a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL - Page 25

**.V.** · 24-Dec-04, 02:02 PM

Well, went to the doctor yesterday evening - could not stand it anymore. She said the spinal erector muscle had a tear in it. She gave me a shot of marcaine in the muscle and it helped for a little while - but wore of within an hour. I did not realize the spinal erector went that high in the back. I thought the injury was just above the top of it. I thought it was the lat or trap. She said not to worry about a tear - that weight training tears the muscles anyway that is what makes them get stronger and grow - this one is just a little bigger than expected. Lifting will only slow the healing a little. She told me to lay off of it for just a couple of days then get back after it. So, I'm skipping leg day today and will see how it goes on abs in the morning. I will start back with legs day the after tomorrow.

One cool thing about the doctor visit was when I took my shirt off, she said "wow, that's amazing". It is not that I have built anything impressive - it is just that she was my doctor at 300 lb and apparently visible abs compared to rolls and rolls of fat is a pretty big improvement. I was a little worried that I may have herniated a disk, but she said that with the amount of back muscle I've built that it would be almost impossible to rupture a thorasic disk.

She also had me simulate each lift to check my form and said I was doing it all right. Then she and two of the nurses made me write down exactly what I eat in a day - because they want to try it. I reminded them that the weight training was as big a part of it as diet. I don't think they plan to do that part though.

gcs118 · 24-Dec-04, 02:16 PM

Very nice, something to brag about for sure. I'm glad the injury was nothing serious. Back pains are always scary, you never know if it's horrible or not.

**Firehawk** · 24-Dec-04, 03:47 PM

I can't wait to impress my doctor like that bro! NICE JOB!!!!!!!

SurfinAmy · 26-Dec-04, 12:01 PM

Hi Andy,
Hope you guys had a great Christmas. I was just going to tell you I head that Aleve might not be the greatest painkiller to take, well check this out -

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/bu...Risk_cn=122104

Well, anyway, as you can see, I'm not so great w/ computer skills, but that's the link anyway!

What a great feeling @ the doctor's office! All that hard work is paying off big time!

:

-Amy

**.V.** · 26-Dec-04, 03:48 PM

Well, it still hurts - so no workout yesterday or today. I guess a few days off won't do too much harm. It seems like these few days off are getting a little too frequent though. Today, I'm spending the day slowly without too much twisting putting my new gold's gym weight bench with built in squat rack, peck deck, free weights, and way too many attachments that I'll probably never use on it toghether. I've got the squat rack part together and the front foot thingy. I'm not very mechanicaly inclined. If it doesn't breathe or bleed, I don't know much about how to work on it. But it came with directions and I'll figure it out.

**.V.** · 31-Dec-04, 05:50 PM

Well, this sucks - I thought I was healed up enough and tossed the loricet and muscle relaxers. Since I have a pretty high tolerance to pain, MS will teach you that you know - I thought I was ready to go. I had to cut some wood and split it so I decided to use that as a whole body warm up then hit legs yesterday. Got about 1/2 truck load of wood cut and split - no problems then realized some of it was too long so went to restart the saw and when I pulled the cord, I felt the right lat, right erector go again - I should have waited. So here we go again - reading everyone elses wonderful workouts and wishing I could join them. I was going to go get a shot of marcaine in the muscle and workout anyway - but the doc was in her other office and I could not get in. My buddy the ER doc has never done pinpoint muscle injections of that type and was afraid of hitting a nerve - since there are so many nerves in that area. My other buddy the weightlifting ER doc wasn't on duty and lives too far away -so I just get to hurt a few more days. Everyone enjoy your workouts and have a happy new year.

gcs118 · 01-Jan-05, 12:00 PM

Hey man don't get too down. Injuries happen to everybody. Let it completely heal and then step back in. Take the time you have off to work on perfecting your diet, get your 6 pack to come in all the way. Look over your current routine, look at past numbers, and maybe rework it so you have a fresh routine to come back to and really look forward to. Taking some time off from lifting isn't the worse thing in the world. Before lifting you could have just sat around and been happy, right? I'm looking forward to your return. Happy New Years!

**.V.** · 01-Jan-05, 07:02 PM

Thanks man, I have no choice but to take off - but I'd rather be lifting. My choices are to get stronger - or get weaker. I prefer stronger. When it is all healed up, I will come back with whatever is left - I hope I don't lose too much. But, if I do I'll just start wherever I'm at.

SurfinAmy · 02-Jan-05, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_welch503

when I pulled the cord, I felt the right lat, right erector go again - I should have waited

I'm not sure what you meant, are you saying you pulled the muscle?

I agree w/ gcs, how about major ab work & there's nothing stopping you from doing legs either & maybe some cardio.
I am sorry andy, you're right, that does suck, but I don't think you're going to lose strength if you have to be off just a little while. You know how when you take a week off you come back stronger for it?
Well, it could end up turning out like that.
-Amy

**.V.** · 02-Jan-05, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurfinAmy

I'm not sure what you meant, are you saying you pulled the muscle?
-Amy

Pulled the starter cord on the chainsaw - that is how you start those things. As far as the muscle, the doctor said it was torn. Then when I felt better, I tried to get too physical too soon and the pain came back worse than before. She told me it was OK to lift - that it would only slow the healing. But that it would be better to just take off until I'm totally healed. I keep getting these little nagging injuries and not giving them time to heal up correctly and coming back a little too soon which leads to the next little nagging injury. Since I'm just a beginner and am going to do this for the rest of my life, I will take as long as I need to heal completely then lower the weight as much as I have to when I start back. Then work my way back up to where I'm supposed to be. Wait a minute - I haven't worked up to where I'm supposed to be yet anyway. I'm supposed to be benching firehawk and his weights and deadlifting jaster and his weights. I'm not even close yet. Since that is what I need to get up to - gives an even better reason to heal completely.

gcs118 · 05-Jan-05, 11:31 PM

Hey just stopping in to see how you're feeling? I'm excited to get back to lifting weights after 5 days off from my pulled bicep, which will be in another 2 days lol. I'm sure you are eager and anticipating a return as well. Even if your back isn't all the way better yet, hopefully the pain is much more bearable now (hopefully none).

**.V.** · 06-Jan-05, 12:50 AM

Still hurts - but much better. I hate this not lifting, but I'm going to let it heal completely before I start back. I think I've lost everything I gained in the last year - but I guess that happens sometimes. If that is the case, I'll just start all over again. Thanks for asking.

**Firehawk** · 07-Jan-05, 04:41 PM

You aint' lost everything man. Just don't try to start where you left off last time. Drop it down about 20 lbs and go up from there. Ezzus. I'm sure you still can curl more than i can...what kind of crap is that anyway? (Still bugs me

: )

gcs118 · 07-Jan-05, 05:06 PM

There's no way you've lost everything. Keep on eating as much as you can though!!

**.V.** · 07-Jan-05, 06:04 PM

I'm actually feeling pretty good today - just tired because I was out on calls all night and got no sleep. I hope after a good night's sleep tonight to do a little cardio tomorrow night to start getting back into it. If I feel as better over the next few days as I do today, I should start back lifting on tuesday. On another happy note, my 15 year old daughter finally understands DOMS - she is taking advanced weight training in high school. I didn't think a beginner should start with the advanced class, but it was all that was available. I spoke with the coach and he said he would start her out right. She is doing a 3x5 routine right now and this is only the 3rd day so the parts worked so far are pretty sore - but she likes it. Hopefully after the semester is over, she will keep it up.