Drizzt Lifts Things

[drizzt]

pelvic floor raises?!?! i thought those were for girls? :S

Meh, I like to keep an open mind and all that jazz. That, and they seem to be working for my purpose (correcting hip alignment) so I'll try whatever works 8)

[Big john]

pelvic floor raises?!?! i thought those were for girls? :S

Meh, I like to keep an open mind and all that jazz. That, and they seem to be working for my purpose (correcting hip alignment) so I'll try whatever works 8)

whatever it takes for full recovery :nod:

[drizzt]

whatever it takes for full recovery :nod:

For sure

Speaking of which, I'm not quite at full recovery, but feeling damned close! The physio is impressed with my rapid improvement (near impossible to tie shoes a week ago -> postural improvement & able to put my hands under my feet without bending knees). I think it has to do with adding in things like hypers and SLDL on top of the stretching she has given me.

My hips have straightened noticeably, my slouch is slowly coming better without consciously thinking about it, and the aches have all but disappeared.

So I had (what the physio said) will be my final acupuncture session, done along the ham and the top of the glute. Was a very aggressive session, wiggling the needles about and such :-s And pretty damned sore afterwards, but much better today barring a little residual ache.

I'm going to resume full training next week, sloooowly so as not to break anything again, but start implementing squats/dl and maybe try a bit of contact at training. We'll see how it goes

[drizzt]

Friday 16/04

92 flat today.

• Incline BB Bench
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 80kg
  5 x 90kg
  5 x 100kg
  5 x 100kg
  
• Squats
  10 x oly bar
  10 x oly bar
  10 x oly bar
  
• Deads
  10 x bumper plates
  10 x 40kg
  10 x 40kg
  10 x 40kg
  
• Seated OHP (incline bench)
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 65kg
  

Comments

• Incline bench felt good, easy, even at the 100kg. There was more in the tank but I'll save that for the coming weeks.
  
• Threw squats in to start getting used to the movement again. The physio identified an arch in my lower back (which she believes caused the back injury in the first place) when I get to the bottom, so I'm looking to correct that. Tightening the hips will help here :nod: May video myself when I'm up to lifting weight on the squat again, to get critiqued.
  
• Deads felt good, they stretched the back out quite well. Was good to move more weight than the oly bar. Will keep increasing the weight slowly over the coming weeks, might try 60 next week. Good opportunity for me to work on my form though.
  
• OHP (seated on the incline of the bench), easy, not much to report.
  

All in all I'm feeling positive now. Will start the full workouts back next week, just light on squats and deads, but will keep the others where they are for now.

[SoaringSwine]

[*]Threw squats in to start getting used to the movement again. The physio identified an arch in my lower back (which she believes caused the back injury in the first place) when I get to the bottom, so I'm looking to correct that. Tightening the hips will help here :nod: May video myself when I'm up to lifting weight on the squat again, to get critiqued.

An arch in your back causing the injury? Are you sure you don't mean rounding? An arched back is something people do to avoid injuries while squatting.

[drizzt]

An arch in your back causing the injury? Are you sure you don't mean rounding? An arched back is something people do to avoid injuries while squatting.

Ah ok, you'd be right there, my bad on the terminology :oops:

[drizzt]

Monday 19th April

Good session today, 91.2 at the beginning.

• Squats
  6 x oly bar
  6 x 40kg
  6 x 40kg
  6 x 60kg
  6 x 60kg
  6 x 60kg
  
• Deads
  6 x oly bar
  6 x 60kg
  6 x 60kg
  6 x 60kg
  
• Ham Curls (single-leg, hammer strength machine)
  10 x 10kg
  10 x 10kg
  10 x 15kg
  
• Single-leg Romanian DB Deads
  6 x 17kg (poor form)
  6 x 17kg (poor form)
  6 x 10kg (better form)
  lots x 10kg (until form was nailed)
  

Comments

• Man, it feels SO good to be squatting with some sort of weight on the bar again :grin: :grin: No pain, didn't even feel it pulling. I think I'm concentrating on not rounding (as opposed to arching, thanks SS ) the lower back which has definitely taken the emphasis away from the injured area. I think in the meantime, this may mean not squatting ATG - as it's when I get right down in the hole that my lower back rounds - until I've had some sort of proper coaching on it. Will be hitting just below parallel still, just not all the way down until I can do so safely :nod:
  
• Deads were great, again, fantastic to have some weight on the bar! Back fatigued quite quickly though, so was happy with just a few sets here.
  
• Ham curls were good, just light enough to hit the problem part but not so heavy as to be uncomfortable (I did this last week - so have backed off from there). A guy at the gym - Supry - caught me concentrating on the movement (and we were both chuckling at a stocky little guy doing some really weird "fast/dynamic" bouncing shrugs with 200kg :shock: ) and came over and asked what was wrong with my leg. Told him about the injury, and he suggested the Single-leg romanians to target the area...
  
• ... which were good. I sucked at them at first (was doing more of a lunge) but he stuck with me until I got them right. Nice bloke - especially having to take time out of his own workout to help - and I felt it targeting the exact areas that were injured :nod: Meant I had to skip out on Pullups, but that's fine, I'll do them on Weds. Definitely an exercise I'll look to implement after the success I had with it today.

So great session, came away feeling really good about it, I think it must be because I'm squatting again

[teamfatboy]

Good to hear the progress and big thumbs-up for pain-free squats.

Single-leg Romanians, huh? :think: Can't say that I can picture them, will have to go google it....but as long as it's working, who cares?

Supry's a good guy, I've had a hand from him a few times when he was on the Helpdesk but now he's a PT, I think?

I know exactly the stocky little dude - he was starting when I was finishing today, I'll give him an A for intensity, he always seems ultra-focused, but some of his stuff is a bit 'off the beaten track' for me. I can see how 'fast/dynamic' might help an Oly lifter or something, but I've never seen him train Olympic lifts, at Bodyworks anyway.

[drizzt]

Good to hear the progress and big thumbs-up for pain-free squats.

Single-leg Romanians, huh? :think: Can't say that I can picture them, will have to go google it....but as long as it's working, who cares?

Cheers man. And yeah, it's certainly not a move I've tried before, requires a certain amount of co-ordination to keep balance, but is faaairly basic otherwise once you get the hang of it. Basically the front leg is slightly unlocked, rear leg is touching the ground for stability but not taking any load, bend at the hips/pelvis forward (keeping a straight back and the leg in the same start position) with the Dumbbells in hand, releasing them on the floor and then grabbing them again, extending to the start position. Then bend back down to repeat the movement If that makes sense.

I know exactly the stocky little dude - he was starting when I was finishing today, I'll give him an A for intensity, he always seems ultra-focused, but some of his stuff is a bit 'off the beaten track' for me. I can see how 'fast/dynamic' might help an Oly lifter or something, but I've never seen him train Olympic lifts, at Bodyworks anyway.

Heh, yeah I was trying to be nice saying "fast/dynamic", if I'm being honest it looked like he was trying to injure himself. He was springing up with his legs, his arms were rebounding off the bottom to "bounce" the weight up... incredible he was able to do it with 200kg. He was getting about 10 reps out too. I can't imagine anyone holding it without straps (which he had). Not sure what muscles he was trying to work (calves?) but certainly an A+ for intensity though.

From the bemused look Supry was giving, I'm pretty sure he was thinking along the same lines

[rose]

Welcome back from the dead ex-broken person :grin:

Single-leg Romanians, huh?

[drizzt]

Cheers Miss. R, and thanks for the pic, that's the one ('cept Supry had me doin' them with the back foot on the ground to stabilise for the time being)

[teamfatboy]

Cool, thanks for the pic, Rose. I've seen them done - might give them a go myself when I'm having a random-favorite-exercise day.

[drizzt]

Ok, did a tyres session this morning (6am :cry: ), this was fairly basic because:

a) There was light rain so EVERYTHING was slippery/hard to use (I'd never encountered this before)

b) It was almost pitch black when I started which leads me to...

c)... I couldn't see jack crap for most of it, and couldn't find my "draggin'" tyre (the one with a hook in it to tie the rope to

However, I actually had TWO guys turn up! Which equals my best turn out! :pfft: Funny, because it was such a craphouse time of morning, but good nonetheless. This is how it went:

• Tyre flips ~ 20meters
  
• Tyre "pulls" ~ 20meters (same distance as tyre flips) - these were basically just tying the rope to one of the tyres, bracing ourselves in a bigger tyre and pulling the tyre in towards us
  
• Pressups x 10 with tyre on the back
  
• Farmers walk with 2x medium sized tyres ~40-50meters

Rinse, lather, repeat 3 times.

A combination of the back feeling quite tight, and it being really slippery meant I couldn't flip the behemoth It'll come though. I just wanted to use this as a feeling out session to test where the body was at. It went pretty well :nod:

Gym session this arvo.

[rose]

You're supposed to lather first sir :grin:

Pressups x 10 with tyre on the back

Mental picture of men burdened by huuuge tyre... :pfft:

[drizzt]

You're supposed to lather first sir :grin:

Pressups x 10 with tyre on the back

Mental picture of men burdened by huuuge tyre... :pfft:

Heh, we're not at the tractor tyre-size just yet (probably more due to difficulty loading it onto the back more than anything else) but they're a fair size. Would rather chains though, so will keep an eye out for some.

21/04/10

91 flat today, just after a big rice/tuna meal too =P~

• Front BB Squats
  5 x oly bar
  5 x 40kg
  5 x 40kg
  5 x 50kg
  5 x 50kg
  
• BB Bench
  5 x 80kg
  5 x 100kg
  5 x 110kg
  5 x 110kg
  5 x 115kg
  
• OHP
  5 x 60kg
  5 x 65kg
  5 x 70kg
  5 x 70kg
  5 x 75kg (push pressed)
  

Comments

• Front squats gave the lower back a slightly awkward load, but it wasn't too painful. However, erred on the side of caution and didn't step the weight up too far.
  
• Bench felt good, again, slight awkward feeling in the back again (maybe carry-over from the morning tyres session?), setup felt really good. Read Reuben Simanu's tips on bench PDF thingy and kept some stuff from that in mind, e.g. exaggerated the shoulders into the bench a bit more, tensed quads, "pulled bar apart" and squeezed it tight etc. Didn't expect to get 5 on the last set @ 115kg after the heavy sets prior to it, but it came out quite easy in the end
  
• OHP was tough, can only assume this was because I had it after Bench (I usually do it on Deadlift days). Will be moving it back to Deadlift days otherwise I can feel it's going to suffer.
  

Man, it's been a long day. So not used to morning/afternoon workouts together. Can't wait to crash out tonight!

[Peachy]

All athletes should do pelvic floor raises!!!! The All Blacks do them. They are the best for strengthening your core. I think alot of people dont realise how much it makes a difference. Most people just train there abs thinking that is all you need but they are really only superficial and not whats guna give you core strength :nod:

Keep it up Drizzt :grin:

[drizzt]

Thanks Peach

[teamfatboy]

It's all in the name, us men ('cos Michelle the super-physio almost certainly gave me the same exercise) don't want to raise our "pelvic floor" so much as "raise our pelvis off the floor" :grin:

That's a big effort, first the dawn parade, then the gym.... gonna sleep well, huh ? :nod:

[Growth]

It's all in the name

haha, so true.

Heavy benching. Hopefully your niggles are just that

[drizzt]

Heavy benching. Hopefully your niggles are just that

Yeah, my bench has always been fairly strong (I think this is due to strong tris mainly), and seems to have gone through the injuries relatively unscathed. The injuries have been affecting my arch on bench somewhat - especially when I tried to exaggerate driving the traps into the bench today - so I'm not benching quite where I thought I would be before the injuries occurred.

I think I can safely downgrade the injuries from "injury" to "niggles" at this point though

But screw the bench, I can't wait to get some big weights back on squats :grin: Won't be rushing though... but just feels good to have the bar on my back again.

[Chillicat]

and couldn't find my "draggin'" tyre

It's probably just me and my lame sense of humour, but I keep reading this and picturing a mystical fire breathing tyre :pfft: :roll:

[Ronin]

and couldn't find my "draggin'" tyre

It's probably just me and my lame sense of humour, but I keep reading this and picturing a mystical fire breathing tyre :pfft: :roll:

Well that would kinda fit with his username

[Jigga]

and couldn't find my "draggin'" tyre

It's probably just me and my lame sense of humour, but I keep reading this and picturing a mystical fire breathing tyre :pfft: :roll:

Well that would kinda fit with his username

That is cool.

[drizzt]

Heh, I was thinking "draggin'" more in a Hillbilly accent, but sure, Dragon would do as well :-s :pfft:

92kg flat today. Had a short and sharp session this afternoon, nothing much to speak of:

• Pullups
  5 x 5 @ bodyweight
  
• Dips
  5 x 6 @ bodyweight
  
• Pushups
  5 x 10 (exploding off chest at bottom, hands leaving ground at top)

And finished with some light core work and LOTS of stretching. Should've been a squat/dead day today, but feeling a bit beat up after the first week back at full training, and especially with my first full contact session in at Rugby training for a couple of months. So was keen for it, but thought it'd severely dent my chances of playing were I to have my usual Friday session in such a state.

Also, have been really hungry lately with the increase back up to full training :shock: I mean, sacking an extra couple of meals through the day over the past week. Good though, it's done wonders for my energy.

But yep, looking to be back on the footy pitch tomorrow for our B team. The Prems asked if I was ready to play for them yet but I said I'd like to test the injuries in the lower grade first (senior 3rds - it goes prems, senior 1, senior 2, senior 3 - almost social grade). Fingers crossed they'll be sweet :pray: They held out well in two nights of full contact/team runs, so things are certainly looking very good.

[Chillicat]

and couldn't find my "draggin'" tyre

It's probably just me and my lame sense of humour, but I keep reading this and picturing a mystical fire breathing tyre :pfft: :roll:

Well that would kinda fit with his username

Took a trip to google to understand that