Me vs. Me: Lifting with UCTD

[SophieM]

Name: Sophie
Occupation: Psychiatric nurse working primarily with geriatric patients who have dementia, and usually behavioral outbursts as well. Being hit, kicked, scratched, etc. is not unusual on my unit.

Miscellaneous fitness related goals:

Farmers walk with 135 lbs per hand

Be able to do pull ups and chin ups again

GHR with 45 lbs

Meets/Races for the Year:

5K (March)
Undecided whether I will actually do this. Doubtful.

Powerlifting meet (August)
I'd like to be in the 123 lbs weight class (it's been a while)
I have a goal total in mind but prefer not to share right now.

11K (September)
Undecided whether I will actually do this.

Half Marathon (September)
Less than 3.5 hours

10K (November)
Undecided whether I will actually do this.

All of the above is dependent on being healthy enough to train consistently. So far, that hasn't happened. The last full month I was consistent was back in August 2015. Things started flaring up with the autoimmune disease full force by mid-September.

[SophieM]

It seems each year brings with it a new diagnosis and a new thing to train around. This past year was no different. So, here's the current run down:

Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease – Basically I have symptoms of more than one autoimmune disorders disorder, but not enough symptoms of any one disorder to meet the diagnostic criteria. Causes all sorts of problems, some of which are listed below. Fatigue/exhaustion being the one I can't seem to find a way to work around. Started on medication on December 1st, but the medication can take up to 6 months to reach its full effect. Great link if anyone is interested.

Raynaud's – Mostly in my feet. Makes jogging outside, or doing anything outside, rather painful when it's cold. Going to try some HotHands this winter and see if it helps. Also going to get different shoes for jogging. Vibram Five Fingers aren't conducive to staying warm.

GI Tract – Limited/severely slowed motility. Difficulty swallowing so regurgitation is common. I can't eat/drink during workouts or close to workouts (~3 hours before) because of regurgitation issues. Difficulty moving food through, so constipation is (VERY) common. Thought to be part of the autoimmune issue. Also have a hiatal hernia, but it doesn't cause any issues that I know of.

Morton's neuroma – left foot. This hasn't hindered training for a couple years now.

Trigeminal neuralgia – seems to be pretty well controlled with medication right now. Unfortunately the medication makes me tired.

Extra lumbar vertebra – Contributes to excessive lordosis.

Thoracic injury – limited flexion through thoracic spine

Ganglion cyst removed – right wrist. Limited extension because of scar tissue.

Leg length discrepancy – Left leg is ~2 cm shorter than my right leg. I now have a heel lift to put in my shoe. It had my hips tilted in opposite directions to attempt to correct for the imbalance. I'm working on getting my legs more symmetrical in strength, so a lot of unilateral leg work for a couple months.

Knee tracking – Both my kneecaps track incorrectly when fully extended. When I was in physical therapy for the leg length discrepancy, she initially was going to try to fix it, but decided against it as she didn't want to cause more problems and both knees track roughly symmetrical even though it's wrong.

I'm sure there's a couple other things but I can't think of them.

[Artemis00]

And wow, that is an overwhelming list of healthy issues when you put it all out there. Hopefully you won't have to add another one to the list in 2016.

[adriannec]

Wow, I'm sorry you're dealing with so much. My grandmother (mother's mother) had lupus and my father currently suffers from it. Or more accurately suffers from the fall out from it with RA, pericarditis, and a host of other things like you list. I don't have any words of wisdom but wanted to drop in to give support.

One foot in front of the other and take it day by day. Wishing you a great year!

Adrianne

[thehobbes]

Subbed. May you rampage 2016 with the fury of 10,000 raging suns, RARRWWW!

[SophieM]

Welcome everyone!

And wow, that is an overwhelming list of healthy issues when you put it all out there. Hopefully you won't have to add another one to the list in 2016.

Yeah, those are just the ones that can interfere with lifting. I left the rest out (elevated liver enzymes, blood in urine, weird passing out episodes, heart murmur, etc.)

I'd LOVE to go a year without adding to the list! The "official list," which does repeat stuff, has over 40 issues. Not pretty.

Wow, I'm sorry you're dealing with so much. My grandmother (mother's mother) had lupus and my father currently suffers from it. Or more accurately suffers from the fall out from it with RA, pericarditis, and a host of other things like you list. I don't have any words of wisdom but wanted to drop in to give support.

One foot in front of the other and take it day by day. Wishing you a great year!

Adrianne

Thanks so much! Sorry your father has lupus. Autoimmune issues are definitely no fun. One day at a time is all any of us can do!

Subbed. May you rampage 2016 with the fury of 10,000 raging suns, RARRWWW!

That's the plan

[SophieM]

First workout of the year. Still working on this consistency thing. I thought I was going to get all my workouts in last week but ended up having some issues and a temperature of 101. Oh well. Trying again this week.

Not exactly the usual routine for this workout. I'll get things back to normal eventually.

Bench Press - Hate that this felt so heavy. Didn't even attempt the last two sets.

75 lbs - 5
75 lbs - 5
75 lbs - 5

Leg Press - At least these are coming back quickly.

225 lbs - 8
225 lbs - 8
225 lbs - 8

Ad/abductor - Still increasing weight with these. I guess once I eventually max out the machine I'll drop them.

150 lbs - 10
150 lbs - 10
150 lbs - 10

Single Leg Leg Extension - Started light today to make sure I was getting the full ROM and not cheating it.

20 lbs - 8
30 lbs - 8
30 lbs - 8

Single Leg Lying Hamstring Curls - Lightened up on these also to ensure full ROM.

20 lbs - 8
20 lbs - 8
20 lbs - 8

Machine Flyes - Not much to say about these. I do enjoy watching my facial expressions as it gets tougher though.

55 lbs - 8
55 lbs - 8
55 lbs - 8

Reverse Machine Flyes - I'll probably eventually take these out and maybe add a high row instead.

55 lbs - 6
55 lbs - 6
55 lbs - 6

Abs
Side Bends
20 lbs - 15
20 lbs - 15

Twists
20 lbs - 15
20 lbs - 15

I had initially planned to do cardio afterward, but just wasn't feeling it. I also skipped out on a deadlift variation since I did bench and flyes. I'll have to do two deadlift variations when I do my home workout.

[viccles007]

Woohoo I found you! Subbed

[SophieM]

Woohoo I found you! Subbed

Welcome!

~~~~~~

Aiming to get in my home workout and some cardio after work this afternoon/evening. Woke up 30 minutes before the alarm feeling pretty good. Just hope that lasts all day. It's been nice these last couple weeks getting back to the gym and working out!

[thehobbes]

Wow that was a huge workout yesterday! I hope today continues to go well and you can get your gym time in again.

[Artemis00]

Glad you are getting back to the gym.

Sorry bench didn't go as well as you were hoping...but damn that was a lot of volume there.

Always wonder how other people handle hamstring curls. Every time I try them, they always seem to eventually bug my knees.

[viccles007]

Sorry you were unwell last week. Great workout to start the new year. Tons of volume, awesome!

[_Meridian_]

Subbed. I feel like we are long lost sisters.

I also suffer from an unspecific autoimmune disorder, raynauds, MN in both feet, lumbar disc hernias, and leg length discrepancy w/ muscle imbalances and endless trigger points, on top of vitamin deficiencies.

The chronic fatigue flare-ups will knock me off my feet for sometimes years at a time, so I'm totally feeling you. Keeping my weight down and getting my #s up when I CAN lift are huge struggles.

I'm glad you are feeling well enough to lift, that in itself is AWESOME!

[SophieM]

Wow that was a huge workout yesterday! I hope today continues to go well and you can get your gym time in again.

Thanks! Workout isn't going to happen. More below.

Glad you are getting back to the gym.

Sorry bench didn't go as well as you were hoping...but damn that was a lot of volume there.

Always wonder how other people handle hamstring curls. Every time I try them, they always seem to eventually bug my knees.

Guess I didn't notice the volume LOL.

The lying hamstring curls will sometimes bother my knees, but not always. The seated ones didn't bother me at all if I remember correctly. I just don't like the seated version and can't do them single legged easily anyway.

Sorry you were unwell last week. Great workout to start the new year. Tons of volume, awesome!

It was just a one day thing last week. Think it had something to do with my weird almost passing out thing. <shrug> Not sure.

Subbed. I feel like we are long lost sisters.

I also suffer from an unspecific autoimmune disorder, raynauds, MN in both feet, lumbar disc hernias, and leg length discrepancy w/ muscle imbalances and endless trigger points, on top of vitamin deficiencies.

The chronic fatigue flare-ups will knock me off my feet for sometimes years at a time, so I'm totally feeling you. Keeping my weight down and getting my #s up when I CAN lift are huge struggles.

I'm glad you are feeling well enough to lift, that in itself is AWESOME!

Welcome! Sounds like long lost sisters for sure!

~~~~~~

So, my energy from this morning didn't last long at all once I got to work LOL. I'm also not sure I should push my luck right now by lifting 2 days in a row, especially since I have to work tomorrow. I'm planning on splitting my remaining 2 workouts into upper lower and doing them on consecutive days. I HAVE to get to the "powerlifting" gym either tomorrow or Friday because it's not open on the weekends when I get off work. Leaning towards doing what I can at home tomorrow and then going to the gym Friday during the day when it's not as crowded since I have off from work.

Eh. I'll try to get it all in some how. Tonight I'm planning to get to bed early and read. Hopefully I'm not up late reading. I'm a book worm though, so it's a possibility unless I can finish the book by 9 pm (bedtime).

[SophieM]

I did end up reading last night until around 10 pm. It took me another hour to wind down afterward though. I did manage to finish the book. 355 pages in a little less than 4 hours isn't too bad.

I was really tempted to come home and nap and then lift at home tonight, but knew the possibility of not lifting was too high. I just bit the bullet and went to the gym. After the gym I went to Sports Authority and bought myself a new Under Armour hoodie and a (much) warmer pair of gloves.

Deadlift - Pathetic how much conditioning I have lost. The weight isn't heavy, it's just I'm really deconditioned and take forever to recover between sets.

155 lbs - 5
155 lbs - 5
155 lbs - 5
155 lbs - 5
155 lbs - 5

DB Bench Press - It's going to take a while to work these back up to where they were. Last rep on each set was very shaky.

30 lbs - 5
30 lbs - 5
30 lbs - 5

Lat Pulldown - Not where I was before this whole mess started but better than last week. Progress in the right direction.

70 lbs - 8
70 lbs - 8
70 lbs - 8

Seated Cable Row - I hadn't done these in a while. Kept the reps lower than usual to see how all the sets felt.

70 lbs - 6
70 lbs - 6
70 lbs - 6

Bent Over Cable Triceps Extension - I really like this exercise.

20 lbs - 8
20 lbs - 8
20 lbs - 8

Abs
Cable Crunches
50 lbs - 10
50 lbs - 10

Vertical Knee Raises
10
10

BB Curls - Thought the curl bar was ~10 lbs lighter than it actually was. After the initial surprise, things went better. Still not 100% sure of the weight. Going to go with the lesser of the estimates the owner of the gym gave me until I can weigh it next time.

30 lbs - 6
30 lbs - 6
30 lbs - 6

Front Squats - I really need to bring my Olympic shoes next time. I was hoping doing them in flats would help me more but it's just not working out. At all. Hopefully the shoes help next week.

45 lbs - 6
45 lbs - 6
45 lbs - 6

Aiming to lift tomorrow, but I would be totally fine if I did cardio instead and lifted on Saturday after work. After noticing, yet again, how deconditioned I am, cardio is needed.

[thehobbes]

Solid workout, the wt will come back quickly (and prob some DOMS as a bonus. )

355 pages in a little less than 4 hours isn't too bad

That's impressive! Most people haven't read that much in the last 4 YEARS, lol.

[SophieM]

Solid workout, the wt will come back quickly (and prob some DOMS as a bonus. )

That's impressive! Most people haven't read that much in the last 4 YEARS, lol.

I'm a little sore this morning, arms mostly so far.

I'm a book worm I used to average ~100 pages an hour but then haven't read regularly in years. It's only down to ~90 pages per hour, so that's still pretty good.

[Artemis00]

Wow, that is a lot of pages in that little amount of time. I know I couldn't do it. After about the 5th page, something would distract me and it would probably be 6 months later before I got to page 6.

That's impressive! Most people haven't read that much in the last 4 YEARS, lol.

<<<< GUILTY



Great workout. I also like Bent Over Cable Triceps Extension when my elbow is behaving itself. Although it does get interesting getting into position when you try to go heavy with those. I've had a few laughable fails with that...and I've seen others fail as well.

[viccles007]

Great workout Sophie. No matter what weight I did, anything around the 5 rep mark for deadlifts was like cardio for me. LOL. Wow, that is a lot of pages. I'm lucky if I can read 20 in a row.

[SophieM]

Wow, that is a lot of pages in that little amount of time. I know I couldn't do it. After about the 5th page, something would distract me and it would probably be 6 months later before I got to page 6.

<<<< GUILTY

Great workout. I also like Bent Over Cable Triceps Extension when my elbow is behaving itself. Although it does get interesting getting into position when you try to go heavy with those. I've had a few laughable fails with that...and I've seen others fail as well.

I don't bend all the way over, more like a lunge position. I have enough trouble with that sometimes!

Great workout Sophie. No matter what weight I did, anything around the 5 rep mark for deadlifts was like cardio for me. LOL. Wow, that is a lot of pages. I'm lucky if I can read 20 in a row.

Yeah, 3 reps for deadlifts is good

~~~~~~

The idea of lifting/working out 2 days in a row is a great idea, just not one my body is up to quite yet After sleeping for 11 hours last night, I just took a 4 hour "nap" and could definitely still be sleeping. For better or worse, I have a dinner party to go to at dance tonight so I'm awake and trying to get some things done around the house before leaving.

Still aiming to get in my last lifting session of the week tomorrow, and possibly get in a cardio session on the bike trainer afterward. I still need to get out for a wog (walk/jog) and try out my new Garmin GPS watch. The weather and my body have just not been cooperating.

[SophieM]

I got in all of my workouts this week! Well, mostly. I didn't do trap bar deadlift, GHR, or planks. I think that's all I missed though. That's not horrible. Now if I can get in a wog tomorrow after work, that would be great! It's supposed to rain tomorrow so we'll have to see.

Super Set BB Military Press and BB Upright Row - The burn during the upright row. Ugh! Next time I'll do upright row first.

35 lbs - 8
35 lbs - 8
35 lbs - 8

Squats - Horrible doesn't even begin to describe how these felt. I haven't squatted since December 15th and it's very obvious. Just wow.

85 lbs - 5 (horrible form)
75 lbs - 5
75 lbs - 5

Single Leg Calf Raises - My right is most definitely weaker by a lot. Hoping to make them more equal eventually.

25 lbs - 10
25 lbs - 10
25 lbs - 10

Deficit Deadlifts - The out of shape feeling. Seriously need to do some conditioning/cardio very soon.

135 lbs - 8
135 lbs - 8
135 lbs - 8

Called it quits. It's past my bedtime. 5 am is going to come early.

[thehobbes]

Way to power through, Sophie, oh yeah squats feel rough after I've even missed a couple weeks. It'll come back... and so will the DOMS!

[SophieM]

Way to power through, Sophie, oh yeah squats feel rough after I've even missed a couple weeks. It'll come back... and so will the DOMS!

I normally don't get bad leg DOMS. Usually just arms and maybe pecs if I move a certain way.

[SophieM]

Week 1 in Review
This is the first week in a LONG time I was able to get (practically) my entire weight workout in. No cardio but I'm working on it. Leaning towards trying to do it after my weight workouts so my off days will be true off days, but that won't work if I want to wog unless it's an off day from work and I lift early. We'll see how it goes. Progress though!

Weekly Volume - Long way from my PR volumes of September, but I'll hopefully get back there fast enough.

Squat - 7,385 lbs
Bench Press - 2,895 lbs
Deadlift - 7,115 lbs
Total - 17,395 lbs

Week 2 Preview - In an ideal world, here's what it would look like.
Sunday - Work 7-1530 + Cardio, preferably wogging
Monday - Powerlifting gym workout + dance (private lesson + group = 1.5 hours)
Tuesday - Errand day
Wednesday - Work 7-1530 + Commercial gym workout + cardio?
Thursday - Work 7-1530
Friday - Work 7-1530 + Home workout + cardio?
Saturday - Off (make up day)
Sunday - Off

[Artemis00]

Great job getting in all your lifting. I'm sure everything will come back quick. Just have to shake off the cobb webs a bit.

Hope you get in everything you are planning for next week.

[viccles007]

Great you were able to get nearly all your lifts in last week! Nice volume!

[SophieM]

Great job getting in all your lifting. I'm sure everything will come back quick. Just have to shake off the cobb webs a bit.

Hope you get in everything you are planning for next week.

Definitely some cobwebs, especially on squats!

Hope I can get everything in eventually The schedule has already gone to crap. <sigh>

Great you were able to get nearly all your lifts in last week! Nice volume!

Thank you!

[SophieM]

No jogging yesterday. It was pouring rain when I got off from work. Hopefully I can get out there one day this week. No lifting today. I don't take caffeine pills on days that I don't work so I end of sleeping a lot. Today was no different.

I managed to get to dance and stayed for the group after my private lesson. I definitely need to get my conditioning back. I could tell that it has been awhile since I danced for any length of time, especially the faster dances. Oh well. In time it'll be easier.

The plan was to lift when I got home from dance, and I even was partly dressed for it. I got out of the car and could hear the air leaking out of one of my tires. I don't know what I ran over parking, but it must have put a huge hole in my tire. Needless to say I'll have to get it replaced tomorrow. Planning on just going to the gym from the tire place.

Oh, and here's a sample of my dance. This is the Tango from about 4.5 years ago.

[Artemis00]

Damn, that sucks about the tire. Can they patch it or are you going to need to get a new one?


That video is awesome. Looks soooo cool

[viccles007]

Oh wow, loved the dancing - awesome!