Bragi's Training log

[bragi]

My first log!

Day two
Squat: 5x5 22.5 kg
Overhead Press 5x5 22.5 kg
Deadlift 5x5 40 kg (kinda forgot there is only supposed to be one set here)
Pullups: 3x5 with a jump (don't have the strength for unassisted pullups yet)
Prone Bridges: 3x30 sec with 30 sec rest in between

The squats felt kind of hard on my knees. I concentrated really hard on form, and to go below parallel. Felt kind of iffy on the outside (lateral?) side, just where the surgery was. Must be careful.
B

[herf]

Try to take a wider stance to help your knees out. I've found that a wider stance helps the knees BUT if you start to feel it in your hips/adductors, then try to narrow it down by an inch or 2.

Welcome to the forums and the logs! Good luck to ya!

[bragi]

Thanks. This is excactly what I did today and it felt a lot better. The knee is still weak and I have to be careful alot. On my way though!

[bragi]

Hi

Time to put it out there for real.

Asked my better half to take measurements.

I have some issues with girth

25/04/09:
biceps R: 38 cm
biceps L: 35.8 cm
thigh R: 52 cm
thigh L: 55.5 cm
abdomen: 105.5 cm

I will take measurements on a biweekly basis from now on.

There are multiple reasons for these huge differences. I had kneesurgery a year ago which has left my rightside thighmuscles seriously diminished. The squats will hopefully take care of that. I also have flexibility issues with my right ankle after a glacier fall. I just started working on fixing this, using advice from this brilliant site.

Five months ago me and my family where involved in a serious car accident. As a result my left sholder and my right hip are not functioning properly. I have not had the problems diagnosed by a doctor yet. I am hoping that deads and squats will take care of the hip, and ohps will take care of the shoulder.

Needless to say I have to be careful not to increase the injuries. Therefore I decided to start from scratch with an empty bar (down ego, down!). I also seek consultation with a physiotherapist a couple of times pr week.

It is time to take this motherfucker on. I will post goals soon when I have been bf% measured and weighed.

Bragi

P.s. a video of our car after the accident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUsCTzT ... annel_page). Even though my wife and 2.5 yo daughter spent 5 weeks in the hospital and are still rehabilitating (my wife stil has a 30 cm steel pin in her upper arm) we consider ourselves lucky.

[bragi]

Log 25/04/09
SQ: 5*25
BP:5*25
Row: 1*7 + 1*4 + 1*3
RC: 1*15 + 1*10 + 1*8
PUps: 3*15

Squats are feeling better.

[bragi]

Log 29/04/09

SQ: 5*27,5
OHP: 5*27,5
Deads: 2*50
PU: 3*5 whith jump
bridges: 3*30

stretches 15 min

Saw my physiotherapist today. He recomended more reps. I'm going to ignore that for now as this seems to be working. He says he will add more specific thighmuscle workouts later on in the process. Let's see where that takes me.+
This feels great!!

B

[bragi]

28/04/2009

Cardioday:
15 min on treadclimbing machine
15 min on stairmaster

15 min stretches

ca 500 kcal

[herf]

I had kneesurgery a year ago which has left my rightside thighmuscles seriously diminished.

I broke my ankle when I was 16 and had the same problem in my calf. I has caught up eventually but took a long time. I had surgery on it and had a cast on for about 6 months.

Five months ago me and my family where involved in a serious car accident. As a result my left sholder and my right hip are not functioning properly. I have not had the problems diagnosed by a doctor yet. I am hoping that deads and squats will take care of the hip, and ohps will take care of the shoulder.

Needless to say I have to be careful not to increase the injuries. Therefore I decided to start from scratch with an empty bar (down ego, down!). I also seek consultation with a physiotherapist a couple of times pr week.

Wow man, yeah I would definitely recommend starting off with bar weight and increase slowly! Even if your muscles can take the weights, you still have to factor in ligaments and cartilage.

P.s. a video of our car after the accident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUsCTzT ... annel_page). Even though my wife and 2.5 yo daughter spent 5 weeks in the hospital and are still rehabilitating (my wife stil has a 30 cm steel pin in her upper arm) we consider ourselves lucky.

Thats crazy!! Grats on just being alive after that! From the impact on the right side, I'm really surprised anybody in that seat survived. Happy you guys just came out with the injuries that you had received and nothing worse. Nice videos and cute daughter haha. Seems even tho she was in rough shape at the hospital that she was still having a good time playing with those cups!

He says he will add more specific thighmuscle workouts later on in the process

Maybe ask him about lunges only on your smaller leg?

[bragi]

Yeah dude, this is a rehabilitation process, so I will be extra careful. I must say on the bright side that 5x5 seems to be giving me good results. Better than I dared hope for.

Six months in a cast sounds awful. Good you are back on track. It takes work and will. My surgery was minor I would say, but it has had severe impact on my way of life. I am going to fix this one way or another.

About the crash. Luckily my wife had just moved from the front passenger seat to sit with our daughter in the back seat. The little one was in a car seat that saved her life. We thank the one above for our luck. And yes, my daughter is a tough cookie. She adapted really fast and has made a remarkable recovery.

Thanks for your comments

Bragi

[herf]

And yes, my daughter is a tough cookie. She adapted really fast and has made a remarkable recovery.

Kids are so resilient that it really surprises me. I have 2 of my own and when they get hurt, they cry for a few mins and go right back to playing. Hope you all recover and do well. Keep lifting and get that leg back in shape but try not to overdo it!

[bragi]

Log 29/04/2009:

SQ: 5*30
BP:5*30
Row: 1*10 + 1*7 + 1*3 (heels down)
RC: 1*15 + 1*10 + 1*8
pushups: 1*10 1*7 1*5

Squats and bp where easy. My shoulder is acting up so the bp's were a little painful. Must be careful there. This also influenced my pushups for worse. The reclining row is a bitch. My goal is to do 3*15 before straightening my legs.

Had an inhouse trainer at the gym check out the form on squats. I lean to much forward in his opinion. Must concentrate on looking forward and keeping my back straight.
Reg
Bragi

[Meach]

Welcome Bragi!

You and I have similar BF and BF goals, so I'll be checking in here to see how you're progressing.

Glad you (and your family) made it out of that wreck. Every day is a gift: looks like you're using it.

Be safe w/your knee and best of luck w/SL!

[bragi]

Log 30/04/2009

Went to see my physiotherapist today. He did a real number on my shoulder. I feel a lot better afterwards. It sure was painful while it lasted. It turns out that I have week back muscles (the ones between the shoulderblades, whatever they're called). The row will be helpful there.

He also looked at my hip and noticed some anomalies there as a result of my accident.

He gave me some specific movements to work on those issues. I will incorporate them into my 5x5 routine, even though some of them are going to look rediculus. Hey, it can't be worse than squating with 1.25 kg on olympic barbells. I have done that, so I should be able to do some physiotherapy at the gym.

I have an intense urge to start running outdoors again....dont know about that.

Bragi

[bragi]

Addition:

Forgot to mention that the Ptherapist said that I have poor posture. My shoulders "slouch" forward to much. This is að result of the weak backmuscles. He said I have to fix that. Right now I'm sitting in my cube squeezing my shoulderblades together. Must look like I'm imitating a titty model in a dirty magazine

[bragi]

Log 02.05.2009

SQ: 5*5*35 kg
OHP: 5*5*35 kg
Deads: 1*5*60 kg
Bench: 5*5*35 kg
Row: 1*10 + 1*7 + 1*3
Situps: 25
Physiotherapy: 20*hips
Stretches.

I somehow managed to mess up the system today. My last handwritten log was incomplete and my memory slurred by a slight hangover. Anyway, the above is what I did. On monday I will get the system back in order, hehe.

The squats were pretty hard on my knee, and during the last set I felt some pain in the first two reps. I fixed that by forcing my knees outward.
THe OHPs were easy. Cant wait to add more kg's there.
The deads are hard for me. I seem to have pretty weak posterior chain. I also obsess alittle about form here since I really don't want to fuck up my back in addition to everything else.
Bench was easy, except slight pain in my left shoulder. Disappears in the second set.
Row is a bitch. I am really weak here. Sticking to it!

There are idiots at my gym!

Bragi