No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

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tsor
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No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#1

Post by tsor » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:06 pm

I've been lurking here on and off for a couple of years, and figured now is as good a time as any to start posting.

Some background:

I started lifting with barbells seriously in early 2011 when I was 25 and came across Starting Strength. Over the next eight years, I did various programs, including a lot of Rippetoean stuff, Greyskull, 5/3/1, some type of upper/lower split - all your usual suspects. It's a bit embarrassing to admit how long I've been lifting, given how poor my lifts are and were compared to others of similar training age. I partially blame this on spending too long being gaslighted into doing SS/TM style programs for far longer than I care to admit, and partially just generally being a dumbass with my programming.

[EDIT]
I can't believe I forgot to mention that the main culprit for my lack of strength gains is the number of years I spent getting/staying lean. I got too chunky for my comfort around late 2011, and spent the next three years starting/stopping cutting until mid/late 2014 when I got down to a DEXA-verified bodyfat of around 6% at around 150-160lbs (see spoiler below for proof) , which I maintained for about a year. I know DEXA scans can be error-prone, but the point is that I was pretty damn lean, but not very strong at all. I finally made some decent strength gains in 2017-2018 when I stopped tracking calories and started hovering around 190-200lbs.
SpoilerShow
[/EDIT]

From 2019 into early 2020, I ran into some pretty major medical issues. Long story short, I had a massive flare-up of Crohn's disease (which had been mostly dormant for me since 2007), which resulted in several hospitalizations, losing about 80lbs (from about 200 down to 120), several rounds of biologic infusions (which did next to nothing for me), and eventually an emergency room visit due to my colon pretty much exploding (the medical term is "Toxic Megacolon" - Google at your own risk).

This resulted in a total colectomy and ileostomy - that is, my entire large intestine was removed and my small intestine was rerouted through my abdomen so waste could be deposited into an external bag.

After a month's stay in the hospital (during a fucking pandemic, of all times), I was completely detrained. Worse than detrained, really. I was around 119lbs when I got home, and it took over a month of PT before I was even able to think about lifting weights again. Even then, it was a struggle to even overhead press my girlfriend's 35 pound bar, and I couldn't even do a bodyweight squat because my hips were so weak. My first set of barbell squats were for 3 sets of 5 with the empty bar, and those were the hardest sets of my life, both physically and mentally.

At the present, I'm almost back to my old weight (I looked up Christian Bale's diet to gain weight between The Machinist and Batman Begins and did that - lots of pizza and ice cream), though my strength hasn't quite kept up with my weight gain, so I admit I overdid it a bit. Considering I was able to eat anything I wanted after months of eating little to nothing (and not even drinking fluids for a few weeks while I had an NG tube and was being fed through a TPN), though, I don't feel too bad about it. I intended to slow down the weight gain when I got to around 150 lbs, but I had trouble stopping the momentum. :lol:

I'm still at the point where I can make progress doing just about anything. I started just doing full body workouts every day, and eventually started doing a sort of GZCLP type of program, but as an upper/lower every day instead of full body workouts, and that's been working well so far. I'm still getting 10 reps pretty easily on my top sets, so I'll probably stick with that for a while, and then probably use the bench setup Hanley generously recommended to me here: viewtopic.php?p=241577#p241577

I also started getting interested in mountain biking about a year ago and am looking to get back into that as well. I was pretty terrible at it, just as I am at lifting, but I guess I find being bad at something highly motivating for some reason. Anyway, for now, I'm just taking casual rides around my neighborhood until my general fitness is a bit better and I feel more confident on the bike.

UPDATE:
Had ileostomy reversed in September 2020 (see viewtopic.php?p=250299#p250299), so I don't have to wear an ostomy bag anymore. Huzzah! Still no colon, though, but that guy was nothing but trouble anyway. :lol: As of January 2021, things are going well so far.

Stats:
Male, 34yrs old
~185lbs @ 5'9"

PRs (in pounds) in the B.C.* era
LB Squat: 365
Bench: 250 paused, 255 TNG
DL: 475 (long arms - at a Starting Strength seminar in 2016 Rip quipped that I had "Gibbon blood")
Press: 170
Best time around North Meck loop in Huntersville, NC: 24:18

*Before Colectomy

Latest PRs after layoff:
LB Squat: 155 for 10 reps
Bench: 140 for 10 reps
Deadlift: 200 for 10 reps
Press: 80 for 10 reps
Last edited by tsor on Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:14 pm, edited 11 times in total.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#2

Post by mgil » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:21 pm

Thank you for sharing your story, @tsor!

Hopefully, you see a long period of great health and gains.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#3

Post by Wilhelm » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:59 pm

Great comeback, and strong will, @tsor

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#4

Post by tsor » Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:19 pm

mgil wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:21 pm Thank you for sharing your story, @tsor!

Hopefully, you see a long period of great health and gains.
Wilhelm wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:59 pm Great comeback, and strong will, @tsor
Thanks, gents.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#5

Post by tsor » Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:07 pm

July 26, 2020

DL:
200lbs x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10

Squat:
115lbs x 10, 10, 10

Bicycle crunches:
15, 15, 7 (ab work is still a bit painful, even four months after abdominal surgery)

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#6

Post by alek » Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:56 pm

Welcome to the forum @tsor! I have a few friends with Crohn's/UC, and it sucks. Hang in there and just think of all the LP gains you have coming your way--that's what I'm doing now...

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#7

Post by tsor » Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:30 am

alek wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:56 pm Welcome to the forum @tsor! I have a few friends with Crohn's/UC, and it sucks. Hang in there and just think of all the LP gains you have coming your way--that's what I'm doing now...
Thanks, alek. That is the plan! It is nice to be able to make progress from workout to workout, again.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#8

Post by tsor » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:20 am

Monday, July 27, 2020

Press: 82.5 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Supersetted with:
Chins: BW+7.5 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

Bench: 100 x 10, 10, 10
Supersetted with:
2-Arm DB Row: 45s x 10, 10, 10

Skullcrushers: 40 x 45 Rest-paused
EZ-Curls: 35 x 44 RP

I've started treating my upper-body pulls as "T1/T2" lifts and supersetting them with my presses. We'll see if this turns out to be a bad idea or not, but feels fine for now and is a time-efficient way to get in more pulling.

I'm also doing rows with dumbbells instead of a barbell because I don't want to worry about whacking myself in the stoma. Not because I'm especially worried about injury (the thing seems pretty damned resilient), but more that I don't want to spring a leak in my ostomy. That would suck. Also doing them two-armed instead of one-armed mostly for time efficiency. And they're just rows, so no big deal either way. Also doing my assistance work rest-paused for the same reason.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#9

Post by Hanley » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:24 am

Shit, man. Sorry to hear of the health issues. Inspiring that you're pushing on with the training.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#10

Post by tsor » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:45 am

Hanley wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:24 am Shit, man. Sorry to hear of the health issues. Inspiring that you're pushing on with the training.
Thanks, Hanley. Truth is, I haven't been this motivated to train since I first started years ago, and I think my recovery has been all the better for it. At the very least, it helped get my appetite back. When I had my last visit with my surgeons, they were surprised at how different I looked and how well I was doing.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#11

Post by tsor » Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:12 am

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Squat: 165 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10

DL: 145 x 10, 10, 10 (DOH, so my forearms felt this more than anything)

Reverse crunches (knees bent) x 20, 20, 20

Today it occurred to me that if I'm hitting 10 reps on my top set with a rep or two in the tank, then by definition, my sets of three are RPE 3 (at most) and are really just warm up sets for the AMRAP set.
EDIT: I just went back and reviewed RTS' explanation of RPE, and these were probably more like RPE 5 or 6, but still, something very low.

This has some interesting (at least to me) implications:
First, that it's a good thing I'm not using RPE to dictate my workouts right now - those first few sets always feel pretty hard.
Second, even though those first few sets of three feel hard, by the time I get to my fifth set, I feel primed and ready to go. For that reason, I find this is working better for me than working up to one top set (à la 5/3/1), and 3s seem to be less fatiguing and allow more practice than doing something like 5, 5, 5+ (Greyskull).

Regardless, it's working so far and I'm finding it an enjoyable way to train, so on with this Sisyphean task I go.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#12

Post by tsor » Wed Jul 29, 2020 12:37 pm

Wed July 29, 2020

Bench:
142.5 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
2-Arm DB Row:
65s x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10

Press:
60 x 10, 10, 10
Band-Assisted Chins (green/heavy):
10, 10, 8

DB Skullcrusher:
20s x 48 RP
DB Curl:
20s x 36 RP

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#13

Post by tsor » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:43 pm

Friday July 31, 2020

Bench:
135 x 5 reps x 10 sets
Decided to start using a HVLF approach for bench, per viewtopic.php?p=241577#p241577. Bar speed starting slowing down on the 10th set, so stopped there.

Deadlift:
225 x 3 reps x 5 sets

LTE:
45 x 15 reps x 5 sets

Spiders killed in garage:
Black widow x 1 spider

Been feeling super-fatigued lately, to the point where it's affecting my work and day-to-day life, and I'm having to take long naps just to get through the day. Getting some bloodwork next week to see if I'm deficient in anything (B12 is supposedly common for those in my condition).

In the meantime, though, thinking of just training full-body every other day, benching every workout and alternating squat and deadlift and dropping the AMRAP. We'll see how that goes going forward. This workout took longer than usual, though, so may have to rethink that if I want to keep training on my lunch break.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#14

Post by tsor » Sat Aug 01, 2020 2:02 pm

Sat Aug 1, 2020

Decided to do a mini "back" workout, just to test out how many chinups I can do now. Pretty happy to get 10, considering I wasn't even able to get 1 not too long ago.

Chinups:
10, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 (these dropped off quickly, but that first set was a hard RPE10)

And some banded-rows, barbell curls, and pull-aparts for a bunch of reps.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#15

Post by tsor » Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:38 am

Sun Aug 2, 2020

Bench:
160 x 3 reps x 5 sets and 2 reps x 5 sets

Squat
175 x 3 reps x 5 sets

Press:
55 x 16, 5, 5, 4 (myo reps)

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#16

Post by tsor » Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:34 am

Mon Aug 3, 2020

BW: 184.8
Was dreading weighing myself a bit, as I haven't weighed myself in a while and have been eating pretty much ad libitum and have been feeling a bit chubby lately. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I weigh exactly the same as I did a month ago, so it seems I've reached a bit of an equilibrium with my intake. I don't want to gain any more, though, and would ideally like to lose a few pounds, but I'm not going to stress about it too much.

Band-assisted pullups (wide-ish grip with green/heavy band):
8, 8, 8, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5

DB rows:
45 x 10, 10, 10
Trying to keep these pretty strict, using the form that John Meadows (incidentally, another dude without a colon) describes here: https://youtu.be/D-k0Z2piOk4

DB curls:
20 x 15, 15, 15

Reverse fly:
20 x 20, 20, 15

I like doing these easy back workouts on my "rest" days, and may stick to something like this for a while.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#17

Post by tsor » Tue Aug 04, 2020 9:07 am

Tues Aug 4 2020

Bench:
170 for 5 doubles and 5 singles
Accidentally misloaded one of the singles at 155 when I was swapping plates back and forth while warming up for deadlifts, but whatever.

Deadlift:
155 x 10 reps x 3 sets
Keeping the double progression from the original GZCLP of alternating triples and 10s for lower body lifts. At least for now.

Skullcrusher:
35 x 55 RP

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#18

Post by tsor » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:52 pm

Wed Aug 5 2020

Chinups:
5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2
50 total reps. That's a colonless volume PR. Feels good to finally be able to start repping these out again.

BB Curls:
35 x 20r x 5s

Pull aparts:
Red band x 20r x 5s

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#19

Post by Wilhelm » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:59 pm

God i hate pullups.
I do them pretty much no matter what, probably exactly because of that, but still.

Nice work, Tsor.

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Re: No Colon, Still Rollin' Or: Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft

#20

Post by tsor » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:38 pm

Wilhelm wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:59 pm God i hate pullups.
I do them pretty much no matter what, probably exactly because of that, but still.

Nice work, Tsor.
Thanks, Wilhelm. I have the same hatred for them, but still feel obligated to do them. I still have the memory of being the weak, fat kid in grade school who couldn't do a single pull-up, so I have to keep them in purely for ego.

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