hwrdfrnd has a plan!

[hwrdfrnd]

So I figured since I have been dorking around on this site a whilke it is time to make a log and put a little solidarity to my goals. I have a tendancy to be flighty

 

A little back story...

 

I spent almost 3 years working steady night shift and fully living on nights. I usually spent my off days in my basement playing games so as to not wake the rest of the house. I also have a very very sedentary job, like I can't believe they pay me to be here sedentary. So all those factors led to me being very weak, out of shape and flabby.

 

Back in March 2014 I had my moment when I had to dig some petrified ash out of a very small firepit. 5 minutes pounding a dig/tamp bar had me hurting bad for days, and I used to use this thing daily for my old job.

 

I have never been inclined towards fitness my whole life. Before school, I always worked physical jobs or was forced to exercise in the military and kept in good enough shape, so I was starting from (mostly) absolute scratch!

 

So I tried P90X3 and hated it, Focus T25 and really hated it (Shaun T really aggravates me lol) and got into weight training. I started on Strong lifts and really enjoyed it but about 5 months in I hadalready had a real good left shoulder injury and a couple small right shoulder injuries from piss poor bench press form.

 

Now I'm back on the wagon with a gymnastic ring training program and using free weights for lower body work. I have been using the rings for about a month for pull/chin ups reverserows and dips, but today I started the Gold Medal Bodies Rings One program.

 

I also got my copy of Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking today and really hope this works.

 

Short Term Goals

stop smoking...forever

get below 20% BF

20 strict ring pull ups...at 5 currently lol

 

Long Term Goals

finish Rings 1 and 2 without being a punk or running towards a new shiney

get below 15% BF

 

Longer Term Goals

I'll reassess that a year from now lol

 

 

Stats

Height : 5'7"

starting weight : 167

current weight :161

starting BF% 27ish

Current BF% 22ish ( guessing off pictures of other peoples BF% )

[hwrdfrnd]

Did my first real deal program day today, tbh the first phase of this program isnt anything spectacular you couldn't come up with yourself, but it is just basic strengthening of the joints and muscles now, skill work comes later.

 

The only change I made was that I am not a fan of sets/reps. I feel like I progressed faster in the past by shooting for a set number of reps and doing it across however many sets it takes, increasing reps when I can finish in 5 sets with good perfect form.

 

Top position Hold

This is something new to me. I can do it in the air just fine until I try to turn the rings out...OMFG elbow daggers are tearing my forarms off!!!

I'm doing these just off my knees for now with the tops of my feet on the floor for lite assistance and decreased body weight.

 

I did 2 minutes across 7 sets; best set 20 seconds

aiming for 2 minutes in 5 sets next time

 

Dips

These came surprisingly easy, I do them assisted with my feet behind me hanging on my repurposed bench press bench

 

55 across 7 sets; 12 best set

aiming for 50 across 5 sets next time

 

Push ups

These came surprisingly holy shit hard. Doing this classic exercise on rings adds a whole new diminsion of difficulty.

47 across 7 sets; 8 best set

aiming for 40 across 5 sets next time

 

Deadlift

I had a mental block on this exercisethat kept me afraid of increasing weight for a good while, I'm over it now, but I trhink I would be more confident with a weight belt.

215 lbs for 3x5

going for 220 next time

 

I had to skip planks due to time constraints with an early dismissal from school.

 

Now its time to read my magic no smoking book

[hwrdfrnd]

Sunday was a crappy workout day. I was tired from a strech of work, I slept like crap the night before and I couldn't get myself into it.

Reverse Rows

43 total best set of 10

Assisted Pull Ups

I do these assisted to increase total reps. I can do pulls ups well and explosively, but I run out of gas early on them so I'm trying to build a little more endurance on them

39 total best set of 9

Romanian Deadlift

I cut these off early I was having hip pain

2x8 135 lbs

Assisted Chin Ups

Same as pull ups

48 total best set of 10

Tuck to Inverted Hang

These are pretty fun but easy to wear yourself out on. My forearms and core were screaming at me lol

28 total best set of 5

Front Squats

I was supposed to do these but I held off from the hip pain I had earlier

Skin the Cat

I just did a few practice reps of this to get my shoulders used to it and to practice proper breathing. I did my first proper one today so it wasn't a total bust :-D

Almost finished with Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking, it is a great book and I feel like I'm ready to quit, but the book says to not stop until I'm done reading it.

[hwrdfrnd]

I just smoked my last cigarette. ..ever.

[hwrdfrnd]

It has been way too cold to work out in my garage. It is uninsulated and the doors don't close lol. So I bave been just going out for somequick pull ups and working on skin the cat.

Over the past few days;

Got my first set of 3 skin the cat slow and controlled without touching the ground in between so that felt awesome.

Also did my first one without tucking my legs, piking into an inverted hang then into a cat and back. My shoulders told me about that the next day hehe

Not smoking is getting hard, I threw a my lighters over the hill after I cheated yesterday. Guess I need to reread my book.

I think I need to set up a descent indoors workout for days that it is too cold to go out. Maybe handstand progressions.

[hwrdfrnd]

Had a great workout today got a little overzealous and tweaked my

shoulder going to deep into a skin the cat...might be off for a bit depending on

when this stops hurting. :'(

Top position hold

I got to 20 seconds with rings turned out twice in a row! I did a total of 1:48 across

6 holds all with rings out :-D

Dips

I'm taking these slow and steady

5 sets of 3 slow and controlled

Push ups

5 sets of 5 slow with ring turn outs after each rep.

Tuck to tucked shoulder stand

These are a new move for me, I keep over shooting on these and

Having to bail. The good news is that I'm getting very comfortable

With bailing off the rings.

Front squats

I decided to bring these back instead of back squats, ill do romanian

deadlifts on opposite workouts and sneak in a normal deadlift once a week.

Skin the cat

I just wanted to do a few of these for practice and I felt fine doing them, but

an hour post workout my right shoulder is killing me. I hope this

doesn't last too long :'(

[hwrdfrnd]

So my left shoulder and elbow started bothering me and I took a week off. I felt fine after one workout and the second did me in.

I'm taking a month off from any upperbody exercise, working on shoulder flexibility after 2 weeks if I feel good and then starting over very slowly, maybe ill research some shoulder strengthening exercises to do before jumping back on the rings.

My shouldrr started off as pain only on the dismount from support holds and my elbow was mainly after chin ups.

I was going to keep up the deadlifts and squats but I may work on hip/ham flexibility instead.

[hwrdfrnd]

So it has been a while, I'm feeling a lot better now.

 

I found a huge knot in the bottom of my left tricep after I got my foam roller.I have been kneading that out daily for a few days and my elbow feels a ton better. My shoulder still feels a little sensitive though.

 

I did a lot of reading recently about eccentric exercises for injuries and I decided to try it out yesterday, our supposed to do 3x15-20 of light weight exercises but I decided to take it easier and see how I felt. I'll work my way up to 3x15 and then start slowly adding weight depending on how I feel.

 

support hold: I added these to the warm up and kept the rings turned in for now, 2 sets on 20 seconds felt fine. I'll go back to rings turned out if my elbow plays along nicely.

 

ring push up negatives: 3x5 with 5 second count on the eccentric part and knee assisted on the concentric. These felt ok but I might go with eccentric DB press instead so I can control the weight increases better. 1 second up and 5 seconds down.

 

OHP: 3x5 1 second up 5 seconds down. I did these with just the bar to see how the ROM would feel, felt ok.

 

ring dip negatives: 3x5 5 seconds down. I did these at full body weight and it started to wear me down. I'll keep these in but start out with feet on the floor.

 

deadlift: just cause I miss doing them lol This was feeling great so I kept adding weight to the bar, got up to 225 for 2x5 and them DOMS are letting me know what they thought of it

 

Next time I'll add in some ring rows, and pull up negatives to compensate for all the pulling, I'm going to give this at least a few weeks to see what happens and if I start to feel better from it I'll give it a few more weeks. If it works to rid me of shoulder pain like it is supposed to I might use an eccentric program as a monthly deload routine, but that is for the future me to decide.

[hwrdfrnd]

Hello all,

So, I tweaked my shoulder reaaally reaaally good and sprained my left AC. After pt workouts I would say my shoulder is up to 75-80% strength with only minor soreness here and there. All in all I'm feeling pretty good. My elbow feels amazing after foam rolling/massaging the hell out of my extensor muscle in my forearm, seriously it is like magic.

I utilized my downtime to do some reading and exploring to find a program I liked and thought it looked good for me to ease back into things. I settled on reddit's bwf beginners routine I figure since it is a collaborative effort of many people who know a pot more than I it should be pretty good.

I'm adding in mobility work stolen straight from GB's foundation series during rest periods and a few other things that I feel would benefit me, cause I damned well know I can't be bothered to do mobility work on rest days.

Ill update more when I'm not typing on my stupid phone.

[hwrdfrnd]

So I did my second day of reddit's bodyweightfitness routine, at the end of the first day and for 2 days after I felt less sore than before so I think (and hope) this is going to be a great fit for me.

 

I changed things slightly to incorporate PT exercises, scapular activation exercises and mobility work.

 

WARM UP

wall extensions (10)

band dislocates(10) going very very wide on these and going slow on progress

hip circles

scapular push ups/pull ups/rows/dips (10 each)

leg swings(20)

arm swings(20)

external rotations (2x10@ 9 lbs.)

hip compressions (3x12s) ( I tossed these in the warm up to help with L-sits, and because I know I'll skip them if they are after strength work)

 

Bodyline work

plank (30+ seconds)

side planks (30+ seconds)

reverse plank(30+ seconds)

hollow body (30+ seconds)

arch body (30+ seconds)

 

skill work

Handstand practice (5 minutes) currently doing wall planks and practicing landing on my back without, ya know, landing on my back

support practice (3 minutes)

 

strength work

here I did mobility drills ala foundation one during rest periods between sets.

 

doing everything 3x3 until I figure out if Im aggravating my shoulder.

 

pull-up negatives (3x3)

  hip swivels(10)

 

Pbar dip negatives(3x3)

  skiers(10)

 

L sit with one leg up(3x30 seconds)

  cat/cow(10)

 

incline push up(3x3) I started these from the wall in PT, I'm almost back to the floor.

  german arm swings(10)

 

rows(3x8) I'm doing these harder to get my back in shape and hopefully avoid a recurrence of my injury

  lat stretch pull thingy I cant remember what to call it(30 seconds)

 

tuck ups(3x8)

  stiff legged windmill(10) I really see the difference between shoulders on this one, I can barely do it on my left arm.

 

back squat (3x5) 95 lbs. easing my way back into squatting, will be alternating these with front squats and deadlifts

  dead hang(30 seconds) I just like the way these feel on my back lol

 

barbell curls (3x10) 45 lbs. for the gurls!, seriously though these were part of my pt exercises so I'm keeping them around for a while.

  weighted seated shoulder flexion(10) 2.5lbs.  2x shoulder width currently and sloooowly increasing.

 

 

This looks like a holy crap-ton of work on paper, but it really wasn't too bad and only took 1 hour and 15 minutes. I

 

think all the scapular activation work I did when rehabbing is really paying off. I had no idea I was winging, but apparently was winging bad enough to get a "WOAH" from the doctor   Now my popping shoulder is popping a lot quieter and I don't clench my teeth whenever I need to reach behind me.

 

 

So kids, if it hurts check the ego and take a damned break, if it keeps hurting check the ego and go get checked out by someone who knows what they are doing!

[hwrdfrnd]

Week one was a great success, moving up the reps for week 2 to 3x5, the next week will be 3x8 and then I'll move on to higher progressions and start again.

 

My left wrist is feeling a little funky from handstand work so take a light week on that, I'm not in a big hurry on it so no worries, but I would like to incorporate headstand/handstand push ups down the line.. My entire left side hates me, even though I'm left handed

 

I have an absolute fear of dismounting from handstands backwards that I'm having trouble getting over. I blame it on time spent working in a spinal injury ward seeing and dealing with quadriplegics.

 

bringing the weighted exercises up slowly but surely

 

Back Squat 105 lbs.

 

Front Squat 85 lbs.

 

Deadlift 185 lbs.

 

Changed external rotations out for cuban press, currently at 20 lbs. It works the same RTC muscles and doesn't take as long to do since your doing both arms at once.

 

Ive added Hip compression lifts to the end of my routine, paired with curls.

 

For my shoulder I have been heating 2-3 times a day when time is available and doing arm circles throughout the day to keep blood flowing to the area. I'm feeling very stable and barely ever sore now. All I have to do now is not screw it up

[hwrdfrnd]

I haven't updated this in 3 months, but I'm still chugging along. My shoulders both feel 100% better and stronger, and feel like they should all the time now. I'm still a little wary of progressing too fast, but maybe that is for the best.

Warm up

Wall slides
Joint circles all around
GMB wrist warm up (this thing is amazing)
Scapular activations
Shoulder dislocates
External rows 3x20 at 5 lbs.

Skill work

Handstand practice (5 minutes)
Doing these on paralettes currently. Still have no balance whatsoever but I'm up to 2 30second holds
RTO support (5 minutes)
I'm up to 3 20 second holds

Strength work

Pull ups
Working on 3 sets of 9 but progress is slowing down, might switch to wide pullups, weighted pull ups or L-sit pullups soon but not sure which.

Dips
Doing these on bars with feet assistance so I can build strength on the far end of the ROM safely. Once I can bang out 3x12 full rom on the parallel bars I'll move on to rings.

Pike push ups
Got my feet elevated and doing 3x4 currently, I can't pike hard enough to get straight legs, but I'm keeping my ass over my head.

L-sit
3x20 seconds currently, compressions are really really useful here

Archer rows
3x6

Facepulls w/ external row
3x20 these I feel made a ton of difference in my shoulders

Hanging leg lifts
3x8 trying to keep increasing the height of the lift

Push ups
3x10 it may not seem like much, in April I could barely do as many incline push ups without pain. I'm still progressing these slowly because, well, its working lol

Back squat 3x5 160 lbs.
I need to eat more these are feeling like they are ready to stall on me. Either that or my form is shit.

Deadlift 3x5 235 lbs.
These are getting tough, but I don't feel like they are gonna stall anytime soon. I'm at 1.5x body weight and feeling pretty good about it getting to 2x body weight without a hitch

Mobility

I do these during my rest times on every exercise. I do them by feels and try to do more of the ones I feel I need the most.

Wall slides
Shoulder dislocates
Cat/cow
Hip swivels
Stiff legged windmills
Xiaopeng forwards/backwards
German arm swings (these feel great after any pushing exercise if you haven't tried them before)

leg compressions

split leg compressions

pike stretches

Accessories

I do whichever of these I have time for when I'm done but try to do each at least once a week

Romanian deadlifts(cause I like em!)
MOAR PULL UPS!!!(cause I need em)
more rows(ditto)
False grip hangs(general wrist strength and prep for more ring work)
Barbell curls(for them guns! oh yeah and elbow health)

 

next in line exercises

 

PPPU

  I'm going to keep progressing slowly on my push ups to 3x20 then switch out to these

 

Planche leans

 My wrist flexibility is going to be the limiting factor here for a while.

 

Skin the Cat

  once I can dip to full rom safely I'll try to incorporate these again. I currently cannot even do these with legs on the floor without straining my shoulders, but I feel like these are going to work wonders for shoulder              stability  once I can

 

Middle split hold

the first progression for the manna, and it will also be very useful for having a stronger straddle