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

[tsor]

Thurs Aug 6 2020

Good workout today. Felt strong.

Bench:
137.5 x 5 reps x 11 sets
Was able to knock these out pretty easily with minimal rest between sets and good bar speed throughout.

Squat:
125 x 10 x 3
EZPZ.

LTE:
50 x a bunch of "modified myo reps" for 10 min

[tsor]

Fri Aug 7 2020

BW: 185.8
Need be more diligent about tracking this consistently.

Band-assisted pull-ups:
BW + green band x 10, 8, 8, 7, 6, 6, 5

DB rows:
45 x 12 x 3

DB curl:
20 x 16 x 3

Reverse fly:
20 x 20 x 3

[tsor]

Sat Aug 8 2020

Triceps were still pretty sore after Thursday's bench workout, but I still went in and had a productive training session, so I'm glad I didn't let it deter me from training.

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

Deadlift:
235 x 3 x 5 sets

Press:
60 x 16, 5, 5, 3 (myo reps)

[tsor]

Mon Aug 10, 2020
BW: 185.2

Felt weak and slow at the beginning of the workout, but felt fine a few sets in. Perhaps should take more time warming up.

Bench:
172.5 for 5 doubles and 5 singles

Squat:
185 x 3 reps x 5 sets

Skullcrusher:
40 x 50 RP

[tsor]

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Chinups:
Bodyweight for 5 x 5, followed by negatives for 5 x 5

Barbell curls:
35 x 55 RP

I was in a bit of a hurry, but still wanted to get in some upper-body pulling, so I just knocked out some chins and curls. Right elbow was feeling a bit achy, so I'm thinking about changing to high-bar squats. I had a good reason to use low-bar starting out - for a while after surgery, standing straight up was a bit painful/uncomfortable, and low-bar allowed me to bend over more, alleviating some of the discomfort. Now that I'm mostly recovered and have no interest in competing in powerlifting any time soon, though, I may make the switch to high bar.

I'm also realizing that I'm getting close to 6 months out from surgery, and may be eligible to have my ileostomy "reversed" in the next month or two. On one hand, I'll be glad to put wearing an ostomy bag behind me (assuming all goes well), but on the other, I'm not looking forward to having surgery again, particularly the recovery afterwards and losing progress again. However, it shouldn't be anywhere near as extreme this time, since I'm relatively healthy now, and was practically on death's door last time.

I want to be in the best shape I can reasonably be in for surgery, so I'm thinking of making lifting less of a priority and focusing on more on general fitness/conditioning/work-capacity/etc. That is, riding my bike more, taking more walks, focusing more on bodyweight work, focusing on increasing reps rather than adding lbs to the bar, cleaning up diet and losing a few pounds, and so forth.

Wanting it and making it happen are two different things, though, so we'll see how it goes.

[tsor]

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Squat (high bar):
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5 @ ~8.5
Just trying to get a feel for these again. Went well enough, at least about as well as I expected.

Then some barbell calf raises with the same weight for 31, 20, 20.

High-pull:
135 x 3 reps x 10 sets
These were ugly, stupid, and probably counterproductive, especially considering the whole reason I'm switching to high bar is to avoid the inevitable elbow fucked-uppedness that usually comes with low bar. I had some frustrations I needed to work out, though, and while this probably didn't help, it was fun.

[tsor]

Thursday August 13, 2020

I've started feeling kind of directionless and not really satisfied with my training lately, so just went back to the upper/lower thing I was doing a few weeks ago. I also didn't like de-prioritizing the overhead press, since I enjoy doing it and it's the one lift that seems to come naturally to me, so that's what I decided to do today.

Movements grouped together were done as supersets.

Press:
85 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Chinup:
BW + 10 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

Bench:
112.5 x 10 reps x 3 sets
Dumbbell row:
50 x 10 reps x 3 sets

Skullcrusher:
45 x 42 rest-paused

Barbell curl:
40 x 37 rest-paused

[tsor]

Friday August 14, 2020

Deadlift:
245 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Hook grip first four sets, straps on AMRAP. Wanted 10 reps, got 10 reps, albeit at the expense of some rounding and even a little bit of a hitch at the end.

Squat:
130 x 10 reps x 3 sets
Squats suck after deadlifts, but all the more reason to do them, I suppose.

Crunches:
3 sets of 80

[tsor]

Monday August 17, 2020

Happy to get 10 reps on bench, but felt a bit gassed this workout. Also went on a quick ride on my bike on Sunday for the first time in a few weeks, and felt pretty winded after only about 15 minutes, so I think my conditioning just sucks. The damn heat and humidity has been a pretty big deterrent. Getting up and training early in the morning before it gets too hot would be ideal. I used to get up at 5:30 and work out all the time just a year ago, but have been trouble waking up early lately. Need to work on that.

Bench:
150 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Chins:
5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3

Press:
62.5 x 10 reps x 3 sets
Chins (Negatives):
5 reps x 3 sets

LTE:
55 x 31 RP
Tore a good chunk of skin off of a knuckle when my hand grazed a metal piece of my bench (I guess I didn't slide back far enough) early in this set and started bleeding all over the damn place. Nothing major, but broke my concentration a bit.

BB Curl:
40 x 46 RP

[tsor]

Tuesday August 18, 2020

Squat (high bar):
165 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Felt awkward after doing low bar for a while, but these felt better as the sets went on.

Deadlift:
160 x 10 x 3

And a bunch of crunches and banded leg extensions. Extensions felt awkward and I'm not sure if was doing them right, but still felt a good pahmp. Did a few sets of 100 on crunches pretty easily and without pain, which is good. Probably able to move on to more challenging ab work now.

[tsor]

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Went on a 20 minute bike ride. Intended to go for about 30 minutes, but cut it short after eating shit riding up a hill and did a nice job scraping myself up. I seem to have developed a habit of flaying myself when exercising. Note to self: stop doing that.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3936312344

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Press:
90 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Chins:
BW+15 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

Bench:
115 x 10 x 3
DB row:
55 x 10 x 3

DB skullcrusher:
20 x 20 x 3
DB curl:
20 x 20 x 3
Reverse fly:
20 x 20 x 3

Yarp.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Deadlift:
255 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 10
Hookgrip first four sets, straps on AMRAP

Squat (high bar):
105 x 10 x 3

DB RDL:
25 x 20 x 3
Hanging leg raises (knees bent):
3 sets of 10

Deadlifts felt even easier than 245 last week. Technically, the first triple was actually a double followed by a quick single because I had to stop and verify that I loaded the bar correctly, which I did. Amusingly, I did actually misload the squats at 105 when I meant do 115, but didn't realize it until after the fact when I wondered why it felt pretty easy.

Top deadlift set:

March on.

[tsor]

Monday, August 24, 2020

My ileostomy reversal surgery ("ERAS OPEN ILEOSTOMY CLOSURE WITH ILEORECTAL ANASTOMOSIS" is how it's listed on my appointment) is tentatively scheduled for late September. Since lifting is going to be a no-go for at least 6 weeks afterward, and since I want to just be in generally good shape for the procedure, I decided to make some changes to my training exercising silly bullshit. Worrying about increases in 1RM strength seems kind of pointless, so I just want to do something fairly balanced; that is, lifting a little less and doing cardio/conditioning a little more.

I was looking for a 3-day a week program where I could alternate biking and lifting days. I was planning on doing the BBM Endurance template, but when I saw "Squat 4 reps @ RPE 9" I NOPEd out of there pretty quickly. That may be a perfectly fine program, and I may attempt it down the road, but it isn't the right program for me right now. I admit I was a little surprised to see high RPE, lowish rep work in an "endurance" program, but who am I to criticize?

I ended up making the last second decision to just do a basic full-body 5/3/1 (SHUT UP) kind of program for now. Lifting big just isn't a priority right now, but I want to do something without having to think too much about it, so this seems good enough.

Squat:
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
135 x 5 x 5

Press:
70 x 5
80 x 5
90 x 5
70 x 5 x 5

And the following, done in a circuit fashion in 16:27 (the goal was to be done in less than 20 minutes). I expected the chins to be the hardest, but pushups ended up challenging me the most, which was pretty humbling.
Chinups: 5 sets of 5
Hanging leg raises (knees bent): 5 sets of 10
Pushups: 5 sets of 10
Bodyweight squat: 5 sets of 20

[tsor]

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Went on a 30 minute bike ride. Slow as molasses and in about as good of shape, but at least I didn't fall this time, so I'll count that as a win.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3964208274

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Lower back was super sore going into this workout. From biking yesterday, I guess. Yeesh. So pathetic. Made deadlifts a lot harder than normal. The five round circuit at the end was way harder than it should have been as well. Pushups should not be this hard. Also tracking how long each exercise took to complete, not including warmups. (I accidentally typed "warmpus" the first time... gross)

Deadlift:
195 x 5
225 x 5
255 x 5
195 x 5 x 5
(Done in 20:41.92)

Bench:
117.5 x 5
135 x 5
152.5 x 5
117.5 x 5 x 5
(Done in 11:33.47)

Circuit:

• Chinups: 5 x 5

• Goblet squat with 12-pound med ball: 5 sets of 20

• Pushups: 15, 12, 10, 10, 10

• Planks: 10 second hold x 5

(Done in 14:18.82)

[tsor]

Thursday, August 27, 2020

30 minute bike ride (with stationary attachment in garage). Hot, humid, no fun.

Friday, August 28, 2020

Squat:
125 x 5
145 x 5
165 x 5
125 x 5 x 5
Total time: 16:43

Press:
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
65 x 5 x 5
Total time: 8:11

Circuit:
Chins: 5 x 5
Pushups: 15, 13, 12, 10, 10
Goblet squat: 25 x 10 x 5
Situps: 5 x 5
Total time: 17:15

Circuit at the end was awful. Felt nauseous the whole time, and wanted to die after the second round. I thought this shit would be getting easier by now. Funny how I'm getting my ass kicked by a "beginner" program.

To be fair, I did this later in the day than usual, so the heat had accumulated significantly in my garage, and I had eaten a decent lunch a few hours earlier, when I usually work out with little more than coffee/cream and maybe some BCAAs in my stomach.

[tsor]

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Bike ride on stationary attachment for about 45 minutes while watching part of Color Out of Space. Felt easy compared to last time, but this was earlier in the day and cooler outside in general. Somewhat enjoyable, actually.

Though I did get hit with fatigue all of a sudden later in the day and took a nap for about three hours, though this isn't uncommon for me. Not sure if it's Crohn's, lack of a colon, getting old, too much of a workload, or what. Probably a combination of all of the above. Definitely not a lack of sleep or calories, though! It does seem somewhat weird that this kind of everyday fatigue doesn't seem to prevent me from making progress during workouts. Backing off of training never seems to affect it one way or the other, unless I'm doing something too crazy. Just something that happens from time to time.

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Deadlift:
185 x 5
210 x 5
240 x 5
185 x 5 x 5
Total time: 15:38

Bench:
110 x 5
127.5 x 5
142.5 x 5
110 x 5 x 5
Total time: 9:57

Five-round circuit:
One-arm dumbbell row: 25 x 20 x 5
Dumbbell RDL: 25 x 20 x 5
Pushups: 5 sets of 12
Hanging leg raises (knees bent): 5 sets of 10
Total time: 20:36

Didn't quite make 20 minutes in the circuit, but doing one-arm rows for each side added a bit of time, and I felt like I kept a pretty decent pace the whole time. Overall, felt much easier than last time (though this is the "5s week" part of the cycle, so intensities are a little lower). Working out earlier in the day during summer seems to make a huge difference as the heat and humidity seems to a have a pretty drastic effect on my performance.

[tsor]

Monday, August 31, 2020

30 minute bike ride, stationary. Finished watching Color Out of Space. My review: s'okay.

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Squat:
145 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5
145 x 5 x 5
Total time: 13:55

Press:
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5
75 x 5 x 5
Total time: 11:39

Five-round circuit:
Chinups: 5 x 5
Pushups: 13, 13, 13, 13, 8 ( )
Goblet squat: 25 x 12 x 5
Situps: 10, 10, 10, 10, 5
Total time: 16:41

Not very hot, but disgustingly humid today. Was dripping sweat before I even finished warming up. Knocked squats out pretty easily, but was pretty gassed during presses. I can normally get through these pretty quickly, but I had to rest more than usual to get the 5x5 sets done. Felt like the guy who gets doused by toxic waste in Robocop by the time I finished the last round of the circuit.

[tsor]

Friday, September 4, 2020

Deadlift:
210 x 5
240 x 5
270 x 5
210 x 5 x 5
Total time: 18:25

Bench:
127.5 x 5
142.5 x 5
160 x 5
127.5 x 5 x 5
Total time: 21:09

Circuit:
One-arm dumbbell row: 30 x 20 x 5
Dumbbell RDL: 30 x 20 x 5
Pushups: 5 sets of 12
Hanging leg raises (knees bent): 5 sets of 10
Total time: 33:24 (lel)

What a shitshow. Everything about this workout was half-assed. Could have finished the whole thing in at least 30 minutes less time if I had actually been focused. Oh well. Done with this "cycle" of LOL 5/3/1, and probably done with it for a while in general.

Pre-op nurse mentioned that I look like I work out today, so at least I look like I lift again.

Reversal surgery is scheduled exactly two weeks from today!


Kind of nervous about it, since I've read a ton of horror stories about ileostomy reversals. That's probably the nature of the internet, and people in general, though, in that people are more likely to speak up when things go wrong rather than when everything's just "okay."

Interestingly, ileorectal anastomosis (IRA), that is, connecting the small intestine to the rectum, seems to be pretty rare and most people get a "J-pouch" where the end of their small intestine is formed into a "J" shaped reservoir, hence the name, so it's hard to find anecdotal data about IRA procedures. Even though my colon was in such bad shape that my surgeon said it was one of the worst cases she'd ever seen, my rectum has stayed pretty much healthy and intact. Hopefully that's a good thing and bodes well for the future...

John Meadows had his colon removed when he was almost exactly the same age as me when I had mine removed, and he seems to be doing pretty well (heart attacks aside) and seems to be able to eat a pretty normal diet, so that's motivating. I'm curious to know what kind of reversal he had, though... and what his bowel movements are like, to be honest...

As for the next couple of weeks of training, I think I'm going to test my maxes next week and then take a week to deload pivot fuck around and do whatever I want and just have fun with my training. Might just take it easy and rest if I feel like it.

[tsor]

Sunday, September 6, 2020

Bench (1RM Test):
45 x 5 x 3
75 x 5
95 x 3
115 x 2
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
185 x 1
195 x 1
205 x 1
215 x 1
220 x 0

This went about as well as I expected. Two plates would have been nice, though, but the strength just isn't there yet. 215 puts me at about 84% of my all time best (255), so I suppose that's not too bad given only 4 months of training, though part of me wonders if I could have made better progress if I had done things differently.

One-arm dumbbell rows:
55 x 15 x 3

Pushups:
3 sets of 20

[tsor]

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Squat (50/20):
185 x 5, 5, 4, 3, 3 (too heavy, had to lower the weight)
165 x 5, 5, 6, 6, 8

Finished with 26 seconds to spare.

Didn't bother maxing because I know my squat sucks. Everything feels meaningless right now and I've been pretty unmotivated to train lately, but felt obligated to do some sort of squat workout, though, so made my first attempt at the 50/20 protocol. Became apparent pretty quickly that I started too heavy and had to lower the weight 20lbs to finish. Meh.

[heidikay]

What does recovery time look like for your surgery?