Man, I haven't posted a journal entry in ages, but I was thinking I should start another one, partly as a way of getting me a little more active in this IM community once again. So what's with the journal name? I dunno, I just liked the alliteration.
So here's my story:
Just over 2 months ago I had knee surgery on my right side for a torn medial meniscus. I had a repair surgery as opposed to a meniscotomy. It's a tougher recovery, but it is better in the long run because you get to keep the whole thing in tact. Basically, it was sutured back together as opposed to a simple removal of the damaged piece.
I was on crutches for 6 weeks and unable to drive. As well, I had to almost constantly elevate my foot for about the first month or it would well pretty badly. I did nothing but sit on my ass for about a month, save for my PT sessions. The last week or two I started doing pushups, pullups, and other bodyweight stuff in my room a little bit. Needless to say, I got a little smaller, weaker, and softer.
I was so happy to get back to the gym, but the point of my story is that my goals are perhaps a bit different in some ways than in the past. A few things I want to do:
So what have I been doing? I recently started using Jim Wendler's 5-3-1 program. Very basic, uses a similar setup to something I was contemplating anyway, and a pretty low volume overall. I am doing that for my two upper body workouts, but the lower body workouts are modified a bit for now because I am not quite ready for heavy squatting and deadlifting on my right knee. I am taking my time ramping that weight up.
Here was today's workout:
Bench Press
95x5
135x5
165x5
190x5
215x10
Seated Row
#16x2x10
#15x2x10
#14x10
DB Incline Press
75sx10
70sx10
65sx2x10
NG Face Pulls
#9x12
#10x12
#11x12
Overall these workouts have been great so far. I never feel run down by the end, but feel like I get enough stimulation. Honestly, my estimated 1RM on my bench press right now is pretty close to my best PR, so that's a plus.
To give you an idea of my diet, here's what I will have eaten by the end of today (I didn't include quantities, but I do measure stuff to some extent to keep things fairly consistent):
Meal1
omlette (eggs, spinach, mushrooms, cheese)
skim milk
apple
fish oil caps
Meal2
chili (ground beef, diced tomatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, kidney/black beans, chili powder, cinnamon)
Meal3
pwo shake (waxy maize, dextrose, whey, bcaas, creatine, beta alanine)
Meal4
stir fry (chicken breast, brown rice, mixed veggies)
Meal5
oatmeal, strawberries, wild blueberries, whey
Meal6
cottage cheese, peanut butter, ground flax, veggie powder, whey, psyllium husk
fish oil caps
Possibly a protein bar in there somewhere if I get hungry at work later...
So here's my story:
Just over 2 months ago I had knee surgery on my right side for a torn medial meniscus. I had a repair surgery as opposed to a meniscotomy. It's a tougher recovery, but it is better in the long run because you get to keep the whole thing in tact. Basically, it was sutured back together as opposed to a simple removal of the damaged piece.
I was on crutches for 6 weeks and unable to drive. As well, I had to almost constantly elevate my foot for about the first month or it would well pretty badly. I did nothing but sit on my ass for about a month, save for my PT sessions. The last week or two I started doing pushups, pullups, and other bodyweight stuff in my room a little bit. Needless to say, I got a little smaller, weaker, and softer.
I was so happy to get back to the gym, but the point of my story is that my goals are perhaps a bit different in some ways than in the past. A few things I want to do:
- Get my upper body strength back to where it was by the end of the year, and preferably higher than that.
- Get my lower body strength back to where it was by the end of this coming winter (Hopefully the size of my right quad/leg too; fucking atrophy).
- Worry less about body fat right now, and more about regaining lost muscle, consuming enough calories for needed tissue recovery, and that means not worrying about carbohydrate or overall consumption too much. I still eat pretty damned clean though.
- Get better sleep. I stopped training in the mornings, because with school starting (Today) I couldn't bare to return to going to work, going to class, and then going back to work and having no life yet again. I now have no excuse not to get at least 7 hours a sleep most nights of the week.
- After this 3 week block of training, I will start deloading every 4th week. I excused myself for these first couple of months as I started ramping things back up and getting back into it. I figured the several weeks of complete inactivity was more than enough time to be rejuvenated for this return.
So what have I been doing? I recently started using Jim Wendler's 5-3-1 program. Very basic, uses a similar setup to something I was contemplating anyway, and a pretty low volume overall. I am doing that for my two upper body workouts, but the lower body workouts are modified a bit for now because I am not quite ready for heavy squatting and deadlifting on my right knee. I am taking my time ramping that weight up.
Here was today's workout:
Bench Press
95x5
135x5
165x5
190x5
215x10
Seated Row
#16x2x10
#15x2x10
#14x10
DB Incline Press
75sx10
70sx10
65sx2x10
NG Face Pulls
#9x12
#10x12
#11x12
Overall these workouts have been great so far. I never feel run down by the end, but feel like I get enough stimulation. Honestly, my estimated 1RM on my bench press right now is pretty close to my best PR, so that's a plus.
To give you an idea of my diet, here's what I will have eaten by the end of today (I didn't include quantities, but I do measure stuff to some extent to keep things fairly consistent):
Meal1
omlette (eggs, spinach, mushrooms, cheese)
skim milk
apple
fish oil caps
Meal2
chili (ground beef, diced tomatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, kidney/black beans, chili powder, cinnamon)
Meal3
pwo shake (waxy maize, dextrose, whey, bcaas, creatine, beta alanine)
Meal4
stir fry (chicken breast, brown rice, mixed veggies)
Meal5
oatmeal, strawberries, wild blueberries, whey
Meal6
cottage cheese, peanut butter, ground flax, veggie powder, whey, psyllium husk
fish oil caps
Possibly a protein bar in there somewhere if I get hungry at work later...