Journey to Olympus

[Zee-man]

Friday October 14 - Pain in Knee

I was reluctant to lift today due to my knee but figured I should give it a go and see how things progress. I was warming up with just the barbell on Squats to prepare for my DE's, and noted the pain in my knee (the femoris muscle) was coming back. I did two sets of 20 reps and a set of 10 with the bar in hopes that maybe using very light weight would warm it up or help. No go. I was too frustrated to continue my workout and figured if I wasn't going to do Squats - which are my most challenging exercise - then I wasn't going to do any others. Not to say all of the other lifts are easy, merely that mentally and technique-wise, Squats are my challenge.

[Zee-man]

Alright, so the week of October 17-21 I was in Roanoke, Virginia for Medium Voltage Motors training, fun stuff. I was elated when I got to the hotel and they told me they had an in-house fitness center. As I was heading to my room I considered what could possibly be in there, at least some free weights.... right? The hotels in Russia certainly did, but then again, Russia is more barbaric/manly/stronger than the US. I got to the "fitness center" ready to go and opened the door. To my dismay and amusement there were 5 treadmills, 3 elipticals, 2 stationary bikes, and a cybex-type machine to work the "major muscle groups." The free weight section included a whole set of dumbells up to 50lbs!!! I was so excited to know I could reach my Curl workset weight with these..... Anywho, I made the best with what I had. The most astonishing part was there was not a single place to do Chins/Pull-Ups, which sucked. Here is my workout for the week:

Monday October 17:
Bench - 250lbs 5x5 - one short of the whole stack.
Press - 135lbs 10x3
Tricep Extensions - 2x10 - No idea, the stack didn't show weight, but was halfway down or so.

Tuesday October 18:
Rows - 50lb Dumbells 3x8
Curls - 2x10 - Again, no idea what weight was on the same machine I did Tricep Extensions the day before.
Treadmill - 1.5 mile fast walk - wanted to do something for my legs but didn't feel like re-injuring my knee on the leg extension/leg curl machins.

Thursday October 20:
Press - 170lbs 5x5 - Again, one short of the stack, but it was closer to my workset than 190lbs.
Bench - 190lbs - 10x3

I felt like the weight represented on the stacks were inaccurate. Usually it is lighter than what is shown, but in this case I felt like all of the weight was heavier than it should be, especially since I've lifted that much before (not PR weights for me). My only guess is due to the difference in setup, and restricted range of motion, the weights were balanced differently and thus felt heavier.

These workouts are not being counted towards my Intermediate program, just something in an effort to remain active while away from home.

[Zee-man]

Workout #44I - Thursday October 27, 2011

Press - 180lbs 5x5
Bench - 200lbs - 10x3 - DE
Pull-Ups - 4, 4, 3
Dips - BW+25lbs - 2x10

So happy to be back home and lifting in my own gym again. Felt strong coming back and almost got 3x4 for Pull-Ups. I think the Dip weight is tied for a prior PR, so that's awesome. Got an extra set of 5 Pull-Ups with the Grey Band as well.

I missed Monday's workout because I literally felt like shit. I was tired as all hell and actually went to bed early. Felt the same Tuesday and coming off of that knee injury/issue/irritation, I figured it was best to just rest another day and get back to Squat'ing on Friday with my DE Squats. Looking over my log the past couple weeks its quite noticeable that I haven't been putting in the gym time I would like and that I want to be putting in. Partly because of the knee, and partly because I was damned tired. Hoping my workout tonight goes well and there is no irritation/issue with my left knee. I'd like to get back to the grind stone next week and reach my prior PR's, crush them, and move on up. Wish me luck.

[Zee-man]

Workout #45I - Friday October 28, 2011

Squat - 245lbs -10x3 - DE
Rack Pulls - 350lbs - 1x5
Calf Raises - 300lbs - 3x10
Sit-Ups - BW+22.5lbs - 20, 20

I was able to get up to my work set weight Friday without trouble, or the weight feeling incredibly heavy. I could feel the same area/muscle/tendon starting to get irritated again as I worked through my 10 sets on the Squats. It never really hurt or got to the point where I couldn't do the Squat, but the question now stands, what do I do? Do I continue with plan and do my heavy workset on Tuesday of 330lbs or do I stick with lighter weights and try to rehab this issue? I was literally able to crack my knee two to three times going from bent at 90 degrees to lockout. It didn't hurt, but it was only the left knee and its not supposed to be doing that.

I am considering removing Calf Raises for the time being in case that might be part of the irritation. Would appreciate some of the experienced folks' opinions on rehab'ing this issue. The advice I'm getting at home is just to lay off of it for a couple of weeks and train upper body. I will take a chance with the search function, but rarely does it actually yield answers or solutions.