CP's Mixed Bag Training Log

[CFPeterson]

I was keeping my log in a spreadsheet. It was nice that it tracked everything I lifted and told me what I would lift the next day. Then came my bicep muscle tear and the rehab of I will be doing of it. I need writing space to comment on progress through it so I am doing keeping a SS forum log.

Basics:
44 year old male
5'10", 205 lbs, 25% bf (estimate using picture charts)

I was a distance running in middle & high school, skinny as hell until after college. Then I played softball and did tae kwon do until my early 30's, running a marathon at 28. Then I got married, had a kid, etc. and let myself go. At 42 I looked into getting back into shape. Knowing a powerlifter or two I did some internet searching and came across "Strong Lifts: gain strength and lose weight". After a year or so of that (off and on) I migrated slowly over to SS and have been doing Novice seriously about 6 months with minor setbacks/deloads (read: divorce :P).

Due to my home workout (basement) room space restrictions I do seated OHP instead of standing and I do Barbell Rows instead of Power Cleans.

After some lingering muscle soreness in my biceps I tweaked my left bicep good doing Rows on March 24th during the second or third set. On the 28th during my first deadlift repetition my bicep hurt still so I set it down quickly. A few days later some bruising appeared and over the course of a few days has seeped down to the backside of my elbow. I've shown the occupational therapist at work and several knowledgable friends and the consensus is its probably a tear. It was recommended I go to the doctor for an MRI, but that at my age and the fact that I haven't lost any motion nor am I in any pain without a fair amount of loan, the concensus is that he wouldn't do anything anyway. So I am going to progress with PT with the OT as well as on my own.

I am dropping Rows and Deadlifts from my program completely for 1 month. During this time I will work on bicep curls with an empty dumbell bar slowly adding weight over time. At the end of the month I plan on working out with an empty bar and adding weight slowly there to gauge my recovery.

Also, I have been doing cardio on an elliptical, mostly on rest days. I have started doing HIIT elliptical once a week. I was considering doing low intensity cardio another off day as well. I am now realizing I was possibly overtraining. The bicep injury, my fatigue, and restlessness when trying to sleep are signalling to me I'm doing too much.

I am taking the rest of the week off completely to rest, catch up on sleep, and hope my arm is done bleeding inside. After that I am backing off to 2 days off between every lifting day. This is actually closer to what I had been averaging up until the last month or so. I am still doing 1 day of HIIT once a week (30 mins) and 1 day of low impact cardio or walking/biking another day (30 mins).

My goal is to drop my bodyfat to 15% or so and be strong doing it. I want to be healthy and look healthy. I was there once before a decade ago and I want to return. And I want to have fun doing it.

My macro targets are 265/200/55 (p/c/f)weight training days and 275/140/70 the rest.

I take 5-7g creatine a day every day. I take BCAA's immediately post weight lifting workout. I do alot of whey daily to make macros. I am on TRT due to my age (I don't know what my T score is now but the Doc says its fine). I also take a multivitamin, fish oil capsule, folic acid (for homocysteine) daily.

[CFPeterson]

Last training was 30 minutes of HIIT elliptical on Monday, 01Apr2013. The last weight training was Sunday, 31Mar2013. The last two nights I've slept well again. I could still feel some muscle soreness in my quads and hamstrings yesterday, but I haven't noticed any this morning. I am tentatively planning on doing squats and bench on Saturday.

As far as the bicep, I lifted the dog into bed last night and did not feel anything abnormal. The buising is beginning to dissapate though alot of it has migrated to my elbow... I assume its just pooling due to gravity (I sit at a desk at work, with my elbows on my desk). If all goes well Friday evening (tomorrow) I will try 50 reps of bicep curls with an empty dumbell bar, and maybe 50 twisting my wrist too. This would be the first rehab workout. I will do this daily from here on out, adding light weight when I feel confident of it. I sort of have a phobia of that muscle twanging that happened when I got injured and don't want to do any more perminant damage than I already have.

I am still trying to make my food macros. I am guessing my muscles are still building despite 4 days off now from squats.

Morning weight 204.0# and 41" around the navel. I am 7.0" around the wrist. Not sure how any of these correlate to a weight trainer, but I know I need to drop 2-3" at least off my pants waistline. My 36" pants are tight, my 38" pants are loose. I think I would be 34" when at an appropriate bf %. For a short period in college I wore 32" pants. I was underweight, but actually my bf% might have been on. I'll worry about where to be after I get to 34" and see what it looks like.

Edit: getting up from my chair for a cup of coffee and I can tell my quads are still recovering some, maybe from the HIIT on Monday after squats Sunday

[CFPeterson]

Color of bruise starting to fade. Big patch of pooled blood still around the elbow, making it a little tender, and I of course bump everything with it. I can't recall the last time my bicep has hurt now, but I have avoided lifting anything heavy, though I've moved around the dog, laundry in basket, etc.

Rehab starting today.

30 mins low impact elliptical

3lb x 25 x 3 bicep curls, was scared, but they felt fine. Just beginning to get tired at the end.

[CFPeterson]

squat 220x5x3
bench 150x5x3

6lb x 25 x 3 bicep curls. I could feel something wrong in there, but not necessarily painful.

[CFPeterson]

squat 220x5x3
bench 150x5x3

9lb x 25 x 3 bicep curls. I could feel something wrong in there, but not necessarily painful.

[CFPeterson]

HIIT 30 mins (4m warmup, 12x 20hi/1:40lo, 4m cooldown)

12lb x 25 x 3 bicep curls. Felt normal until near the end of the sets, when I could feel the something.

[CFPeterson]

30 mins low intensity elliptical

14lb x 25 x 3 bicep curls. Felt good. Regular fatigue at the end of the sets.

[gatorinexile]

Whoa, dude. You're right, we are *very* similar. Really skinny frames (I'm 6'2" w/ 7.25" wrists) w/ too much fat and no where near enough muscle. Bummer about your bicep.

I'll keep an eye on your log. I keep thinking of starting one of my own. Maybe I should and we can try to push each other's results (though I'm not injured right now.)

[CFPeterson]

Yah, sounds like a great idea. More motivation!

[CFPeterson]

squat 227.5 x 5 x 3, first set seemed really hard, other 2 were fine. Now I realize I put too much weight on the bar. Need an updated schedule to take with lifting, my memory isn't good enough to do this without help :P
seated ohp 80 x 5 x 2, failed in the last set. Might have rushed the between-set rest. Try again in 2 workouts.

16 x 25 x 3 left bicep curl, felt fine, got tired. Didnt feel as bad as it did unracking for one of the ohps. Not going to push it fast, but I'm optimistic.