Redaxe's Training Log

redaxe

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Hey guys, I'm a purple belt in BJJ, and I post in f12 a lot, and I lift weights on the side as a second hobby. Learned pretty much all I know about lifting from f13. I started doing Starting Strength last year, but took about 4-5 months off lifting because I moved away and quit my gym membership to focus on my BJJ technique more. Now I joined 24 hour fitness to work out with my wife and I'm lifting again and making progress. I'll try to post some videos of my lifts along the way.

2011 maxes (in pounds):
Bench: 235
Squat: 275
Deadlift: 315
@BW: 205

2012 maxes to date:
Bench: haven't been able to test this year due to wrist tendonitis
Squat: 335
Deadlift: 405 (no chalk, but a strap on my right hand due to recent surgery on my pinky finger)
@BW: 215

Saturday, March 17:

Low Bar Squats
135x5
185x5
225x5
255x5
275x5
295x3
315x1
335x1 (new PR)

Bench Press (am finally able to start benching again due to some new techniques I've learned to manage my tendonitis)
135x5
155x5
175x5
195x4
185x3x3
205x2

Lunges w/ 45lb bar on back
40 steps w/ each leg
My butt hurts!

I started training BJJ again last week, first training since I had tendon reattachment surgery on my finger. My guard is not so hot now, and not being able to grip with my right hand sucks, but my top game automatically got way better thanks to the extra 10 lbs of muscle I've put on from lifting. Armbars from side control and mount are becoming my thing now.
 
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Starting with a PR ? Nice.
Good luck man.
 
Starting with a PR ? Nice.
Good luck man.

Hah, thanks. But maybe I should have explained a little better--I quit lifting last August, started lifting again in December, and worked up to squatting 335 and deadlifting 405 over the past couple months.

Been basically squatting twice a week and deadlifting once a week since December.

Although in February I actually did 20 rep squats for a few weeks (worked up from 185x20 to 225x20). That shit made me gain weight instantly, like 2 pounds a week, it was crazy.
 
Skipped BJJ to try a Muay Thai class with my wife last night. It was dope. Learned how to hold the pads, throw knees and kicks, etc. I really want to join, but it would cost over $200 a month for my wife and me, on top of the $120 I spend for Gracie Barra BJJ and $60 for our 24
Hour fitness memberships. Damn. It sucks to find something new and awesome and not be able to afford it.

I guess its back to BJJ and heavy lifting for me and cardio classes for my wife. Thinking tonight is deadlift night.
 
Still some low back pain from my shitty squatting last Thursday. Pretty sure it's only muscular though. Had a big breakthrouh on my squats on Saturday. Also started benching every workout to get my pathetic bench numbers up, and started doing standing barbell curls (not in the squat rack lol).

This is copied over from the Squaturday thread:

"Thursday I squatted 3 sets of 5 reps w/ 295 but had serious tail tucking issues and left the gym with a sore back. I was focusing on sticking my ass out too much on the way down and my back was rounding on the way back up. Ouch.

This morning somehow I finally figured out what the fuck "stick your chest out" means and busted out 2x315 and 1x345, a 10 lb PR for me, with much better form than Thursday. That puts me within spitting distance of my goal of hitting a 1000 lb combined total."

Also did:
Bench 3x5x205
(Having a bit more success now that I widened my grip and started arching my back more)
Standing Bicep Curls w/ 75 lb barbell (my arms are weak, need to build forearm/grip strength and to recover from my finger surgery).

Now my maxes are (@215 lbs BW):
Squat: 345
Dead: 405
Bench: still 235, pre-finger surgery. Hoping to top this within the month. Will get in a quick bench workout before BJJ tonight.

Looking forward to finally breaking that 1,000 lb total, only 15 lbs away...
 
I lurk in f12 a lot; I'll be an interested spectator here.

You might be interested in Calvus' log, he's a BJJ blue in addition to being monstrously strong: My ADD Training Log - 2012

Good god. Calvus started at about the same weights in 2010 as I did in 2011, and now he's benching over 300, squatting over 400, deadlifting 500.

This is relevant to my interests.
 
So this might be the last time I update this log for a while.

Was bench pressing before BJJ today. Bench had been going great since I started pressing 3 to 4 times per week. I started arching my back more, widening my grip a little, and everything felt stable and strong. Was making some progress and excited to finally start getting strong on bench, which is a lift I've always been weak at.

So today before BJJ I did a little warming up, some shoulder dislocations, pressed just the bar 20 times, did 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x5, 215x3, 215x3, 215x2, and then on the third rep in that set I touched my chest and on the way back up I heard and felt a ripping sensation and then a stabbing pain in my left armpit. Did the roll of shame, racked the weights, changed my clothes, drove home, and cried in the shower.

Sitting here icing it now. In retrospect I guess my grip was too wide, I wasn't warmed up enough, I didn't tuck in my elbows enough, probably a lot of things.

At this point I don't really know what I did, how bad it is, how long it will take to recover from, if I will need surgery, or anything. Going to call my sports medicine doc tomorrow and try to get an appointment for an MRI or something. I looked in the mirror and my left pec now looks different from my right, where it attaches to my shoulder. So I guess this shit is permanent unless I get surgery. Fuck my life.
 
Sorry to hear about the injury. Be sure to get it looked at as quickly as you can--if you need surgery, now's the time to find out. The sooner you get answers, the sooner you can start the road to recovery.
 
Sorry to hear about the injury. Be sure to get it looked at as quickly as you can--if you need surgery, now's the time to find out. The sooner you get answers, the sooner you can start the road to recovery.

Thanks.

My dad had shoulder surgery recently and is referring me to his doc. I will go in and get it looked at within the week. I'm certain that I tore something, just hoping that it's not serious enough of a tear to necessitate surgery and a horribly long road to recovery.

Never, ever doing wide grip bench again. Probably won't be able to even if I want to.
 
Ugh. Yeah. Time to see a doctor. Here's to hoping that the news isn't as bad as you fear.
 
Ugh. Yeah. Time to see a doctor. Here's to hoping that the news isn't as bad as you fear.

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure it is. This morning, there is a bruise just above my bicep where I'm pretty sure my pectoral tendon tore away from the bone.

I guess the question is, is my pec still attached enough that I can live with it (in which case it will only take a couple weeks for the pain, bruising and swelling to go away, but my chest will look funny and I can never expect to bench press well again), or do I need to get it surgically reattached, in which case it will take several months to recover, which will trash my short-term gains in everything, but should eventually allow my pec to recover close to 100%.

Fucking can't believe I fucking tore my fucking pec from repping 215 fucking pounds. My bench form must have been far shittier than I even realized. Once I recover it's close grip bench ONLY.
 
This thread is now about my recovery from a pectoral tear.

Here you can see the bruising above my bicep where at least part of my pec tendon tore away from the bone.

93a2267d.jpg


I have an appointment with an orthopedic PT this afternoon to get it looked at, with a probable MRI and possible surgery to follow.
 
Meantime I'll be hitting the exercise bike, maybe some lunges, and (god forbid) the leg press to keep in shape as much as possible. Will have to cut back on my calorie intake drastically to avoid injury layoff-induced fatassness.

If anyone has tips on lower-body only exercises I can do while my pec recovers, I'd appreciate it.
 
Got in this afternoon to see a sports med / ortho surgeon who has like 30 years experience and says he's probably done more pec tear repairs than anyone else in the world, no joke. He did them on an almost daily basis as an Army surgeon for a long time, and has published a bunch of journal articles about them. Anyway, he confirmed my self-diagnosis almost immediately--I have a torn pec. He's squeezing me in for surgery this Thursday. Thank god I have good health insurance that will cover this. I'm anxious to get the operation over with and get on the road to recovery. Wish me luck!
 
Meantime I'll be hitting the exercise bike, maybe some lunges, and (god forbid) the leg press to keep in shape as much as possible. Will have to cut back on my calorie intake drastically to avoid injury layoff-induced fatassness.

If anyone has tips on lower-body only exercises I can do while my pec recovers, I'd appreciate it.

Nasty injury, but great that you're getting under the knife so quickly.

For lower-body only exercises, you could try GHRs, back extensions, and, if you can stabilize yourself with just one hand, reverse hypers. Suspect that leg press is a good idea.
 
Nasty injury, but great that you're getting under the knife so quickly.

For lower-body only exercises, you could try GHRs, back extensions, and, if you can stabilize yourself with just one hand, reverse hypers. Suspect that leg press is a good idea.

Yeah, injured on Monday, surgery on Thursday is a pretty damn fast turnaround.

I hadn't thought of doing back extensions. I think that's a good suggestion. I probably should do that kind of stuff to keep my back strong in the absence of squats and deadlifts--since leg press basically does nothing for your back.

I'm gonna have to make myself a little gym routine consisting of
-stationary bike
-leg press and/or one-handed smith machine squats
-core work (sit-up and back extension variations)
That stuff I can start doing probably a week after surgery, other stuff will have to come when I'm ready.

The thing that is going to piss me off the most about this is that I can't even do my low bar back squats for a long time because it will stretch my pec repair.
 
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