Back in the Saddle

I'm sure my predicament is little different from the average working father. Holding down three jobs to make ends meet, well, it's difficult not only to make the time to work out, but to consider it any kind of priority. With essays and other assignments piling up waiting to be graded, housework to do, kids needing to be shuttled to and from school and scout meetings and such, it's difficult to slice time out of other priorities to commit to a regular schedule.

It's easy for people who do commit to their workouts to judge and say, "Just do it!" The simple fact is, it's just never that easy. Again, it's not so much making the time commitment, it's the idea of making it a priority that warrants that time allotment. Yeah, and the hardcore fitness fanatics will frown critically on the very suggestion of it.

My ability to commit to my workout ebbs and flows depending on my work-life balance situation. It's been about two and a half weeks since my last workout. I had an idea in my head about the direction I wanted to take my routine, but between work, home and other pressures, I'd kind of fallen into a bit of a funk. It happens to me from time to time.

Last night before going to bed, I committed myself to doing a workout first thing in the morning--on the weekends that's the only way it will ever happen because as the day wears on and I get involved in other responsibilities, the chances of making the time to work out gets slimmer and slimmer. Sunday is often my rebirth, renewal day, the day I get up and recommit myself to all of the responsibilities that have been weighing  heavily on me.

So, this morning, I got up early, ate breakfast, and put in about 45 minutes of time in the home gym.

For the next few months, my workouts will consist of supersets of complementary movements followed by some cardio work on the treadmill and/or stair climber.

Today's supersets consisted of the following three exercises:

Sissy/frontal squat on the sissy squat stand

PowerTec Workbench Squat

Step-ups

I had grossly underestimated how much the sissy squats would fatigue my quads. I did two sets with no weight followed by the Workbench squat loaded with 180 pounds--about half what I normally squat. After the sissy squats, I was only able to do 5-6 reps on the workbench before my quads started burning.

In each set of step-ups, except the last, I was able to do 15 reps for each leg.

In the third superset I did the sissy squats with just the Olympic bar. In the final superset I performed the sissy squats with 95 pounds, did 6 reps on the Workbench at 180 and then 10 reps of step-ups, each leg.

I finished up with ten minutes on the stair climber.

The supersetting is a good way to build muscle and give your body a good cardio workout. Upping the intensity of workouts is the number one way to build muscle and lose fat. The supersets coupled with some work on the stair climber and/or treadmill cram a lot of muscle building and calorie burning into a short time span.

That's the basic strategy for the next month or so. I basically cook up different workout plans on a whim and then commit to them on a trial basis for a week or two. If things seem to be going well and I like it, I'll make it a regular routine.

We'll see how this one goes. I took it easy this morning because, as the title implies, I'm getting back into the swing of things after a brief layoff. The title has a double meaning because, as I'm writing this, I'm also watching Silverado for the umpteenth time. I would not describe myself as a fan of westerns, but this is a good one and I find myself compelled to watch it every time it's on.

Workout Log, 2/6/2010

Well, I was so disappointed in Saturday's workout that I didn't even bother to log it. A week ago I'd tried and failed to bench 420 on the Powertec Workbench. I felt I was close enough that with enough rest and the right nutrition, I could surely do it this week.

I was thoroughly frustrated when I could barely budge it. Not only could I once again not make the lift, but I felt I did even worse on this attempt than the previous. The last time I was just so close to locking out. This time I could barely get the bar off my chest.

The best thing to do here, I thought, was to back off. Instead of going for a new 1-rep max, I opted for exhausting my muscles in another way. I started with a pyramid set on the bench--not the old fashioned pyramid of doing a set at one weight, resting a couple of minutes and then adding 5-10 pounds and performing another set, but adding weight and performing each successive set without resting between sets.

After the pyramid set, I did a drop set, starting at a weight that was heavier than that at which I finished the pyramid. I stripped plates off and performed successive sets without resting between them until I was down to 180 pounds on the bar and could barely perform five reps.

After that I did a different kind of drop set with dumbbells on an inclined bench, dropping the incline with each set and, again, no rest between sets. I also used lighter dumbbells with each successive set to be able to maintain the range of 8-10 reps  per set. I followed the drop set with yet another variation, going from a nearly flat bench to a steep incline, dropping the weight on the last three sets.

For an added twist, I supersetted the dumbbell presses with seated row.

I finished up the workout by supersetting cable flies with just plain old incline dumbbell press.

I'm not sure whether I'll try for 420 again next week or whether I'll go for a higher-rep workout again. Hitting a plateau is a clear sign of a need to shake things up a bit. It's probably time to shuffle the workout line-up and switch to routine B.

The Evening Workout, Feb. 3

Started with deadlifts. Two sets at 345, two at 315 and a set at 295, supersetting deadlifts with upright row at 85. Next was standing overhead press at 115 supersetted with side lateral raise.Finished up with three sets of bent-over row supersetted with behind-the-neck press and side lateral raise.

May skip the morning cardio tomorrow and do it in the evening instead.

Two-a-Days

I've been lifting solidly for sometime, but realizing that I'm neglecting the cardio, I've made a push to start hopping on the treadmill. The only way I know to work in the cardio is to do two workouts a day. So the last three days I've gotten up at 4:30 am to do 20 minutes on the treadmill. In the evenings I do my weight training routines.

Monday it was treadmill in the morning and then squats, leg presses and sissy squats in the evenings. Tuesday it was treadmill in the morning. In the evening I performed the following supersets:
curl bar curls
french curls
reverse-grip chins
(four sets)

preacher curls
tricep pressdowns
reverse-grip chins
(three sets)

I've started Wednesday with another 20-minute session on the treadmill and will do deadlifts, standing overhead press and seated dumbbell press in the afternoon.

Cycles, cycles

Usually, I find myself coming back to my fitness routine after layoffs of varying lengths, but now it's the blog to which I am returning after a long layoff. My workout routine has been fairly regular, if not necessarily following a consistent pattern. Translation: Even when I'm "off" the regular routine, I've made a point of doing SOMETHING to stay in shape.

I've had my fair share of workout layoffs, though. Once, when I injured my shoulder, I was unable to do any weight training for an entire year! I thought I'd never lift again, but when I realized how soft and out of shape I'd gotten, I made up my mind that I was going to get back into a routine or die trying. My shoulder still caused me a great deal of pain--even when performing movements you wouldn't expect to affect the shoulder--but I worked my way through it.

Yes, as a matter of fact, without the benefit of any kind of consultation with a medical professional or physical therapist, I rehabbed my injured shoulder all on my own. And I can say with confidence that I am 100% healed at this point. I can't say for sure how long it took before I felt I was fully recovered, but I can remember what it felt like to attempt anything after the injury occurred.

The funny thing is, I have no idea how it happened. I don't remember any specific moment during a workout that my shoulder suddenly started hurting. All I remember is that on a day of a scheduled shoulder workout consisting of military press, seated dumbbell press and lateral raises, I found myself unable to complete a single repetition of military press without experiencing excruciating pain that ran from my shoulder down into my arm. At the time, I thought it was simply that I hadn't warmed up properly, so I did lightweight lateral raises supersetted with some lightweight dumbbell presses. I actually pushed through the pain to perform one repetition on the military press. It hurt badly enough that I realized it would be very unwise to proceed any further.

In the days that followed, I found that the injury caused me unbearable pain while performing many exercises that formed the foundation of my routine: any pressing movement (it hurt so bad to attempt a bench press at even the lightest weight that I nearly puked), tricep pressdowns (who knew?), bicep curls (crazy!) and several others. The only movements I could do without pain were deadlifts (inexplicably), squats and pull-ups.

I even created a new routine around the movements I could perform without pain, but, eventually, I gave up altogether. Why bother? the fatalistic voice inside said.

So I did nothing for a solid year. I thought maybe if I just laid off the weights for a while, the shoulder would heal and then I'd be fine. But it never did. Every single time I picked up a dumbbell or barbell, it hurt like hell. Then I just stopped trying.

At some point I was not happy with the sad state into which my body had slipped. I did some research online about how to rehab a busted shoulder. Much of it was useless advice from people who knew nothing about it. Many people naturally advised me to seek out professional help. I wasn't going to do that because I could see no justification for the cost when I wasn't a professional athlete whose livelihood depended on being able to throw a barbell around. Eventually, I was able to sift through the chaff and find some pearls of real wisdom. And I followed some sound advice to begin strengthening my shoulder and working myself back into shape.

Pressing movements were still very problematic. In and around performing various movements to strengthen the deltoids (dumbbell lateral raise, front raise, etc.) I started bench pressing with just the bar. Yes, that's right. At this point the only weight I could lift on the bench press was the bar itself. After a week or two of this, I started adding weight to the bar. Little by little, I built it back up.

Somewhere along the line, I found myself pain free. It was like the clouds parted and sunshine poured through.

That was a few years back, and I'm happy to say I've been working out injury free ever since.