Musician finds a hobby

[Christopher John]

There are few thing that make me feel like a motor moron quicker than trying to jump rope. My PR is in the low 30s (consecutive skips, not seconds).

:-(

1/23/15
Bwt: 208.0
Waist: 37.25"

Deadlift + sleeves
45x6
135x5
225x4
315x3
365x1
415x3x2 PR

Press
45x7
85x5
120x3
155x5x3

Squat + sleeves
45x7,5
95(P)x5
135(P)x5
165(P)x3
195x10x3

Chin-ups
BWx5,5,5,5,5,9

I bought some el cheapo knee sleeves to see what effect they would have. Jury's still out.

-Deadlift: felt ok - drove my legs better in the 2nd set
-Press: getting a little layback on the last couple of reps of the 3rd set - didn't set my abs hard enough
-Squat: tried a (slightly) wider stance on first work set. Right hip did not like that.

[Christopher John]

Going to test out a four day split for a few weeks while dropping the quick lifts for that time period. I'm hoping the reduced squatting frequency and extra rest day will allow my knee to get back to 100%.

1/26/15
Bwt: 208.0
Waist: 37.75"

General warm up: squat bar x 5 x 2

Bench
45x8
95x6
135x5
185x3
245x5,5,5

Press
45x7
85x5
115x5,5,5,5,

BB Curls
45x8
65x8
80x8,8,8

Jump rope
30s x 3

[Christopher John]

1/27/15
Bwt: 206.2
Waist: 37.25"

Squat
45x5,5,5
95(P)x5
135(P)x5
170(P)x5
205x8x3
185x5

Deadlift
135x5
225x5x3

Inverted Rows
BWx5
BW+5 x8x3

Jump rope
30s x 3

Ab knee raises
10x2 ...then attack of the ab cramp. Called it a day.

[Christopher John]

1/29/15
Bwt: 207.6
Waist: 37.25"

General warmup: squat - bar x 5 x 3
Press
45x7
85x5
125x3
160x5x3 Rep PR

Bench
45x8
95x6
135x4
185x5x5

Dips
BWx5x3

Jump rope
30s x 4

-press: not terrible; bar path tends to creep back as the set goes on
-bench: not terribler; some stickiness (scientific term) in the left shoulder
-jump rope: eff tee dubs

[Christopher John]

1/30/15
Bwt: 206.2
Waist: 37.25"

Deadlift + sleeves
135x5
225x4
315x3
375x1
425x3 PR
405x2
365x5

Squat + sleeves
45x6,6
95x5
135x5
185x4 (with slight pause at the bottom)
215x5x2, 5(belt)

Chin-ups
BWx5,10,5,10,5

Ab knee raises
8,8,8

-Deadlift: strange day - back rounded some on 3rd rep of 425 and felt better after the set than before. I spent my rest time brooding about this and completely psyched myself out for the 2nd set. Bar wouldn't budge. I stripped off the 10s and made an attempt at 405 as a back offset. Felt a bit of rounding on the 2nd rep and quit. I think it's time to add a belt.

-Squat: pretty good squat day. Cued myself to sit back more and that did away with most of my knee slide. Sleeves kept my knees nice and toasty. I'm interested in how ol' lefty will feel tomorrow.

Left shoulder was a little touchy on that first set of chins. Mashed the hell out of it with a baseball between each set, and it started to feel better.

[Christopher John]

Turns out the knee sleeves didn't help, and I've been too aggressive (yet again) rebuilding my squat weight. My knee was not happy over the weekend. There was some patellar pain, but the worst of it is on the medial side of the knee. I'll probably skip squatting altogether tomorrow and pick it up again later in the week or next week. I purchased one of those resistance bands to do TKEs, so that's a thing. I hope they're helpful.

2/2/15
Bwt: 208.0
Waist: 37.5"

TKEs 20 x each leg

Bench
45x8
95x7
135x5
185x3
225x1
250x5x3 5x3 PR

-fifth rep of each set was a grinder of ~4sec

Press
45x10
85x5
120x5x5

BB curls
45x8
65x8
82.5x8x3

TKEs x 20 x each leg
Single leg partial squats x 20 x each leg

-bench: tough for me - might just go up 2.5lbs next time
-press: ridiculously easy - did these on 1min rest between sets
-curls: kinda tough, actually

[vanslix]

With the TKE, are you thinking your VMO is causing the pain or patellofemoral syndrome? Fortunately for me this is one condition I haven't had but a friend of the family has it and it's quite painful for them. But I know the "push it too hard and now you're fucked" syndrome all too well. It sucks.

Why the reset on your press?

[Christopher John]

With the TKE, are you thinking your VMO is causing the pain or patellofemoral syndrome? Fortunately for me this is one condition I haven't had but a friend of the family has it and it's quite painful for them. But I know the "push it too hard and now you're fucked" syndrome all too well. It sucks.

Why the reset on your press?

To be honest, I'm grasping at straws a bit with my knee. I think there's some general tendinopathy going on. Sounds like Michael Wolf has had something similar (to the point of tendinosis?) from following his log, and he's had success rehabbing with TKEs and rest. I've injured both MCLs in the past so I'm sure that has something to do with it, too.

As of today I don't have any knee pain unless I bend it past 90deg, and even then it's pretty minor.

WRT the press - no reset. I'm doing a 4-day split right now to break up my squat days more and because my presses are intermediate-ish in terms of progress. Yesterday was intensity bench and volume press (75%).

[Christopher John]

2/3/15

TKEs each leg x 20 x 3

BB Rows
45x8
95x8
135x8x3

TKEs x 20 x 2

Did some bodyweight squats but didn't track how many. Felt ok.

[Christopher John]

2/5/15
Trained at a YMCA today.

Press
45x8
85x5
135x3
165x5x3 PR
45x8

-What a clusterfuck...loud pop music playing right above the rack, a big, unavoidable mirror, then I notice the sign off to the side saying "no overhead presses" so I'm on the lookout for staff members floating around the gym floor. Walloped myself in the chin on the 3rd rep, first set. I think I tweaked a back muscle, too - whole thing was a comedy of errors. Last rep felt like it took a minute to lockout. Somewhat amazed I got even a single rep.

Bench
45x8
95x5
135x5
195x5x5

Dips
BWx6x3