Project: Squat Dodger/no More Curling Like A Bro/get Ankle Better

[No Crust Racing]

Skipped gym tonight, too many little niggles and sore bits, ankle in particular, especially after pulling the box in the car yesterday.

Just went for a walk instead, will see how I feel Wednesday but may take a full week off as its been a while since I've done that and I promised myself I would to avoid injuries.

[L33SH]

Good idea Dan, I'm doing the same due to lack of sleep over the last 7 days. I'm still doing cardio tomorrow, but am missing two weight sessions (which is 4 days off) will return to weights on Wednesday.

Hope you feel better soon.

[No Crust Racing]

Hammy is still twinging for no apparent reason, does it when I walk, does it when I sit, just random times also.

Have been stretching and manual manipulating my ankle recently as asked by the physio and getting out of the car this morning it twinged decently and I had trouble walking up the steps to work, not feeling too bad now but geezus for a second I thought something major had gone wrong. It still has a way to go.

I may take tonight off also and just see if I can get any improvement on this hammy.

[L33SH]

Fair enough, all the best with it.

[No Crust Racing]

Skipped Gym again last night and didn't walk this morning, Hammy still twinging when I got up so I'm going to see a Myo today if I can get in. AT least my forearms/wrists and my bad ankle are feeling better.

I may just gym Friday anyway as I can feel myself wasting away and getting weaker by the day, yes I know it all comes back, but it'll take 1-3 sessions to go back to where I was.

Taking time off hasn't helped the hammy so far anyway, maybe a little but not much.

Edited July 31, 2013 by ActionDan

[L33SH]

Sounds like a good idea. I find more it difficult mentally to get back into it after a break. Hope you get your hammy sorted out today, good luck

Edited July 31, 2013 by L33SH

[No Crust Racing]

Mentally I'm a bit all over the shop at the moment with a lot of questions about why I'm doing this etc etc, but whenever I stop I always have that burn to start again, even if it's only been a week like it has been this time.

I've said before I might buy some new plates, to give me something to aim at, but I'm also thinking I might mix up the squat stuff and see if I can build reps at say 100kg to get a foundation in place as I'm such a shit squatter.

[No Crust Racing]

Got my appointment for 3.

[L33SH]

Cool, all the best

[-FIGJAM-]

go get a massage on the hammy mate and see if that helps

[No Crust Racing]

See above, going at 3.

[-FIGJAM-]

good stuff, I have found at times even with ningling issues, if I get in and just start lifting or whatever else they tend to go away.

might be the mma background in me where I was always injured but had to train or fight with them.

depends how bad it is, and obviously your ankle has to be taken into consideration

[No Crust Racing]

It was just good timing in a way, I needed a deload week, come Friday I'll have had 7 days off, (but have been working on the car...)

I'll get the rub today, lift tomorrow and see how I feel over the weekend on my 2 day break (though will be at the car again lol)

[No Crust Racing]

They only had a remedial masseuse there and from what I could tell she was fairly green.

Still, she worked on it and it wasn't twinging when I walked out. She thinks is just a strain between the hammy and the upper head of the calf muscle (gastroc).

She massaged it and "cupped" it and said get crazy with the foam roller and stretching as it was quite tight and fairly firm which is always what people say when I have an issue.

I might head back to Matt soon for a form check as my gammy leg still throws some things out and the left leg may be taking the brunt of the load.

[No Crust Racing]

Went for a walk last night and this morning, there's still a light twinge but I'm inclined to say it's slightly better, but not "sorted".

I'll gym tonight, maybe only 4 sets instead of 5 (I usually come back a touch lighter on my first session anyway for safety) and see how I pull up.

Was talking to a mate of mine last night who is training for BB comp and he's at the same point as me in terms of why am I doing this so it seems there's a bit of it going around at the moment.

[L33SH]

Winter blues!

[-FIGJAM-]

if you have a hard table or something, sit on it with ur legs hanging over the side, put a cricket ball or a golf ball under your hammys and basically do the same movements as the foam roller.

hurts a lot more, but helps relieve some pressure.

[No Crust Racing]

Yeah I did that.

I've started stretching my calves more too to see if that helps release it as suggested by the masseuse.

I'm also thinking I might switch back to a 3x8 routine, still increasing weight each set though. As I think this might suit my goals a bit more, which is more about looks than it is about weight to be honest.

[No Crust Racing]

After thinking about what "I" wanted from Gym I've decided to go back to 3x8s due to increase sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Which is just essentially being a bit bigger/more defined but not necessarily being as strong and I'm OK with that as I'm probs 60/40 looks/strength in my goals. This will also save me a few minutes in rest breaks and I'm looking to reduce the time invested.

So with that in mind I gym'd last night and knowing full well I'd be weaker from the weak off chose weights I thought I'd fail in the later parts of set 3 and I was right. Pulld up OK today, but during the sets I forgot how much harder the extra reps are when they are continuous. I also had a breif fiddle with incline bench, felt really alien and weak, ditched it but may try again.

So.

Squats

80.5 90.5 100 (5 reps)

Bench

93 101.5 106.5 (7 reps)

DL

88 97.5 104 (7 reps)

Rows

78 88 93 (6 reps and sloppy)

Chins

7.5 12.5 15 (6 reps)

Dips

15 20 25

So dips was the only thing I got fully through and only just

This week I'll stick to those numbers and get the full 3x8 out then after that I'll start increasing weights again and will treat it such that when I can get 6-7 reps on the final set I'll add again.

Hammy doesn't feel too bad today but I'm about to go turn some spanners so we'll see how it feels later.

Was good to do a session

[L33SH]

Glad to hear you're feeling more positive

Impressive bench press