I called in sick to work yesterday. I was up all night coughing and sneezing and I woke up with a headache, sore throat, and a productive cough. I thought it better to go in for a few hours today as opposed to yesterday (and therefore not taking a sick day), but I feel worse this morning than I felt yesterday. We’ll see. My supervisor said sick days are there for a reason and I shouldn’t feel obligated to come in Saturday to make it up, but that’s Irish Catholic Guilt for you. I’ve also got my mother who consistently makes me feel bad about that kind of stuff: “I think that would be wrong, your patients need you.” Thanks for that, Mom.
I did feel better by yesterday afternoon minus the coughing, so I did shoulders and arms:
SHOULDERS:
push press:
- 95 x 12 x 1 (warm-up)
- 135 x 5 x 5 (not sure how to really rate this, I haven’t been locking out my elbows on this one and I’ve been losing my balance. at least I stuck to 135 instead of stupidly trying to go heavier.)
side delt raises:
- 25s x F x 2
- 20s x F x 2
- 15s x F x 2 (very hard pretty much throughout this exercise)
reverse pec deck:
- 100 x 12 x 1 (warm-up)
- 120 x 6 x 3 (not as hard as last time, ‘less joint pain’, but not ‘no joint pain’)
- 100 x F x 1 (burn-out)
rear delt raises on bench:
- 15s x F x 2 (this never feels heavy at all but it’s so hard to lift it)
machine shrugs: (NOTE: I started to do barbell shrugs but even with the bar to warm-up, I felt my shoulder popping..not good so I switched)
- 135 x 20 x 1 (warm-up)
- 225 x 12 x 1 (warm-up)
- 315 x 8 x 1
- 365 x 5 x 1 (not even that hard, those felt good)
close-grip machine military press:
- 90 x F x 4
ARMS:
reverse forearm curls:
- 50 x F x 5
incline dumbbell curls:
- 20s x F x 2 (my right bicep tendon [at least I think it's the tendon] has been sore for a couple weeks [tendinitis?] so I kept the workload relatively light on that. Between back day and anything I do on arm day I hope I’m getting enough work in.)
skull crushers:
- 60 x 15 x 1 (warm-up)
- 70 x 12 x 1
- 70 x 4 x 1 (sort of a hit a wall quickly on this one)
rope pressdowns:
- 50 x F x 2 (wicked hard for some reason)
I did a lot of stretching and a light 10 minutes on the treadmill. I’ve been learning more and more about recovery lately and trying to implement a lot into what I’m doing. I bring my shakes with me now so I can have them immediately after my workout (or even start it before the last couple of sets. For this workout I drank half of it once I finished with shoulders and the rest when I was done with arms) and then eat like a horse a couple hours later. I put Gatorade powder for carbs, whey for protein, creatine, and I take a couple pills of a new supplement I bought, beta-alanine. As with anything chemical, I don’t fully understand how it works, but I know it helps with strength and delaying muscle fatigue, especially when combined with creatine. From what I read and hear it’s better than glutamine which I’ve taken in the past with mixed results. I bought a 30-workout supply for $11 on sale from GNC, so even if it’s a waste it’s not a lot of dough. The other benefit is whenever I buy a new supplement it tends to motivate me to work a lot harder. I’ve heard enough about beta-alanine that I trust it will do something for me.
I also bought a foam roller, which again I’ve heard a ton about but never actually used until yesterday when I bought it ($20, Target). Foam rolling is another one of those popular things in fitness used for recovery. It’s based on self-myofascial release that breaks up muscle knots and decreases soreness. Myofascial release is along the lines of getting a massage. Fascia is (are?) the connective tissue between the muscle and the skin, and foam rolling and other myofascial techniques help to “release” it from the muscle. I don’t know, I’m not a PT, but I asked Jaylynn about it a while ago and she said that it’s really good. She also said my bad posture is the result of my tight (and weak! How dare she!) hamstrings and the roller and stretching can help that a lot (at least that’s what I think she said). Anyway I tried it yesterday and it felt pretty good, despite causing some pain. My lower back is apparently Knot City.
I also read about “contrast showers” where you do a few minutes of hot water, a few minutes of cold water that helps to clear lactic acid from the muscles and therefore speeds up recovery and reduces soreness. Not sure about this one, I’ve been doing it lately in the mornings (even though I workout at night), and at least doesn’t cost me any money and it wakes me up in the morning.
Anyway I’ve got to shower and get myself to work. We’ll see how a lot of this stuff works or doesn’t work.
