brikis98's journal

[brikis98]

============== Update, 07/07 ==============

I am officially switching to Crossfit style workouts, at least for the time being. I need to significantly increase my flexibility before I continue to squat/deadlift heavy and that is going to take a while. In the meantime, I'm doing the CF workouts which tend to use lighter weights, higher reps and far more varied routines, so I'm not hammering the same joints every day. I expect to lose some strength as a result, but hopefully not much, and in return I should gain MASSIVE amounts of endurance, speed, agility, explosiveness, etc.

So, for now, I'm going to let this post slide down. If I go back to a Starting Strength style workout, I'll resurrect this post and see what kind of progress I can make towards the goals below. If you are so inclined, feel free to track my progress in my Crossfit workouts in my Crossfit journal.







============== Old stuff ==============


This journal was previously tracking my progress in reducing my body weight from 223lbs to 200lbs while attempting to not lose any strength. Unfortunately, a lower back injury and 3 weeks off from the gym (for a vacation to Europe) has resulted in a good amount of strength loss. So, it's time to redo my goals a bit:

Current stats - as of 06/28/2008

These are the numbers from my first week back at the gym since the long vacation:

Body Weight: 200lbs
Back squat: 245x5 (limited by lower back injury)
Front squat: 225x5
Bench: 285x3
Deadlift: 275x5 (just a test run to see how my back handled it)
Overhead press: 155x5
Hang power clean & push press: 165x2
Power clean: 175x3

Short term goal - complete by 07/14/2008

Continue to cut and hopefully lift in a way that lets my back heal:

Body Weight: 195lbs
Back squat: 275x5
Front squat: 245x5
Bench: 295x5
Deadlift: 315x5 (done, 07/03)
Overhead press: 165x5
Hang power clean & push press: 185x3
Power clean: 185x3

Medium term goal - complete by 09/01/2008

Get all my lifts back to roughly what they were when I started this journal on 04/15/2008:

Body Weight: 190lbs
Back squat: 335x5
Front squat: 275x5
Bench: 315x5
Deadlift: 405x5
Overhead press: 185x5
Hang power clean & push press: 205x3
Power clean: 205x3

Long term goal - complete by 12/31/2008

Increase my lifts to new PR's:

Body Weight: 190lbs
Back squat: 365x5
Front squat: 315x5
Bench: 335x5
Deadlift: 455x5
Overhead press: 205x5
Hang power clean & push press: 225x3
Power clean: 225x3

 

[brikis98]

The cut begins

In order to meet my short and medium term goals, I've begun cutting. My weight lifting routine remains largely the same (Bill Star 5x5), but I'm accepting the fact that progress will be much slower. However, it should allow me to (at least) maintain my current strength/muscle.

Cardio

* HIIT: both running on a treadmill and riding on a stationary bike. This is by far my favorite as I get to listen to audiobooks as I go. I typically start out with a 10 minute warmup and then do 10-20 minutes of 30 second sprints followed by 1 min 30 seconds of jog. I'll probably do this 2-3 times per week.
* Biking: I go on 1-2hr bike rides on the weekends with the gf. They are typically at a fairly leisurely pace with few hills, so this is moderate cardio and mostly just for fun.
* Random sports: on a completely random basis, I play roller hockey, football, soccer, basketball and tennis with friends at pickup games. Totally unpredictable, but always a great workout.

Diet

My diet varies quite a bit, but in general is pretty healthy. The only thing I really need to focus on is just decreasing my portions - just a little each meal - to cut down the calorie intake overall. Typical meals are:

* Breakfast: kashi go lean cereal, craisins and/or banans, skim milk. Sometimes a glass of milk on the side as well. I also take a multivitamin and a fish oil supplement. If I'm really hungry, I'll have a protein shake.
* Lunch: my company provides lunch a few days a week, so this varies a lot. It's by far my least healthy meal, as it is restaurant food (which is typically richer, full of butters, fats, etc), and I may need to bring a lean sandwich instead.
* 4pm snack: I usually eat lunch at 12:30, but I don't get off work till 7:00pm and usually head to the gym afterwards. That means I don't get home for dinner until ~8:30pm. To fill this 8 hour gap, I have some snacks around 4pm. Typically some string cheese, a yogurt and maybe an apple.
* Dinner: lean meats (chicken, turkey) with veggies (broccoli, string beans) on most nights. Occasionally tortellini or ravioli with meatballs. Sometimes salad with sliced chicken. If I just got back from the gym, I'll have a protein shake with dinner.
* 11pm snack: protein shake and another fish oil supplement.

My protein shakes are 1-1.5 scoops of Syntrax Nectar Chocolate Truffle with 1-1.5 glasses of skim milk. It's roughly 35g of protein, 100 calories and virtually nothing else.

Injuries

I added 30-40lbs to my main lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) during my bulk, which for me is quite a bit for just a couple months of work, but I may have been a bit too aggressive and am now fighting with some nagging injuries. My lower back has become fairly sore and inflexible. I don't feel it while just sitting or standing, but if I do something that requires any flexibility - bending down to tie my shoes, for example - I can feel some strain on it. I'm not sure the cause (probably too much weight on squat or deadlifts), but I imagine only time will help. In addition to that, my left shoulder is hurting. I've had a nagging issue with my shoulder for some time and again, rest has been the only solution.

As a result, I finished my bulk last thursday (April 10th) and will be avoiding any weight lifting until Saturday (April 19th). It's a long time off from lifting, and I'll lose a little bit of progress, but I can't think of any way around it. My shoulder and back had been hurting for the last few weeks, and they were only getting worse with each weight lifting session. I'll be doing some body weight exercises (push ups, pull ups, jump squats, crunches, etc) during the week to work my muscles a little bit and hopefully keep them fresh. I'll also do some stretches and strengthening exercises for my back and shoulder. Hopefully, by Saturday, they'll be good to go again.

I'm also resetting my 5x5 program back ~4 weeks, so all of my lifts will be ~20lbs lower. This is partially to help my shoulder and back recover but it's also because I had stalled pretty hard on all my lifts the last 2 weeks and needed the reset. After 4 weeks, they should all be back to normal. Well, that's the plan anyway

 

[TecHNooB]

Take pictures every week or so, so we can view the progression Good luck!

 

[brikis98]

April 17 update:

As I'm taking time off from lifting, I've been doing various body weight exercises each day to keep my body moving:

* pushups
* crunches
* bicycle
* jump squats
* split squats (lunges)
* pull ups
* burpees
* hyperextensions (on floor)
* planks

It's a very different type of workout than weight lifting - much more aerobic - but I like it. It's a nice change of pace and as the new building my work is moving to will have a small gym, I might do some of these through out the day just to get some blood flowing.

I've also done a decent amount of cardio:

* Running on wednesday - 10 minute warmup, then repeated sets of 30 seconds at 9mph, 1 min 30 seconds at 6mph. Did this for 15 minutes, at which point my legs felt pretty damn sore, so I cooled down for 5 minutes more.
* Biking on Thursday - pretty short ride as it was cold, probably 10 mi total. My legs were tired after burpees, so I'm not sure I could've done too much more anyway.

My diet has been ok these last several days, the main thing being that I'm eating slightly smaller portions each meal.

* Kashi Go Lean cereal with craisins + banana for breakfast.
* Salad with grilled chicken for lunch on tue + wed. Two open faced sandwiches for lunch on thur: one with turkey/cheese, one with smoked salmon.
* Stir fry for dinner on tue: various veggies + chicken and beef. Chicken parm (chicken, bread crumb coating, marinara sauce, mozarella cheese) and tortellini for dinner weds and thur.
* Protein shake after each workout.
* Protein shake before bed on tue and weds.

I suspect the scale at my house may be acting up. Monday I was 223, Tuesday 222, Wednesday 220 (good so far) but Thursday... 225! I'm weighing myself in the morning with no clothes, so it seems like a pretty large fluctuation... I'll try the scale at the gym next time I guess, maybe average the two


EDIT --->

forgot to mention, my back still doesn't feel 100%. each morning, until I move about, it's a bit stiff. but even when i warmed up, anything that really stretches it feels somewhat uncomfortable.

for example, my bike has the curved racing handles, so I have to bend forward quite a bit when riding. after a short while, i can feel my back get sore and i really can't ride for more than 30 min straight without stopping to straighten up and relax it.

i've been doing hyperextensions and other exercises to try to strengthen it and while they feel good, my back doesn't seem to have gotten better over the last few days... i'm sticking to saturday as the first day I get back to lifting, hopefully two more nights is all it needs...

 

[brikis98]

After ~10 days off, I finally returned to the gym on Saturday. I decided to go a bit easy on myself and drop the weight quite a bit, but the workout was FAR from easy. I'm still doing Bill Star 5x5 and the final sets were:

Squat: 275x5
Bench: 275x5
Pendlay Rows: 195x5

The first 3 sets of squats went by easily, but the 4th set (250x5) and 5th set (275x5) were much harder than I had expected. My legs, hips and back felt genuinely weaker, which is upsetting given the exercises I did in the off time. Bench went more or less fine, although my shoulder was hurting a bit. Hopefully, it's just me getting the rust out. Rows were unpleasant - keeping parallel to the floor put a lot of stretch and strain onto my lower back, so I just couldn't get comfortable. I'm hoping the next workout will go smoother... otherwise, these 10 days off have cost me a LOT of strength and virtually all the progress from the previous 9 weeks

As for body weight, that 225 I saw on Thursday must have been a fluke. I was at 219 this Saturday, which is much more inline with the trend I've been seeing. My diet has remained pretty reasonable and I'm having some success at keeping each meal a bit smaller by eating slower and drinking lots of water.

Sunday, I took a 3mi walk with the gf in the nice weather and then ran at the gym. I did my usual HIIT of 30 seconds at 9mph followed by 1 min 30 seconds at 6mph. I repeated these intervals 8 times (16 mins total), which I was fairly happy with. My short term goal is to be able to do 10 of these intervals, which should be doable in the next 2-3 weeks. After that, I want to push it to 30 seconds at 10mph for 10 intervals, which should be a lot harder.

 

[brikis98]

woah, weighed in at 217 today. that would be ~6lbs lost in ~6 days? i'm getting still more suspicious of my scale...

edit -->

I did some HIIT on a stationary bike today. after a 10 minute warmup, i did "sets" of 30 seconds fast and 1 min 30 seconds slow. i started with 4 sets of 16/8, followed by 4 sets of 17/8, followed by 2 sets of 18/8. My legs were pretty tired at the end, but overall I still felt very energetic. I think I'll try 5 sets of 17/8 and 5 sets of 18/8 next time.

 

[brikis98]

weighed in at 218lbs today. ate relatively healthy all day - kashi protein cereal for breakfast, chicken kabob pita with salad for lunch, protein shake after the gym, roasted chicken and ravioli for dinner.

today was my second weight lifting session since the 10 day break and I'm still taking it easy. Final sets were:

Squat: 285x5
Bench: 285x5
Rows: 205x5

Squat was still more difficult than it should be with that weight (I really struggled the last two reps), but at least my back felt great through out. I think one or two more tries in this weight range and I'll be back to normal. Bench felt solid through out, although I'm not too happy with the way my shoulder has been feeling. I might need to do some PT exercises to strengthen it up. Rows went very well - I burned through all the sets - but it stretches my lower back and the strain on it worries me a bit. I'm considering switching to (weighted) pull ups, although I really like rows and it would be a shame to stop doing them.

I think I'm going to continue easing myself back into lifting over the next few workouts, taking care to not over-stress my back and shoulder.

 

[brikis98]

weighed in at 218lbs again today. didn't have time to do cardio on weds and prob not again today, so i'm prob breaking even...

hit the gym yesterday and continued to lift a bit lighter. today was a light squat day, military press and deadlifts. final sets were:

squat: 225x5
military press: 155x5
deadlift: 345x5

squat was pretty easy, and my back felt 100%. military press went well, although i'm still paranoid about really pushing myself as i don't want to injure my shoulder. deadlift was easy and felt pretty good through out. however, once i got home and the adrenaline wore off, my back was hurting. it's still pretty tender today. again, i really doubt it's my form, but rather, i'm just putting too much stress on an already injured area. i may have to lay off deadlifts for a few weeks and do more squatting to compensate. maybe toss in some light lower back work (hypers and the like) to strengthen it up. it's damn shame, as i love deadlift and was making pretty good progress on it.

in the interest of letting my lower back heal, i'm also considering laying off pendlay rows and doing pull ups. i LOVE the increase in back strength i've gotten from rows, but the position i'm in stretches my back out a lot and with this injury, never feels quite right. i hate tweaking this workout plan, but i need my goddamn back to heal.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: brikis98
weighed in at 218lbs again today. didn't have time to do cardio on weds and prob not again today, so i'm prob breaking even...

hit the gym yesterday and continued to lift a bit lighter. today was a light squat day, military press and deadlifts. final sets were:

squat: 225x5
military press: 155x5
deadlift: 345x5

squat was pretty easy, and my back felt 100%. military press went well, although i'm still paranoid about really pushing myself as i don't want to injure my shoulder. deadlift was easy and felt pretty good through out. however, once i got home and the adrenaline wore off, my back was hurting. it's still pretty tender today. again, i really doubt it's my form, but rather, i'm just putting too much stress on an already injured area. i may have to lay off deadlifts for a few weeks and do more squatting to compensate. maybe toss in some light lower back work (hypers and the like) to strengthen it up. it's damn shame, as i love deadlift and was making pretty good progress on it.

in the interest of letting my lower back heal, i'm also considering laying off pendlay rows and doing pull ups. i LOVE the increase in back strength i've gotten from rows, but the position i'm in stretches my back out a lot and with this injury, never feels quite right. i hate tweaking this workout plan, but i need my goddamn back to heal.

Ah, back issues are not good. Drop the deads like you said you would and just do hypers for a bit. When it's feeling a bit better, starting making the hypers weighted then work your way up a bit until it continues to be pain-free. Then start light DLing again and work your way back up. Injuries suck, but you don't wanna be hurt permanently, y'know?

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Ah, back issues are not good. Drop the deads like you said you would and just do hypers for a bit. When it's feeling a bit better, starting making the hypers weighted then work your way up a bit until it continues to be pain-free. Then start light DLing again and work your way back up. Injuries suck, but you don't wanna be hurt permanently, y'know?

yea, i don't think i have much choice. if i don't stop straining my back, it'll never heal, and as much as I hate losing the strength i've gained, bug muscles aren't useful if it hurts too much to use them.

however, i'm still not sure about dropping rows. i definitely feel my lower back straining from keeping my body parallel, so i should probably do something else. pull ups seem like the logical alternative, hopefully they are just as good at working the upper back... i'll also need to get a belt or hold a dumbbell in my legs to make it hard enough for 5 reps.

 

[brikis98]

Friday, April 25: went to the gf's parents' house for dinner, so no exercise.

Saturday, April 26: the gf and I decided to make one of our massive breakfasts. This included a massive amount of bacon, french toast, watermelon, oranges, juice, etc. Extremely unhealthy, but we do it once every ~3 months, so I'm not worried. Afterwards, we went on a bike ride. I borrowed her dad's bike and I'm not exactly sure what the issue was - maybe the seat was too low? - but my legs just would not recover unless i stood up on the petals. That is, we'd go up a hill and the lactic acid would build up in my quads. However, as we'd coast down the other side, even though my legs weren't working at all, they continued to burn like crazy. The only way to make it stop was to stand up on the petals, at which point I'd feel some relief. It's never happened to me on my bike, so I'm guessing blood wasn't getting to my legs properly.

Sunday, April 27: hit the gym today with the following sets:

squat: 165x5, 195x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x3, 225x8
bench: 165x5, 195x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x3, 225x8
rows: 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 195x5 (did not finish)

For whatever reason, squats are becoming harder for me. It's driving me a bit nuts, but I just can't get the power that I used to, struggling as much with 285 as I did with 325 just 3 weeks ago. I'm guessing it's the back issue, but I really can't figure it out. Bench went well - I breezed through all the sets and best of all, my shoulder felt fantastic. I'll definitely bump up to 295 next week. Rows felt great from a strength perspective, but my lower back was NOT happy. I just cannot get in a position where my back is parallel to the floor and has a nice arch without feeling a lot of strain on it. After getting to the 4th set, it was quite uncomfortable, and I decided not to push it.

Goddamn injuries. In the interest of preserving my back, I might have to make a bunch of changes to my workout routine: replace rows with pull-ups, replace deadlifts with hypers and maybe even replace back squats with front squats. Feels like so much hard work is going out the window, but my health has to come before my ego.

 

[brikis98]

Weighed in at 217 again today. Going to do some HIIT running today and try to keep the diet real clean... Hoping to get to 216 tomorrow

Edit --> as promised, did the HIIT running. 10 minute warmup, followed by 10 sets of 30 seconds at 9mph, 1 min 30 seconds at 6 mph. The last one was brutal - my quads were really burning - but I got through it. 30 minute workout, about 3.1 miles total. I think I'll do it one more time (either weds or fri) and will then try upping the speed to 10mph for the 30 second intervals for at least a few times.

 

[brikis98]

Still 217 today. Really hoping to be down to 216 by the end of the week, although the massively greasy chinese food I had for lunch today won't help. I hit the gym today and tried out my converted workout plan where, in the interest of letting my back heal, I've exchanged front squats for back squats and pull-ups for rows. The sets:

front squat: 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5
bench: 16x5, 195x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x5
pullups: BWx5, 10x5, 20x5, 30x5, 40x5

I found the front squats fairly painful on my wrists, but I'm hoping they will become more flexible with time. It also was slightly painful to have that weight sitting on my shoulders - I just couldn't find a spot that was totally pain free and I have some slight red marks there now. In terms of difficulty, my legs felt barely challenged at all, but keeping the weight in place was very challenging on my upper back. I went plenty deep, but I suspect I just need to improve my form - maybe I'm leaning forward and that is making it tough on the upper back? Bench went very smoothly and my shoulder felt great through out. I'll definitely bump up to 295 this weekend. As for pullups, I held a dumbell between my legs for the last 4 sets (no weight belts at the gym). It was a bit awkward to hold the weight there, but it prevented me from flailing about (or I'd drop the weight) and hence enforced very strict form. Overall, the pull-ups felt great - my biceps and back felt VERY pumped at the end.

But the best part of the whole workout was my lower back: no pain whatsoever. These exercises are still giving me a solid workout and hopefully, this will let my lower back fix itself up.

 

[brikis98]

Yay, weighed in at 216 today. Man, tracking every pound lost is intense

 

[brikis98]

Woot, down to 215 today - essentially, my pre bulk weight. Overall, I'm much stronger than I was a few months ago at that weight - my chest, arms, upper back and legs are all much stronger than they were back then. My lower back is the only disappointment - it's definitely stronger (I bumped my deadlift by ~50lbs during the bulk), but is injured and I'll likely lose most of the gains i've made. oh well, can't win 'em all. will be lifting later today - (light) front squats, military press, and hypers (in place of deadlifts) are on the menu today.

Quick & easy workout today:

front squats (light day): 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5
overhead press: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 160x5
hypers (instead of deadlifts)
calves

front squats felt better than the first time. wrists still hurt, but not as much. i have bruises where the weight rests on my shoulders, but I think I'll get used to it. both upper and lower back felt great through out. granted, all if this is also because i'm doing much less weight than i did on back squat - my legs are definitely not worked as hard - but it's still going well.

overhead press was problem free. a little tough immediately following front squats - both use the upper back a lot - but i only really struggled on the last rep of the last set. i'll try 165 next week.

hypers felt so-so. the lower back was aching a bit all day, so i went easy on it, but it's still kind of hurting now. i must have slept odd or something to reaggravate it...

 

[brikis98]

215.5 today. did some HIIT biking:

4 sets of 30 seconds at 16, 1 min 30 seconds at 8
4 sets of 30 seconds at 17, 1 min 30 seconds at 8
2 sets of 30 seconds at 18, 1 min 30 seconds at 8

30 minutes total including a 10 minute warmup. Was fairly easy and overly limited by the quads burning as opposed to cardio. I'll probably switch to more HIIT running and maybe the stair master things.

 

[brikis98]

Back to 215.0 today. Had a pretty good day at the gym today:

Front squats: 135x5, 165x5, 195x5, 225x5, 235x3, 175x8
Bench: 175x5, 205x5, 235x5, 265x5, 295x3, 235x8
Pull-ups: BWx5, 15x5, 25x5, 35x5, 45x3, 25x8
Dips: BWx8, 35x8, 55x8

Front squats have improved - my wrists hurt much less and my shoulders, while still bruised, don't bother me much during the lift. However, the weight I'm doing (being ~100lbs less than on back squat) isn't challenging my legs much. I seem to be held back primarily by the ability of my upper body to hold that much weight, which I'm struggling with. I'm going to give it another week or two and see if this limitation goes away and the squats start to actually challenge my legs.

Bench went very smoothly and I'll probably up the weight to 300 soon. Pull-ups I did with a dumbell between my legs and they felt fantastic. They actually started to challenge my grip, as that's a lot of sets to be holding 215-260lbs on a annoyingly slippery bar. Dips were also done with a weight between my legs and were pretty easy. However, it hurts to have a lot of weight sitting on your ankle/foot, so I'll probably need to buy a belt before I go up further in weight.

 

[brikis98]

Still at 215. However, after this weekend, I'm worried that'll go up - two family activities this weekend, one on saturday and one on sunday, and in my family, the means TONS of food. I worked out hard yesterday and did cardio today, but I don't expect to be much lighter tomorrow

Today's HIIT running was VERY rough. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I was exhausted after only ~half my usual run. My legs were burning and I was very tired. Perhaps my legs were just tired out from the last few days of exercise. Anyway, it went:

10 minute warmup
5 sets of 30 seconds at 9mph, 1 min 30 seconds at 6mph
2 min walking at 3mph
3 sets of 30 seconds at 9mph, 1 min 30 seconds at 6mph

I only got to 8 sets and even needed a break after the first 5. I felt quite crappy afterwards and was NOT happy with the run. I'll lift again tomorrow but will probably need a break after that for a day or two.

 

[brikis98]

Mon, 05/05:

Had my best workout since I hurt my back a couple of months ago - my back and shoulder didn't bother me at all the entire time and I felt pretty strong.

Front squat: 135x5, 160x5, 185x5, 210x5, 235x5
Bench: 175x5, 205x5, 235x5, 265x5, 295x5
Weighted Pull-ups: BWx5, 15x5, 25x5, 35x5, 45x5
Abs (crunces on the ball, leg raises)

My body is definitely adapting to the front squat - the shoulders didn't hurt at all (the bruise where the bar sits is gone) and wrists felt only a little pain. Even more importantly, my upper body is getting better at balancing the weight, so I can finally go up in weight to where my legs start to feel it. I'll bump up to 240 for next time. Bench went pretty smooth through out, and I'll bump up to 300 next time. Pull-ups felt good too. It's still slightly awkward holding a weight in my legs, but I'm getting used to it. Will be trying out 50lbs next time.

my original work-out schedule was tue-thur-sat, where tue and sat were squat/bench/pull-ups and thur was squat/military/deadlifts. i've had to change the schedule to mon-thur-sat, which puts the identical mon and sat workouts too close together. therefore, i think i'm just going to shift everything forward - i'll do squat/bench/pull-ups on monday and thur (this will be the 6 set day) and squat/military/deadlifts on saturday. for assistance, i think monday will have abs (crunches, leg lifts), saturday will have arms (concentration curls, dips), and thursday - being a long day 6 set workout as it is - will have, if anything, some calf work.

 

[brikis98]

Tue, 05/06: day off

Weds, 05/07:

I was back to form today with some HIIT running. After a 10 minute warmup, I did 10 clean sets of 30 seconds @ 9mph and 1 min 30 seconds at 6mph. 30 minutes and ~3.1 miles total. I wasn't particularly tired and the only limiting factor was that my right hip started to hurt a bit. It was sore after squats yesterday, so it probably just needs some rest. I think next time I run I'll toss in 2 sets of 30 seconds @ 10mph instead of 9mph.

 

[brikis98]

thur, 05/08:

worked out today. felt very strong through out, but it looks like i may have developed a new odd injury: my hips are hurting slightly.

front squat: 140x5, 165x5, 190x5, 215x5, 240x3, 190x8
bench: 180x5, 210x5, 240x5, 270x5, 300x3, 240x8
weighted pull-ups: BWx5, 20x5, 30x5, 40x5, 50x3, 30x8

My upper body is feeling great with front squats now - the shoulders and wrists don't hurt at all and my upper back is having a much easier time balancing the weight. As a result, the squat workout is going great, except for one thing: my hips started to hurt! It's right where the leg bends, near the front. it's not terribly painful, but it definitely doesn't feel right. even sitting at my desk now, if i pull my knee up to my chest, i feel some pain there. just as i'm starting to get over my back and shoulder injuries, i get this crap. i saw the warning signs during yesterday's run, but i expected them to go away.

my guess is that my front squat form must not be right, but i honestly cannot see what the issue is. the only real possibility i can think of is that the position of my feet is not optimal for my body - maybe they need to be wider or closer, turned out more or less... i'll have to experiment, but this is goddamn discouraging - just one injury after another

bench went without any issues. i should have 300x5 in me for next monday. weighted pull-ups were also pretty easy, although the last set of 8 reps was very brutal.

 

[brikis98]

weighed in at 215 again this morning. kind of discouraging to go a week w/o losing any weight, so i'm gonna bust my ass at cardio later today and lift hard tomorrow and hopefully drop 1 more pound.

as for my hips... they are still a little bit sore. again, as i sit in my chair at work, if i pull my knee up towards my chest, i feel a small pinch of pain. sigh.

 

[Koing]

Your doing weights as well so it doesn't matter so much for the weight loss, but it will be steady over a longer period of time. Much like checking your stocks and not seeing the f0ckers rise! But they will over time

Do you stretch pre and post work out?

I recommend doing leg windmills. Stand tall, brace your body on a pole or squat rack. Swing leg PERFECTLY STRAIGHT FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS, start slow and build some SPEED and HEIGHT over about 30-35 reptitions. Keep your standing leg on the floor and keep your hips and shoulders level.

Remember to be strict and to keep the leg straight ON THE BACK SWING ALSO!

Koing

 

[brikis98]

no, i don't stretch nearly enough, so it could be a flexibility issue. would you do the leg windmills before or after the workout? or on days off?

the thing that is really starting to irritate me is that exercise is eating up a ridiculous amount of time nowadays, and adding any significant stretching time is only going to make it worse. it takes me ~5 minutes to get to the gym, a couple minutes to change and then i do ~10 minutes of warmup (typically on elliptical) before lifting or cardio... weight lifting usually takes ~60 minutes, cardio (HIIT) takes ~30. then another couple minutes to change, 5 minutes to drive home and a 10 minute shower. That already brings me to a total of ~60-90 minutes every single day. Add that to a full time job, a full time gf, my attempts to start a business on the side, and the various hobbies (e.g. sleeping) I occasionally partake in, something has to give. for me, it tends to be those 10 extra minutes for stretching...

edit --> pardon the long whine

just found out they setup a small gym here at work (couple of cardio machines, some machines and the like). maybe i'll try to take 20 minutes out of my lunch to warm up a bit and then stretch...

man, how much of my life do i have to give up to... prolong my life?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: brikis98
man, how much of my life do i have to give up to... prolong my life?

You're not just prolonging, but also improving the quality of it.

I take 80-90 min for lifting, 15-20 min for bike warmup, 10 min shower after, and about 15 mins of walking back and forth, changing, etc.
So total 90+20+10+15=135 min or 2 hr and about 15 min every lifting day.
On cardio days either it takes 90 min bike + 10 shower or total of hour running (walking to the track, walking back to warm up/cool down) = 100 min or 70 min every cardio day.
But then again I have no job and no gf. Just full time school.

As for hips, I have (had?) something really similar to what you're describing in my left hip. I would feel it when moving leg after long period of inactivity (sitting for 2 hours, sleeping) - but never when it's warmed up well. I think it went away now in about 3 weeks.