10 Feb 2013-Feeding your face with a fist

Run /Walk day 2. I spent the better part of my first hour of the day stretching and foam rolling my entire lower body. I little upper but nothing major. Jammed a coffee down my gullet and then ventured forth to gym to get this session under way. After the first run session and yesterday's Lunge irritation i had no idea how this was going to go.

Treadmill - Max Incl /10 Min / 7 min @ Lvl 3.5 -3 min @ Lvl 4.1
This was actually fairly easy. I will take this improvement away with me but what happened next served to both frustrate, anger, and piss me off.

Run /Walk alternating - 1 min run x 3 /1 min walk x 3
Run /Walk - 100 m Run x 2 /50 m Walk x 2 (i tried this to see if eliminating the turns on the track and only running the straight-a-ways would make a difference. No Joy)

It was not the lack of improvement in time or distance. Neither was it the inability to match Thursday's mark. It was the depletion in my ability to run due to irritation then mild pain. I am running with a slight limp because of the irritated bursa sac just below my patella. I focus on not trying to run this way. I can manage it for a few paces before it returns. I realize that this is only day 2 of my return to running. I am entitled to be angry and frustrated because i fucking care and i am impatient. I will rebuild this. I have some ideas. I will have to talk to my Physio Therapist. But first things first. ICE, FREEZE, PUT IN CRYO CONTAINMENT, WHATEVER...my Knee to get the Bursa sac to settle down today. Continue to stretch and Foam Roll the IT which is showing improvement.
I can run in the pool pain free. I just have to figure out how to do it on dry land, whether if it is with a strap, tape, or some other contraption. This is just one more process to examine, de-construct, and then push through.

45 Deg Back Ext 1 x 15, 1 x 10
45 Deg Side bends 3 x 10 (non-stop alt sides)
Rev Hyper 1 x 30
Hyper Deads
1 x 10 x 50
1 x 10 x 70
1 x 10 x 90
3 x 5 x 100
1 x 10 x 50 (soft knees, feels like my Hamstring insertions will tear out of my legs)
I experimented a little today after watching a friend do these yesterday. Right now i prefer having nearly locked knees when i do them. Just feels safer. With lighter weight i do like how i can focus in on the Hamstrings right where they insert behind the Knee.

Dips 3 x 5 (3 sec down /1 sec up)
Face Pulls w/ Strap (Lat Machine) 
1 x 20 x 70 lbs
2 x 20 x 65 lbs

Standing Abs 

Standing Abs 
1 x 8 x 105 lbs
3 x 10 x 95 lbs
Fat Gripz Vbar Pressdowns
1 x 12 x 70
3 x 15 x 70
Fat Gripz Machine Curls (double pulley)
1 x 30 x 60
1 x 25 x 60
Neck Crunch 2 x 20 x 25
Horizontal Shrug 1 x 20 x 45 lbs
The standing abs i will add weight to as i get more comfortable with my Knee, this is one of the only exercises pre-surgery that irritated my meniscus (although i did not know it at the time.) The Face Pulls felt sluggish today. Although i realized i have been using the band only for weeks. So i will switch things up and do more of the strap with real weight for several weeks to balance things out again.
After i finished the second set of Bicep Curls i felt completely wiped and drained. I did not eat nearly enough yesterday. So i shut things down. Eating food the rest of the day. Ice the Knee.

Pissed OFF For Greatness, Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

09 Feb 2013 -A Peaceful Man Stands Tall

After Digging my car out because the Apartment management company's snow removal guy did a craptacular job of clearing out the snow i did get myself into the gym this am. Later than usual but i made it in. Started SilverBack Saturday with Megadeth and a healthy dose of anger to burn off thanks my buddy Joe posting a completely insane video. Everything felt good going in. The shoveling was a good warm up to work the stiffness i had in my back when i rolled out of bed this morning. Despite smashing my foot into the stairs yesterday morning, causing an entire day of patella discomfort, my healing abilities took care of that while i slept last night. So i was feeling good, i was feeling strong.

Red Band Pull-A-Parts 1 x 50
Pull Ups 10 x 12 reps

Push Ups 6 x 20
Situps 6 x 23
As i usually try to do i get other bodyweight exercises completed in between sets of Pull ups to save time and so i am not trying to do set after set of Pull Ups non-stop. Today's Ten sets i completed in about 65 min. i had to stretch the time because by set #9 i barely got to 12 reps. We will see how next plays out. I may have to make some adjustments to get my Pull ups to continue to move forward.
The Push ups are still coming along nicely. Next week i will bump them up 1 more rep and the Bosu Spinal flexion i will bump up to 25 reps for 6 sets.

This was my day and most everyone else in the City.(Stolen from Harry Selkow)

TKE's 5 x 20
Bosu Balance 3 x 6 Stars
Calf Raises (straight leg) 4 x 30
Physio Ball Leg Curls 4 x 10
Oly Bar Curl 1 x 62 reps x bar
Rev Hyper 1 x 15, 1 x 20
45 Deg Back Ext 2 x 15
Leg Raise 2 x 15
Rainbows 2 x 20
Dips 3 x 5
45 Deg Side Bends 3 x 10
Head Harness 3 x 20 x 30 lbs /1 x 30 x 30 lbs
Lunges L 10 /R 8

As you can see i mixed and matched my Daily 30 exercises today. The Leg raises i did at a very high tempo ripping out 15 reps as fast as i could under control. The Dips i have dropped back down to 5 reps but i am doing a very slow decent with a hard pop from the bottom exploding back up. The adjustments to my Dip technique have helped alleviate any shoulder tweaks these used to cause but i am still careful about my volume with this exercise. Changing the tempo seems to be more effective for me. The Oly bar Curls i will work back up to 1 x 100 reps. My Max on these is one non stop set of 120 reps i think. I will have to look it up. Definitely a mind fuck doing a hundred non-stop reps of anything. But it is good to mentally push your limits regularly. The TKE's felt awesome, ever since i started on the IT band work the contractions have been harder and more focused.

EliteFTS

The Bosu balance i have not done in over a week but they felt really good today. My balance and endurance to stay on the ball is coming back quickly as the Physio predicted. The Lunges i had to keep to one set and even at that i had to shut down after 8 reps because of Patella /Bursa sac irritation almost pain. But this is my fault. I will do a concentrated approach of foam rolling & stretching right before doing these tomorrow to see if that helps. I did try contracting my Glute insanely hard during the lunges and that did seem to help slightly with the irritation. So i will keep that in mind also. Too bad i had to cancel my PT appt yesterday due to the weather. Next week. In the mean time, i just have to keep bashing the IT band.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

08 Feb 2013 -I swear I knew it all along

A little softer than my usual music i know. Snow storm rolling in today. Still made it in at 0530 hrs to get my Dynamic Bench work completed for the day. I will spend the rest of my day working the Knee with TKE's and making sure my glutes get some work done as well. Just like last weekend, lots of IT Band Stretching and Rolling it out. A few bonuses for today as well.

Rev Hyper 1 x 40

Dynamic Bench
2 x 5 x bar (CG)
1 x 3 x 95 (MG)
1 x 3 x 115 (MG)
1 x 3 x 135 (MG)
1 x 3 x 145 (MG)
2 x 3 x 155 (WG)
5 x 3 x 135 (WG)

These felt as good as they have in the past few weeks. I realized after 2 sets with the 155 i was moving the bar quickly but still sort of grinding. So i back down to 135, cut my rest short, and made a point of just getting all three reps done as quickly as possible. I normally do these Rest /Pause but felt like i just wanted to move the bar as fast as possible today.
Trap machine Shrugs 5 x 20 x 70 lbs (done throughout trg both between sets of Bench and DB work)
Neutral DB Bench Press
1 x 10 x 60
1 x 10 x 70
1 x 10 x 75
1 x 10 x 80 (REP PR)
1 x 15 x 70
These started out well enough but by the end of the second set i could my right bicep tendon tightening up which seemed to mess with my control a little bit. I asked trusted individual for a spot on the 75 and 80 sets.
The Db's even 80 lbs' are still moving pretty quickly. I am not trying to turn these into an ego lift and simply trying to go for max weight. I am using them as extra Tricep /Pec work volume. Hence the last set being a drop set to 70 lbs. The last set i punched out very fast. i will make sure to do some high rep barbell curls for the bicep tendon tomorrow.

Superset
Horizontal Row 4 x 15-20 x 65lbs
Black Band Face Pulls 4 x 30
Red Band Tricep Pull down 3 x 50

Rainbows 1 x 25
Lunges (L&R) 1 x 10 - *NO KNEE IRRITATION *

So i got thinking about how good the knee was feeling the past few days so i fired off a set of Lunges. No irritation in the patella. This is very good. I will keep up with the recovery work for IT Band but this means i am back on track. Excellent Segue into the weekend. I will enjoy the relaxation today making sure to stretch and prep for Silver Back Saturday tomorrow morning.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

7 Feb 2013-The Line must be drawn here...

Totally random i know. 

But today was a day to mark on the calendar of sorts. I actually ran today. First time since probably July 2012. It is time to rebuild my running ability. Running and i were have never been great friends but now i must put forth the effort to become a great runner.

Putin riding a Bear. Does this need a caption?

Treadmill (Warm up)
8 min  /Max Incline /Lvl 3.0 -4.1

The program calls for 1 min intervals of jogging /running followed by 1 min intervals of walking.

Run /Jog
5 intervals

To say it felt strange would be an understatement. It felt really good except for the bursa sack on my Knee. So from this i am drawing a few thoughts and conclusions. The bursa sack is steal healing. I have a shit ton of foam rolling and stretching to do. Also i must develop a better and more comprehensive warm up for running. The program calls for 5 min of walking before and after the running. I chose the incline treadmill instead so i can get warmer faster and it allows me to stretch my calves /Achilles.

Post run i took 15 min to stretch and foam roll my IT band, hips, and quads. This is day one of many to come. It IS throat punch Thursday so neck work is always a must. Not as high volume as previous weeks but doing the Superset was neck pump-i-tude for sure.

Rainbows 1 x 10
Physio Ball Leg Curl 2 x 10
Hip Extensions 3 x 15
TKE's 2 x 20
Band Pull-A-parts 2 x 40
Red band Push Downs (Doubled) 1 x 25
Single Arm KB Shrug (L&R) 2 x 20 x 53 (non stop back and forth)

Superset
Head Harness 5 x 20 x 30 lbs
Neck Crunch 5 x 20 x 25 lbs


After Pool Rehab

10 min x Flutter Kicks
10 min x fast Run w/Water Db in the Deep end
15 min x Running in Shallow end

I have been doing high knee sprints in water at neck level. Pumping arms /legs hard and fast. Running from this water to the wall of the shallow end. I can already feel the co-ordination and strength building weekly. After the hard Prowler /Pool Session on Tuesday i could feel the lactic acid in my quads /hamstrings fighting me after about 3 min. I did not slow down but fought the whole time to push the pace. I still don't get winded doing this but my head does sweat. Which as i said on Tuesday is a little weird being in the pool and sweating.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

6 Feb 2013 -You know what you gotta do.

Something made me think about this scene while i was training today. Strangely motivating. Pull something in my lat /rear Delt this morning climbing the stairs. I thought "OH FUCKING GREAT, IT IS OH PRESS DAY " but i warmed up and was able to work through it. Probably going to pay for it tomorrow. The machine rows i did today i could really feel it, so i took them slow, smooth and semi light. Just a mild pull i am sure, but certain movements are strangely weak.

THE DAILY 30 (All 30 reps done in 1 set)
Shoulder & Lat stretch with Orange band 3 min
Seated OH Press
2 x 10 x Bar
1 x 3 x 65
1 x 3 x 85
1 x 3 x 95
1 x 3 x 105
1 x 3 x 115
1 x 3 x 125
1 x 3 x 135
1 x 3 x 145 (Pretty sure this is a PR)
3 x 5 x 105 lbs
Red Band Pull-A-parts 3 x 30
One Arm Machine Row 3 x 15 x 55 lbs
Head Harness 3 x 20 x 30 lbs
TKE's 1 x 20 (super slow concentrated contractions)
ADductions /ABductions 1 x 40 /40 x 85 /190

Superset
Black Band Face Pulls 3 x 20
Black Band PullDowns 3 x 30

Tomorrow morning I am planning to do my first morning jog /walk session. Other than the cold weather the Knee has felt great the past few days. The Blue heat first thing in the morning is doing the trick before i head to the gym . Tomorrow is Thursday....so watch out for the Throat Punches. Lots of Neck work tomorrow.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

5 Feb 2013-With Fire In Our Hands

The talented and Beautiful Angela Gossow. Even more amazing to see live. The Chosen single band Playlist for today's Prowler session. I did get the Prowler but as is normal for these early morning sessions, i had to alter my initial plans. So instead of a bunch of 20 m work it was laps of the track. Man maker training this morning for sure.

no one works harder than ROCKY

PROWLER

3 Laps (220 m) x 90 lbs

At first glance this doesn't seem like much. I rested only when i absolutely had to (usually every 100m or so i stopped for about 15 sec to breathe). I was finished the third lap in under 24 min. So on average, 8 min a lap. I decided after this i want to go 1 full mile (8 Laps) with 90 lbs in under 55 min (avg 7 min laps). Why? Because it will suck beyond belief and most people will not even consider attempting it. Once i am able to  Jog /Run with the Prowler it will be an even more reasonable goal. The little things to increase my awesomeness. Goal setting for a larger purpose.

After this i BlitzKriegged the THE DAILY 30 (all done in less than 10 min)

Black Band Push Down 1 x 50
Black Band Pull Down 1 x 50
Single Leg Calf Raise (L&R) 1 x 15

THE AFTER NOON POOL REHAB

So if that was not enough for the day i still had pool rehab. High Energy and the knee felt good and loose going into the pool.

Flutter Board Kicks x 10 min
Deep End Water Running with Water Db x 10 min
Deep to Shallow End Running /High Knee Work x 13 min

Everything i did in the pool today was max effort and fast. The Deep end water running i have really been able to speed up without turning in an epileptic. So i really pushed the pace with the Db and leg movement. Making sure to maintain full range of motion with my legs, which quite alot of scar tissue to pop and crack nicely. No pain. Having had nearly two weeks since i first tried running in the shallow end i was really looking forward to seeing how this would go. I could not quite get myself breathing too hard but i did generate a sweat in the cold water of the pool. Which is cool in its own way. No slipping today as i was able to consciously catch myself while running in the water today.

All training today i found very inspiring and reminded me why i am pushing so hard. As well i am on track and the recovery will come eventually. I said to a friend today:

"I would rather have 1% a day everyday than get  10% today and have to wait 3 weeks for the next jump in improvement."
 Little steps everyday. Not everyday will be this crushingly awesome but i will take this one and build on it.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)

4 Feb 2013-Clocking is ticking while i am stealing time

Everything felt real strong today. Excellent work all around. I had planed on coming back in the evening but Sunday's Prowler session caught up with me. With A pool running session schedule for tomorrow i was not to concerned about getting certain things done. I was pretty damn hungry all day after this though.

THE DAILY 30 - Completed (partially as a warm up and throughout out as per usual)

Floor Press
2 x 5 x Bar
1 x 5 x 95
1 x 5 x 115
1 x 3 x 135
1 x 3 x 160
1 x 3 x 185
1 x 6 x 210
2 x 5 x 155
1 x 10 x 155

Everything felt smooth and strong. Nothing truly memorable except maybe that last set with 155. If it is that smooth next week i will up the weight for the next cycle after the de-load.

Machine Row 3 x 15 x 185 (one more week with this weight)

Superset
Fat Man Rows 3 x 15 x 95 ( i really try not to worry about the weight on these and just try to get quality reps in on every set)
Black Band Face Pulls 3 x 20

Neck Crunch 2 x 25 x 25 lbs
Rear Delt Destroyer 1 x 60 x 40lbs - 1 x 30 x 20lbs - 1 x 10 x 15 lbs

Never made it back in to train. But i had a weird balance issue that i can only contribute to Prowler and Hyper Dead work from yesterday. No stiffness. Leg felt extremely good.

Keep Moving Forward, Keep Getting Strong(er)