Project Rebuild Post-operative Training

[Marius_Ursus]

Hello.

Back in August (for anyone who didn't see my thread in the main forum) I had hernia surgery. The tear in the left abdominal wall was pretty big, and there were actually two additional hernias. I looked up hernias after my surgery when I found out I had so much going on in the muscle fibers and found something called a femoral hernia that may have been what was going on with my hip pain all these years. My hip still hurts, but it's a lot less, and I'm continuing to work slowly at rebuilding my body. I've been at it since October 1st when my surgeon gave me the go ahead to start working out again.

Thanks for reading.

[Marius_Ursus]

Monday - 11/11/2019
Veterans Day, didn't train

Tuesday - 11/12/2019
Power Clean
1x5x85
1x5x85
1x7x85

Overhead Press (From a power clean rack)
1x5x85
1x5x85
1x8x85

45 minutes on the treadmill @3.0

Wednesday 11/13/2019
32 minutes on the treadmill @3.1 mph

Thursday 11/14/2019
Warmup
3 Power Cleans + 3 Presses @85 lbs
3 Power Cleans + 3 Presses @85 lbs
3 Power Cleans + 3 Presses @85 lbs

Deadlift
1x5x175
1x5x155
1x5x155

Bench Press
1x5x105
1x8x105
1x5x105
1x7x105

Squat
1x5x115 - Hip pain...I hope these come back some day.

Thoughts
I've been taking a lot of motivation from Dwayne Johnson recently. I've lacked a lot of self respect in my life. I let myself get away with eating too much garbage and not staying committed to exercise. One of the bywords in Dwayne Johnson's motivational speeches is "respect", and it finally sank in that's what's been missing all these years. I finally learned how to love myself earlier this year when I was working through childhood trauma, and now I've reached a place where I can actually respect myself. A handful of times this week I've wanted to skip my workout or eat junk food, and I caught myself and said, "I respect myself too much skip training," and "I respect myself too much to eat that crap."

The reason I finally had hernia surgery this year was I finally loved myself enough not to have this physical issues that came along with the hernia if it could be fixed.

I've gone through some major changes this year.

I still have a lot of work to do.

I've kept my calories pretty low the last couple of weeks, trying to drop fat. This morning I felt really weak...I think I need a refeed.

[Marius_Ursus]

11/14/19

Project Log, Supplemental

I went for a mile walk with my wife. Cold as hell today. It was 13 degrees in the garage this morning...about 20 or so now.

Still, it was a good walk. I got winded. My neurologist told me the best thing for protecting from age-related brain disorders is to get your activity level up to the point that you're breathing heavy, and I got that three times today.

[shaneinga]

Welcome back Tom. Good luck with your new journal and journey. Respect is something we all need. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are and our own worth is more important than a lot of people realize.

[Marius_Ursus]

Welcome back Tom. Good luck with your new journal and journey. Respect is something we all need. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are and our own worth is more important than a lot of people realize.

I wish I could rep you again. This is so, so true.

[Marius_Ursus]

11/14/2019

I forgot to enter my ab work for yesterday. It wasn't anything big, but I want to record it.
1 set crunches
1 set of leg lift static hold (60 seconds)

[Marius_Ursus]

11/15/2019

AM Cardio
3.2 MPH for 32 minutes

After my run, I helped my son get squared away for his school day and got him on the bus...then back into the house for some kettlebell work.

KB Clean
3x5 @24kg

KB Press
3x5 @24kg

Inverted Row
1x5

Pushup
1x10

Plank
60 seconds

Supermans
2x10 seconds

Still so weak, so little endurance.

It'll come back as long as I keep chipping away at it.

[PtReyesGreg]

It's good to see you back in here Tom. I'm sorry to hear about the hernias but glad you were able to get the surgery to fix things up.

I hear you about working on yourself. Learning to love and respect yourself is huge and is something a lot of people struggle with, without realizing it. I've been doing a lot of work in that area on myself this year as well. It's not easy to do but the dividends are huge.

As far as the working out and exercise go, just keep doing what you're doing and building consistency and you'll be back in great shape before you know it.

[TM79]

Good work going on in here Tom. I'm glad to hear that your hernia surgery was a success and that you have been able to work through some issues that were holding you back. I feel like respecting yourself has a lot to do with disciplining your body and it seems that you are taking major strides in that area. Stay at it my friend!

[shaneinga]

When I first started journaling here you were on of the first people to encourage me on my journal. One thing you told was to keep punching the clock.

Keep punching that clock.

[Marius_Ursus]

It's good to see you back in here Tom. I'm sorry to hear about the hernias but glad you were able to get the surgery to fix things up.

I hear you about working on yourself. Learning to love and respect yourself is huge and is something a lot of people struggle with, without realizing it. I've been doing a lot of work in that area on myself this year as well. It's not easy to do but the dividends are huge.

As far as the working out and exercise go, just keep doing what you're doing and building consistency and you'll be back in great shape before you know it.

That's what I keep telling myself. I just have to stick with it and keep hoping for the best.

Good work going on in here Tom. I'm glad to hear that your hernia surgery was a success and that you have been able to work through some issues that were holding you back. I feel like respecting yourself has a lot to do with disciplining your body and it seems that you are taking major strides in that area. Stay at it my friend!

Thank you. It's keeping my head in the right place to remember that respecting myself means not accepting anything from myself but the best I have to offer.

When I first started journaling here you were on of the first people to encourage me on my journal. One thing you told was to keep punching the clock.

Keep punching that clock.

Ha...today was definitely a clock puncher of a day.

[Marius_Ursus]

Monday, 11/18/19

Cardio
25 minutes

Kettlebell Clean and Press
5@24kg
4@24kg
3@24kg
2@24kg
1@24kg

Plank
60 seconds

Hip pain was really bothering me.

[Marius_Ursus]

Wednesday, 11/20/19

Cardio
32 minutes

Squat
3x115 - Searing pain in the hip, couldn't get my butt all the way down

Power Clean and Press
2x2@85
2x2@85

Deadlift
5x155
5x155
5x155

Bench Press
5x115
8x115
10x115

Crunch
1x15

Leg Lift Static Hold
30 seconds

I seemed to do better in my hip when I just walked fast and deadlifted and bench pressed. I'm going to back off the jogging and go back to walking and leave squats out all together and see what happens. I hope it just continues to get better again. This pain is for the birds.

It's not just the pain, either. The muscles from my left lower back all the way down my hamstring refuse to fire at full capacity. I can feel my right side compensating in bearing most of the load.

[shaneinga]

Tom I did a bunch of PT work this year for my knees. A lot of things they had me doing had to do with getting my muscles firing again. Have you considered going to a PT?

I do a lot of banded hip work where I do holds with bands. Lots of single legged balance work etc. One of our bodies defense mechanisms to protect an area that is hurt is to turn off the muscles around it. PT will help fix that. I wish I had more than 20 visits available per year.

[Marius_Ursus]

Tom I did a bunch of PT work this year for my knees. A lot of things they had me doing had to do with getting my muscles firing again. Have you considered going to a PT?

I do a lot of banded hip work where I do holds with bands. Lots of single legged balance work etc. One of our bodies defense mechanisms to protect an area that is hurt is to turn off the muscles around it. PT will help fix that. I wish I had more than 20 visits available per year.

I'm really aware of how the muscles around my left hip won't fire. It's frustrating.

Unfortunately, the State of NY has a rule on any insurance purchased form their exchange that rehabilitative PT is uncovered, so I'd have to pay out of pocket. I'd be looking at $783 for the assessment alone. It doubly sucks because I bought the *best* insurance on the exchange, and I have no rehab coverage.

The ab work I'm doing seems to be helping at least. It *feels* like my left leg is slowly getting where it needs to be, so the ball and socket will start to function correctly at some point.

[Marius_Ursus]

I'm way, way better about working out than I am about journaling.

I've been doing mostly bodyweight work and some kettlebell work with daily runs.

Today it was warm-ish, almost 40 degrees, so I hit the barbell.

Deadlift
3x5@135

OH Press
3x5@65

BOR
3x5@65

I wound the clock back on my training and decided to run my old strength program from about 10 years ago. I made the best strength progress of my life doing it. The fundamentals are:

Deadlift, Press, Row five days per week starting around 60% of 1RM then, adding 5 pounds every day. When the weight gets to the point that you can't lift with *perfect* form, you drop 10 pounds from the bar and start the cycle over. Over the course of six weeks I added 20 pounds to my deadlift. I hope to get somewhere in that neighborhood of progress again.

Thanks for reading.

[Marius_Ursus]

12/10/2019

Deadlift
1x140
1x135

Press
2x65

BOR
2x65

Crunch
1x35

Jog
30 minutes

[Marius_Ursus]

Wednesday 12/11/19

Deadlift
1x145
1x145

Press
2x75

BOR
2x75

Walk
1 mile

[Marius_Ursus]

Thursday 12/12/19

Deadlift
1x150
1x150

Press
2x80

BOR
2x80


Crunches
35

Superman
30 seconds

Walk
1 mile

[Marius_Ursus]

Friday 12/13/2019

Deadlift
1x155
1x155

Press
2x85

BOR
2x85

Crunches
31

Superman
30 seconds

End of week 1, so Monday I'll start off with a 10 pound reset and hit DL at 145, Press at 75, and BOR at 75 then cycle through the week with 5-pound increments again. I got off track early in the week, but I corrected my course and the numbers are running how they should now.

The pain seems to be getting less. It's felt like less in the past, too only to come back worse, so I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!

[charlievanriper]

Friday 12/13/2019

Deadlift
1x155
1x155

Press
2x85

BOR
2x85

Crunches
31

Superman
30 seconds

End of week 1, so Monday I'll start off with a 10 pound reset and hit DL at 145, Press at 75, and BOR at 75 then cycle through the week with 5-pound increments again. I got off track early in the week, but I corrected my course and the numbers are running how they should now.

The pain seems to be getting less. It's felt like less in the past, too only to come back worse, so I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!

Hope everything is well my freind, merry Christmas and happy New year