ExRx.net

lower body today, did pretty much the whole thing on a sled.

Terminal Knee Extensions

3 x 15
4 x 15

really just did these as part of my warm up. They're an activation exercise more than anything else.

Sled drags

25k
50k
75k
50k
25k

75k was hard as hell but i think I could've gone a little heavier. I'm going to stick a 5k plate in next time so I'll go 30, 55, 80 etc

Backwards sled drags

10k
20k
10k

the lactic acid burn on these is unreal. Really feel it in the bottom part of your quads.

Stir The Pot/Single Leg Swiss Ball Leg Curls

3x8 of each (stir the pot reps are 8 in each direction)

hamstrings were cramping up like a motherfucker! This really finishes them off after all the sled work. To ramp up the stir-the-pots I move my feet in closer each set. I start with them wide as hell, move them in 50% for the second and then for the last set I have my feet together. I'm definitely getting better at them.

Hanging Leg Raises/Single Leg Hip Thrusts

3x6

Not really sure why I bothered with these, just felt like adding in something a little extra. Making sure to really posteriorly tilt my pelvis on the leg raises. Totally changes the feel of the exercise. Nothing to report regarding the hip thrusts really.

And that, as they say, was that. Not a bad workout really, took me a long time to finish for a few reasons, the most notable being I had to wait 20 mins for a stupid exercise class to finish and get out the hall. I wouldn't have minded but you should have seen the class. It was some stupid dance fitness thing, using like flamenco style dancing as exercise. It was the lowest intensity, pointless waste of time I've ever seen in my life. Most of the guys you see in the gym are being idiots and just benching and curling, but most of the girls are wasting their time taking these stupid, fad classes and spending ages on cardio machines at a ludicrously low intensity. Both things are just as bad in my book. Anyway, that turned into a bit of a rant...

Back is a little sore, it was giving me serious trouble last night. It was hurting on the walk home but then got better when I was halfway home. Can't explain it. Time will tell what it'll be like later.

I'll do a few sets of bird dogs tonight and that'll be all.

upper body day, back feels the best it's felt all week.

few sets of bird dogs tonight.

Started doing bird dogs the way Stuart McGill recommends. It's called the Russian Descending Pyramid. You do 4 reps with one arm, then 4 with the other, then 3 with the first arm, then 3 with the other, then 2, then 1. You hold each rep for 8 seconds. Dr. McGill says this is good for athletes and regular folks alike. It's a helluva lot harder then just doing sets of 15 holding for a couple of seconds.

Do you bird dogs like that from now on!

off day, back feels alright.

Few thousand sets of single leg deadlifts when the shop's quiet and some side planks later on methinks

off day, back feels fine despite drinking loads last night. 2 weekends in a row, that's not like me

few sets of bird dogs tonight.

Not going to squat this week. I've decided I'm going to try and get up to the 30k dumbells for bulgarian split squats. That'll be pretty beasting, I've never seen anyone do that before

lower body, let's get to it

DBSS

12.5k x 8
15k x 8
17.5k x 8
20k x 8

well I did the exact same weights and reps last week. Oops, should've done sets of ten. I'll do sets of ten on thursday and if I hit that - and let's face it, I'm a split squattin' machine so I definitely will - then I'll go up to the 22.5k dumbells next week. Getting pretty strong on these. Still hate them though.

Hip Thrusts/Leg lowering superset

60k x 10 x 5/6 reps x 5

five sets of ten of these gets your glutes burning like nothing else. I think next time I'll go 60, 65, 70, 65, 60. Making sure to get a good contraction at the top which I hold for a few seconds. Burns! Not much to report on the leg lowering, figured I might as well throw it in, it doesn't interfere with the hip thrusts at all so why not eh?

GHR/TKE superset (number is position on stack)

BW x 4/4 x 12
BW x 4/5 x 12
BW x 4/6 x 12

GHRs are getting easier. The Terminal Knee Extensions are a funny one. They really burn in a very specific part of your quads. I think I'll go for higher reps as opposed to more weight. I have no idea if it really is a weak VMO that means my knees hurt but if it is I want to nip it in the bud right now.

Stir The Pot/Single Leg Swiss Ball Leg Curl superset

3 sets, 8 reps of each

first set of stir the pots done with feet slightly wider than shoulder width, 2nd set done with feet together (much harder) and 3rd set done with same foot position as set 1. Leg curls really finish off the hams after the GHRs.

And we're done. Couldn't drag the sled because of stupid badminton. No one was even playing, the nets were just sitting there out of use. Stupid badminton.

Back is a little sore but not too bad. I'll do some bird dogs tonight, nothing too heavy.

upper body today, back is a little sore but to put it in perspective, the DOMS in my glutes and hamstrings is way worse.

think I'll do side planks tonight

off day, light core and mobility stuff

off day, back feels ok, loads of mobility stuff later

forgot to mention earlier, there's a physiotherapist that sometimes operates out of the shop I work in. I met him for the first time today; guy is an absolute saint. Not only is he a physio but he's a certified Olympic lifting coach!

So physio+olympic lifting coach=best damn physio on the planet. I'm going to go and see him in a couple of weeks (after I've been paid) and get him to assess all my movement patterns and that kind of stuff. He's already told me I have overactive rhomboids. I'd never even thought of that.

I was thinking that I wouldn't need to see a physio because my back is slowly getting better, but I think really this was arrogance on my part. There's so much potential dysfunction going on I really need to get a professional to give me an MOT. Maybe I'll go see him and he'll just confirm what I already know, or maybe he'll give me a whole list of things that need fixing that I didn't know about. I have to know for sure.

So yeah, that was big news relating to my back. In a couple of weeks I'll go see him and we'll see what's what.

upper body today, haven't done two leg workouts (not counting sled) in a week for ages so definitely going to do that next week.

Tried overhead pressing for the first time in months, back and elbow can't handle it. I thought my elbow was better! Dang. Just something else for the physio to try and fix.

Back doesn't hurt just now but I'm pretty sure it will later...

off day yesterday and today, back feels pretty good. Did about a thousand reps of single leg deadlifts in the shop, plus a load of bent over shrugs (like a bent over row except you just pull your shoulders back).

A mate of mine is down staying with me all weekend. It's good craic but I've done no mobility/core stuff. Meh. I'll hit it extra hard next week and just enjoy my weekend.

lower body biznitch

DBSS

15x8
17.5x8
20x8
22.5x8

the 22.5ks is a PR, but it was real ugly. My form went all to hell, falling about all over the place. The worst part is trying to support yourself with your back foot cramping like a bitch from the set you just did. It wasn't easy, but I just about did it. "Something Good" by the Utah Saints (the original, not the crap 2008 remix) came on for my last set which gave me strength. I think when I come back in later in the week I'll only go as high as 20 but i'll try for sets of 10.

Hip Thrusts/Leg Lowering

60k x 10/6 reps
65k x 10/7 reps
70k x 10/8 reps

only did 3 sets, I would've gone back down in weight but I didn't have a lot of time today. 70k for 10 is a PR for reps. Leg lowering was nothing special.

GHR/TKE

BWx4/4 x 12
BWx4/5 x 12
BWx4/6 x 12

Trying to be more explosive on the GHRs. TKE's are weird, they sneak up on you. One minute it's easy then all of a sudden your knees feel like they're on fire.

Finito. Had very little time to spend in the gym today but it was a pretty good workout despite being a little short. 2 PRs is nothing to sniff at. I'll do some planks and things tonight.

off day, did a billion reps of single leg deadlifts in the shop plus 4 sets of wall slides.

tonight I'll do some planks and foam rolling

upper body day, I have some musings:

Back feels the best it's felt since the squatting fiasco earlier this month. Going to start wall squatting every day again next week. Wonder if my knees'll feel a bit better since adding in those TKE's. We'll soon see.

Decided to push back squatting a bit further. I was planning on trying again at the start of September, but I've decided not to. I'm going to try and get to the 30k dumbells for split squats. Once I've hit that, I'm going to start doing them from a deficit. I figure I might as well milk them for all they're worth before I abandon them. Also, they've put more size on my quads over the last couple of months than squatting ever did! Thing is, this means I think that I'm going to be doing rehab stuff even after summer's finished, and it was always my intention to have everything sorted by the time university started again. Oh well. It was that damn squatting accident that did it!

In a week or two I'm going to go see that physio.

tonight I'll do some core stuff and foam rolling

lower bahdy baybay

DBSS

15 x 8
17.5 x 8
20 x 8
22.5 x 8

same sets and reps as monday, but it was MUCH easier today. Kept my balance for all the reps of the top set. It really kicked my ass but my form was loads better. Think I'll keep the weight and reps the same next week, or I might go up slightly in reps. Not going to increase the weight til the week after though.

Hip Thrusts/Leg Lowering Superset

60k x 10/6 reps
65k x 10/7 reps
70k x 10/8 reps
65k x 10/7 reps
60k x 10/6 reps

Got all my target reps for both exercises so it's up in weight for the thrusts and up in reps for the leg lowering next time.

GHR/TKE superset

BW x 4/4 x 15
BW x 4/5 x 15
BW x 4/5 x 15

Definitely more explosive on the GHRs, going to try for 20 reps of each on the TKEs next time

Swiss Ball Single Leg Curl/Stir The Pot Superset

3 x 10/8

I've got to think of a snappier name for this superset. 3 set of 10 on the leg curls is a PR. They're actually getting kind of easy, so I think I may have to do a different exercise from now on. Machine leg curls I think. I'll keep them for another week or so then change. I think as well I'll start doing roll outs instead of the stir the pot.

And we're done, no energy for sled dragging today. Was a pretty good workout, one of those times when you get to the gym feeling like a workout is the last thing in the world you'd want to do, then when you get started you actually feel pretty strong. Weird how that happens sometimes.

My back hasn't really hurt at all the last couple of days. I'm going to phone the physio tomorrow and arrange an appointment.

tonight I'll do some wall slides and some side planks. My ROM on the wall slides is loads better than it was when I started.