gymgirl's workout journal

[tim_mcf]

i don't know what the heck i did.

Could have something to do with tons of overhead lunges when fatigued, followed by heavy-ass front squats? I agree with Pierini's advice, especially the cold and the rest.

For a workout, why not do an upper-body only circuit? AMRAP in 20 minutes of 10 pullups / 10 dips / 10 body rows / 10 pushups. Or do some core / shoulder work, like plate passing - hold a 35 lb plate in front of your chest, and then pass it in a circular pattern around your back and to the front. 4 or 5 reps of 6 to 10 will give your upper body that shaky feeling I know you like.

[gymgirl]

ha, well when you put it that way tim...;-) guess it could have been from my workout yesterday. i guess i just didn't really feel fatigued nor did i feel any pain so i didn't associate it with last nights workout.

thank you so much for the advice and workout idea. i think i may try your suggested workout tonight and sub hspu for dips since i can't do them due to my old injury.


i was just browsing the crossfit archives and found this workout:

For time:
10 Handstand pushups/ 2 pull-ups
9 Handstand pushups/ 4 pull-ups
8 Handstand pushups/ 6 pull-ups
7 Handstand pushups/ 8 pull-ups
6 Handstand pushups/ 10 pull-ups
5 Handstand pushups/ 12 pull-ups
4 Handstand pushups/ 14 pull-ups
3 Handstand pushups/ 16 pull-ups
2 Handstand pushups/ 18 pull-ups
1 Handstand pushups/ 20 pull-up

or

50-30-20 reps of
HSPU
Pull-ups

oh and i'd like to try that plate passing thing too, it looks like a killer. thank you so much for the suggestions.

[gymgirl]

tuesday, 8.29.06

found this on cross fit from 8/20/05

for time:

10 Handstand pushups/ 2 pull-ups
9 Handstand pushups/ 4 pull-ups
8 Handstand pushups/ 6 pull-ups
7 Handstand pushups/ 8 pull-ups
6 Handstand pushups/ 10 pull-ups
5 Handstand pushups/ 12 pull-ups
4 Handstand pushups/ 14 pull-ups
3 Handstand pushups/ 16 pull-ups
2 Handstand pushups/ 18 pull-ups
1 Handstand pushups/ 20 pull-up

time: 14:58

110 pull-ups
55 hspu

kipping pull-ups, and hspu with toes on smith machine shoulder height. all HSPU unbroken, pull-ups unbroken until 12 reps. this workout looked pretty easy on paper, but dang it was TOUGH. i didn't realize how many pull-ups were in this workout until i just added them up. no wonder i was struggling with them. i made it through the 6 hspu/10 pull-ups in just under 4 minutes, after that it was a real struggle. lots of sweat and my shoulders were feeling it.

tim i forgot to try your plate thing, i just realised that when i got on here to log my workout.

finished up with some physical theraphy and stretching. the knee is feeling better. still not great but definitely a lot of improvemnt after foam rolling it today. i'll be taking it easy again tomrrow, i think it is swollen just a bit.doing to ice it right now. thanks again everyone for all of your advice, i just hope it feels better soon.

food:

carbs: 178g 41%
protein: 134g 35%
fat: 42g 25%

total cals: 1576

[tim_mcf]

Dang, girl. You scare me.

[gymgirl]

ugh, here is today's lame attempt at a workout:

wednesday 8.30.06

mix-up between myself and my trainers schedule so i was there with an hour to kill before our session. i foam rolled my quad and IT band for a good 20 minutes then thought i might try a light jog. i got on the treadmill and ran for a minute,no pain but re thought everything and decided i better play it safe so i moved over to the eliptical for 15 min.

cardio:

15 min on eliptical, 2.0miles HR was at 162 according to the machine

workout:

met up with my trainer who had talked to my pt, and she nixed any repetitive movments which would cause me to bend and straighten my knee repededly. basicaly screwed up his plans for our workout, which makes me feel bad.

ended up doing AMRAP in 20 min of:

7 pull-ups
50 flutter kicks (each side)
10 back extentions

10 rounds

could have done more if we didn't have to go across the gym to use the back extention machine, and if i could frecking RUN. it was an ok workout...all rounds of everythiing were unbroken. i obviously wasn't working as hard as i should/could have been becuse we were having a conversation throughout the workout and most of the time i can barley get a 'how many rounds are we at' out of my mouth.

then 3 rounds of:

incline bench press 1x65lbs, 2x45lbs 10,5,4 reps
1 min rest in top of push-up position

the incline bench was causing a weird pinch/pain in my shoulder so we lowered the weight. i became more frusterated with my weird pains.

then

iso rope vietnamise curl with supination 7.5lbs 1x16, 12.5lbs 1x10, 7.5lbs 1x16
iso core stabalized rope overhead tricep extention 7.5lbs 2x9 (this caused elbow pain, of coarse)
iso rope pronating tricep extention 7.5lbs 1x8,1x7,1x9,1x10
diamond push-ups 1x6, 1x10

basicaly during this workout with all my weird aches and pains coupled with my leg tightness causing my knee to feel werid, my trainer suggested i take an ENTIRE WEEK OFF. i haven't taken a week off since may 2005 when i took 3 whole weeks off and went to europe and indulged in crepes, crissonts and ravioli. i came back and it took me 2 months to get back to running 3 miles. it was awful. ever since then i have been paraniod about taking time off. even when i hurt my back in june i didn't miss one day of the gym. i did take 4 days off in early june to go visit the boyfriends family. we came to a compromise today that i will take 4 days off and on monday if i am pain free i can workout again.if not i have to wait until our next scheduled work out which is next wednesday!!! ugh. i know it is probably good for me but i can't help but feel depressed. i am allowed to go in and do my physical therapy but that is it. i'm hoping i don't get too grouchy, i am a mean, snappy person when i don't workout. i guess if this helps prevent any further injuries it will be worth it. i just have to keep telling myself that. i am planning to go to this music festival here on saturday and there is lots of yummy treat foods like crepes, strawberry shortcakes, basicaly anything you can imagine. he told me to still take my 4 days to one week off and STILL induldge a bit on saturday. i'm glad my trainer is nice and dosen't make me feel more guilty then i already do.

anyway, knee is feeling much better,still very tight, but i am limping a lot less.

food:

carbs: 188g 38%
protein: 139g 32%
fat: 57g 30%

total cals: 1770

[CF-OC_gal]

Whole smokes are you superwoman on earth or something???

That HSPU/PU routine was insane!

Take a week off guilt free after that one.

This is a perfect time to play around with dynamic visualized resistance (DVR) exercises which I periodically incorporate into my training. DVRs have been advocated by John E. Peterson in his book "Pushing Yourself To Power".

You create your own visual resistance and establish a mind-muscle connection. Take the curl exercise for example. Perform it without weight and visualize that you are performing a curl with a challenging weight. Now engage all the muscles that you would normally engage and perform the motion, making sure to breathe fully and making sure the movement is as perfect as you can make it, going slowly and using muscular contraction and tension.

Use light tension for high reps, moderate tension for 8-10 reps and maximum tension for 5 reps or less.

These are very difficult to do. Best done in front of a mirror without much clothing on to get visual feedback that you are really engaging the correct muscles.

I have about 10 exercises that I like to do with this training method. Doing a single set of each exercise using maximum tension leaves me breathless and gives my muscles a good workout.

You are only limited to your imagination.

Just a thought.

[tim_mcf]

Rest. Relax. Calm down. Eat crepes.

[gymgirl]

Originally Posted by Brat

Whole smokes are you superwoman on earth or something???

That HSPU/PU routine was insane!

Take a week off guilt free after that one.

i am still sore from that! it was brutal!

pierini, i'd love to try your dvr thing, thank you for explaining what it is. i went to the website you posted once and still did not really understand it. your explanation helps quite a bit. i will have to give it a try after this week of rest. i promised my trainer i would do absoultly nothing except stretching, and my physical therapy.

thursday, 8.31.06

so today i went to the gym and did my physical therapy and some foam rolling on my IT band and quads. my knee is feeling better now, but tonight at home i did something stupid. i was trying to stretch my back and did a couple of back bends (bridges) which were ok'd by my PT, then i did some bridges on my forearms and now my lower back hurts. grrrrr. i'm hoping it is just soreness/tightness. i have ice on it now and then will do heat and see if it helps. it's not extreme pain but i had NO pain in my lower back before i did those stretches. i hope i am just stressing and that this is not another injury.

food:

carbs: 182g 42%
protein: 111g 30%
fat: 45g 28%

total cals: 1517

p.s. thanks tim i am definitely going to do my best to rest, relax, and calm down. and i can guarnetee i will eat crepes!

[gymgirl]

so i enjoyed the long weekend,and i found i had sooooooooo much more time. it's amazing how much time working out takes when you count the 20 min drive there and 20 min drive back plus a 2 hour workout...that's almost 3 hours of the day.

saturday my boyfriends band played at the bumbershoot music festival in seattle which was a ton of fun...people are calling to say they saw him in tv, and i keep mising it! i didn't have any crepes, as i could not find the damb crepe stand and settled for a veggie gyro instead. it was yummy. sat around in the sun and enjoyed some great music saturday. sunday we laid around all day watching movies and reading i also made chocolate butterscotch espresso brownies with a vanilla espresso glaze. i only at 1/4 of a small browine to make sure they tasted ok. then today i went to see the movie 'step up' with a girlfriend. i did very well with my food this weekend considering it was a holiday weekend and all.

Food:
friday: 1718 c/p/f
50/29/18 (had light ravioli and wine)

sat: gyro day 1760
40/30/31

sun: 1295
33/31/36 (fats were high b/c i ate salmon a whole egg and 1/4 avacado)

mon: 1239
40/39/20

i can't belive i have taken 5 straight days off. my body is feeling ok, and i think the minor pain in my glutes is from sitting on this awful futon all weekend, it has always given me back/glute pain if i sit around all weekend.

my IT band was great on sat and sunday i was walking no problem. last night i did some stretching and PT then today my IT band was tight again. it's not as bad as it was last week, but not 100% ok either. i did some research in the internet and found a lot of info on why this is happening.apperently it can be caused by:

Concerning abnormalities in leg/feet anatomy:
High or low arches
Overpronation of the foot
The force at the knee when the foot strikes
Uneven leg length
Bowlegs or tightness about the iliotibial band.

4 out of those 5 things i have been told by doctors i have. this is all making much more sense now to me. i'm figuring out how this is all tied into my glutes/hips problem. all due to my inconsistencies and weakness causing me to overcompensate in other areas. i know it takes time, but i felt like i was making a lot of progress with my PT int he past month, and now i feel like this is a step backwards. i'm going to have to keep at all my PT and just hope that i can strenghten these weak areas and be done with these problems.

anyway, back at the gym tomrrow, we will see how much and what i can do. i think i may take yet another day off running. maybe the eliptical and arms. my arms feel like toothpicks. it's amazing how long it takes to GAIN muscle and how quickly it all disapears. sheesh it's only been 5 days!

anyhow hope everyone had a great weekend! back to work

[minime]

hey gymgirl - way to go on taking those days off! I know that sounds silly, but i know how hard it is to allow yourself the time off.

It really makes u wonder though - how do people do it all the time? i mean, just NOT work out, ever? it would be soo weird.

Anyway, i hope you get back into it ok and the injuries leave u alone - damn injuries, why can't lazy people who hardly use their limbs just get the injuries? hehe. My knee still aches even after all the time off so I feel a bit...bitter

[no-frills]

Try to work around the injury, instead of the all or nothing work-out. There are always modifications or working alternate muscle groups so that you don't completely stop working out. It helps with the mental hurdles and frustration that come when you are injured.

[gymgirl]

ahhhh so i still have not made it into the gym this week. i was planning on going tuesday, but got a call that my dad was in the hospital. he lives about an hour away from me so i left work and spent the day there. so basically i have been here at their place and at the hospital for the past two days. he should be released tomrrow, then i might be heading back to seattle. i haven't been eating much at all. i did pack some whey and a couple zone bars,which i have been snaking on at the hospital. other then that i haven't had the time to put my food in fitday, and honestly my mind has been elsewhere.

my body feels gross, and i am going to try to do some push-ups and abs before i got to bed.

Originally Posted by minime

It really makes u wonder though - how do people do it all the time? i mean, just NOT work out, ever? it would be soo weird.

Anyway, i hope you get back into it ok and the injuries leave u alone - damn injuries, why can't lazy people who hardly use their limbs just get the injuries? hehe. My knee still aches even after all the time off so I feel a bit...bitter

thanks minime. boy was it tough this weekend.i really wanted to get in the gym. i do get very annoyed that people who are lazy don't get injured! it is not fair! sorry to hear your knee was still acting up after your vacation. also i am so glad you are back, i missed ya around here!

no-frills, i have been trying to work around my injurie(s) (back and now knee) for the past few months. my PT is telling me becuse i was an athlete most ofmy life i have learned to compensate when injured. this is what is creating imbalances in my body thus leading to more injuries. so basically my trainer said i should take a full week off becuse i keep having weird pains in my body. the last time i took more then a couple days off with no activity was in may 2005. apprently that is not enough! lol he thinks i should do this every 6 months. i wonder howmany clients he tells NOT to work out. don't most trainers have a challenge getting their clients to get in the gym more? lol. i think if my knee is still botheringme whenever i can get back in the gym,i will be working around it. i am scheduled to see my PT tomrrow so if all is well with my dad i will make that appt and see what she has to say about my knee.

anyway, hope you all are well. i've been peeking in all of your journals whenever i have a free moment, just haven't had a chance to post.

Best wishes for your Dad's speedy recovery.

You did the right thing to be there for him, whether he needed you are not. That's what a good son or daughter should do.

[gymgirl]

thanks pierini. my dad is home now and resting. my mom will be back from visiting her sisters overseas next saturday, that will be great that i won't worry as much when i can't be there by his side. if my job was more understanding i would stay there until my mom got back.

anyhow got into the gym for about 30 minutes before i had my physical therapist.

thrusday 9.7.06

no cardio, wanted to get the clear from my PT first.

did some foam rolling as my legs and glutes were pretty tight.
then some PT exercises for my abductors

biceps

curls with curl bar: 30lbs 3x10
reverse curls with curl bar: 30lbs 2x10

21's on bosu- 10lbs 3 sets
hammer curls on bosu 12.5lbs 3x15

triceps

overhead triceps extention 25lbs db

that was all i did today. i was so tight and was scared to do too much without seeing my PT. i felt so weak. i thought after time offyou are supposed to come back feeling strong. all my weights went down and everything was so tough. maybe becuse i haven't gotten much food for the past 3 days, i don't know. hopefully i will get back soon.

went to the PT and after talking to me and feeling my knee there are no torn ligamints no cartiledge trouble and the pain is from tightness and inflamation in my IT band. pretty much what i suspected, but it made me feel better to hear it from a real physical therapist who knows what she is talking about. basically i am still all flared up in the glutes and hips which can also cause pain in the inner knee which is what i was feeling the past two days.

tim was right, she thinks the front squats probably aggrivated things. i am now not allowed to squat past 90 degrees. no heavy weights this week, no jumping and no running. anyhow glad to know it's not a new injury, just something i have to keep working on.

didn't log the food today as i just got back up to seattle late this afternoon. i am guessing that i only got about 1,000 cals per day or so. tomrrow back to tracking food and another day off from the gym. sat morning i have my trainer so we will see what i can do.

i am just exhausted,i think all the stress is catching up to me.