulder. It was sore yesterday and clicked a bit but I figured it would go away. This morning I noticed that there is a little bone kind of poking out. I compared it to the other side and it's like some kind of cover has come off. So, tomorrow evening I will be at the walk-in clinic to get it checked out.

Oh hey, be really careful with that shoulder injury! I'm glad you're getting it checked out, smart move not doing arm related exercises too. If there's any question as to what's actually wrong with your shoulder when you go to the doc I highly recommend seeing a sports/ortho place if you have insurance. Good luck, hope it's nothing serious and you're at least putting some ice on your injury.

[punxnotdead309]

Something is wrong with my left shoulder. It was sore yesterday and clicked a bit but I figured it would go away. This morning I noticed that there is a little bone kind of poking out. I compared it to the other side and it's like some kind of cover has come off. So, tomorrow evening I will be at the walk-in clinic to get it checked out.

That meant I couldn't do anything with my arms today at the gym.

I had to ask at the desk for an ankle attachment for the cable stack and they keep one in a drawer behind the desk - maybe people steal them. We couldn't fit the chin up bar in the house and had to return it so maybe I will get my own personal ankle attachment.

Cable step back 50lbs - 3 x 12

Cable abductor step out

1 x 12 @ 30
1 x 9 @ 40,50
1 x 10 @ 60

45 degree step back 3 x 12 @ 30

6 x 10 BW squats ATG

Decline sit ups arms extended (no weight) - 3 x 10

One leg hyperextension - 1 x 10, 8, 4 (these got difficult really quickly)

10 minutes walking on 12 percent incline at 2.5 - didn't want to jostle the arm.

I've been looking for ankle attachments at my gym, but they have none! I find them very useful for cable ham curls, glute kickbacks etc... I miss them

Anyways, as far as the shoulder is concerned - been there, done that! Not fun at all! I had a bad and chronic case of tendonitis. It takes months (6-8) for chronic shoulder injuries and took well over a year for me to even start lifting heavy again. So be sure to take all pro-active measures you can for it.

In my opinion, though, doctors aren't much help. They can diagnose it, but as far as treatment, a physio is the best. Good luck with it! Ice it lots!

[toodlepip]

Oh your shoulder sounds scary...fingers crossed it's nothing too serious. Hope somebody helped you move your fab new couch...

Brutal that people steal in gyms. Locker rooms are bad enough but from the floor? My gym is also a cardiac rehab ctr and a lot of the members are seniors and I actually heard this weekend that somebody stole a woman's orthopedic shoes...I mean really...

[shmalex4]

I hope the shoulder is nothing serious, good luck!

[hieronymous]

Oh your shoulder sounds scary...fingers crossed it's nothing too serious. Hope somebody helped you move your fab new couch...

Brutal that people steal in gyms. Locker rooms are bad enough but from the floor? My gym is also a cardiac rehab ctr and a lot of the members are seniors and I actually heard this weekend that somebody stole a woman's orthopedic shoes...I mean really...

Seriously? Orthopedic shoes? That's nuts. A woman I used to work with in a different department lost her job and was escorted out of the building in handcuffs by the cops yesterday for stealing a used netbook. So not worth losing your job over.

The wait was 3 hours at the clinic, I was so hungry and thirsty by the time I got out of there. She was a little vague but it is a minor shoulder separation with prominence at the AC joint. She wants me to get an x-ray as well just to be sure. Basically she said to give 4 weeks of no training and minimal use to heal up. And the pointy bump might not go away.

So, my upper body will most likely shrivel away to nothing over the next 4 weeks.

Today's work:

Single leg DL using Smith bar on non-working leg for balance - 3 x 8

Over unders 15 x 2

Seated hamstring curl - 5 x 12 @ 90

Side kicks to bag low impact - 50 per leg

Step ups 1 x 20 per leg

Oblique side raises on hyperextension apparatus - 3 x 10 per side

TRX hamstring curl - 3 x 10

TRX hip thrust - 3 x 10

Frog squat - 2 x 10

Bike for 15 minutes.

[toodlepip]

Seriously? Orthopedic shoes? That's nuts. A woman I used to work with in a different department lost her job and was escorted out of the building in handcuffs by the cops yesterday for stealing a used netbook. So not worth losing your job over.

People are idiots.

So, my upper body will most likely shrivel away to nothing over the next 4 weeks.

Ah that's crap. Poor you. How much will it impinge on your lower (holding bb/dbs etc.)?

[hieronymous]

Ah that's crap. Poor you. How much will it impinge on your lower (holding bb/dbs etc.)?

I am not going to do anything with my arms at all for at least two weeks and then MAY do a bit but most likely not until the 4 weeks are up and then start slow. One of my personal rules with this whole weightlifting endeavour is that I WILL NOT allow myself to continually injure my body just for vanity's sake. So, it will have a fairly big impact on the lower workouts - no DLs or anything - and will also impact my core work. But I will work around it.

It doesn't actively hurt until I try to lift my arm - like taking my coat and clothes on and off and I can feel it grind over now and then.

The disappointing thing is that I will definitely need to eat less this month since I won't be burning as many calories.

[thehobbes]

Oh man, sorry to hear about the shoulder. Do you know what injured it in the first place? At least you can still work on legs while you're healing.

[hieronymous]

No, I don't really know what exactly did it. I remember it being sore on Saturday but I just thought it was DOMS. We did move the couch out of the lady's basement and maybe the different movements caused it to actually separate. But there wasn't any falling down or hitting my shoulder or anything like that. And I didn't have any clicking or grinding or anything while training before either.

Yeah, at least I can still do the leg press - there will be a whole lot of that in this log the next while.

[kannonshot]

Something is wrong with my left shoulder. It was sore yesterday and clicked a bit but I figured it would go away. This morning I noticed that there is a little bone kind of poking out. I compared it to the other side and it's like some kind of cover has come off. So, tomorrow evening I will be at the walk-in clinic to get it checked out.

That meant I couldn't do anything with my arms today at the gym.

I had to ask at the desk for an ankle attachment for the cable stack and they keep one in a drawer behind the desk - maybe people steal them. We couldn't fit the chin up bar in the house and had to return it so maybe I will get my own personal ankle attachment.

Cable step back 50lbs - 3 x 12

Cable abductor step out

1 x 12 @ 30
1 x 9 @ 40,50
1 x 10 @ 60

45 degree step back 3 x 12 @ 30

6 x 10 BW squats ATG

Decline sit ups arms extended (no weight) - 3 x 10

One leg hyperextension - 1 x 10, 8, 4 (these got difficult really quickly)

10 minutes walking on 12 percent incline at 2.5 - didn't want to jostle the arm.

Hey, I've heard of some people stealing other peoples underwear in the change rooms in some gyms!! What's with that? ;-)

[hieronymous]

LOL Richard ~

[punxnotdead309]

I had a stage 1 (minor) shoulder separation in my right shoulder (alongside a partial tear in the left ) and it healed up really fast and really well. I never had any problems after that!
Anywho, I hope you continue to heal and can hit those weights soon enough

[Rowyn]

No worries Rowyn, I am starting to learn your tone.

Haha, good to hear, some people actually take me seriously, lol! J/K

Sorry to hear about the shoulder, how random is that?? Weird, but at least you got a diagnosis and know what to do about it.

In for epic leg workouts then

[hieronymous]

I had a stage 1 (minor) shoulder separation in my right shoulder (alongside a partial tear in the left ) and it healed up really fast and really well. I never had any problems after that!
Anywho, I hope you continue to heal and can hit those weights soon enough

That's good to hear. I am not too worried about it - just have to make sure I don't jump the gun when it stops hurting.

I have pretty strong DOMS in my glutes and the muscles that cover your hip bones from Tuesday's workout. I've never had DOMs on my hipbones before.

We got into the gym late since I bought a teak lamp and telephone table and we had to pick it up. Yes, I am a little obsessed. There are these two Jamel Shabazz photos that I need to have printed and laminated for the wall now as well. I haven't found any prints for sale so I think I will just buy one of his books to support him and then blow them up.

Worked in with Richard on the leg press so he could put the plates on for me - so went a little heavier.

Unilateral 12 x 90
2 x 8 @ 270
2 x 8 @ 320
1 x 20 @ 180 close stance low on platform

Leg extension

4 x 12 @ 120 (easier this week)
Unilateral 1 x 20 @ 45

Decline sit ups - raised the decline to its highest setting, these are hard.

3 x 10

And that was all there was time for.