Idle ramblings and observations.

[gazza]

I'm a long way from where I was but further along than I have been.

I won't be starting a new journal as such at this stage as I'm unsure what direction I'm heading and how my broken bits are going to respond to resistant training. I am however going to have a bloody good go at finding out and trying not to break myself in the process.

 

I have trained 4 days on the trot and had a couple off. I have picked up my old Bulgarian System/Big Beyond Belief/Serious Growth (or any other name it may be known by) again as a way of easing back in to things.

I'm doing the 4 day, once a day variation as I think the mix of reps, sets, rest time and ability to have a variety of exercises within the structure will be good.

I'll be doing the bigger exercises like squats and barbell bench press on the high rep, low rest time days and then switching them to the low rep, higher rest time days in the power/growth phase. I found this was a good way of boosting strength and confidence with training and dare I say a bit of ego ;-)

For example doing 5x13-15 reps with 60 seconds rest between them on deadlift, then going to 3 weeks of 3x5-7 reps with 3 minutes rest between definitely helped increase my strength and stimulate some growth.

 

As far as diet goes, actually eating food before lunchtime instead subsisting on 6 cups of coffee will be a good start and challenge ( baby steps though :pfft: ).

 

My return the workforce has me working PERMANENT night shift, a mix of 2000-0400 and 2300-0700 on a predominantly 4 on 2 off roster.

I do recall a thread on here a while back about working nights and weight training/exercising but it didn't seem to go anywhere from memory and only got a half dozen or so responses. SO..... I would be keen to hear from any other night shift workers out there that are giving things a nudge, regarding training, diet, supplementation and any other potentially useful morsels. I remember there being some studies into the affects of night shift work and hormone levels etc, keen to hear thoughts on this (to lazy to go searching at the moment, it's nearly bedtime!!!) 

 

I think that's enough for going on with for now.

Cheers for looking.

[gazza]

Some pics from after my last surgery.

The first pic is the day after my op. Pic 2 was 7 days post op and pic 3 was taken 10 days later when they got the pliers and pulled out the staples.

[gazza]

2 weeks back into some exercise and things are going OK.

Legs were no where near as sore after squatting this week. I did exactly the same weight and reps as last time for everything and apart from the areas that were dissected recovery has been better.

At the moment my training plan looks like this.

Day 1

back 3x13-15

chest 3x13-15

biceps 3x13-15

calves 3x13-15

 

Day 2

delts 3x13-15

tris 3x13-15

legs 3x13-15

abs 3x13-15

 

Day 3

back 3x10-12

chest 3x10-12

legs 3x10-12

delts 1x10-12

calves 2x10-12

bis 1x10-12

tris 1x10-12

 

Day 4

legs 3x8-10

chest 3x8-10

back 3x8-10

delts 1x8-10

calves 2x8-10

tris 1x 8-10

bis 1x8-10

[Skeletor]

Thats a meaty fricken scar man. They must have had your arm opened right up to be that big.

[BeastBuilder]

Fuuaarrkk, das it mayn.

Also I like the high frequency you have in your split, should get you back on track quicker than diving straight into a bodypart split like most people would. Don't need that amount of volume yet.

[gazza]

Thats a meaty fricken scar man. They must have had your arm opened right up to be that big.

Yeh opened up and peeled back, hence why they thought it would be touch and go as to whether they would need to do a reconstruction and skin grafts. The last recurrence had gone fairly deep and wrapped around the bone a wee bit. Can feel the bone through the skin on the lateral part of my arm between the bi and tri.

I'll take a few pics on my next day off and post them up when I can.

[gazza]

The rebuild continues.

I'm not nor do I claim to be an expert at any of this, I've had a couple of trainers/coaches for various things over the years and the odd 'mentor' to bounce ideas off. Any knowledge I have in regards to training and nutrition etc has been mostly obtained through my readings and study and experimentation, so any tips and pointers will be appreciated and dissected. However, what I do I do for me!

I competed in bodybuilding a couple of times many, many years ago and prior to getting ill, I was putting serious thought into giving it another a crack.

Stats wise I'm 172.5cm tall, before the shit hit the fan I was a touch over 93kg with my body fat sitting at 11.5%(skin fold calliper test).

I guess you'd say my training methods/splits were bodybuilding type programs. Lifting wise I was pulling 210kg deads for reps, cracked 170kg on the squat (parallel only), and repping 110kg on barbell bench when I had a spotter.

Obviously my height hasn't changed, I've not weighed myself for a long time and for the first time I can remember I have a 'gut'. I want this gone and it will go. I'm guessing, until I can get it measured, that my bodyfat is around the 20% mark.

Because of the nature of my job and working permanent nights, I've slipped into some bad habits eating wise and have attempted to rectify this a bit.

Food wise I'm going to be trying to limit my carb intake and I have cut out refined sugar. I will be making sure my pre and post workout meals have enough carbs.

Current supplements are whey protein and a joint support product. I will likely be adding in a vitamin D sup and some magnesium( maybe ZMA).

Mostly consuming oat shakes for my first meal, tinned tuna, eggs, beans, cooked fish fillets, rice based meals when I pre prepare them otherwise couscous instead. I prepare and cook dinner at home for everyone which usually consists of potatoes, pasta, meat (beef, lamb, chicken etc) and a variety of veges. Kids can be a bit fussy sometimes.

[gazza]

Ok, so here are a few current pics, not the highest quality and it definitely doesn't help that my pasty, white body is reflecting light like a mirror, don't know how some of you guys and girls manage to take such good selfies, maybe it's the subject matter

[gazza]

Just coming to the end of a 4 on, 1 off, 5 on, 1 off night shift run. After 4 good training days in a row, I've not managed to make it in for the last 6!! The body's protesting a bit at the moment with the lack of sleep and rest this has caused. Night off on Saturday then 1 shift on Sunday before I have some leave over the school holidays. Plan to hit the whole body over these two days.

In for an EMG appointment on Tuesday to see what's happening with my arm and shoulder, been having a bit of pins and needles/loss of sensation on top of the 'normal' niggles.

 

[gazza]

Had a whole day rostered off work yesterday, first one after 5 nights and doing 4 nights with one off prior to that, which equated to finish work at 0700, sleep until 1530 eat some food and back to bed at 0030 to be up in time to see the Welsh stick to the Poms.

I managed to get to the gym today and do a wee catch up which went like this.

Squats:

1x15 @ 60kg

1x12 @ 70kg

1x12 @ 80kg

1x12 @ 90kg

 Lying leg curl

3x12 5 plates

Bench press

3x15 @ 50kg

Single arm overhead tri extensions

3x12 @ 9kg not a lot, but that's all the arm with bits missing can manage at the moment, issues with form, function and stability when I use it above my head.

Seated calf raise

1x15 @ 35kg

1x15 @ 40kg

1x15 @ 45kg

 

Extra days off after tonight while the kids are on holidays. Will be doing back, delts, bis and abs.

Using the gym at work as it is free, pretty well equipped but doesn't have a squat/power rack so squatting is done on the smith machine, not ideal but better than nothing. It's also missing a standing calf raise of any description.

Biggest dumbbell is only 40kg but there's a good selection of 20kg plates etc.

Cable row and lat pulldown machines aren't the heaviest duty but there's a pretty decent bent row/T-bar row set up and obviously barbells.

 

Food is nothing special at the moment, porridge, eggs, beans, tuna x2, baked spud, veges, lamb steaks were the main eats and 3x double scoops of whey.

 

[gazza]

Monday was this,

WG pulldowns

1x15 @80

2x12 @ 90,100

1x8 @120

DB row

3x10 @25

Seated machine press

1x15 @ 30

1x12 @ 50

1x8 @ 90

Single arm cable laterals

3x10 ith just 1 plate

DB curl

1x15 @12.5

2x10 @ 17.5

Swiss ball crunches

3x15

 

Can only work to the limits of my right arm on some exercises and the deficit is very big when it comes to tricep and single arm shoulder exercises.

There are times after completing some exercises I feel I could've pushed a bit harder, but I'm very tentative and concious regarding the damage caused by all the surgery etc. Still trying to figure out what is normal discomfort, what is acceptable pain after training or potential damage.

Definately noticing some differences with things. Onwards and upwards.

[gazza]

So...... lurking lots, posting not so much!

Training got a away on me a bit over the last few months, extra shifts at work due to everyone taking leave in the lead up to xmas, then of course, the silly season.

I've started a new training program which will hopefully fit in with life better.

Day 1 was this;

Back and delts

wide grip pulldowns

1x15

2x10

1x8

close grip cable rows

3x10

dumbbell rows

3x10

upright row

3x12

seated shoulder press(machine)

1x15

2x10

1x8

bentover cable lateral raise

3x10

 

Day 2 was;

legs and abs/core

squats (smith machine because that's all there is)

1x15

2x10

1x8

walking d/b lunges

3x10

lying leg curl

3x12

seated calf raise

3x15

torso twists (on swiss ball) x20

swiss ball crunch x15

reverse crunch/lying leg raise x12

heel touches x20

hanging leg raise x12

plank 30 seconds

done as a complete circuit and repeated x2 (so far)

 

Day 3 was;

chest, tris and bis

barbell bench

1x15

2x10

1x8

incline flyes

3x10

decline flyes

3x10

one arm cable pushdowns

4x12

dumbbell curl

4x10

 

Seemed to go ok, plenty of room to improve though. At this stage I'm looking to have 1 day off then do a bodyweight based circuit before another day off.

Work roster is essentially 4 on, 2 off all night shift. I'm training on my 2 nights off and during the day before I start my first shift.

 

[gazza]

Food is slowly getting on track. Got one of those nutri infusion thingys at xmas so have been trying a few shakes out. Settled on this one at the moment as a breakfast shake.

Food for the other day was.

 

350mls of green tea (cold)

2 scoops of whey

10 almonds (ground)

1 table spoon of flaxseeds

2 tea spoons of chia seeds

quarter of a cup of ground oats

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric powder

pinch of black pepper

1 handful of fruit.

 

300mls of milk

2 scoops of whey

85g of tuna

 

4 scrambled eggs

1 410g of budget baked beans

2 pieces of wholemeal toast.

 

small serve of mince and pasta with veges

TRAINED

post workout shake, 2 scoops of whey in water

 

mince and pasta with veges

 

DONE.

 

 

[Bruce Al]

14 hours ago, gazza said:

Food is slowly getting on track. Got one of those nutri infusion thingys at xmas so have been trying a few shakes out. Settled on this one at the moment as a breakfast shake.

Food for the other day was.

 

350mls of green tea (cold)

2 scoops of whey

10 almonds (ground)

1 table spoon of flaxseeds

2 tea spoons of chia seeds

quarter of a cup of ground oats

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric powder

pinch of black pepper

1 handful of fruit.

 

300mls of milk

2 scoops of whey

85g of tuna

 

4 scrambled eggs

1 410g of budget baked beans

2 pieces of wholemeal toast.

 

small serve of mince and pasta with veges

TRAINED

post workout shake, 2 scoops of whey in water

 

mince and pasta with veges

 

DONE.

 

 

Thats an interesting shake... Why the turmeric powder?

[gazza]

The turmeric, like the rest of the shake is a bit of an experiment. 

It contains curcumin which is said to have anti-inflammatory benefits, but most of this is broken down and excreted before it can be utilised by our bodies, hence the black pepper. This contains piperine which is said to increase the bioavailability of curcumin by up to 2000%. 

I basically read through the recipe book that came with the Nutri-infusion and picked a few things to try that might be of benefit to my needs/wants. 

[gazza]

Today........

back and delts

w/g pull downs 

1x15@80

1x12@100

2x8@120,120

cable row

3x10@100,120,130

dumbell row

3x10@25,35,35

upright row

3x12@30,30,30

machine press

1x15@50

2x10@70,80

1x8@100 (only managed 7 reps)

bent over cable laterals

3x10 1 plate only for all 3 sets. 

Some eats. 

4 poached eggs

2 pieces of whole meal toast. 

Coffee. 

 

2 scoops of whey

300mls of milk

can of tuna

 

took the kids to the pool, then had....

plate if take out chicken korma on rice

 

couple of pieces of fruit

then trained. 

 

Post workout 2 scoops of whey in water. 

 

Double meat, double cheese home made burger with heaps of greens and bbq sauce

 

will be having a fruit, vege, nut etc shake with 2 scoops of whey before bed. 

[Pseudonym]

On 8/01/2016 at 1:57 AM, gazza said:

Got one of those nutri infusion thingys at xmas so have been trying a few shakes out.

I had to Google that. But if Suzanne Paul endorses it, it must be good! Apparently it's changed her life, and it will change your life too...

 

 

Seriously though, how did the shake taste? It wouldn't be my first choice of ingredients for breakfast!

[gazza]

Lol pseudo, she does my head in but and I really don't buy in to all the hype and so called science, but  the Mrs decided that was the blender she wanted and to be honest it pullverises the oats and nuts etc really well. 

It tasted ok, bit of a kick from the ginger. 

Its really just a lazy way of getting some goodies in (still experimenting) but when I've worked all night, taken the Wifey to work and kids to school, then gotten up at 3pm after barely 6 hours sleep I don't really feel like eating and was getting by on 5-6 cups of coffee until dinner time. 

Theres a few interesting recipes in the book that came with it, just researched a bit myself and tried to tailor something to what I want. 

[gazza]

Today.....

legs and abs. 

Smith machine squats (cos that's the only option for squats)

1x15@70kg

3x10@90,90,92

 

walking lunges

3x10 with 10kg Dumbbells. 

 

Lying leg curl

3x13@50,50,65

 

seated calf raise

3x15@40kg

 

torsi twist in Swiss ball x15

swiss ball crunches x15

lying leg raise x15

heel touch x15

hanging leg raise x15

plank 30 seconds

done as a circuit, repeated x2. 

 

[gazza]

Some eats from yesterday. 

4 eggs on toast. 

 

2 scoops of whey in milk

tin of tuna. 

 

Home made double meat, double cheese burger topped with salad mix. 

 

Whey shake and fruit. 

 

Plate of chicken and mushroom carbonara pasta 

 

trained. 

Post workout shake. 

 

Another plate of chicken mushroom pasta

[gazza]

Rest day today. 

Last night was....,

chest, tris and bis

bench press

1x15@ 50kg

2x10@ 60kg

1x as many as I can @ 50kg (13 reps)

incline flyes

3x10@ 15kg

dumbell declines

3x10@ 20kg

1 arm d/b extension

3x10@ 10kg

1 arm push downs 

3x12 with 4 plates

d/b curl

4x10@ 15kg

 

So far things are ticking along ok, slowly getting back into the swing of things. 

My right arm/shoulder is very noticeably weaker on single arm exercises, bench press and shoulder press. Less of an issue on back exercises. 

It does seem to recover at the same rate as everything else though. 

Food wise things aren't ideal, but I'm eating better/more consistently than I was. 

 

 

[gazza]

Last nights training was...

back and shoulders. 

Latpulldown

1x15@ 80

1x12@ 110

2x8@ 130,130

 

cable row

3x10@ 120, 130, 140

 

dumbell row

3x10@ 35, 35, 35

 

upright row

3x12@ 30, 35, 35

 

seated machine press 

1x15@ 50

2x10@ 80, 80

1x8@ 100

 

bent cable laterals

3x10@ 1 plate, 1 plate, 2 plates. 

 

Workout felt good, weights are creeping up and reps are getting easier. 

Right side is still a limiting factor and obviously will be for a long time to come. It's improving at a steady rate and recovery is on a par with the undamaged bits. 

 

[gazza]

Friday was legs and abs

squats in the smith machine

1x15@ 70kg

3x10@ 90,90,100kg

walking d/b lunge

3x10@ 12.5s, 15s, 15s

lying leg curl

3x12@ 50,50, 65

seated calf raise

3x15@ 40kg

ab/core circuit 

torso twist x15

swiss ball crunch x15

reverse crunch x15

heel touches x20

hanging leg raise x15

plank for as long as I can hold it. 

Had 60 seconds rest and repeated this a second time. 

 

Overall a good session, cracked the hundy in squats and it was an easy set, used to warm up in it for 15 reps lol.  Good confident boost, getting a bit of rhythm in the rickety smith machine and there is, allegedly, a new power rack/squat rack and oly bar coming. 

[gazza]

Saturday was chest, tris and bis. 

Bench

1x15@ 50kg

2x10@ 60, 60

1x as many as I could with 50kg

incline flyes

3x10@ 15,15,15

decline flyes

3x10@ 20,20,20

one arm d/b extension

3x10@ 10,10,10

one arm push downs 

3x12@ 4 plates for all sets. 

D/b curl

4x10@ 15,15,15,15

 

not a bad session. 

Keep sliding off the bench doing decline as there is no proper decline bench. If the incline sit up bench is free next chest day I will have a crack doing them in that as I'll be able to hook my feet in. If this is no good I'll likely drop decline and do cable cross over. 

Right tricep is doing ok. Finding right bicep strength is holding its own with the left and recovering well. Should be able to push it a bit harder next session. 

[gazza]

Yesterday was back and shoulders

pulldowns 

1x15@ 80

1x12@ 110

2x8@ 130, 140(7reps)

cable row

3x10@ 130, 140,150

d/b row

3x10@ 35,35,35

upright row

3x8-12@ 35,35,35(10 reps)

seated machine press

1x15@ 80

2x10@ 100,100

1x8@ 110

bent over cable laterals

3x10 two plates for all 3 sets.