The TFP Health Club

My squats are still sucking to me. Struggling, and feeling hateful and hurtful. So I went the other way and did true high volume. 10 sets of 10, with a little over a minute's rest in between sets until it got heavier. Started at 135, added ten lbs a set til I finished at 225. Maybe next workout I'll start at 145 and peak at 235. If I do that for a few workouts, maybe something will happen.

 

Starting from October 2016, at 135kg, I hit 90kg this week (But I am still fluctuating a couple of kg, and the low was following a day I was unwell so hadn't eaten a real meal).

It's interesting to me that this has mostly been through added gentle exercise, not much through diet - other than portion control. But on Friday night I ate dinner out at a local pub, and having eaten a normal sized meal that two years ago I'd have inhaled then had snacks later, I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut... really over full.

I'm thinking this is a good sign that I am getting used to less food much more than I realised.

 

Still working out, still trying new things. Doing low volume high intensity has made my knees pretty happy. Doing a set of leg extensions with the stack plus 20 lbs hanging off it for ten reps has been going well. Then follow that within a minute with 6-7 reps of squats at 335. Then a heavy set of hack squats and that's it for quads.
Today I went heavy on bench to see what I could do. Worked up to a single at 325, so I was happy with that. That either equalled or bested my pr, but it's been many years since I tried.

 

Today I'm researching strength training exercises for legs that one can do seated. I'm a bit fluffy and lacking strength right now. Adding kundalini yoga back in, but is slow going with the dizziness. My husband said yesterday when I was going up hills that my triceps are starting to pop out, so that is progress. The new wheelchair with kick ass bike tires makes most terrain possible and means we can get out on more than paved trails!

 

Here is my suggestion, because you have a lot of running and probably need to be able to recover from explosive movements to get back to a steady cardio state quickly. Intervals. When I was a trooper and was prepping for the beep test I was doing quarter mile repeats. The street nearby was a slight grade and exactly a 1/4 mile long. So I would set a time (started at I believe 6 minutes) and go fast up the hill. Tried to do that in a certain time. Then the rest of the time was mine to jog back down and recover. The faster I moved the more time I had to rest. As I improved, my times shortened. Eventually I was doing 4 to 5 laps, up to 2.5 miles total. But half my distance was lung busting fast, then trying to recover while still moving. My lactic acid threshold and recovery went way up. When I did the beep test I surprised some people, because I could could push deep into my max vo2. Just something to try. I didn't do this every day, too stressful. 2 to 3 days a week at most for pushing this hard.

 

Why, oh why, am I doing deadlifts? I have knocked them for years, haven't done them for years. I think the risk/benefit ratio is too great. They are supposed to have a strong systemic effect for the body, but I have seen too many people with terrible form begging for injury. And I have seen too many skinny little bastards pull a lot of weight for me to say "this will make you big". So why am I doing them? Probably ego. Last week I loaded up a bar and did a couple warmup sets before pulling 325 for a triple. Today I did a couple warmup sets before pulling 365x3. Not that much, but I have not done them in years, I'm turning 44 in five days, and I'm not really built for deadlifts. I have short arms and a barrel chest. Which means if I do an alternating grip (no straps) and sumo style, one elbow tries to hyperextend on my ribcage. So I do conventional, with an alternating grip. Short arms and a long torso means a pretty low starting position. Of course, you watch these spider monkeys with long limbs go into a wide sumo stance and they pull huge weights by keeping their torso almost upright and moving the bar about a foot. So I really should not be doing them. Hopefully I will retire from them before my lower back goes sproing!

 

I'm mainly doing Romanian deads to keep my rear-chain healthy, but I've not pulled from the floor in quite a while... I'm old though. Luckily lower back hasn't gone sproing in years.

 

I went o go try on some button down shirts that were in my closet from over the past few years and had a total bro-moment. My shoulders are too big for them, ha ha. I can't move my arms forward from finally getting more fit. I was kinda bummed because I really like two of them, but I'll live. I like. My AL.... Crap. I forgot what I was going to say. Interrupted by a *ding* ha ha. Carry on.

 

This week I've done about 3 miles in wheelchair and probably 1 total on crutches. The crutches are wrecking havoc on my forearms and wrists though, so something has to change. Not at all where I want to be, used to be able to do 7 miles in chair (w/ a day or 2 recovery after) , but have to start somewhere. These wheels make being out so much nicer than I've ever had before! I can cover all sorts of ground and do not need a day or so of joint recovery after being in it! Something has gone wrong in left knee but it is not hot to the touch, nor swollen, just deep bone pain if I put weight on it. That is the leg that has the screw that has been in since age 14 and because of the arthritis the bones that have been eaten away look like coral reef. Wish they would just fucking -try to- replace that knee.

My midsection is starting to change as skirts fit looser, had to move back a row of hooks on bras to tighten them up, and my core strength is improving! For my birthday we're getting a gym (YMCA) membership so will be doing weight training and swimming! <3 Have a good day everyone!

 

Third time doing 365 for a triple. So I added a single at 385. I need some chalk or lifting straps. Doing deadlifts with my grip giving slightly really caused me to lose form slightly. I just want my hands to be hooks. Other than that, I need the day of rest occasionally. I took yesterday off because I was beat.

 

Suffering from carpal tunnel lately. Doing stretches and trying to be more careful at the gym... Careful is boring

 

Careful is boring but sometime necessary. Good luck with your workouts and healing or at least not aggravating the condition.

 

Agreed, but hard-headedness usually wins.

 

Lol. Well that is one way to do things. Please be careful with yourself though. Body parts are difficult to replace and quite costly.

Silly update: vegetarian diet is going surprisingly well, have not scotch since last Sunday, and I have more energy than I had last week! Migraines were nuts this week! Even they have taken a breather today!

 

Hope your migraines get fewer and farther between. I've had migraines. Nothing to mess with. For some reason this year I've only had a couple. Maybe my slightly cleaner living with the gluten free diet is helping more than my intestines.

I'll try to be careful, thanks.