Zebano's Training Journal

[zebano]

Tuesday: 1 hour basketball & bad eating (1/4 bag of Doritos)

Wednesday:
Squat
Squat
10xbar
5x135
5x185
5x205
5x225

I was going to move the weight up but I had no motivation. I've been repeating this lift for awhile now and it's time to move on.

Overhead press
2x5x95
5x100 (progress!)

1 arm bent over rows
3x5x70 each arm. This is the first weight that has bothered my right arm.

 

[zebano]

Thursday double BBall 1 hour, 1:45

Friday: Terrible cold today which made breathing difficult but I still made minor progress on squats but everywhere else was down.
Squat
5xbar
5x135
5x185
5x205
2x5x225 (moving forward again)

Bench
2x5x115
1x5x125

1 arm rows -
3x5x65

 

[zebano]

Well if you read other threads, you know I have a sore left achilles tendon. =(

I'll try cycling/swimming to see if it aggravates the injury. There will be no other activity for 2 weeks. I've also set 2010 health goals related mainly to eating. I'll try and keep a daily checklist in here of whether or not I meet those goals.




1. Max 1 cup coffee per day and no other caffeine sources.
2. Eat fruit or veggies with every major meal (B, L, D). Small snacks can still be dairy only (yogurt or cottage cheese).
3. Improve my recent (10 months) 5k time of 24:30 (massively embarrassing)
4. Beer only on 1x/week

 

[zebano]

I traveled a lot over the holidays and did not exercise which has been good for my achilles. I slipped and had a pop yesterday, but otherwise my caffeine reduction is going well. Goal 2 has been easy so far, my wife has even helped by serving a vegetable at every dinner (yes, it's sad that this is an accomplishment). #4 definitely didn't start until the new year and I drank only on Sunday while watching the Vikings whoop the Giants.

The tendon has been feeling great for a week so I played basketball over lunch. I warmed up thoroughly beforehand and intentionally guarded a weaker player so I could take it slow. After 40 minutes I quit and when I stretched my foot around in the shower I felt only a brief twinge. I'm going to restrict myself to cycling / lifting for now and slowly work the basketball durations back up to full.

 

[zebano]

I've been keeping bball short to let the achilles heal and I'm up to 1 hour 2x / week and started lifting again. Stretching first thing in the morning seems to really help.

February Goals Update:
1. Caffeine - fail, I've started drinking lots of green tea and need to buy some non-caffeinated varieties.
2. Fruits / Veggies - Major success so far. My usual afternoon snack is now fruit (oranges or grapes) and dinner always has a veggie.
3. Ran on the treadmill for 1, 1.25 and 1.5 miles after lifting last week. Keeping it low as with basketball to spare my achilles.
4. Fail. I've substituted a glass of red wine for my typical daily beer. The only consolation is that I haven't had a binge drinking nights.

I just started lifting again and was moderately happy with where I was.

Wed:
Squat: 5x135, 5x185, 3x5x205
OH Press: 5x5x85
Deadlift: 5x135, 5x225
jog: 1 mile @ 1.0 incline, 7.2MPH

Fri:
squat: 5x135, 3x5x205, 1x5x225
Bench: 5x5x115
Rows: 5x5x95
jog: 1.25 mile @ 1.0 incline, 7.2MPH

Sun:
squat 5x135, 3x5x205, 2x5x225
OH Press: 5x5x95
Deadlift: 5x225, I don't know why I didn't increase this because it was easy.
Pull ups: 3x1 ugg, I still suck at these.
jog: 1.5 mile @ 1.0 incline, 7.2MPH

 

[zebano]

It's been awhile since my last update so here goes:

Ran a 5K at an 8:06/mile pace which is 25:05 which still sucks but considering it was <10degrees and a guy I know who usually runs those in 18 minutes took 21 I'm pretty happy. I'm not sure I'll have time to get any real training in so this time isn't likely to improve.

I have been playing ball and the achilles only bugs me when I do two-a-days, so I don't. That said, it's a little stiff in the morning and my doctor referred me to a PT and I guess I'll go see them since this is still an issue.

Lifting (most recent values)
Squat 5x5x255 !!!! I'm stoked about this and since I'm down to 180lbs, 1.5xbody weight is only 15 pounds away!
Bench 5x5x125
Rows 5x5x125
Press 5x5x100 (I need some 1lb plates)
Deadlift 1x5x255


I do feel like I wear my legs out during the week since I'm either lifting or playing ball 6x/week but it's fun.

I widened my squat stance by about 4 inches today and it seemed to make both getting low and getting out of the hole much easier.

 

[zebano]

I had a blood test last week and a physical today and my doc was very happy because while he thinks I'm about 10 lb overweight, My HDL is up 20 points since I started exercising.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Holy crap, 20. That's really good. What's your HDL value then?

 

[zebano]

Holy crap, 20. That's really good. What's your HDL value then?

39 before, 59 now.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

39 before, 59 now.

Nice job. That's pretty good This reminds me to get mine checked... I had 35 before I started doing more cardio and before I fixed my diet.

 

[zebano]

He also advised a daily vitamin + 1000mg fish oil so I've gotta pick those up today.

Squatting yesterday was really annoying, my gym has non-adjustable safety bars on the squat rack (like this: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...quipment/squat-racks/precor-squat-rack-14.jpg) and I must be more flexible now because I've started hitting them when I squat to full depth. =(

 

[zebano]

Had a rotator cuff injury and couldn't press so I took a couple months off (was still playing BBall). I started back up last week and things are progressing but after one attempt I can tell the press won't be in my repertoire. Are there any suggestions for good replacement exercises?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Had a rotator cuff injury and couldn't press so I took a couple months off (was still playing BBall). I started back up last week and things are progressing but after one attempt I can tell the press won't be in my repertoire. Are there any suggestions for good replacement exercises?

Lots of rehab... and then light presses leading to heavier presses. You can't cut out shoulder press permanently if you want to be a well rounded strength athlete. Addressing the problem through rehab exercises, increasing the difficulty as shown by a professional, and coming back to the press will be the best way to fix both your injury and your new-found pressing weakness. There's no good sub for overhead press, but things like DB lateral and forward raises will allow you to maintain some deltoid mass. Doing dynamic planks and pushup variations will help with rotator cuff strength and stability. However, rehab exercises will probably be necessary to help you regain proper stabilizer coordination.

 

[zebano]

It's been a month and a half since my last post and I've been adding 5lbs weekly to my press and I'm off of the crappy super light dumbells back to a bar without any pain so I'm pretty happy. Due to a basketball league interfering with my lifting schedule I've made no progress on any other lifts, but the good news is that I've maintained my lifts, lost 5lbs and got rim when I jumped today (first time ever for me). For a 5'10" guy with short arms that's fricken awesome. I may have to find a way to get some box jumps in and see if I can increase that vertical more.
For the record my lifts today were:
Squat 3x5x225
Military Press 3x5x70 (ugg)
Deadlift: 5x225
both the squat and deadlift are lower than they were but I did the 3x5x255 squat on Tuesday and I wanted to play ball after lifting today.

179lbs.
I'm not sure when it happened but for the past half a year I've been buying 34 inch waist clothing instead of 36.
I gotta find a good place to check my BF&#37;

 

[zebano]

I fell off the wagon (lifting) again... but at least I've stayed active with the basketball. The worst part is that since I started lifting again this week, even really light Military presses were making my right shoulder pop... I'll just stick to high-rep low weight for now to see if that goes away.

Current Weight: 176lbs (I've lost weight so I assume it's muscle but a fat measurement is really in order)


Monday:
Basketball 1.5 hours
Squat: 2x8x135
Bench: 2x8x115
Dumbbell Rows: 2x8x50lbs

Tuesday:
2 mile warmup/run
1.5 hours basketball

Wednesday
Squat: 2x8x155
OH Press: 2x8x75 with right should pop every rep... thankfully no pain
Deadlift: 1x8x185
Pull ups: 1
Pull up Assist machine: 5 w/ 40lb assist
Squat-jump: 10x95lbs
(more plyometrics to be integrated in the coming weeks as I feel that is more important than just weight).