Dipping My Toes Back Into The Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
Well, that's partially good news (the second negative). It sounds like your body is telling you that it's time to take a breather, which it sounds like you're doing (nothing to failure or anything). Good luck!
“Partially good news” is how I would describe it. I tested negative twice, 8 days apart. The first was the test for which you have to wait a few days to get results. The second was a rapid test that I got the results of within an hour. Is it possible that I got two false negatives? Proabably. Is it likely that I got two false negatives? I don’t know, but after the last two days, I’m starting to wonder.
I went back to work Friday. 9 hours, 8.0 miles, 17,054 steps, 13 floors
Good news: I didn’t have anything to deliver besides my route. Bad news: it snowed on Wednesday and Thursday, so all my hiking was in boots, and on snow and ice. I didn’t feel too bad for most of the day, but by the time I parked my vehicle at the post office, my legs and knees felt like they were made of lead. I planned on going to the gym that night and working on Saturday. Instead, I crashed on the couch, and slept in.
Sat. 12/19/20
To get reacclimated to the gym, I decided to pause my A/B split that I was doing before I got sick and go back in with some full body sessions. For the first week or so, I don’t plan to take any sets to failure (I did one by accident). I just want to get back to moving some weight, especially during what is usually our busiest week of the year, and with the longest hours.
Calf Press & Stretch (on horizontal leg press)
press: 70/15 - one second negatives
press: 100/15 - one second negatives
stretch: 160/90 seconds
Horizontal Leg Press - I never use the horizontal leg press for leg presses
100/25
175/15
250/15
325/15 - This was with the whole stack, and the set was probably @6 RPE.
Seated Leg Curl
80/15
130/15
Seated Shoulder Press Machine - pronated grip
40/12
85/8 - harder than I expected, stopped it here; @9 RPE
80/10 @10 RPE - went to failure by accident
Seated Pulldown Machine - pronated grip
55/15
85/15
130/15 @7 RPE - Did this set in the dark. The gym was closing in 5 minutes, so they hit the lunk alarm and turned off the lights as a warning.
Push-ups: 1 set, 25 reps, deliberate positives and negatives
I finished this in 40 minutes, and normally this wouldn’t be tough. I was sweating a lot more than normal, and breathing hard. I had to sit in the car for a few minutes to catch my breath before I went home, and ended up needing my inhaler later at home. That’s uncommon for a workout with no squats, no deadlifts, no plate loaded leg press, and no exercises that require me to stand. It’s also uncommon for a return to the gym after a vacation or layoff for another reason. I’ve heard of people who had Covid continuing to have respiratory problems after the fact, and this is what I was referring to earlier about falseness negatives. I’m going off the assumption that the results were correct, but this made me wonder.
SIDE NOTES
Bodyweight this morning was 207.2 lbs. I haven’t drank any shakes, or taken any supplements in 2 weeks (since 12/5). Since I’m using this time to reset my training, I’m doing the same with my nutrition and supplementation. I’m going to try and see if I can maintain my weight on solid food alone. If I can do that over the next few weeks, then I can start adding shakes back in with an expectation that I’ll start gaining some weight.
If all goes well, I’ll train Monday and Wednesday since the gym closes early on Thursday and will obviously be closed on Friday. By then, I might have a few home training options to mix in with training at PF.
Managing Asthma and Getting Back To The Gym
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
I'm pretty sure that no one knows the answers to those questions. You could keep taking them, but when do you stop? When you get a positive that you can point to and say "see, I knew I was positive!"? But who knows if that positive is correct. So you continue. That's just crazy. It's certainly no way to live life.
Those respiratory issues certainly would be a concern. Hopefully you're on the mend.
Thank you. I’ve been doing much better in terms of the symptoms like muscle ache, fatigue, and insomnia. However, my respiratory issues have gotten worse. At this point, I’m sure that my current respiratory problems are asthma related (or at least mostly). I don’t know if the weather is making it worse, or if whatever illness I had (have?) is making it worse. But my inhaler gives some relief, unless I’m having severe difficulty, in which case I’m responding favorably to nebulizer treatments so far.
This is throwing me for a mental loop. I had asthma as a child. It was basically dormant for about 35 years, then came back in a noticeable way 2-3 years ago. Now it has become a real problem in the last 2 months or so. Actually, I’m about to hit that nebulizer as soon as I finish typing this log entry.
As for the gym: I weighed 204.8 lbs yesterday, and 205.0 this morning. I’m back in the 93 kg weight class. 🙁 That’s not where my best strength potential is. Also, the USAPL calendar doesn’t have anything nearby on the 2021 calendar in March or later. I’m going to really put everything into getting swole - as in, hypertrophy - until I have an idea of when I’ll have a chance to compete again. I may have panicked a little. I already abandoned what I said in my last post about full body sessions, and have gone back to an upper/lower split, with direct arm work on the lower body day. I’m going to alternate between 2 lower workouts (A1, A2) and 2 upper workouts (B1, B2) instead of 3 each. I got started with session 1 today.
Sat. 12/26, A1: quads, hamstrings, calves, biceps, triceps
Smith Machine Squat - low bar; weights listed are the plates only + the bar
bar/10
90+/10
180+/5
230+/5
280+/5 - started using mouth guard
320+/5 @7 RPE
230+/10 6 RPE in terms of muscle, @8 RPE in terms of lungs
Unilateral Leg Press - this is the horizontal leg press that I used the whole stack on last week
55/10 left + 10 right
100/20 left - mouth guard; stopped for 2 deep breaths after reps 16 & 18
100/20 right - stopped for 2 deep breaths after rep 11
Calf Press & Stretch - on horizontal leg press
100/20 - 1-2 second negatives
150/15 - 1-2 second negatives
stretch: 200/60 seconds - this was tough
Seated Leg Curl - 1 second positives, 2 second negatives, no jerky or explosive movements
55/12
90/12
105/20 @8 RPE
Seated Triceps Press Machine - basically a machine that mimics dips
90/15
160/12
200/16 - mouth guard; stopped when I felt my pecs starting to work
Seated Biceps Curl Machine - This machine is made to be used bilaterally, but I used it unilaterally
40/10 left + 10 right
60/10 left + 10 right
70/12 left + 12 right + 6 both @9RPE - no breaks on the transitions; mouth guard
Done in 1 hour 15 minutes