Low Expectations

[fishwife]

Thanks!

It's always humbling how much a bad flu can knock back one's strength.

[fishwife]

Ugh, I am so decrepit. How long it takes me to recover, how quickly a relatively short layoff and some flu will weaken me... Nothing at all is like it was even 10 years ago. I guess I should stop making the comparison.

Car sharing chaos this weekend, but I managed to flit in for a quickie.

Deadlift

135 x 5 DOH
155 x 5 DOH
175 x 5 ALT (L ↓ )
185 x 5 ALT (R ↓ )
195 x 1 ALT (L ↓ )
200 x 1 ALT (R ↓ )
205 x 1 ALT (L ↓ )

This was not the limit, but I decided to call it here.

Still pretty sore from my comeback workout on Thu. Really glad I made myself see sense and didn't do work sets then. Yesterday was pretty close to falling-in-the-toilet-because-your-muscles-suddenly-give-out-because-no-not-happening sore, so it was probably good that I couldn't make it to the gym. Looks like I didn't lose too much strength on the DL, but I did lose a lot of the high-intensity endurance. I expect it to come back all right.

[Shane]

Still pretty sore from my comeback workout on Thu. Really glad I made myself see sense and didn't do work sets then. Yesterday was pretty close to falling-in-the-toilet-because-your-muscles-suddenly-give-out-because-no-not-happening sore, so it was probably good that I couldn't make it to the gym. Looks like I didn't lose too much strength on the DL, but I did lose a lot of the high-intensity endurance. I expect it to come back all right.

Best of luck getting over the comeback DOMS! Dunno about you, but for me the hip adductors are the absolute worst. They must get so little 'just being alive' work that they are the loudest complainers when training work starts up.

[mgil]

How you doing, @fishwife?

[fishwife]

I'm struggling through an episode of knee owies and shoulder AIDS. Also, life and logistics have been getting in the way of a sensible rehab program.

The shoulder is real problem. I don't really know what's going on there, but it may be the start of the really bad shoulder arthritis that my mother has. We have similar shoulder structure.

The knee is a frustrating issue but one I'm hoping I can work around. Basically, I have plica issues in my right knee. I had surgery to have it excised many years ago, but that left me with a really grindy knee that just felt like shit all the time and would get angry for a long time if I did anything strenuous with it. I really regretted going the surgery route for that, but the alternative was constant pain. Sadly, I ended up with constant pain anyway--just pain of a different flavor.

I finally thought I'd gotten it to the point where it was feeling like a semi-normal albeit old knee again, and lo and behold, the plica pain is back. It's a very specific kind of pain, so I recognized it immediately once it started returning. It turns out, the motherfuckers grow back in a significant number of cases. Oddly, I do think the growing back contributed to the grindy pain going away, though. But now I have that achy, clunking irritated plica pain.

It's worst during certain point of my hormonal cycle when inflammation increases. I think I'll have to experiment with maybe doing more deadlifting when that happens and squatting more during the times it feels OK.

I've also considered trying to get a little leaner. It can't hurt the knee to carry less weight. I dunno--just contemplating shuffling priorities a bit.

I went to the gym today, squatted light, and did some face pulls. I'm not sure it qualifies as "training", but for now I'm going to try to make it in for frequent but very limited workouts and closely monitor my reactions to the activity.

Thanks for checking in, though, @Mkgillman.

[mgil]

I’m no @Mkgillman, but movement is movement.

For a while I wasn’t really able to squat well due to back issues. I did air squats and ridiculously easy goblet squats and similar. During that time I was able to preserve about 80-90% of my squat strength, which wasn’t terrible, I thought.

It’s tough as things break down around us. I hope things start settling out.

[Mkgillman]

I did check this thread yesterday and she sensed my psychic emanations.

I think the plan for alternating squats and deadlifts as needed sounds like a solid plan. Is there a specific point in knee flexion where the pain increases or is it more of the "this just sucks all around" variety?

[fishwife]

I think the plan for alternating squats and deadlifts as needed sounds like a solid plan. Is there a specific point in knee flexion where the pain increases or is it more of the "this just sucks all around" variety?

It just sucks all around, but the post-training inflammation is worse when I use more knee flexion.

[fishwife]

I’m no @Mkgillman, but movement is movement.

For a while I wasn’t really able to squat well due to back issues. I did air squats and ridiculously easy goblet squats and similar. During that time I was able to preserve about 80-90% of my squat strength, which wasn’t terrible, I thought.

It’s tough as things break down around us. I hope things start settling out.

Thanks. And you're right--better to just do something than get frustrated that I can't do a lot and so do nothing.

[Allentown]

I think the plan for alternating squats and deadlifts as needed sounds like a solid plan. Is there a specific point in knee flexion where the pain increases or is it more of the "this just sucks all around" variety?

It just sucks all around, but the post-training inflammation is worse when I use more knee flexion.

Time to go geared. Backbackbackbackback!

[mgil]

I’m upset that your log title has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, @fishwife!

I’m around the same age as you, have lots of bumps and bruises, and chronic nagging issues that come and go. With that being said, if you aren’t training, it’s time to get back at it, conditions allowing.

Running just a little of @Hanley’s ideas and experimenting with his concepts a couple months ago with squats tells me he’s on to something. My strength is fine and my inflammation issues are nearly resolved. Reason why I’ve been focusing on bench is because it’s the lift that has the most issues due to injury (plus I was being lazy).

I’m confident in my max effort being in order, and while before I was benching every 5 days and struggling to recover (from the inflammation without taking loads of NSAIDs), I’ve benched on 2-3 days of rest with no shoulder problems. It’s a programming method worth considering.

Now that you’re inspired by my words and the outfits the speed skaters wore in the Olympics, let’s start kicking ass again.

[fishwife]

I've been experimenting with stuff but been kind of all over, so I've been loath to log until it solidifies into a plan. But I'm getting off my ass. Thanks for the concern!

[EricK]

I hope things settle into a rhythm, @fishwife, and you find something sustainable that doesn't cause more pain than it helps. It seems like you had a series of "kick me when I'm down" issues over the past few months. We're rooting for you.

[JC]

I feel that your experiment was a tolerance test for just how much someone could write about ice skating within a rolling 24hr period, and now that's over you should write about lifting or something?

Ps. Your honesty about your depression way back whenever it was, it made me want to be more open too, even if it did take months to achieve. Anyway you legit inspired me so you should probably just carry on setting some kind of example and log something, right?

[mgil]

@fishwife, I know you’re doing stuff and not logging it.

[fishwife]

[Allentown]

I like how the cushions don't even bulge. Cats are fluids.

[JC]

Cats will steal your dick if you're not careful...

Anyone got a spare fish?

Edit: fishwife! Hahaha! It all makes so much sense now!

[mgil]

Cats will steal your dick if you're not careful...

Anyone got a spare fish?

Edit: fishwife! Hahaha! It all makes so much sense now!

I softly chuckled as I sit in my drab office contemplating little.

[tdood]

@fishwife are you lifting? Just found your log in the list.