a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[Klinger]

Smart decision. Why ruin weeks of good progress by pushing your system past its breaking point? Lots of guys (I've been one of them) would try to cowboy up and end up hurting themselves.

[.V.]

Yeah, been there, done that. Not doing it again.

[.V.]

At work today. Able to lift my end of the stretcher so that's good. My back is still terribly tight though - it is right where the latissimus dorsi goes over the longissimus thoracis. I'm not certain which muscle is spasming - just something right there in that area. It is on both sides instead of just the right where it started at. The odd thing - nothing happened during the lift - I was fully standing, felt the tiniest tweak - reracked the weight and sat down to give it a break thats when the "oh sh*t" moment came.

I've taken some aleve today and it's tolerable so I think it's just a spasm not a real injury. I'm eating enough to help recover. If it is stable tomorrow, I think I'll resume my leg workout from where I left off. If not, I'll take an extra day off. I've got a class to teach in the morning from 9a to 1p so it'll be late when/if I get to workout anyway.

That drives me nuts when it happens to me. It's usually getting out of my car and it usually has it's origin in failing to stretch my hamstrings after a hard running workout.

A wonderful opportunity to work on your elbow roll technique to get out of bed in the morning.

[gcs118]

You're definitely getting stronger Andy. And like pierini said, you might need to work on typing. Last back workout you have 145 for DLs...I think (hope) you mean 245 lol. Great progress though :

[.V.]

Yep 245. Arrrrrgggghhhh with my fingers numb and vision blurred you can't really depend on anything I type right now. Sorry.

Today, took another day of complete rest. My back is still tight - it's moved just into the top part of the spinal erector muscles now. It's much better than yesterday. I'll likely be able to finish my leg workout tomorrow. I'm a little short on calories today (as usual) but I'm doing the best I can to get them in.

[.V.]

Five days off due to back pain. It has pretty much sucked. It feels pretty good now though, just one point of tenderness - had a lengthy rescue call today - one of those hijack a 4x4 and go into the brush for them kind of calls - then some walking and carrying on uneven slippery ground. Nothing hurt during all of this so I think tomorrow I will get back to lifting. AM workout scheduled - leg day...I will however, drop the weight to 215 and the reps to 3x4 and work up from there. I should have repeated 215 3x6 before increasing to 220 but damn, I felt that I was ready because the last time went up so easily. A week of not lifting and I feel small and weak. Well, I really am small and weak - but now I feel it.

Everyone hurts their low back and I'm the weirdo that hurts my upper back - go figure. Actually, this is the same muscle that spasms sometimes from the MS attacks so it may not be actually injured anyway. If it gets tight again, I may just go back on the baclofen for a week or two - I'm supposed to take it every day anyway and almost never do.

[threenorns]

tsk, tsk, tsk: am i gonna have to waylay you, hold your nose until you open your mouth to gasp for air, and bung the pills down your throat??? <foot tapping>

i've had the upper back cramping thing - ran from the base of my skull to the backs of my knees and was NOT my idea of a picnic.

[.V.]

01-03-2005

Legs
Leg Extension..........175x3x5
Leg Curl................80x3x4
Seated Calf Raise.....175x3x10


Cardio
Run 200/Walk 100 intervals 1.5 miles
Stopped when my calves started spasming - I guess my seated calf raises were effective this morning after all.

Diet
Cal-2529, Pro-335g (54%), C-180g (27%), F-53g (19%)
Very clean except for that big ground chuck patty today. I felt that I needed some red meat so I planned for it today. It sure was good. Almost worth all the fish it took to plan a big enough slab of beef into the day. I may eat more fish or another protein shake before I go to bed tonight.

My back still has that one point of tenderness. I thought it would be gone by now - supposed to do legs yesterday but work kept happening - did 9 extra hours yesterday. While lifting the stretcher yesterday it spasmed up again. If I lift the foot end it's a DL into a curl. If I lift the head end it's a DL into an upright row - just the way the handles fit me. I was on the foot end when it happened - not bad, just enough to tell me not to squat or SL today.

Still, managed to really work the legs good today. That's the nice thing about doing something different once in a while - the different movement - even isolation - really hit my quads and hams today. I didn't want to load a bar heavy and put it on my shoulders so I did seated calf raises - I don't have a machine for that so I just sat on the edge of one of my benches, piled plates on my knees, moved my toes under me enough that I was positioned right and lifted onto my toes that way. Both legs are totally wiped out now.

Have you ever tried wall sits? Back against the wall, squat to parallel and hold until your legs start screaming at you. Shouldn't aggravate your back. Just a thought.

[.V.]

Never tried them. I may give them a shot though if it doesn't get better. They sound like some of that "warrior fitness" stuff you do - like the 10,000 rep body weight squats...I know it's only 500 but still to me it's about the same.

After reading about your workouts, reading the book you reccomended, talking to my brother (the kid who trains rangers - ok not a kid but to me he is), and discussing it with a buddy who is over 60 and way fitter still than I'll ever be (he's a former seal, still a mountain climber, cyclist, bodybuilder), and a 48 year old who kicks my butt when I see him out running and try to keep up (he's a retired SF guy)...I'm going to give the stuff from the book a try when I cut next in the last couple of months before the weenathalon. That's what I'm calling it now since it's not a full ironman - just a 1/4 (international distance) - whatever that means. I'm saving up now to pay the entry fee as soon as they start taking them so I don't do the weenoutathon. (train for it then find an excuse not to compete).


My legs are really getting sore now...but I didn't hurt my back - hooray.

One drawback to isolation is that not squatting doesn't work the glutes. But I did take pierini's view on today - something is better than nothing.

[.V.]

01-04-2005

Arms
BB Curls...........110x3x5
Skull Crushers.....100x3x6
SA DB Curls.........50x3x5
Welch Press.........30x3x6

Cardio
Bike Ride..........4 miles

Nutrition
Cal-2112, P-299g (57%), C-172g (30%), F-28g (12%)

Comments
Woke up this morning barely able to walk. My hamstrings and calves were spasmed too badly. My wife helped me stretch them enough so I could hobble out to the gym and work my arms. I had to go to court this morning and sit waiting to be a witness for the state - then it got continued so I was home by lunch - this caused me to miss a few hundred calories. For some reason, the judge doesn't care much for witnesses pulling out bowls of chicken and rice and chowing down in his courtroom. I made it home and spent the next 3 hours eating bowls of muscle soup.

When I coached my wife for her workout - I had to sit. Good thing it was her back day and it's mostly machines. I couldn't have spotted her today. I was pretty much useless at my kid's basketball practice too...just watched and enjoyed it.

4 miles was all I could make on the bike ride - and I had to push the pedals with my heels, my calves started spasming again and I had trouble getting home...too hard to work the clutch and brake. Even raising my foot off the gas pedal was hard.

More stretching tonight. I'm taking my baclofen again. I may actually have to take some pain meds too - I hope not though.

Good arm workout though - the repeats were good quality and will be increases next time. The increases went exactly as planned.

In case anyone is wondering, the Welch press is similar to a one arm tate press - except I lower the DB to my ear instead of my chest. I've never seen anyone else do it - I first came up with it 13 years ago trying to find a way to work the tricep. If someone else invented it first, I'll change the name to theirs - otherwise it'll stay named after me.

You are a tough trooper. You worked around your pain and endured. A strong mind spills over to a strong body so today was a great workout day for you. Keep up the good work.

[luke.w]

hey Welch.......did you sign up for the free newsletters yet

[.V.]

No. Can you give me the link again. And I'll do it right now before I leave to go to the doctor's office.

Wonderful news today - I can't walk.

Well, I can walk - but it looks like one of Romero's zombies from an old movie when I try to do it.

Woke up with bronchitis today - rattling chest - fever - stuff like that. Fever sometimes causes crazy neurological symptoms which go away when the fever is gone. I was blaming the spasms on just working the muscles hard - I didn't think to take my temperature.