I'm putting this blog on hold for a while. I might reinvent it and bring it back once school starts - tales of an overage student, or something like that - but as an exercise blog, I think it's done.
I don't know that I make such an interesting subject for this topic. I set goals and do what I have to do to meet them. Woo hoo! Not interesting. At least, not interesting to write about. That side bar I used to keep, logging my workouts? I could do it from memory because I JUST DID THE WORKOUTS. *yawn* The run mileage might change, but in the end, I run on my run days, lift on my lifting days, go to the dojo on karate days, and rest now and again.
My current situation is a bit different than usual in that I'm coming off an injury, but it's still pretty dull stuff to write about. And that injury? As it has turned out - and no, I never asked the doctor about it - I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but I'm sure it's NOT what I originally thought it was. I know the median nerve was affected, either directly or due to swelling; I know I have left triceps atrophy. I sometimes still have pain in the back/trap region. But everything is improving steadily; I don't feel compelled to ice as often, I rarely take NSAIDs, and I can even sleep on my left side again. Presses involving the left arm are still on the pathetic side, but I keep seeing progress in the right direction.
Should I have gotten a diagnosis? Probably. Do I care? No. I don't believe a diagnosis would have changed the treatment plan any - although I do think it would have been nice to have had e-stim early on for pain.
As for my workouts - they are a bit of a mess, by my standards. I don't have a formal strength plan going; I'm currently doing two leg-oriented circuits a week plus two upper body workouts, and adding some rehab/PT work for a mini third upper body workout on either a leg day or an off day, however the schedule goes (and even than has been highly variable lately; I've been picking up extra shifts at work, which translate to 12 - 13 hour work days, which mess up the best laid workout plans of mice and men). I've been running 2 - 3 days a week. I'd like to make it 3, but that doesn't always happen, due to work. I've been missing more karate than usual, due to work and school. (Which is going fine. Holding steady with B's in both labs.) I have a part of a marathon relay to run in two weeks for which I am suddenly unprepared - suddenly, because one of the team runners has just dropped out and I'm going to have to run a much longer leg than what I've been training to do.
On top of all that, getting my ducks in order for school is not so much time consuming as it is in need of constant attention. During the past three weeks I've had four doctors appointments, which have included one physical, two PPD (tuberculosis) tests and two "reads," two blood draws, and three vaccinations. Plus there's financial aid paperwork, other paperwork and consent forms, and just - stuff - of which I just received another packet yesterday.
I guess it's all better than being bored. And, the End is in Sight. Physics ends May 2; I leave my job on May 11; school starts May 28. The stack of paperwork is getting hammered through. And I will relaunch this blog, probably with a school focus (and an exercise minor), at some point in the near future. Stay tuned!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
So, what next?
A very good question.
For a change, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I'm following a BAD shoulder day with a very good shoulder day, which tempts me to do more... but I don't want to jump the gun. For what it's worth, while I keep characterizing this as a shoulder problem, it's more correctly an upper back problem; I have no problems on the rotator cuff tests - I have no loss of ROM and can do things I wouldn't be able to do if I had an RC tear. But the weakness extends into my arm, and lack of left arm strength is basically what's killing my UB workouts at this point. In fact I was doing some light benching yesterday - just what I could handle with perfect form (and it's the weakness that kills the form, not pain) - and what I found really disturbing was how my upper back felt asymmetrical. That is, I could feel the atrophy in the left upper back. Not a great feeling, but it cemented my grasp of my situation - there is not a damned thing I can do besides back up and rebuild.
So that's where my thoughts are today. I am accepting that I'll have to use machines for leg workouts for a while; hopefully not too long since they're going to get boring, fast. The UB stuff and the core stuff, I will just have to play by ear, although the goal will be to hit the weakest points three times a week. What this will probably look like is a total body Monday, UB Wednesday, legs Friday, UB Saturday. Except - there's always an exception, damn it - this week I will be getting about 1,000 shots for school so I may just be playing it all by ear. Again, nothing I can control so nothing I will sweat. If I'm sore, I'll work the unsore parts.
Speaking of school - got a lot of paperwork done today; everything that is due, besides my medical papers by the end of this month is in, and I should have the medical stuff that's immediately due done by end of my appointment on Tuesday. (Hopefully. It's just paperwork, right?) I still have to do my state taxes - had hoped to get them done today but the state efile site is down so it'll have to wait. Got the feds done, so as soon as I get confirmation back from the IRS I can put in my student loan stuff. Hopefully I should be able to do THAT this week, too. All that plus orientation Friday and I will feel on track, at least at the moment. I feel as if I'm looking at a giant countdown clock - it's a mere 10 weeks until school starts. Holy shit.
For a change, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I'm following a BAD shoulder day with a very good shoulder day, which tempts me to do more... but I don't want to jump the gun. For what it's worth, while I keep characterizing this as a shoulder problem, it's more correctly an upper back problem; I have no problems on the rotator cuff tests - I have no loss of ROM and can do things I wouldn't be able to do if I had an RC tear. But the weakness extends into my arm, and lack of left arm strength is basically what's killing my UB workouts at this point. In fact I was doing some light benching yesterday - just what I could handle with perfect form (and it's the weakness that kills the form, not pain) - and what I found really disturbing was how my upper back felt asymmetrical. That is, I could feel the atrophy in the left upper back. Not a great feeling, but it cemented my grasp of my situation - there is not a damned thing I can do besides back up and rebuild.
So that's where my thoughts are today. I am accepting that I'll have to use machines for leg workouts for a while; hopefully not too long since they're going to get boring, fast. The UB stuff and the core stuff, I will just have to play by ear, although the goal will be to hit the weakest points three times a week. What this will probably look like is a total body Monday, UB Wednesday, legs Friday, UB Saturday. Except - there's always an exception, damn it - this week I will be getting about 1,000 shots for school so I may just be playing it all by ear. Again, nothing I can control so nothing I will sweat. If I'm sore, I'll work the unsore parts.
Speaking of school - got a lot of paperwork done today; everything that is due, besides my medical papers by the end of this month is in, and I should have the medical stuff that's immediately due done by end of my appointment on Tuesday. (Hopefully. It's just paperwork, right?) I still have to do my state taxes - had hoped to get them done today but the state efile site is down so it'll have to wait. Got the feds done, so as soon as I get confirmation back from the IRS I can put in my student loan stuff. Hopefully I should be able to do THAT this week, too. All that plus orientation Friday and I will feel on track, at least at the moment. I feel as if I'm looking at a giant countdown clock - it's a mere 10 weeks until school starts. Holy shit.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Better? Or not...
Hard to tell. Last night was the first night in about a week that I slept through without the shoulder bothering me. I think that's good. However I also haven't tested it much, so I don't know if there's a bit of strength recovery to go along with that.
Tuesday I modified the leg workout to use machines so I didn't have to carry weights in my hands for any exercises, or rest the bar on my shoulders. I cannot tell you how - frankly - embarrassing it felt to be using machines instead of doing real exercises. I guess I have some more getting over myself to do, eh? The most frustrating part was trying to find a core exercise that worked. I definitely thought bar rollouts, the exercise prescribed for that workout, were a BAD idea, so I tried planks, but they hurt the shoulder, so I tried one ab machine, and THAT hurt the shoulder, so I tried a second, and it felt wrong - too much completely unsupported lumbar flexion. I couldn't pull a rotational exercise from memory that I thought would let the shoulder alone, so that was that. I guess a bit more research and experimentation is in order.
Wednesday, I had planned to hit the gym and take a yoga class, since it's spring break and I didn't have class. Instead I got a call at 6:30 am, asking if I could work. So, I did, since money is good and my shoulder is bad, anyway. I usually run Thursdays before work but after working 12 the day before and facing a 12 that day as well, I just let it go. I guess I could have been upset about this but these are truly rare circumstances for me so I didn't see any sense in sweating it.
Today I'll be modding the LB exercises as needed - no deadlifts (*snif! I really do like them), no heavy lunges. Broad jumps, which have been on the Friday menu, are off today, but I might do some box jumps for the heck of it. Definitely no Palloff presses (hurts just thinking about them). Maybe a substitute if I can find one that works. I will add some very light shoulder work, mostly stretches, and extend the cardio because I want to. Heh. Sorry, Eric. I miss running, and the more I think of getting back to it the happier I am. Tomorrow is a UB day which I plan to do since I will probably take off jiu jitsu and karate. (I have control of the UB workout, whereas I don't always have control of what happens in karate and obviously have no control of my partners in jitz.) The plan will be to do the preordained workout with mods as needed, with extra shoulder exercises (light db and theraband) at the end. I'll see where things sit on Sunday, ROM, strength, and pain-wise, and go from there.
What I'm guessing I'll do (because I DO have to guess these things - farbeit from me to leave my workout future unplanned!) is return to at least three days of running a week (long, interval, tempo), plus 3 - 4 days a week in the gym featuring machine heavy (ugh) LB, core as possible, and UB rehab. I think at this point my goals are to 1) do well in my marathon relay and 2) arrive at grad school with a pain-free shoulder.
Tuesday I modified the leg workout to use machines so I didn't have to carry weights in my hands for any exercises, or rest the bar on my shoulders. I cannot tell you how - frankly - embarrassing it felt to be using machines instead of doing real exercises. I guess I have some more getting over myself to do, eh? The most frustrating part was trying to find a core exercise that worked. I definitely thought bar rollouts, the exercise prescribed for that workout, were a BAD idea, so I tried planks, but they hurt the shoulder, so I tried one ab machine, and THAT hurt the shoulder, so I tried a second, and it felt wrong - too much completely unsupported lumbar flexion. I couldn't pull a rotational exercise from memory that I thought would let the shoulder alone, so that was that. I guess a bit more research and experimentation is in order.
Wednesday, I had planned to hit the gym and take a yoga class, since it's spring break and I didn't have class. Instead I got a call at 6:30 am, asking if I could work. So, I did, since money is good and my shoulder is bad, anyway. I usually run Thursdays before work but after working 12 the day before and facing a 12 that day as well, I just let it go. I guess I could have been upset about this but these are truly rare circumstances for me so I didn't see any sense in sweating it.
Today I'll be modding the LB exercises as needed - no deadlifts (*snif! I really do like them), no heavy lunges. Broad jumps, which have been on the Friday menu, are off today, but I might do some box jumps for the heck of it. Definitely no Palloff presses (hurts just thinking about them). Maybe a substitute if I can find one that works. I will add some very light shoulder work, mostly stretches, and extend the cardio because I want to. Heh. Sorry, Eric. I miss running, and the more I think of getting back to it the happier I am. Tomorrow is a UB day which I plan to do since I will probably take off jiu jitsu and karate. (I have control of the UB workout, whereas I don't always have control of what happens in karate and obviously have no control of my partners in jitz.) The plan will be to do the preordained workout with mods as needed, with extra shoulder exercises (light db and theraband) at the end. I'll see where things sit on Sunday, ROM, strength, and pain-wise, and go from there.
What I'm guessing I'll do (because I DO have to guess these things - farbeit from me to leave my workout future unplanned!) is return to at least three days of running a week (long, interval, tempo), plus 3 - 4 days a week in the gym featuring machine heavy (ugh) LB, core as possible, and UB rehab. I think at this point my goals are to 1) do well in my marathon relay and 2) arrive at grad school with a pain-free shoulder.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
So, crap
I'm really kind of annoyed at myself. Strike that. I'm VERY annoyed at myself.
I let ego get in the way in the weight room, and have messed up my shoulder. I feel stupid and I think that hurts more than the shoulder itself.
I really let the aims of this program get to me and perhaps cloud my judgement a bit. Yes, what I did is my responsibility but when you're encouraged to lift as much as you can and there's nothing external telling you "Uh, genius? You were using plenty of weight ten, twenty pounds ago - back off!" I guess shit happens.
I don't know exactly what is wrong, although my guess is a strain to the intraspinatus and possibly some of its neighbors. I do know I have pain mostly in the upper back over/under the shoulder blade extending in to the arm and neck, plus weakness in the shoulder and left arm. I believe the cause has been allowing my shoulder to wing out during pressing horizontal pressing activities. Vertical press is also affected. Horizontal pull doesn't seem to be affected, nor does vertical pull.
So, I know what I should do, and I'm not thrilled. Yeah. Rest it. Stop Max. Strength. OK, the real answer is to go see someone about it, but that's not going to happen just yet. It gets time off and if it doesn't improve, at least in terms of decreasing pain, I'm going to be seeing a doc about some pre-grad school vaccinations in about ten days, anyway - I'll bring it up then.
This really pisses me off. It'll piss me off even more if this doesn't just turn out to be a lesson learned and does turn into a chronic thing. So - I say to myself - it's time to do the smart thing, and resist the damned urge to finish the rotation, no matter what, because that's what I do. Pressing it and delaying healing (at best) or making it worse IS STUPID. It's not worth it. It's really not. One look at the shoulder patients I see every day at work tells me it's. not. worth it.
Why is this so fucking hard??? After all, and on the bright side, we seem to be having an early spring and NOT doing this program will give me leave to start running at will. Given the degree of shoulder weakness I'm experiencing (I can't even do a pushup), it would surprise me greatly if this won't need a good solid four to six weeks or more of recovery time, and I think that's more of an interruption than I can take without restarting this program, since the phases are progressive. In answer to my question, this is hard because it kills my experiment, at least for now, barring some miraculous recovery.
*Sigh. So. Time to reassess and make a new plan. This is supposed to be an "easy" week at the gym, plus my usual schedule is going to be adjusted some due to my working a 13 hour day on Monday (hey, I'm not complaining, just noting, since it moves my rest day around), so I will probably do some experimenting to see exactly what I can/cannot do in terms of leg exercises and hence what compromises I have to make for now. If I can tolerate weights for step ups, lunges, etc., I think I'll be fine. Not sure about squats/which squats. Full deads are probably a very stupid idea. Worst comes to worst, I'll have to use machines for a few weeks. UGH. For upper body it's all rehab exercises within pain free tolerance/ability.
Well, this sucks. But - I guess it's time to just get on with things and stop feeling sorry for myself. Felt good to write this all out. Seems to me whenever I feel like shutting this blog down, something pops up and I really need to write it all out to make sense of it to myself. I could well do that in private, but who knows? Maybe this will help someone out there who finds him/herself in the same situation. If I can get over myself enough to do the right thing, so can you!
I let ego get in the way in the weight room, and have messed up my shoulder. I feel stupid and I think that hurts more than the shoulder itself.
I really let the aims of this program get to me and perhaps cloud my judgement a bit. Yes, what I did is my responsibility but when you're encouraged to lift as much as you can and there's nothing external telling you "Uh, genius? You were using plenty of weight ten, twenty pounds ago - back off!" I guess shit happens.
I don't know exactly what is wrong, although my guess is a strain to the intraspinatus and possibly some of its neighbors. I do know I have pain mostly in the upper back over/under the shoulder blade extending in to the arm and neck, plus weakness in the shoulder and left arm. I believe the cause has been allowing my shoulder to wing out during pressing horizontal pressing activities. Vertical press is also affected. Horizontal pull doesn't seem to be affected, nor does vertical pull.
So, I know what I should do, and I'm not thrilled. Yeah. Rest it. Stop Max. Strength. OK, the real answer is to go see someone about it, but that's not going to happen just yet. It gets time off and if it doesn't improve, at least in terms of decreasing pain, I'm going to be seeing a doc about some pre-grad school vaccinations in about ten days, anyway - I'll bring it up then.
This really pisses me off. It'll piss me off even more if this doesn't just turn out to be a lesson learned and does turn into a chronic thing. So - I say to myself - it's time to do the smart thing, and resist the damned urge to finish the rotation, no matter what, because that's what I do. Pressing it and delaying healing (at best) or making it worse IS STUPID. It's not worth it. It's really not. One look at the shoulder patients I see every day at work tells me it's. not. worth it.
Why is this so fucking hard??? After all, and on the bright side, we seem to be having an early spring and NOT doing this program will give me leave to start running at will. Given the degree of shoulder weakness I'm experiencing (I can't even do a pushup), it would surprise me greatly if this won't need a good solid four to six weeks or more of recovery time, and I think that's more of an interruption than I can take without restarting this program, since the phases are progressive. In answer to my question, this is hard because it kills my experiment, at least for now, barring some miraculous recovery.
*Sigh. So. Time to reassess and make a new plan. This is supposed to be an "easy" week at the gym, plus my usual schedule is going to be adjusted some due to my working a 13 hour day on Monday (hey, I'm not complaining, just noting, since it moves my rest day around), so I will probably do some experimenting to see exactly what I can/cannot do in terms of leg exercises and hence what compromises I have to make for now. If I can tolerate weights for step ups, lunges, etc., I think I'll be fine. Not sure about squats/which squats. Full deads are probably a very stupid idea. Worst comes to worst, I'll have to use machines for a few weeks. UGH. For upper body it's all rehab exercises within pain free tolerance/ability.
Well, this sucks. But - I guess it's time to just get on with things and stop feeling sorry for myself. Felt good to write this all out. Seems to me whenever I feel like shutting this blog down, something pops up and I really need to write it all out to make sense of it to myself. I could well do that in private, but who knows? Maybe this will help someone out there who finds him/herself in the same situation. If I can get over myself enough to do the right thing, so can you!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Funky week
Yes, yes, yes, I haven't been keeping up with the blog all that well. It hasn't been anywhere near first on my mind; my schedule is a bit crazy right now. For the next couple of weeks I'm working a 13 day on Mondays, which has necessitated my shifting my workout schedule a bit. It's all good, I'll take the $. Might not be The Plan as Cressey wrote it, but it's either go with the flow or - what? So, I pick go with the flow.
Speaking of the flow... I forgot until I was nearly at the gym today that this is the third week of the program. This has deep meaning because the third week of each phase is Very Heavy week; heavy weights, fewer reps, more sets. (Or, in some cases, just more sets.) Of course this also means that next week is light week - something to look forward to!
I'm sure you're probably wondering (or not!) - why no Superbowl chatter from a sports fan? Well, it's because I frankly hated both teams that played. In the end I was thrilled the Patriots lost, but I would have been equally thrilled had the Giants lost. Fuck 'em both. And no, I didn't watch the half time show. Favorite commercials: the boy who peed in the pool, and the ad with Motley Crue and Chuck Liddell. And that's a wrap!
Speaking of the flow... I forgot until I was nearly at the gym today that this is the third week of the program. This has deep meaning because the third week of each phase is Very Heavy week; heavy weights, fewer reps, more sets. (Or, in some cases, just more sets.) Of course this also means that next week is light week - something to look forward to!
I'm sure you're probably wondering (or not!) - why no Superbowl chatter from a sports fan? Well, it's because I frankly hated both teams that played. In the end I was thrilled the Patriots lost, but I would have been equally thrilled had the Giants lost. Fuck 'em both. And no, I didn't watch the half time show. Favorite commercials: the boy who peed in the pool, and the ad with Motley Crue and Chuck Liddell. And that's a wrap!
Monday, January 30, 2012
One week plus
So, I finally hit the mother of all leg workouts (well, so far!) last Friday. I mean, holy shit. The lifts included front squats - always torture, pin deadlifts (meaning, short range dead lifts that start at knee height), Bulgarian split squats - another perennial form of torture, and some ab/core work. Because the pin deadlifts are such short range, you can really crank up the weight, so I was lifting my conventional DL 1 rep max, plus, for reps. Between that, the front squats, and the warmup sets for both, I lifted a LOT of weight, and I was really leg sore on Saturday. Saturday's workout, in turn, was upper body and plenty tough in and of itself. I think I'm starting to get in tune with this program!
Sunday I went for a run with the dojo running club. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be running, but I am making this compromised of my own volition to keep my sanity. My plan is to keep the club runs under five miles (and I did) and to keep the pace tame (which it was by my standards, although not as tame as I think Cressey would like). But, there you have it.
Today I started the second week, which is an "easier" week than last week, meaning we do one less set of a couple of exercises. Next week is a very hard week, and looks brutal. Yay.
Sunday I went for a run with the dojo running club. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be running, but I am making this compromised of my own volition to keep my sanity. My plan is to keep the club runs under five miles (and I did) and to keep the pace tame (which it was by my standards, although not as tame as I think Cressey would like). But, there you have it.
Today I started the second week, which is an "easier" week than last week, meaning we do one less set of a couple of exercises. Next week is a very hard week, and looks brutal. Yay.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
School daze
So I officially started the last semester of my undergraduate career today. Yes, grad school is making me take TWO physics labs, because my college physics courses did not include a lab. I don't know why not - we had bio and chem labs, as well as labs for non-traditional science courses - but that's the way it was, and now my acceptance into grad school is contingent on my passing these courses.
Make no mistake - I WILL pass these courses, hopefully with excellent grades. But we did a practise pre-test today in one of the labs and it is clear to me that I remember very little from my past course work. It's only been 25 years (shit, did I just type that?) so you'd think I'd recall SOMETHING, but - well, this is going to be interesting. Challenging, I meant challenging!
----
Yesterday was an interval cardio day; I opted to run (I will in all likelihood always opt to run, barring complete shit weather) and did HiiT as prescribed. Today was an upper body workout at the gym. These upper and lower body workouts conclude with 10 minutes of steady state cardio, which for now I will be doing on cardio machines because it's a lot easier than changing and hitting the road. Today I ran on the treadmill for the first time (Monday I walked on a steep incline) - also ran in five fingers for the first time, as they're the "shoes" I wear in the gym. I imagine it's different running in them on real ground; however I could feel a difference in my stride even on the mill. Could be a good thing?
Make no mistake - I WILL pass these courses, hopefully with excellent grades. But we did a practise pre-test today in one of the labs and it is clear to me that I remember very little from my past course work. It's only been 25 years (shit, did I just type that?) so you'd think I'd recall SOMETHING, but - well, this is going to be interesting. Challenging, I meant challenging!
----
Yesterday was an interval cardio day; I opted to run (I will in all likelihood always opt to run, barring complete shit weather) and did HiiT as prescribed. Today was an upper body workout at the gym. These upper and lower body workouts conclude with 10 minutes of steady state cardio, which for now I will be doing on cardio machines because it's a lot easier than changing and hitting the road. Today I ran on the treadmill for the first time (Monday I walked on a steep incline) - also ran in five fingers for the first time, as they're the "shoes" I wear in the gym. I imagine it's different running in them on real ground; however I could feel a difference in my stride even on the mill. Could be a good thing?
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