Veni, vidi, levavi, BenM Blathers

[MarkKO]

Pushups are a great choice. They're often something you can do even with a fairly messed up shoulder and IME they carry over to bench really nicely.

Compliments of the season, also

It's amazing how much of a difference hand positioning can make too.

Thanks to you and everyone else who's taken the time to read my log over the last year (and years before that). Hope you have a great break over Christmas and a super year to come.

There's that too.

Here's to a new year of gains and healed injuries.

[BenM]

Tue 27/12/22: Restart or Something D29 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.5kg

Background Noise: Australia vs South Africa - Second Test, Day 2

SSB Squat:
10x17kg
10x17kg
10x67kg
5x97kg
5x107kg
5x107kg
5x107kg
2 minute rests

2 Count Pause SSB Squat:
5x92kg
5x92kg
90 seconds rest

SSB Good Morning:
12x72kg
12x72kg
12x72kg
90 second rests

Low Decline Sit Up:
12 reps
12 reps
12 reps @ 9.5
8 reps @ 9
8 reps @ 9.5
90 seconds between the first 3 sets, about 2 minutes between the last two

Paused Single Leg Leg Extension:
12x42.5kg @ 6.5
12x35kg @ 5.5
12x35kg @ 6.5
90 second rests

Overhead Press:
8x20kg
8x20kg
6x40kg
8x30kg
8x30kg
90 second rests

Footage:


Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Slept well, walked the dog this morning but then spent all day on the couch feeling sweaty and miserable. Still have a cold, definitely did NOT want to train, and it was hot. Like it's still 29 degrees Celsius now at 8pm. Anyway it was about 31 degrees when I eventually dragged myself out to the gym at 3:15pm or so, but I shouldn't whinge too much, the heat pump works great.

Training Notes:

• Despite my reluctance to squat, I did have intentions of attempting some slightly heavier non-paused squats today to see what my hip could tolerate. Was reasonably happy with these, had some minor tightness but hopefully no aggravation. Did a couple of lighter back off sets with pauses too and got a slightly longer hold at the end. Side note, I wore knee sleeves for the first time in months, for no real reason except my right knee is quite annoyed at the moment, and had real trouble getting them on. Not sure if weak pulling strength or my legs have grown but I think maybe more the latter.
• I added a little weight to the good mornings expecting to do sets of 10 at best, but turns out twelves weren't all that hard (well, easier than last time out) and I didn't get a crazy back pump either so maybe form was tighter. My glutes certainly felt them.
• Did some decline sit ups again, but started with twelves this week and pushed to five sets. Had me blowing a bit.
• Single leg leg extensions again, but I gotta back off these, that heavier set was really hurting my right knee. The lighter sets weren't too bad though, and I think these were a little easier than last time out too.
• Programmed in some OHP to finish today, which would probably have been fine but that first set was just too heavy for my shoulder and not much fun at all. The lighter sets felt ok, so much so I even considered doing one more but that would've been silly. Not even totally sure the first set didn't make it worse, I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
• Took 66 minutes today, then cleaned up and cooked a decent steak on the barbecue, it's cooler out here on the deck than in the house. At least I achieved something today.

[BenM]

Thu 29/12/22: Restart or Something D30 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.8kg

Background Noise: Australia vs South Africa - Second Test, Day 4

Deficit Push Up w/Feet On Bench:
12xBW
12xBW+10kg
8xBW+10kg @ 6
8xBW+10kg @ 6
8xBW+10kg @ 6.5
1 minute rests

Dumbbell Fly:
15x25lb / hand
15x25lb / hand
2 minute rests

Seated Cable Row:
12x65kg
12x65kg
12x65kg
12x65kg @ 6
90 second rests

Dumbbell LTE:
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand @ 6
--- Supersetted with ---
EZ Bar Curl:
12x25kg @ 6
12x25kg @ 6.5
12x25kg @ 7.5
12x22.5kg @ 8
90 second rests between supersets

Footage:


Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Had intended to train yesterday but just couldn't be bothered, I've been sleeping well but this cold is still hanging around and all I want to do is lay on the couch and nap. Got into the gym pretty early today just to make something happen before I procrastinated all day and didn't bother (again).

Training Notes:

• Wanted to add a little weight to the push ups today, the first rep felt pretty bad but they were OK once I got going. Really tried not to push too hard.
• Almost skipped flys altogether but ultimately just went very light, and these actually felt pretty good for a change.
• Took the rows very easy today too, did four sets just to match last session's volume.
• Triceps was more of the same, just getting some volume in, and I intended to do the same with the curls but actually managed to get a couple of reasonably hard sets in, so that was something I guess.
• I'd aspired to maybe do some light squats today too, but nope. Usually if I'm feeling a bit flat my energy levels improve after I get into the gym and get going but they really didn't today even after a can of Monster, so I just called it there after 45 minutes.

[MarkKO]

Thu 29/12/22: Restart or Something D30 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.8kg

Background Noise: Australia vs South Africa - Second Test, Day 4

Deficit Push Up w/Feet On Bench:
12xBW
12xBW+10kg
8xBW+10kg @ 6
8xBW+10kg @ 6
8xBW+10kg @ 6.5
1 minute rests

Dumbbell Fly:
15x25lb / hand
15x25lb / hand
2 minute rests

Seated Cable Row:
12x65kg
12x65kg
12x65kg
12x65kg @ 6
90 second rests

Dumbbell LTE:
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand @ 6
--- Supersetted with ---
EZ Bar Curl:
12x25kg @ 6
12x25kg @ 6.5
12x25kg @ 7.5
12x22.5kg @ 8
90 second rests between supersets

Footage:


Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Had intended to train yesterday but just couldn't be bothered, I've been sleeping well but this cold is still hanging around and all I want to do is lay on the couch and nap. Got into the gym pretty early today just to make something happen before I procrastinated all day and didn't bother (again).

Training Notes:

• Wanted to add a little weight to the push ups today, the first rep felt pretty bad but they were OK once I got going. Really tried not to push too hard.
• Almost skipped flys altogether but ultimately just went very light, and these actually felt pretty good for a change.
• Took the rows very easy today too, did four sets just to match last session's volume.
• Triceps was more of the same, just getting some volume in, and I intended to do the same with the curls but actually managed to get a couple of reasonably hard sets in, so that was something I guess.
• I'd aspired to maybe do some light squats today too, but nope. Usually if I'm feeling a bit flat my energy levels improve after I get into the gym and get going but they really didn't today even after a can of Monster, so I just called it there after 45 minutes.

I just had a thought. If you want to add weight to pushups, you could consider a weighted vest with bricks like the one I've got because you're effectively doing a puship to a one-board. It takes a ton of strain off your shoulders. Granted you don't get quite the pec stretch you would, but you still do get some pec activation.

[BenM]

I just had a thought. If you want to add weight to pushups, you could consider a weighted vest with bricks like the one I've got because you're effectively doing a puship to a one-board. It takes a ton of strain off your shoulders. Granted you don't get quite the pec stretch you would, but you still do get some pec activation.

Yeah, it's a good thought, I was actually keeping my eye out on Gumtree for one but there haven't been too many. I also considered ordering some el cheapo bench bloc, but just haven't got round to it. I'm trying to avoid frivolous gym purchases for another week or two though, got a couple of things coming up including the ultrasound next week that'll cost a few bucks. Once that's done (and assessed) I'll have a better idea of next steps, but the lack of benching does seem to be helping it improve a bit.

[MarkKO]

I just had a thought. If you want to add weight to pushups, you could consider a weighted vest with bricks like the one I've got because you're effectively doing a puship to a one-board. It takes a ton of strain off your shoulders. Granted you don't get quite the pec stretch you would, but you still do get some pec activation.

Yeah, it's a good thought, I was actually keeping my eye out on Gumtree for one but there haven't been too many. I also considered ordering some el cheapo bench bloc, but just haven't got round to it. I'm trying to avoid frivolous gym purchases for another week or two though, got a couple of things coming up including the ultrasound next week that'll cost a few bucks. Once that's done (and assessed) I'll have a better idea of next steps, but the lack of benching does seem to be helping it improve a bit.

No benching will help a LOT. It also won't really cost you in respect of strength because with an injury, you generally won't get stronger until it's fixed anyway. You might, maybe, *just* managed to maintain some of what you have, but the longer you're injured the more it'll leech away.

It sounds counter-intuitive but not benching will in the long term make you stronger. It's just frustrating and shit while you go through it.

[BenM]

Yeah, it's frustrating. But I'm sick of hurting and just want it over with. Hopefully the ultrasound just shows what the physio suspects and it's just stuff that'll heal with time and patience.

Like you though the last week has been a good opportunity to reassess and look to make some changes. I've been sleeping like a log this week, and often > 9 hours a night even though I've been pretty inactive and lazy most days. I don't think the pace I've been going for the last few months is sustainable for a whole year and I gotta figure out a better way. I also think work might get a bit harder this year, I'm responsible for a couple of projects that are about to ramp up, I'll be moving office soon which will add a few minutes to my commute and a lot more interference to my day, plus just before Christmas my boss dropped the bombshell that he's moving to Canberra so that might change the team dynamic a bit too. It'd be fair to say I'm a bit nervous about what's coming.

[BenM]

Sat 31/12/22: Restart or Something D31 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.8kg

Background Noise: Metallica - Garage Inc

Trap Bar Deadlift (High Handles):
8x70kg
8x70kg
8x120kg
8x160kg (PR for eight; +15kg or something)
8x160kg
10x160kg @ 7.5 (PR for ten, too)
2 minute rests

SSB Squat:
10x17kg
10x17kg
5x67kg
5x97kg
Just warming up, so not much rest

SSB Squat w/Green Band:
2x97kg
3x97kg
3x97kg
3x97kg
3x97kg
90 second rests

Single Leg Kettlebell RDL:
12x80lb
12x80lb
12x80lb
1 minute rests

Cable Crunch:
12x40kg
12x40kg
15x35kg @ 6
15x35kg @ 7.5
90 second rests

Back Extension:
20xBW+10kg (rep PR; +5 reps)
20xBW+10kg @ 8
90 seconds rest

Deficit Push Up w/Feet on Bench:
15xBW
15xBW
12xBW @ 8.5
1 minute rests

Footage:


Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• I intended to do this session yesterday but once again procrastinated all day and ended up mowing the lawns in the afternoon instead. No big deal though, I believe I need to space out my sessions a little more and do less back to back training days anyway - that's something I'm intending to trial in the new year. Didn't sleep all that well last night and took a long time to convince myself to train today, too, but I got there late in the morning.

Training Notes:

• Haven't picked up the trap bar in a long while, but realised that these should be a good way to handle some heavier loads without irritating my hip issues too much. They were supposed to be sets of six to ten at basically a warmup intensity and the weight was probably about right, I even got a bit carried away and did ten at the end.
• I hit on the idea of banded squats too, for similar reasons as the trap bar - the most painful / irritating position for my hip is in the hole so these keep the load lower there but get harder as I come up. Initially I thought I might've bitten off a bit more than I could chew, and it took me two attempts to have a crack at the first set, but after that I was fine banging out triples. They didn't feel that fast but they certainly weren't anywhere near failure - I just tried to be as explosive as I could and make the plates rattle at the top.
• After that effort I didn't think I'd be up for barbell RDLs so it was single leg RDLs again. I was already gassed so took a tiny bit of load off and kept 'em pretty easy.
• Cable crunches, I like these, but my right elbow was kinda annoyed after the second set so I dropped the load a bit and did a couple of lighter sets.
• Back extensions after that, with a little added weight, and somehow pushed to twenty reps not once but twice, the second set was quite hard.
• After that I did a few push ups which I didn't actually program for today, but what the hell - let's keep the workload for my chest on the higher side seeing as I can't bench heavy right now. I'll probably do an upper session tomorrow (yes, I know what I said above about spacing out days, but I'll be having at least two days off after this weekend). Anyway the good news is that the first rep or two seemed less uncomfortable than last time out so the shoulder does seem to be improving ever so slowly.
• This was quite a good effort in the end. Considering the workload, 66 minutes was reasonably quick too. Apparently that's my 209th session for the year, which is not too shabby. Happy new year!

[slowmotion]

Sat 31/12/22: Restart or Something D31 - Interlude

... ended up mowing the lawns in the afternoon instead... .

Happy new year!

Damn. It's the middle of winter here.

Happy New Year!

[BenM]

Sat 31/12/22: Restart or Something D31 - Interlude

... ended up mowing the lawns in the afternoon instead... .

Happy new year!

Damn. It's the middle of winter here.

Happy New Year!

8:45pm and we're heading out to watch the kids NYE fireworks in shorts and t-shirts, it's still 23 degrees. Hope you folks over there stay warm and safe.

[BenM]

Sun 01/01/23: Restart or Something D32 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.8kg - for the fourth day in a row

Background Noise: Metallica - Garage Inc (continued)

Pull Up:
8xBW
6xBW
6xBW
5xBW @ 9
4xBW @ 9.5
4xBW @ 9.5
1 minute rests

Deficit Push Up w/Feet On Bench:
12xBW
12xBW
12xBW
12xBW @ 6
12xBW @ 8
1 minute rests

Floor Dumbbell Fly:
12x27.5lb / hand
12x27.5lb / hand
12x27.5lb / hand
1 minute rests

Seated Cable Row:
12x70kg
12x70kg @ 6.5
12x70kg @ 8.5
90 second rests

LTE (EZ Curl Bar):
12x37.5kg
12x37.5kg
12x37.5kg
--- Supersetted with ---
Hammer Curl w/Twist:
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand @ 8
90 second rests between supersets

Footage:


Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Didn't sleep all that well again last night, and the kiddo decided to try and get me kit of bed at 6:20am which was... helpful. At least this cold is almost gone but I was feeling pretty flat again this morning.
• The three of us went into town to see the 9:30pm fireworks last night, got to the park at 9pm, and Miss Eight was busting to go to the toilet. Why didn't you go before we left? Sigh - OK, there's public toilets there, but there's hundreds of people out for NYE and there's at least 30 people in the queue for the one toilet out of five that's operational, the others are all locked for some reason. So she gets to the toilet bang on 9:30, the fireworks start while she's in there, we end up watching them from nowhere near the foreshore and go home. Think I was lights out just after 11pm, I just feel too old for New Year's Eve celebrations these days!

Training Notes:

• I've had an irrational dislike of pull ups for years, but I don't really know why. I especially don't like doing them fed, because my stupid disordered brain thinks that having a few hundred grams of food and water in me will make them so much harder. Also maybe I used to be ashamed of how few I can do, but whatever - plenty of people can't do any at all so I'm doing ok. Anyway I had a decent breakfast today (although I did expel some excess weight too, sorry TMI) and these were really not that bad at all, so I should probably keep doing them regularly and see if I can actually make some progress. Another random thought I had - I never used to feel my chest when bench pressing until I got to a certain level of strength, I think until then it was all triceps. I wonder if pull ups are similar, in that they'll tend to be more of a biceps movement until your back is developed enough to actually get involved. I don't know, but I do know I can do more pull ups now at a much heavier body weight than I could when I was lighter and I think a lot of that is due to back development. Well, dur. Anyway.... this was a long paragraph about pull ups but I did 8 reps (which equals an all time rep PR) with probably 3 or more in the tank, and then just kept doing sets on short rests until I started to run out of gas.
• Did some push ups after that, really didn't feel very motivated to push hard, so just kept doing sets of twelve until they got a bit difficult and my shoulder was getting a little bit sore.
• Flys on the floor for something different, and I figured they might limit the risk of overextending my shoulder. Haven't done these for a while and the first set really didn't feel all that great anyway so I just did twelves and banged out three sets.
• Wasn't sure if I'd do any more back work after the pull ups, and if I did I was going to make it easy or less work, but.... nope. I took a quick toilet break and ended up going to 70kg for twelves, which was easy to begin with but by the third set started to get a little short.
• Went with LTEs for triceps today, but started light knowing it's been eight months or so since I've done these. Was originally planning 40kg sets but I gripped the bar too narrow for the first set and made my elbows mad so was glad I didn't. Second and third sets were ok. Curls were a bit challenging, but I was happy to get three sets of twelve - probably could've got a couple more from the last set but my wrists and forearms were cramping.
• It definitely felt like that was a far bit of work in 54 minutes. Very hot afterwards and I have a sore left elbow. Sigh - bit too much work for them in one session, I guess, but you live and learn.

[MarkKO]

Yeah, it's frustrating. But I'm sick of hurting and just want it over with. Hopefully the ultrasound just shows what the physio suspects and it's just stuff that'll heal with time and patience.

Like you though the last week has been a good opportunity to reassess and look to make some changes. I've been sleeping like a log this week, and often > 9 hours a night even though I've been pretty inactive and lazy most days. I don't think the pace I've been going for the last few months is sustainable for a whole year and I gotta figure out a better way. I also think work might get a bit harder this year, I'm responsible for a couple of projects that are about to ramp up, I'll be moving office soon which will add a few minutes to my commute and a lot more interference to my day, plus just before Christmas my boss dropped the bombshell that he's moving to Canberra so that might change the team dynamic a bit too. It'd be fair to say I'm a bit nervous about what's coming.

Isn't change wonderful especially at work, so invigorating

The shoulder will be fine eventually, it'll just take time and quite probably doing some things that suck. Do this long enough and it's almost unavoidable I think. If not unavoidable, at least highly probable. I found the best way to look at it was as an opportunity to learn how to do things better.

[BenM]

Isn't change wonderful especially at work, so invigorating

The shoulder will be fine eventually, it'll just take time and quite probably doing some things that suck. Do this long enough and it's almost unavoidable I think. If not unavoidable, at least highly probable. I found the best way to look at it was as an opportunity to learn how to do things better.

Yeah. It's an inevitable part of life, but it does cause disruption that bleeds into other things. I kinda like my current work situation in a lot of ways, although it's an old run down building I enjoy having an office and being a bit segregated from other staff so I can focus on work and not have to deal with too much chinwagging. I'm literally more productive at home than I am at work because there's less interruptions. Our new building is open plan and a whole lot more people crammed together across the various floors so it will be much harder to avoid people. Some people are super happy about it, but I'm fully intending to keep working from home as much as I'm allowed to. I don't think my boss cares so long as the work is getting done.

Was supposed to have an ultrasound on the shoulder this afternoon, but apparently the person who told me they'd rebooked my appointment for today actually...didn't book it. So I wasted a trip into town and got turned away... sigh. At least they managed to fit me in tomorrow arvo, so we'll see how that goes. I'm not expecting it to show much but I kinda hope it does pick up something obviously damaged or torn because then I'll feel less bad about bitching so much.

[BenM]

Wed 04/01/23: Restart or Something D33 - Interlude

AM BW: 89.9kg

Background Noise: Third Test, Aus vs SA, Day 1

Walking Lunge:
10x32.5lb / hand
10x32.5lb / hand
12x32.5lb / hand
--- Supersetted with ---
Deficit Push Up w/Feet on Bench:
10xBW reps
10xBW reps
12xBW reps
No rest between sets

Single Arm Dumbbell Clean and Press:
12x35lb
12x35lb
12x35lb
90 second rests

Low Decline Sit Up:
10xBW reps
10xBW reps
12xBW reps
--- Supersetted with ---
Cable Curl:
10x25kg
10x25kg
12x20kg
90 second rests between supersets

Dumbbell LTE:
10x35lb / hand
10x35lb / hand
15x35lb / hand @ 7.5
--- Supersetted with ---
Back Extension:
15xBW reps
15xBW reps
25xBW reps (rep PR; +5 reps)
90 second rests between supersets

Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Got back yesterday from an overnight trip to Hobart for the Hurricanes match on Monday night. Diet was a lot different than usual, I didn't go silly but wasn't surprised to weigh in pretty heavy this morning. Lots of takeaway food will do that. Trying not to let it mess with my head and make me undereat today.
• Slept almost 10 hours last night, but it didn't feel like great quality rest. Haven't quite beaten the cold I had, most of the stuffiness has gone but I've got a sore throat instead now. Guess I'd better do a RAT before heading back to work tomorrow. Considered taking the rest of the week off the gym but got itchy feet and just decided to go out and do some light work with a focus on conditioning. Didn't bother recording it.

Training Notes:

• Lunges into pushups to start, my leg didn't feel very good and these were surprisingly difficult - probably not surprising being a little off colour.
• Decided to do some clean and presses, really light because of the shoulder. The first set was a bit challenging but the second and third were pretty easy although they had me blowing a bit.
• Did some sit ups and curls, trying to keep them quite easy but the curls were annoying my shoulder which is why I dropped the load. Course then I still couldn't resist pushing to twelve reps at the end even though it hurt a little.
• Figured triceps and back wouldn't be a bad way to finish. Two easy sets then push the last a bit harder. Was a bit surprised by the back extensions, even 25 reps was probably just sub RPE 6, but I was a bit puffed and had a very slight back pump, so figured that was enough.
• A fairly quick and pumpy session in 41 minutes. I may well just keep training a bit like this for a while - it's not how I intended to start the year, but easing back into lifting and work might be a good plan.

[MarkKO]

Isn't change wonderful especially at work, so invigorating

The shoulder will be fine eventually, it'll just take time and quite probably doing some things that suck. Do this long enough and it's almost unavoidable I think. If not unavoidable, at least highly probable. I found the best way to look at it was as an opportunity to learn how to do things better.

Yeah. It's an inevitable part of life, but it does cause disruption that bleeds into other things. I kinda like my current work situation in a lot of ways, although it's an old run down building I enjoy having an office and being a bit segregated from other staff so I can focus on work and not have to deal with too much chinwagging. I'm literally more productive at home than I am at work because there's less interruptions. Our new building is open plan and a whole lot more people crammed together across the various floors so it will be much harder to avoid people. Some people are super happy about it, but I'm fully intending to keep working from home as much as I'm allowed to. I don't think my boss cares so long as the work is getting done.

Was supposed to have an ultrasound on the shoulder this afternoon, but apparently the person who told me they'd rebooked my appointment for today actually...didn't book it. So I wasted a trip into town and got turned away... sigh. At least they managed to fit me in tomorrow arvo, so we'll see how that goes. I'm not expecting it to show much but I kinda hope it does pick up something obviously damaged or torn because then I'll feel less bad about bitching so much.

My laypersons guess is you are almost guaranteed to have some obvious damage so I wouldn't worry. Bitch away.

[BenM]

Sat 07/01/23: Restart or Something D34 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.9kg

Background Noise: Third Test, Aus vs SA, Day 4

2 Count Pause SSB Squat:
10x17kg
10x17kg
5x57kg
5x57kg
5x57kg
5x57kg
5x57kg
1 minute rests

Plyo Box Step Up:
15x25lb / hand
15x25lb / hand
90 seconds rest

Back Extension:
15xBW+10kg
15xBW+10kg
15xBW+10kg @ 8
1 minute rests

Face Pull:
20x10kg
20x10kg
20x10kg
1 minute rests

Low Decline Sit Up:
12xBW+5kg
12xBW+5kg
10xBW+5kg @ 10
6xBW @ 6
6xBW @ 6
10xBW @ 9.5
90 second rests

Hammer Curl:
12x25lb / hand
12x25lb / hand
1 minute rest

Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Was in bed a long time but slept pretty crappily again. Might be finally over this cold but both my hip and shoulder were waking me up, the kiddo woke up from a nightmare at 4am and the wife is still sick and snoring so... blah. Anyway kept myself busy all morning doing jobs around the house and didn't get out to the gym until mid afternoon.
• I'd actually intended to train yesterday morning, but when the alarm went off I just went nope and went back to sleep; I'm kinda demotivated right now. Had the shoulder ultrasound on Thursday, which confirmed a partial tear of my supraspinatus, as well as some bursitis and tendon thickening and stuff so that's good and bad I guess. Just waiting to discuss it with the physio and work out a plan to rehab it properly. The logical thing would be to focus on lower body training for a while but since my hip is still being a prick that's kinda difficult too, so I really don't know what to do at this point other just do whatever doesn't hurt and try to stay in shape. But I decided to just treat today as a deload and experiment a bit.

Training Notes:

• Since my hip has been getting annoyed I just decided to squat a bunch of warmup fives and be done with it. Then did some very light step ups to a my plyo box and it was getting a bit sore and tired during the second set so I called it there. Did some back extensions after that, got a bit difficult at the end.
• I've been thinking about (well, Googling) what might be good for the shoulder and decided to have a crack at some very light face pulls. Did these with a controlled tempo and they were mostly painless apart from the odd twinge.
• Did the sit ups with a little weight today, got a little bit of work in, had a fair burn. Finished with some curls, which need to be light as if I'm not careful and don't keep my elbows pinned to my sides these can hurt a bit.
• Not too bad, took 51 minutes. Felt a bit like training but not really.

[BenM]

Sun 08/01/23: Restart or Something D35 - Interlude

AM BW: 88.5kg

Background Noise: Third Test, Aus vs SA, Day 5

Dumbbell Floor Press:
15x25lb / hand
15x25lb / hand
15x25lb / hand
1 minute rests

Banded Chest Fly (Thin Black Band):
15 reps
15 reps
15 reps
1 minute rests

Standing Row (Purple Band):
20 reps
20 reps
20 reps
1 minute rests

Triceps Pushdown (Purple Band):
40 reps
40 reps
40 reps
--- Supersetted with ---
Lateral Raise:
15x2.5lb / hand
15x2.5lb / hand
15x2.5lb / hand
1 minute rests between supersets

Concentration Curl:
15x22.5lb / hand
15x22.5lb / hand
15x22.5lb / hand @ 7 for left arm
1 minute rests

Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:

• Didn't sleep too badly last night, and had a pretty chill morning. Could've easily sat on the couch all day but just got out and did some more light stuff to at least keep moving and kill some time before lunch.

Training Notes:

• Decided to attempt floor presses with very light dumbbells, and I think these were OK if I'm careful setting up. Same with the flys, this is a thinner band than usual and kept them very easy.
• The standing row is something I found online, trying to work on shoulder retraction - very very easy. I could've probably just done some seated rows but wanted to do something with a wider neutral grip. Probably should pull my finger out and order some knock off mag grip attachments for the machine like I've been ignoring forever.
• Some light pumpy triceps work and super light lateral raises, the first couple of reps of the first set twinged a little but after that were all fine.
• Was intending to stop there but picked up a dumbbell and decided to curl it a bit. Again these were real light, but my weaker left arm was definitely starting to battle a bit by the end and I had a slight pump in both.
• Just a nice easy 37 minutes. Hungry now.

[Renascent]

Had the shoulder ultrasound on Thursday...

Don't really know what to say (I'm horrible at well-wishing sometimes), but you seem pretty sober and pragmatic in mindset. I think you'll figure out a reasonable way forward, but, regardless, I'm wishing you luck.

[MarkKO]

So that's exactly the issue I had. Very fixable BUT the quickest way to do it is to do absolutely no benching of any kind for about a month to start off with. It sucks, but is necessary. That includes DB, floor press, incline, etc. Also be really careful with tricep pushdowns, for some reason they can strain that part of the shoulder if you aren't careful.

If your physio clears you to do some kind of bench with guidelines I would be somewhat sceptical TBH. I tried that and the results were crap. I'd go a week of being ok and then it would get worse again. Typically this issue arises because of benching with a setup that puts the shoulder in a poor position resulting in the supraspinatus getting ground away at. What is a real kick in the teeth is that with the injury, getting into a better position is difficult so it is usually best to wait until the injury is healed and then relearn how to set up correctly. So unless you're able to immediately change your setup to be focused on thoracic extension I would probably avoid benching at all until you're pain free.

One rehab exercise I found that helped heaps and I did a couple of times a day was with either a cable or very light DB which looks pretty much exactly like drawing a sword if that makes sense. You start with the DB at your waist with your arm across your front. Without bending the elbow bring the weight in an arc out in front of you until your arm is extended and the weight is above your head out to the side of you, like you're making a Y with only one arm. Do it really slowly, for something like 10-15 reps. Do two or three sets. After about six weeks I was able to phase it out.

Chest supported flys also help a lot.

The key to getting safely back to benching when you can I found to be changing my bench setup so that I was actually extending my thoracic spine instead of benching with my chest flattened out. That can take a while, depending of how able you are to extend your thoracic spine. If you're lucky it's going to be mostly a matter of learning how to do it which is just a new movement; if you're unlucky, it'll require a significant time investment to actually gain the mobility needed in that area. Andrew Lock would be a great place to start for that.

I lucked out, and hopefully you will too. All I needed to do was build the hell out of my rear delts and rotator cuff with chest supported flys, facepulls and pull aparts. The pull aparts were especially important because the way I do them is focused entirely on thoracic extension rather than pulling. All I do is arch my thoracic spine against the band. The thing is, I only could do that once the tear had started healing really well.

[augeleven]

Hang in there man.