Commanding My Body

[Commander]

Originally Posted by bigbear6708

yes!! the walking dead is great thus far! did you happen to see the trailer for next (this) episode..and who is coming back!?!?!?!?!?

another thing about the tire dragging!, the road i live on is pretty close to 1/4 mile...easily track my distances! (I dont go the full shot at once) LOL

I didn't see the trailer for the next episode. My wife and I don't have cable. First two seasons we bought on Itunes, this season we are purchasing on CinemaNow. It's pretty neat, no commercials, watch it when it is conducive to our schedule.

But I did see the whole season trailer on the internet before the season started, and based on that, I think I know who's coming back next episdoe....Merle!

Glad you don't do the 1/4 mile at once! That would be way too endurance oriented for my taste (but I suppose that would be good for your Army PT conditioning).

[Commander]

Wednesday - no workout

Thursday - 24 hour bug, I am usually a puker, but I managed to get through this one with out puking

Friday - dehydrated and weak from not consuming anything on Thursday

Saturday - still a bit dehydrated and weak, it's crazy how one day of not drinking water can impact you. I carved pumpkins in the afternoon with my boys.

However I was able to take my occlusion wraps and a dumbbell to my sons gymnastics class and do this workout:

Quad Dominant Leg Day

Swiss Ball Leg Curl
BWx10, 3 sets single leg
BWx15, both legs

Occluded Goblet Squat
BWx10
52 pound dumbbell x 10, 4 sets then unwrap

Goblet Squat
52x10, 4 sets

Occluded Goblet Squat
52x10, 3 sets then unwrap

DB Swings ss with Vertical Jump
52x10, then 3 max jumps, 3 supersets

This actually left my legs pretty tired and my quad were sore on Sunday

Sunday - Deadlift/Back

3 sets of 10 on glute ham curls to warmup

a1) Deadlift, 331x5, 6 sets
a2) Front Lever
a3) Tricep Rope Pushdowns

b1) Ring Row, BWx6, 4 sets - After 4th round, 5 micro sets of 3, 15 seconds rest
b2) Ab Bench Crunches
b3) OH Tricep Extensions on rings

c) T-Bar, 150x6, 4 sets, After 4th set, 4 micro sets of 3, 15 seconds rest

[HardCory]

That bug seems to be going around everywhere; glad you're feeling better.

[Commander]

Originally Posted by HardCory

That bug seems to be going around everywhere; glad you're feeling better.

Thanks!

-------

To anyone who has been following along, you know that my knee has been in pain which has left me to unable to squat. No back squats since June, no front squats since July. Many attempts at workout arounds have failed.

However, over the weekend, I had success (see post above)!

Here are parts of an e-mail I sent about the subject:

I wanted to let you know about a successful workout I had that actually left my quads sore and enabled me to squat fully, thighs to calves. Here is the method to my madness (and I'd love to hear your thoughts)

Swiss Ball Leg Curl to warmup - Reasons: 1) Hamstring dominant movements tend to not cause any pain or discomfort for me 2) John Meadows writes how a hamstring pump can help make squats safer 3) Any blood flow to the knee joint prior to squatting would be beneficial 4) Single leg work helps activate the musculature of the knee due to the stabilization required 5) Pre-fatigue legs somewhat so I won't have to use as much weight to get a hypertrophic effect from squatting 6) Keeping a tight glute bridge while doing swiss ball leg curls should help dynamically stretch the rectus femoris and hip flexors which, if tight, can contribute pain/discomfort to an already nagging knee joint when squatting.

Occluded Goblet Squats - Reasons: 1) Dan John writes how this is a great movement to naturally teach good squat position 2) Occluded to fatigue the legs more effectively 3) The occlusion obviously helped the pump immensely as just doing one set occluded pools lots of blood in the thighs, having a pump around the knee joint felt wonderful and the reps were deep and pain free.

* I also tried to keep constant tension to further amplify the occlusion effect by just barely avoiding lockout at the top.

Did some max height vertical jumps to finish off - Reasons: 1) Explosive movements are good for hitting fast twitch fibers 2) While normally an unloaded jump wouldn't be much of a stimulus, after the previous work, my legs were quite fatigued and these were challenging 3) Explosive work is safer after having a pump due to the cushion around the joints (and I must say, I haven't been able to jump pain free either, but during this workout, these jumps felt fine).

In terms of improving my leg workout from Saturday; I can definitely add more weight to the dumbbell. I think I would include a single leg movement as well to allow me to hit each quad more without needing excessive weight.

-----

Also, if you've been following this journal, you know that my wife and I just brought a 3.5 year old into our home. And since most workouts will be when they are sleeping, the above referenced workout was perfect since it was completely quite.

[Commander]

Monday - Push Workout - Experimental Quiet workout

* I could have made noise because this was in the afternoon, but I needed to figure out what I would do if I had to workout when everyone was sleeping

Pushup Partials for initial pump

* Did bicep curls for pump in between sets of the first 3 exercises

DB Press - 1 arm at a time
72x6, 3 sets
72x8

Maltese Cross - 4 sets of 2 reps

DB Press - 1 arm at a time
67x6, 3 sets
67x8

Dips w/ Band Pull Aparts
BW+15x6, 4 sets
BW+15, Micro Sets (15 seconds rest) 3, 3, 2, 2, 2
BWx1, 10 second negative rep

DB Press
67, Mirco Sets 4, 4, 3, 3

Plyo Pushups
BWx3, 3 sets

Wednesday - AM workout - must be quiet - Quad Dominant Leg Day

2 rounds of the following:
Swiss Ball Leg Curl, BWx10, single leg followed by
Glute Ham Curl BWx10, both legs

Occluded Goblet Squat
BWx10
62 pound dumbbell x 10, 4 sets then unwrap

Goblet Squat w/ Rear Leg Elevated Split Squat BWx6 each leg
62x10, 3 sets

Occluded Goblet Squat
62x10, 3 sets then unwrap

DB Swings w/ Vertical Jump
62x10, then 3 max jumps, 4 supersets

* Wow, occlusion ALWAYS sucks, but it sucks even more when you wake up early for it, lol. But at least I am finally getting full ROM squats pain free and fatiguing my quads. Hopefully soon I'll get a barbell on my back....darn, that will feel good.

[Commander]

Wednesday Evening - 2nd round for legs

* Why? I haven't felt fatigue in my quads for so long, I just desired to pound them into the ground.

2 rounds of:
Single Leg Glute Ham Curl for 5 reps each followed by 10 reps with both legs

Occluded Goblet Squat
BWx10
BW+82x5, 5 sets

Barbell Back Squat - first time having a loaded bar on my back since June!
120x5
170x5, 3 sets

Goblet Squat w/ Glute Ham Curl
82x10, 3 sets with BWx10, 2 sets

Thursday - Back

Chinup w/ Tricep Rope Pressdown
BW+26x6, 4 sets

Ring Row Deadstart w/ Ab Bench Crunch
BWx6, 4 sets

T-Bar w/ Tricep Rope Pressdown or OH Tricep Ring Ext
151x6, 4 sets

Lat Pulldown
95x8, 4 sets
95x4, 4, 4, 4 - micro sets

T-Bar
150x3, 3, 3, 3 - micro sets
150x3, 3, 3, 3

Band Pullaparts - 3 sets to failure

[Commander]

Friday - Push Workout - AM

Pushup Partials for initial pump

* Did bicep curls for pump in between sets of the first 3 exercises

DB Press - 1 arm at a time
77x6, 4 sets
72x6, 4 sets

Dips
BW+15x6,
BWx6, 4 sets,
BWx 3, 3, 3, 3

DB Press
72x3, 3, 3, 3

Ring Pushups
BWx4, 4, 4, 4

* Left Shoulder Hurting, either a better warmup is in order or I need to rethink my exercises. I am used to barbells, and it started hurting when I switched to DB.

[Commander]

Saturday - Leg Day

Swiss Ball Leg Curl
BWx10, 3 sets single leg
BWx10, both legs

Occluded Goblet Squat
BWx10
72 pound dumbbell x 8, 4 sets then unwrap

Goblet Squat w/ Walking Lunges
72x8, 4 sets

Occluded Goblet Squat
72x5, 4 sets then unwrap

DB Swings ss with Vertical Jump
62x10, then 3 max jumps, 4 supersets

Sunday - Deadlift/Back

a1) Deadlift, 336x5, 6 sets
a2) Front Lever
a3) Tricep Rope Pushdowns

b1) Ring Row, BWx6, 4 sets - After 4th round, 5 micro sets of 3, 15 seconds rest
b2) Ab Bench Crunches
b3) OH Tricep Extensions or Band Pull Aparts

c) T-Bar, 153.5x4, 4, 4, 4 - micro sets

d) Ring Row, BWx3, 3, 3, 3 - micro sets, followed by 1 negative rep

[Commander]

Monday - Push Day

* Left shoulder hurting pretty bad, I feel like such an idiot. One thing gets better and I screw up something else. It is only when I make changes that I hurt myself. I screwed up my knee when I tried doing lots of squat partials. Now my shoulder is hurting because I was trying to create a "quiet" workout to do when my family is sleeping. I am 99% certain it was the DB Bench that hurt my shoulder.

I believe that the increase in ROM was a sudden surprise and also that I wasn't staying tight. When I set up for bench I make sure my back is tight and I have a good arch, but for DB, I was just laying back with the weight and pressing away. I think that resulted in some motion of the scapula that wasn't too awesome for my shoulder.

Instead of legs/pull/push, I might make the push day overhead focused (if I can do it pain free) with arms.

Bench Chains w/ Bicep Cable Curls and Band Pullaparts
140x6, 8 sets

Ring Pushups
BWx8, 4 sets
BWx4, 4, 4, 4

Bench Chains
140x2, 2, 2
120x3, 3, 3

Somehow I made it through, not sure if it was smart. Either way, horizontal pressing will be out for a while until my shoulder feels better. I hope Overhead work feels OK. I will try in a few days after my shoulder has some rest.

[Commander]

* Lats still sore from Sunday, but I still hit back twice today. Why? Shoulder hurts so pressing is definitely out for now. And occluded legs suck and sometimes I am just not motivated to do that.

Tuesday - Deadlift/Back

a1) Deadlift, 338.5x5, 8 sets
a2) Band Pull aparts
a3) Tricep Rope Pushdowns

b1) Ring Row, BWx6, 4 sets -
b2) Band Pull Aparts
b3) OH Tricep Extensions

c) T-Bar, 125x8, 4 sets

Tuesday Evening - round 2

a1) T-Bar Row, 125x8, 7 sets
125x4, 4, 4, 4, 3 - micro sets

a2) Band Pull Aparts

a3) Tricep Pump work