Bluegreyhound's Training Log: Rehab May 09 - Dec 09

[adamr]

I'm planning on moving house soon, and with that will set up a proper home gym, so no more gym and hopefully some vids and honest feedback.

[Bluegreyhound]

I'm planning on moving house soon, and with that will set up a proper home gym, so no more gym and hopefully some vids and honest feedback.

I did that and bought a power rack and weights in Jan year. Way better than a commercial gym. No waiting around and I can do what I like when I like. I only started using my gym in May though, because knee rehab wasn't at the point where I felt good enough to squat properly.

[dylanamus]

I noticed you have heaps of space in your power rack room. My setup will be a lot tighter, but I think it'll work. I'll post some photos next week

[Bluegreyhound]

I noticed you have heaps of space in your power rack room. My setup will be a lot tighter, but I think it'll work. I'll post some photos next week

Yes - I'm fortunate to have the space. You actually need quite a bit of width in the room because of the 7ft bar plus space required to change plates. I actually have my gym set up in the study (which is not a small room), but I've taken it over with my gym thing as it isn't really used for profound reading and thinking, (to quote from "Frasier" TV series, I "use the can like everybody else").

At some point, if the weather is still good, I'll bring the bar outside and some plates outside and do some cleans and presses in the garden where I can dump the weights.

[JediRed]

Bluegreyhound,
How did you guage when to start lifting again? How long did you rest? Did you do any leg exercises or take complete rest for your knee? What was actually wrong with your knee? My physio said I had injured some of my cartilage and it needs to be rested to heal (i.e no squats, but can do leg curls and extensions and can do upper body).

I'm worried about permanent damage, so don't want to rush back in to doing squats & deadlifts. When I'm lifting my knee is fine, its just afterwards its very uncomfortable, walking home etc. Was yours a cartilage problem or tendon?

Thanks...sorry if I sound anxious, its just that I've made really good gains and this has put a huge spanner in the works.

[Bluegreyhound]

Bluegreyhound,
How did you guage when to start lifting again? How long did you rest? Did you do any leg exercises or take complete rest for your knee? What was actually wrong with your knee? My physio said I had injured some of my cartilage and it needs to be rested to heal (i.e no squats, but can do leg curls and extensions and can do upper body).

I'm worried about permanent damage, so don't want to rush back in to doing squats & deadlifts. When I'm lifting my knee is fine, its just afterwards its very uncomfortable, walking home etc. Was yours a cartilage problem or tendon?

Thanks...sorry if I sound anxious, its just that I've made really good gains and this has put a huge spanner in the works.

It's been about a year since I had a Rottweiler collide with the back of my left knee. I was told that it would (most likely) take 4-6 months to recover, but the reality has been very different. Before I started lifting again, I only did BW exercises for my legs (really easy ones), but I mostly rested especially in the beginning because it was painful. I didn't really bother with upper body exercises (I tend to lose the motivation to exercise my upper body if I can't exercise my lower body). I saw a physio every fortnight who assessed my recovery. I decided to get serious and hit the iron in May because I was just getting impatient and thought that I'd try squatting my way to full recovery.

My damage was a mixture of cartilage (mostly behind the knee cap), tendon/muscle (quad and ham) and ligament (LCL). I may have had a minor meniscus problem, but they said they couldn't really tell without a proper scan. I had pain just walking around. Then walking became more or less pain free after say 2 months. The knee cap pain disappeared about 4 months in. Then recovery slowed way down and I noticed very little change from month to month.

As for you, I'd recommend full range of motion exercises. BW squats and lunges are good. Keep mobile so that your knee does not stiffen up. If you rest the knee too much like I did, you may have a problem later on with being able to extend the knee smoothly and with force. If you use the machines to exercise your legs, do lighter weights but higher reps to get the blood flow going. Cartilage takes time to repair so you really should maximise the blood flow to your legs as much as possible.

[Bluegreyhound]

Since so many people are posting pics, here are some I took this week. Initially, I was only intent on using them for my own personal record so that I could assess if I'm gaining bodyfat. Pics are admittedly not great e.g. I had real trouble getting the back in the frame. Legs are so thin - lol

[maroon]

Looking strong BGH.

BF% looks good. Shows definition, yet isn't so low that you have to live a crazy persons' life to maintain it.

Great that your knee is holding up through the squat routine. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end.

[Bluegreyhound]

Squats only.

23 Jul 09 {31}
BW=65kg

Day 14 of RSR, Olympic style squat. Plan in Blue at the very bottom.
Actual Squat lifts:
3x3 107.5kg

Russian Squat Routine (RSR):
Day 1: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 2: 6x3 90kg +5kg
Day 3: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 4: 6x4 90kg +5kg
Day 5: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 6: 6x5 90kg +5kg
Day 7: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 8: 6x6 90kg +5kg
Day 9: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 10: 5x5 97.5kg +2.5kg
Day 11: 6x2 90kg +5kg
Day 12: 4x4 102.5kg +2.5kg
Day 13: 6x2 90kg
Day 14: 3x3 107.5kg
Day 15: 6x2 90kg
Day 16: 2x2 113kg
Day 17: 6x2 90kg
Day 18: 1x1 120kg

[Bluegreyhound]

Looking strong BGH.

BF% looks good. Shows definition, yet isn't so low that you have to live a crazy persons' life to maintain it.

Great that your knee is holding up through the squat routine. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end.

Thanks. I'm still too skinny though. Will work on that later at some point.

[guru]

Thanks. I'm still too skinny though. Will work on that later at some point.

Correct observation - good definition, but you need more mass.

[dylanamus]

Hey man, your shoulders sit really wide compared to your waist! I can't seem to get the big shoulder look with my thick hips.
You just need to do some weighted pullups with as much vigour as you do squats and you'll be all evened out.

Your quads definitely scream "this guy squats" to me. It's just that mine have a fraction of the femur length to squeeze the same muscle mass into haha Do you know what your BF% is by the way?

[Bluegreyhound]

Hey man, your shoulders sit really wide compared to your waist! I can't seem to get the big shoulder look with my thick hips.
You just need to do some weighted pullups with as much vigour as you do squats and you'll be all evened out.

Optical illusion. My shoulder measurements are quite small, but my waist is significantly smaller.

I just need to attack the upper body with the enthusiasm that I apply to my squats. I used to military press and do weighted pull/chin ups quite a lot when I used to play rugby (i.e. a long time ago) and became fairly buff up there before at around 72-73kg, so I know what to do. It's just me being a lazy sod. I need a coach to shout at me and force me to do them lol.

I think that if you have wider hips the look is much harder to achieve. But you just work at the some exercises and give it a bit more time, that's all. Your back and shoulders will be huge though

Your quads definitely scream "this guy squats" to me. It's just that mine have a fraction of the femur length to squeeze the same muscle mass into haha Do you know what your BF% is by the way?

Actually I think my quads are not really that developed. That said, my VMO has always been pretty visible - you can probably see it in the pic and that's while standing and trying to be relaxed. My outer thigh has always been stubborn in terms of growth. The back and inside of my leg is where I find quite a bit of my leg bulk. Not really sure, but I think that's my hamstring. Another thing that I am aware of is that my legs taper quite significantly as you go from near-hip to the knee. Some guys I've seen in the gym have thick legs and less pronounced taper.

Not sure what my BF% is but I'm guessing around 15%. I can barely see a hit of abs at the top and have some fat around my waist still. I have a pretty good idea of what 10%-12% looks for me, and I'm not near there yet. I have dropped a bit below 10% at my leanest, but I was assisted by freakishly high metabolism.

[Bluegreyhound]

Thanks. I'm still too skinny though. Will work on that later at some point.

Correct observation - good definition, but you need more mass.

Yes. I think that if I get back to 73kg, I should look ok then. At the moment, weight gain is not a priotiy for me. I just want to get back into running and jumping shape.

[Bluegreyhound]

I wrote this on 1 Jun 09:

I'm going to be bullish about my goals progressing this year, and write it here.

By Dec 09 I shall equal my best lifts 1-2 years ago:
Squat 140kg, Deadlift 150kg

Mid-goal, by Sept 09:
Squat 120kg, Deadlift 130kg

I just realised that I have already achieved the 130kg Deadlift target, and a while ago at that. Actually, I surpassed it and did 140kg recently. I'm pleased with my recovery so far and suddenly a 150kg Deadlift by Dec 09 looks too conservative. I'm not sure if I should revise my Deadlift target though.

Hopefully I get my 120kg squat next week when I finish RSR.