This week, for the first time since May, I actually managed to work out 3 times a week. In fact, ever since mid 2009, my workouts have been very irregular, so I have not progressed much in my strength training. Last year, life threw a crazy curve ball that made my stress levels shoot up. That coupled with the fact that I am an easy prey for cortisol, I really put on some fluff on the lower abs. To top it all, in June this year a minor accident left me with 3 herniated discs in the neck and put me on about 4 months of prescription anti inflammatories and physio therapy. So, from working out about 3 or 4 times a week in 2009, I dropped to 2 or 3 times a month and skipped one month altogether. Some good did come of all this. The blood work showed that I was low on Vit D -- not really surprising since I don't exactly spend 12 hour days in the sunlight. The MRI showed not just 3 herniated discs in the neck, but also 3 degenerated discs. Aha! I was wondering when my bad computer habits will finally come back to haunt me. They have. Every time I slouched in front of the computer, the pinched nerve would shock my arm. Like a dog on shock collar I was made very well aware of my bad posture at work and have been forced to sit up straight.
The inflammation has finally subsided and I hope at least for the rest of this month I can get in a couple more work outs. So far I have managed 4 workouts this month!!
Here's today's workout:
squats: 68lbs, 12*3
chest press (dumbells): 15 lbs, 12*3
one arm rows: 25 lbs, 9*3
flyes: 10lbs, 12*3
lat pull downs: 25 lbs, 12*3
tricep push down: 15lbs, 12*3
bicep curls (barbell): 25 lbs:, 12*3
tricep dips: 10, 12, 12
deadlifts: 55lbs, 10*3
Abs: some plank work with leg movement
jumping jack -- about 50 or so.
Congratulations on the resumption! You will stick to it- we all go through rough patches ! As you have neck issues ,may I suggest incorporating pushups and face pulls on a pulley machine ? And avoiding lat pull -downs and flyes ? Unless you are absolutely sure about teh form ? For in high volume training like this form sometimes dips in last sets/reps.
Hey thanks for the tip Varsha. I am in due for a change. As you can see, I am going real easy on the upper body and have to pause between sets to stretch the neck out, so I don't think my form is suffering. But, I am getting bored of this routine and it's due for a change. My goal before Spring was to actually start a 4-day split, never did materialize because of work commitments. Time to revisit. I am thinking of starting Krista's intermediate 4-day push/pull light/heavy split on her website (http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-5). What do you think? Will work? I will probably swap the crunches to plank work, though. Was never a big fan of crunches.
oh yes ! used it for a long time - but I did not spilt upper/lower - you can do what ever works for you .Reps were 3*8 for heavy and 2*12 for light. I wd do a day each of light push and heavy push and a day each of heavy pull and light pull . It looked like this: light push ( spilt squat ,lunges ,dumbell presses,shoulder presses) ,heavy pull (deadlifts.,romanian deadlifts , bent over row , hanging leg raises) light pull ( swiss ball hamstring bridges ,cable rowing , single leg deadlifts ) heavy push ( squats ,bench,dips ,military press)
I like this plan. So if I understand you correctly, I could do sth like: Monday: everything under heavy pull Wed: everything under heavy push Thu: everything under light pull Sat/Sun: everything under light push?
PS any idea how to select weights for heavy and light as percentage of say how much I can work for 12 reps?
PPS: can you tell me which version u had in mind for swiss ball hamstring bridges? PPPS: What's the difference between dumbell and bench presses, other than bench uses barbell? If so, I would like to not do bench since my lazy left side cheats big time on this.
- toughest ( for me heavy pull ) on Saturday as it is off for me. - Monday : start of the week I would be rested and raring to go -so Heavy Push -which I found easier than Pull. - Then follow with light pull on wed and light push on Friday. - You must find what fits in to your routine giving you adequate recovery time.
- As a beginner i could do 1/6th for lower body and 1/8th for upper for most moves.But the only rule* here is what you can handle without losing form .*I once pulled my Back muscle badly while doing Romanian DL's 15 reps with a baby bawling on the door.No body is going to kill you if you leave that set midway. It happens. - Push ups can alternate with Bench .Infact they are tougher than Bench and great if you have any back problem.Though moving the Iron somehow gives a bigger Adrenaline rush:) - Dumbell bench presses have the big advantage that you can do one sided presses - especially for the weaker side only.I think you should do only single arm Dumbell bench and alternate with pushups. - Even single leg work is awesome and great for glutes (esp as I had troublesome Knees) Glute work rocks. - Look at the third version in this video.If double leg is easy for you then roll out with single leg -that is tough!
Thx, Varsha. I will expt with the weights. It will probably take me some time to figure out which ones will work for me. Overall sounds like an interesting workout!
Congratulations on the resumption! You will stick to it- we all go through rough patches !
ReplyDeleteAs you have neck issues ,may I suggest incorporating pushups and face pulls on a pulley machine ? And avoiding lat pull -downs and flyes ? Unless you are absolutely sure about teh form ?
For in high volume training like this form sometimes dips in last sets/reps.
Hey thanks for the tip Varsha. I am in due for a change. As you can see, I am going real easy on the upper body and have to pause between sets to stretch the neck out, so I don't think my form is suffering. But, I am getting bored of this routine and it's due for a change. My goal before Spring was to actually start a 4-day split, never did materialize because of work commitments. Time to revisit. I am thinking of starting Krista's intermediate 4-day push/pull light/heavy split on her website (http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-5). What do you think? Will work? I will probably swap the crunches to plank work, though. Was never a big fan of crunches.
ReplyDeleteoh yes ! used it for a long time - but I did not spilt upper/lower - you can do what ever works for you .Reps were 3*8 for heavy and 2*12 for light. I wd do a day each of
ReplyDeletelight push and heavy push
and a day each of heavy pull and light pull .
It looked like this:
light push ( spilt squat ,lunges ,dumbell presses,shoulder presses) ,heavy pull (deadlifts.,romanian deadlifts , bent over row , hanging leg raises)
light pull ( swiss ball hamstring bridges ,cable rowing , single leg deadlifts )
heavy push ( squats ,bench,dips ,military press)
I like this plan. So if I understand you correctly, I could do sth like:
ReplyDeleteMonday: everything under heavy pull
Wed: everything under heavy push
Thu: everything under light pull
Sat/Sun: everything under light push?
PS any idea how to select weights for heavy and light as percentage of say how much I can work for 12 reps?
PPS: can you tell me which version u had in mind for swiss ball hamstring bridges?
PPPS: What's the difference between dumbell and bench presses, other than bench uses barbell? If so, I would like to not do bench since my lazy left side cheats big time on this.
PPPPS: Also, don't see any push ups?
My plan was:
ReplyDelete- toughest ( for me heavy pull ) on Saturday as it is off for me.
- Monday : start of the week I would be rested and raring to go -so Heavy Push -which I found easier than Pull.
- Then follow with light pull on wed and light push on Friday.
- You must find what fits in to your routine giving you adequate recovery time.
- As a beginner i could do 1/6th for lower body and 1/8th for upper for most moves.But the only rule* here is what you can handle without losing form .*I once pulled my Back muscle badly while doing Romanian DL's 15 reps with a baby bawling on the door.No body is going to kill you if you leave that set midway. It happens.
- Push ups can alternate with Bench .Infact they are tougher than Bench and great if you have any back problem.Though moving the Iron somehow gives a bigger Adrenaline rush:)
- Dumbell bench presses have the big advantage that you can do one sided presses - especially for the weaker side only.I think you should do only single arm Dumbell bench and alternate with pushups.
- Even single leg work is awesome and great for glutes (esp as I had troublesome Knees) Glute work rocks.
- Look at the third version in this video.If double leg is easy for you
then roll out with single leg -that is tough!
ooops The link :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9n8fnCgrtM
Thx, Varsha. I will expt with the weights. It will probably take me some time to figure out which ones will work for me. Overall sounds like an interesting workout!
ReplyDelete