A lifting update…

I’d say my back is about 80% right now, and I’ve been working out lightly since Thursday and overall it’s been pretty good. I started Magnificent Mobility, another Eric Cressey product (with Mike Robertson) which focuses on joint mobility and flexibility, which is something I desperately need to improve. It’s an extended version of the warm-up routines from Maximum Strength, and it’s been taking me about 25 minutes including foam rolling. Tonight I decided to bench press, and I’m very happy with the 235 x 1 I got up easily. I could have done 245 had there been a spot, so not too bad given my last max attempt was 250 in November and I almost broke my back two weeks ago. Not too bad. Plus, banged out a few sets off pull-ups, including an easy first set of 10. Weird strength given my lack of activity.

Definitely focusing on all those neglected areas, for real this time.

I know I keep blogging the same things…

…and maybe the Spike I just drank has me thinking more positively (I swear it gives me a mental edge, I can practically see through time), but this injury does give me the opportunity to really fix what’s wrong with my lifting (because really this isn’t the first time this has happened, only the most severe). I’m going to spend this downtime reading, as well as digging in nutrition-wise. I’ll probably lose a great deal of strength during this layoff, but with healthy eating I can lose some fat at the same time. I can (and now, MUST) do core and flexibility/mobility work so by the time I get back to training again, I’ll be much better off.

Of course this brief moment of positivity is related to my Spike buzz and reading “Under the Bar” by Dave Tate and will probably wear away as soon as the caffeine passes when I’ll return to a state of depression. In any case, whatever.

Still in a lot of pain.

Actually, more than the past couple of days. Currently I’m lying on my stomach on the bedroom floor with an ice pack, because today my lower back felt considerably worse than it has since the weekend.

I was planning on doing a “fun” day at the gym today, mostly just arms and anything that didn’t aggravate the injury, but based on how I feel today, anything is going to aggravate it, so I bailed. Not going tomorrow, either. This continues to be very discouraging.

back still hurts

While my back has healed a lot over the past few days, it still stings when I move too much or sit for too long. Luckily I can walk around at work, but sitting in the car during drives has been a pain so far. Definitely still taking this rest of this week off, and possibly next week. Using this time to read and work on some other goals I’ve set for the year, so there is a silver lining. But damn it all, I hate setbacks.

“Dirty Banana” protein shake

My favorite drink from our honeymoon last year in St. Lucia was definitely the “dirty banana.” I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to put a protein shake version together, but it’s pretty damn good. Jaylynn made homemade cheesecake last night (amazing, by the way) and we had the dark chocolate syrup laying around. Gotta go easy on the sizzurp because it’s so sugary, so a teaspoon should suffice. No booze, though. Sorta cancels out any healthy benefits of this one.

-1 scoop ‘banana cream’ whey protein

-1/2 cup cottage cheese

-1 tbsp. natural peanut butter

-1 tsp. flax meal

-1 tsp. Hershey’s Dark Chocolate syrup

-1 tbsp. Splenda

-water

Enjoy.

Master Chief v. Marcus Fenix

I have to say, I think Marcus Fenix would be able to kill Master Chief. He might be the most badass video game character of all-time. Plus he’s voiced by the guy that plays Bender on Futurama.

Welp, that’s it for me.

Fairly certain I herniated a disc or two in my lumbar spine last night on warm up sets of rack pulls with 265 pounds for a set of 6. Right leg is tingling, lower back is killing me and I can’t bend over. My wife has determined that it’s not muscular like I originally thought, so this is bad news. Never dead lifting (or anything resembling them) again. Needless to say, taking some time off from the gym for a while. If it doesn’t get better on its own in a couple of days, I’ll have to get some x-rays to see what’s really up.

Restarting Maximum Strength tomorrow…

This hypertrophy program I’m on right now just hasn’t grabbed me. I had two days (Friday & Saturday) to get one workout done, and I bailed both days. This is the first intentional gym-skipping in more than 4 months, and it’s a sign I’m on the wrong track. Not to say anything bad about Nate Green’s program, it’s certainly very good, but mentally it’s not getting me excited to train. I’ve crapped out at the end of some workouts (including skipping abs a couple times), something I wouldn’t even consider during any of my strength programming.  My knees are also killing me, possibly due to the supersets.  I need to get re-dedicated to fixing some of my nagging problems.

Starting tomorrow I’m re-beginning Maximum Strength, and I think I’ll do the first three phases again, which will get me to mid-April in time to start fat-loss.  I’m still a hell of a lot stronger now than I was when I started this in September, so I expect to keep getting bigger and stronger.

Life has been weird lately. Still considering some major life decisions, and often coping with the thought of them by playing Gears of War or screwing around in other ways. I turned 27 on Friday, which brings up a lot of “where am I in life?” inner-monologues. Not really ready to give up a lot of my immaturity.

Just thought of something.

P.S. I just thought of a recipe concept for “Muscle Trifle.” This could be a pantheon idea. Stay tuned.

Sore knees.

The knees are sore, and they really have been since  I switched to this hypertrophy program. Maybe the same-muscle group super-sets are too much? I’m foam rolling and everything, and the squats feel fine, but the step-ups and/or reverse lunges are starting to sting. I’m feeling weaker as well, which pretty much sucks, even though the numbers don’t always support that.

Nutrition? It’s been pretty good for the most part. Yesterday was sort of a wash, but overall I feel pretty good. Maybe it’s my new haircut but I look thinner, which is nice, and the biceps veins are starting to pop again, so maybe some lost body fat.

Now that the holidays are over and the bleakness of winter is here, the doldrums can’t be far behind, but I’ve got a lot on my mind to hopefully ward those feelings off. Some new opportunities to be excited about in the next year.