Strength training for the puny

[SmashiusClay]

Ok, its been a week and my shoulders are still useless, this is really starting to suck. I was starting to make real progress with all of my lifts and then this happens, DAMNIT!

 

[SmashiusClay]

Shoulders are still fried so no squats yesterday, cant even do them body weight cos it makes my shoulders ache. Its slowly getting better but slowly is the operative word here.

I did do some grip work, finall ygot round to filing down my old HG 150 and was using that with two ironmind gripper helpers to do overcrushes after some CoC#2 work, also did some wrist curls and reverse wrist curls because i can do them with my forearms over my knees so it puts no loading on my shoulders, used 35lbs for 4 sets each to fatigue.

 

[SmashiusClay]

More grip work, yay, I think i'm suffering withdrawl symptoms from not deadlifting in a few weeks. Have ordered a RT from Ironmind and am thinking about taking up steel bending, but both will have to wait for implementation for my shoulders to heal.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Well the shoulders are healing but still taking their time so i'm still not back to business as normal, but on the plus side I've been working my grip pretty hard and as a result I'm much more consistent on my CoC#2.

I ordered an RT from Ironmind on wednesday and it was here today, not bad for something coming halfway round the world, my shoulders mean I can't really test it out yet but I put 10kilos on it to get a feel for the thing and was amazed by it. This may just be my new favourite toy.

 

[SmashiusClay]

First workout back decided to take it pretty easy.

Rolling Thunder:

88x1
110x1
121x1
110x1 (timed hold approx 15s each hand)​

*All done with both hands in turn

Wrist Roller:

22x4 each way​

CoC#2: 2 full closes each hand plus a few negatives; followed by some strap holds with a filed HG150 and an improvised strap made from an old webbing belt.

EDIT: Holy crap its only been about an hour since my workout and I can barely move my fingers my hands are ridiculously sore from such a brief workout, I love this RT its a real killer. (this took me twice as long as normal to type as my hands are refusing to coordinate basic movements)

 

[Diligent]

First workout back decided to take it pretty easy.

Rolling Thunder:

88x1
110x1
121x1
110x1 (timed hold approx 15s each hand)​

*All done with both hands in turn

Wrist Roller:

22x4 each way​

CoC#2: 2 full closes each hand plus a few negatives; followed by some strap holds with a filed HG150 and an improvised strap made from an old webbing belt.

EDIT: Holy crap its only been about an hour since my workout and I can barely move my fingers my hands are ridiculously sore from such a brief workout, I love this RT its a real killer. (this took me twice as long as normal to type as my hands are refusing to coordinate basic movements)

Hey, good job! That's a good amount of weight for a first time RT session.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Hey, good job! That's a good amount of weight for a first time RT session.

Thanks, I suppose its a carryover from lots of gripper work and deadlifting, I'm paying for it already my forearms are killing me.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Monday

while my routine calls for a deadlift day today my left shoulder is still a little stiff and I decided that it would be a better idea to change it up a bit and do some squats instead (posterior chain heavy but no shoulder involvement). Then again I did'nt want to put too much weight on my shoulder just in case and I got a copy of the ironmind catalogue with my RT, in there they were selling a book called supersquats which revolves around 20rep squat routines, a quick trip to google and I thought I'd give it a go.

Squats: 155lbx20

Pullovers: 20lbx20 (apparently just a stretch for the ribcage, hence the low weight)

Crunches: 50x3 (could'nt do any of my normal heavy ab exercises. so while these suck they beat doing nothing)

Grip work: CoC#2 alternating closes 3 each hand (new PR) + Levering work with my sledgehammer.

 

[Barut]

Monday

Squats: 155lbx20

Could you do all 20 w/o resting? By resting I don't mean racking the weight, but just standing there for a second. When I was doing 20 rep squats I would typically do 12, rest, and then 2 or 3 then rest until hitting 20. It did help my squat go up about 50 lbs in 3 months though.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Could you do all 20 w/o resting? By resting I don't mean racking the weight, but just standing there for a second. When I was doing 20 rep squats I would typically do 12, rest, and then 2 or 3 then rest until hitting 20. It did help my squat go up about 50 lbs in 3 months though.

i was doing the concept put forth by Randall Strossen, where you use a weight you can only do for 10 reps, but breathe three times between each rep. Seems like an interesting idea so i thought I'd give it a go. Certanily helped me do a hell of a lot more reps than I could manage at 155, even before my injury.

 

[SmashiusClay]

20 rep squat routine

Pull ups: 1,2,3,4,3,2,1

Dips: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1

Breathing Squats: 170x20

Wrist Roller: 33lbsx4 each way

Sledgehammer levering and CoC#2 work (couple of closes and some negatives)

BODYWEIGHT FOR TWENTY REPS RARR!!!

Man my upper body strength is completely fucked, still its only my first real workout back and I'm still a bit iffy about pressing.

 

[SmashiusClay]

20 rep squat routine

Pull ups: 5,4,2,3,2,1
Dips: 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1

Breathing Squats: 180x20

Ab wheel rollouts: 2x10 (from knees, have lost some ab strenght by only bneing able to do crunches for quite a while)

Wrist Roller: 44lbsx3 each way

Sledgehammer levering and CoC#2 work, plus some steel bending, bent my first 6"x6mm (just under quarter of an inch) bar today.

Pull ups sucked today for some reason and while the dips improved a little over last time they were still pretty ghey. Still, I'm happy with my squat progression and my grip and forearm strength is going ahead pretty well so I guess I should stop complaining.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Decided to change it up a bit this week, I finally seem to have full range of motion in my shoulder so I wanted to dedicate this week to rebuilding some of my cardio and just take a week away from lifting and go back to my old pull/push/squat split next week (will be doing 20 rep squats on my squat day every now and again though as I really like these, will porbably cycle them with 5x5 for a few weeks of each).

Monday was 5 3 minute sessions on my skipping rope at a fast pace followed by some press ups, body weight squats and sit-ups.

Yesterday was Tabata Squats followed by 2 5 minute skipping sessions as a cool down.

Today was my tune up session on the heavy bag. Used 1 minute rounds with 30seconds rest. Worked only jabs for the first, then crosses for the second, lead hook in the third, rear hooks in the fourth, left kicks in the fifth, right kicks in the seventh. Then I went into working my favourite combos with one round each, total of 5 rounds. Finished out with some punch out drills, ten seconds on with ten seconds rest, hard and fast as possible. Managed 3 minutes total. Not a bad day but nowhere near my old self, still this is my first week of any real cardio since I got injured, I just could'nt train at all without agravating it.

Thinking of doing a second session this afternoon, have'nt decided between going back to the bag, a bit of sledgehammering or some skipping.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Beef stew fuelled Boxing day deadlifts:

Deadlift:

185x5
230x1
275x1
300x1
310x2​

(10lbs PR despite not having deadlifted in 8 weeks)

SLDLS:

185x3x6​

Pull ups:

3x5​

Shrugs:

220x3x7​

RT:

100lbs timed holds 2 for each hand​

Ab wheel rollouts:

3x10​

Having not deadlifted in 8 weeks I was expecting that to be a really awful workout but instead that was really rather fun, could have probably gone a bit further but thought it better to stay within my limits and avoid injury. My upper body strength is slowly recovering and I set a PR in the deadlift, not a bad day.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Press Day

Bench Press:

65x10
110x5
130x5
155x5
165x5
170x5 (5lb PR despite 8 weeks without Pressing)​

Over Head Press:

65x5
90x5
110x5​

Skullcrushers:

65x8
88x6
88x6​

Wrist Roller:

45x3 each way​

Ab wheel rollouts:

3x10​

Was really suprised by the BP increase, I had expected the shoulder injury to have destroyed it. APWT.

 

[Diligent]

Hey, SC, what's up? I just wanted to tell you how my RT training has been going since you asked me in my log to update you on how it is going. Remember I said I would train it everyday? Well, I train the RT 5 times a week, now, just so I can at least have a couple of days off on the dang thing. My routine is looking sorta like this:

Monday - Heavy Rolling Thunder singles, up to 20 sets (each hand) and go up to maximum weight.

Tuesday - Light day, usually do 10 sets of timed holds (each hand)of 90lbs to 110lbs.

Wednesday - Very light day, usually only do about 3 - 5 timed holds with 90lbs.

Thursday - Heavy Rolling Thunder singles, up to 20 sets (each hand) and go up to maximum weight.

Friday - Light day, usually do 10 sets of timed holds (each hand)of 90lbs to 110lbs.

Saturday - off

Lord's Day - off

I hurt my right thumb in wrestling a month and a half ago, and then started back training the RT a little over a month ago, full blast. In this past month, I went from 115lbs to 130lbs with my right hand, and 105lbs to 125lbs with my left hand. 15lb PR on my right and a 20lb PR on my left. Pretty good for just one month, to me. I actually had 4 different PR's just this week (if you look in the PR forum). Using this routine for the Rolling Thunder that I put together has really helped and my progress has skyrocketed. The great thing about it is that training the RT really doesn't take that long either ... just 15 - 20 minutes a day and that'll do it, atleast for me. So yeah, training the RT 5 times a week is definitely working, and my hands feel great and stronger than ever. Have you made any progress on the RT training?

 

[SmashiusClay]

Hey, SC, what's up? I just wanted to tell you how my RT training has been going since you asked me in my log to update you on how it is going. Remember I said I would train it everyday? Well, I train the RT 5 times a week, now, just so I can at least have a couple of days off on the dang thing. My routine is looking sorta like this:

Monday - Heavy Rolling Thunder singles, up to 20 sets (each hand) and go up to maximum weight.

Tuesday - Light day, usually do 10 sets of timed holds (each hand)of 90lbs to 110lbs.

Wednesday - Very light day, usually only do about 3 - 5 timed holds with 90lbs.

Thursday - Heavy Rolling Thunder singles, up to 20 sets (each hand) and go up to maximum weight.

Friday - Light day, usually do 10 sets of timed holds (each hand)of 90lbs to 110lbs.

Saturday - off

Lord's Day - off

I hurt my right thumb in wrestling a month and a half ago, and then started back training the RT a little over a month ago, full blast. In this past month, I went from 115lbs to 130lbs with my right hand, and 105lbs to 125lbs with my left hand. 15lb PR on my right and a 20lb PR on my left. Pretty good for just one month, to me. I actually had 4 different PR's just this week (if you look in the PR forum). Using this routine for the Rolling Thunder that I put together has really helped and my progress has skyrocketed. The great thing about it is that training the RT really doesn't take that long either ... just 15 - 20 minutes a day and that'll do it, atleast for me. So yeah, training the RT 5 times a week is definitely working, and my hands feel great and stronger than ever. Have you made any progress on the RT training?

Cheers for the update, I quite like your variation in intensity through the week with the different RT workouts, nice ideas there. I have'nt used my Rt much as my shoulder injury meant I could'nt do anything deadlifty (I think that might be a new word) without pain. I've finally started back on my old routine so to start off with I'm going to only use the RT on my pull day (which I was considering renaming supporting grip day anyway), but I may also chuck it in on my squat day as well. I have to keep the grip work fairly light on wednesdays as I have a judo session after my weights and having trained on the RT I'd be pretty much useless.

Good luck with your training on the RT, I'll let you know how my low volume approach goes.

 

[Diligent]

Cheers for the update, I quite like your variation in intensity through the week with the different RT workouts, nice ideas there. I have'nt used my Rt much as my shoulder injury meant I could'nt do anything deadlifty (I think that might be a new word) without pain. I've finally started back on my old routine so to start off with I'm going to only use the RT on my pull day (which I was considering renaming supporting grip day anyway), but I may also chuck it in on my squat day as well. I have to keep the grip work fairly light on wednesdays as I have a judo session after my weights and having trained on the RT I'd be pretty much useless.

Good luck with your training on the RT, I'll let you know how my low volume approach goes.

Cool, man. I hope that shoulder of yours makes a full recovery ... it must be tough recovering while doing something as physical as judo w/ the throws and all, no? Let me know how it goes, bro.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Pull day
*Squat day was cancelled because i rolled my ankle on some ice taking the cat to the vet.*

Deadlift:

185x5
255x1
275x1
300x1
320x1 (new PR)
330x1 (yet another PR)​

SLDLs:

210x8
230x2x6​

Pullups:

3x5​

Shrugs:

240x3x6​

RT:
110x2 each side

90x1 each side to failure​

My pullups may be lagging (in fact they're the exercise that took the biggest hit by being injured) but that was still a great workout.

 

[SmashiusClay]

Press day

Bench Press:

65x10
130x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
185x3​

Overhead Press:

110x6
120x6
130x4​

Skullcrushers:

90x7
90x6
100x5​

Kneeling ab wheel rollouts with 20lb in rucksack:

3x6​

Grip work: Some work with CoC#2 followed by strap holds on my HG150 and then some sledgehammer levering.