18 Oct 2010 – Week 13

This is a short week, four days.  Read as # sets x # reps @ dumbbell weight (lbs).

Everyday:  Abs and calves, in that order.

• Weighted jackknifes, straight – 1 x 6, 12 lb ball at feet, 15 lb ball at head, extended overhead and back on slow descent.
• Weighted jackknifes, oblique – 1 x 6, alternating side to side, same weights as above.
• Slow sit-ups-and-downs – 1 x 6, 15 lb ball on head for up, overhead and back for down slowly.  I draw the knees in going up to keep my hip flexors from helping too much, and extend out more going down.
• Inclined weighted situps – On Wednesday I tried using an incline board instead of flat on a mat like before.  1 x 6 x 15 lb ball extended outward.
• Seated incline board oblique twists – 1 x 16 x 15 lb ball extended outward.
• Seated calf raises – Warmup with 1 x 8 x 90 lbs, then 2 x 6 x 160 lbs.

Monday:  Arms.  Workout rating – good.  I am taking it easier this week and only did biceps, with a tricep warmup.

• Prone hanging dumbbell bicep curls – Warmup set, 1 x 6 @ 25 lbs, 1 x 4 @ 25 lbs, 1 x 4 @ 20 lbs
• Standing overhead tricep cable presses – None.
• Seated decline dumbbell preacher curls – 2 x 6 @ 25lbs, 1 x 6 @ 20lbs
• Horizontal dumbbell tricep kickbacks – None.
• Overhead standing dumbbell tricep presses – None.
• Standing cable one-arm tricep presses – None.
• Standing cable tricep pushdowns – None.
• Standing dumbbell concentration bicep curls – None.

Tuesday:  Shoulders.  Workout rating – surprisingly good.  Taking it easy all week.

• Seated dumbbell military presses – warmup with 25lbs, then 1 x 8 @ 40lbs, 1 x 6 @ 25 lbs, 1 x 4 @ 25 lbs, 1 x 4 @ 20 lbs, and 1 x 4 @ 15 lbs.
• Standing dumbbell windmills – None.
• Prone hanging dumbbell shoulder flys – None.
• Standing dumbbell pullups – None.
• Standing cable pullups – None.
• Standing dumbbell circles (moving arms slowly in a large circle, as if to stretch and warm up) – 1 x 6 x 20 lbs.
• Standing dumbbell rotated lifts (arms out to sides, elbows ninety degrees down, rotate weights up to vertical and back down) – None.

I focused on form – straight back in the seat, arms wide, dumbbells held parallel (not inline) to each other.  Slow down, faster up, and making sure my arms were out to the side, not pulled forward.  This actually gave me an excellent workout – without all the dumbbell shoulder flys I had been doing.  My shoulder feels great, and my elbow is not bothering me now.

Wednesday:  Legs.  Workout rating – very good.  I used the leg press machine instead of the plate-loaded machine, and could not do dumbbell squats today – the gym floor was being stripped and waxed and that room was blocked off.

• Dumbbell wide stance lunges – Dry warmup only, then 1 x 10 x 50 lbs (two 25 lb plates, one in each hand).
• Dumbbell squats – Dry warmup only.
• Seated Smith leg presses – None.
• Standing leg curl machine – 2 x 8 x 25 lbsper leg, 4 x 4 x 25 lbs per leg.
• Seated leg press machine – 1 x 6 x 180 lbs, 1 x 6 x 260 lbs, 2 x 8 x 320 lbs, 1 x 6 x 320 lbs.  All done very slow, with seat as close as possible for maximum extension, feet placed both high and low on press plate.
• Lying hamstring squeezes – None.

I avoided using my arms, so my elbow and shoulder get to rest for tomorrow.  My legs feel very tired and pumped.

Thursday:  Back and chest.  Workout rating – ok.  Chest first, then back, with warmups.  Unfortunately, they were still stripping and waxing the floors and had the dumbbell room closed off.

• Incline dumbbell bench press – 1 x 6 x 35 lbs (warmup) before i got kicked out of the room.
• Flat dumbbell bench press – None.
• Decline dumbbell bench press – None.
• Flat dumbbell bench press – None.
• Incline dumbbell bench press – None.
• Seated cable lat alternating pulldown, wide grip – 1 x 6 x 140 lbs (after warmup), very slow.
• Seated cable lat alternating pulldown, narrow grip – 1 x 6 x 140 lbs, very slow.
• Seated cable lat rows – 2 x 4 x 140 lbs, very slow.
• Standing cable flys – 1 x 6 x 30 lbs, 1 x 6 x 25 lbs, 1 x 7 x 20 lbs, 1 x 8 x 15 lbs.
• Incline dumbbell flys – None.
• Flat dumbbell flys – None.
• Seated nautilus bench press (vertical grip) – 1 x 8 x 90 lbs (warmup), 1 x 8 x 150 lbs, 2 x 8 x 185 lbs, very slow.
• Seated nautilus bench press (horizontal grip) – 1 x 4 x 185 lbs, 2 x 6 x 140 lbs, very slow.

End-of-week weight:  187 lbs.

12 Oct 2010 – Week 12

I took this week off to rest.  I saw the chiropractor three times for work on my right elbow and shoulder, which helped tremendously.

5 Aug, 2009 – Is My Arm Fixed?

I have now been through a couple weeks of visits to the chiropractor, maybe nine altogether.  We are now spacing the visits out farther apart.  To date, my left arm no longer has numbness in the fingertips.  My right arm with all the elbow pain feels almost completely normal.  The sessions of muscle massage therapy, while mildly painful and uncomfortable, are really having an effect.  I was able to do yard work last weekend that I had been unable to do before seeing the chiropractor, and it was uneventful.  Nothing got worse.  Nothing broke.  Nothing hurt.

I am sure that I got this way over a long time, building scar tissue and adhesions without ever having any indicators something was wrong until it was too late.  To further muddy the waters, after the pain started, I was treating the wrong thing.  This has taught me a valuable lesson.  I will be stretching more, before and after exercise, I will be using forearm braces to distribute the force more evenly over my muscles, and I will be icing my muscles after workouts.  I also intend to set up regular visits to a massage therapist (the same one that hurts my chiropractor, hehe) to make sure this never happens again.  I know, never say never, but forwarned is forearmed.

(What a horrible pun that was.  Stop me now, before I pun again.)

I expect to hit the gym soon.  I will probably work up to by doing home exercises first for a few weeks.  Plus, my schedule really works against an exercise regimen for the next couple months.