Monday, July 31, 2017

Update - first day squatting with weight (225x5x5)

Mon, 31 Jul 17

Squats: 45x2x10, 135x10, 225x5x5
Leg Press (plates): 2x10, 4x10, 6x3x10
Leg Curl (each leg): 30x3x15
Curls: 40x10, 50x10, 60x2x10
Pec Dec (each arm): 100x15, 130x10, 150x10
Dumbbell shoulder press: 30x3x10
Dumbbell curl: 30x3x7

So, I did some leg work today.  I used loose wraps on my knees to keep them warm.  My right knee complained a little, it's become unused to bending that far and was a little clicky.  By the end my body was getting used to the movement and my hips were getting nice and loose.  I followed up with a little more light leg work and then finished up with some chest and bicep work.


Monday, July 24, 2017

Cleared for recovery

Mon, 24 July 17

I had a doctor do my ultrasound on Friday and he says everything looks like its healing well, and I should be able to start working on recovery.  Since then I've been stretching, and today added a little superlight leg work.  Few kettlebell stretches, some leg curls with like 30 lbs, all very light stuff.  Did my regular upper body work as well, as the leg work took maybe 15 minutes.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

I'll post if something interesting happens....

19-20 July 17

With me being limited to low weight, high rep upper body work there's not a lot of point in logging the sessions unless something interesting occurs.  Basically I'm just trying out different stuff to see what hits the muscles the hardest without causing me to engage the right hamstring.

I've been trying stuff like dumbbell presses, one armed pec-deck work (really seems to hit the pec better than both arms), behind the neck presses, straight bar upright rows, curls, using a cable row machine with one leg on the center pad and my bad leg out of the way so I don't put any weight on it.  Stuff like that.

I go for an ultrasound tomorrow to see what sort of damage there is in there.  It's still tender to the touch by the back of the knee, where the tendons/ligament damage supposedly is, and the hamstring itself still has a tender spot.  

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Blah, blah, blah. Upper body.

Tues, 18 Jul 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x10, 175x10, 155x10, 135x15

So, I did 20 chin ups to start.  Then I did bench press, curls, behind the neck presses, one arm seated dumbbell shoulder presses, and some cable work.

My arms were pretty fatigued by the time I was done lol.

Monday, July 17, 2017

I'm soooo borrrrred.

Mon, 17 July 17

Smith machine bench:  90x10, 110x2x10, 130x5
Smith machine press (wide, incline):  130x5, 110x10
Smith machine press (wide, medium, narrow, incline): 90x10, 70x10, 50x10
Chin ups: 16
BTN presses: 50x15, 60x2x15, 50x20
Preacher curls: 40x15, 50x3x10

What a boring, boring session.  The smith machine felt very heavy on bench.  I kept looking all around it to see what the actual weight of the unit is before plates, because it really felt like more than a normal bench.  I think I could have easily pressed 135x10 or more reps, but the smith makes 2 plates feel more like 175 or so. Anyhow.


Thursday, July 13, 2017

Bench, half decent

Thurs, 13 July 17

Bench: 135x10, 155x7, 175x5, 195x3, 175x5, 155x5, 135x12

Floor presses (Smith) : 50x15, 70x12, 90x2x10

Preacher Curls: 40x10, 50x10, 60x10, 70x10, 80x5

I did paused benches today, pyramid style, with the last set just being a fast pumpy set.  I did floor presses after that using the smith machine. I then moved on to curls. I've switched to straight bar as I find it actually easier on my joints. Very slow and deliberate full range. Very tortuous.

Lastly, I did some pulley work and called it a day.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Guess what I did today, c'mon, guess!!

Weds, 12 July 17

Yeah, upper body.

I started off with a set of chin ups and rocked out 15, then later two sets of 10.  Then preacher curls - 40x15, 50x3x12. I did some smith machine seated incline presses - wide, medium, narrow as usual.  50x15, 70x10, 80x10, 80x5.  Next I did some one armed, cross body cable flyes, hitting the pecs - 27.5x15, 32.5x15, 37.5x15.  Next I grabbed some dumbbells and did 1 arm seated shoulder presses.  30x15, 35x15, 40x10, 45x10. Face pulls came next, can't remember the exact weight, 2 sets of 15.  Lastly ab machine, 110x15, 130x10, 150x2x5, 130x10





Bench

Tues, 11 Jul, 17

You know , I see guys who do upper body every day. How can they stand the monotony lol!

Bench: 135x10, 155x10, 175x10, 155x10, 135x10

Then, a variety of exciting curls, and other upper body work.

Monday, July 10, 2017

Upper body still, lol.... high rep, low weight

Mon, 10 Jul 17

This will likely become a trend haha.  So, today I did biceps, triceps, and delts.  A little trap work incidentally.

Started with a whopping 15 chin ups!  But the next few sets were less lol - 8 and 5.  I just stuck them in between other sets here and there.  I was glad to see that I am making progress on the initial set.  If I had the time I could rest to the point where I could repeat, but I don't have time for that.

The bench presses were all tied up, so I then moved to ez-curl bars and did this supersetted:

Preacher curl: 50x2x15, 40x1x20
Upright row: 50x2x15, 40x1x20
Behind the neck press: 50x2x15, 40x1x20

I then did some dumbbell shoulder presses while I was waiting for the smith machine.  Each arm 30x3x15.  Those 14 and 15 reps were really tough.

I then moved to the smith machine, 45 incline bench, all supersetted.  I don't know how much the base weight is for the bar, so I'm just noting the plates.  I feel like it's probably close to 45 lbs.

Wide grip: 25x15, 25x2x10, 25x10
Medium grip: 25x15, 25x2x10, 25x10
Close grip: 25x15, 25x2x10, 25x10

Once again the last few reps were pretty hard, muscles were really starting to get fatigued.

I then moved on to the tricep push down machine, and did 110x15, 130x15, 110x15

I finished off with the ab machine, I don't remember the weight exactly but it was I think 90x20, and 110x2x10 or something like that.


Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Upper body - still picking out exercises.

Tues, 5 July 17

Yesterday and today I went to the gym for the main purpose of seeing what upper body work I could do that did not require any hamstring use.

Things I tried and had success with:

1. High rep, low weight bench press,
2. Seated incline press. wide, medium and narrow,
3, Chin ups,
4. Pull ups,
5. Seated dumbbell curls with medium weight - too heavy and I start to have to flex the hamstring to stabilize,
6. Preacher curls with the ez-curl bar, medium weight,
7. Cable flyes and rope push downs,
8. Tricep push down machine,
9. Ab crunch machine.

I'll play around a bit more and see what else I can do.  I expect the next step in my injury recovery will be walking for my cardio.  Following that, light stretching and mild resistance work.  (think bands or a very light cable kick)



Injured!

Fri, 30 Jul 17

Had an off day and went to the gym. Started off with deadlifts and did a set of 225x5, then moved on to 315x5. I was pulling the second two when I felt a snap in my left hamstring, then pain.  I limped around, doing what upper body work I could, then went back to the office. 
I iced and took a bunch of ibuprofen. But it was still pretty tender.  Anyhow. Four days later I'm still tender and suddenly developed a ridiculously huge bruise on my hamstring just above the knee. 
It appears to be a stage 2 hamstring strain, and will have me restricted for four to six weeks.  So all upper body for now.