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Karky

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So I figured I could try to start up a log again.
I'm doing an upper lower split.

I have a back injury (no diagnose, so I don't know what it is) so I don't deadlift or squat. I use unilateral movements so I can fatigue my legs without using a lot of weight on my back.

Legs:
Bulgarian squats off box
7,5,5,4 @30kg DBs (30kg in each hand)

Calf and tibialis anterior work
4 sets for tib 3 for calfs.

single leg Lying hams
This consists of me lying on the floor with one foot on an elevated surface and then lifting my hips off the floor with that foot (so at the top it's only my upper back (mostly just upper traps) in contact with the floor
3x12 @BW

Pistol squats
2x17 @BW
gotta do these last so I won't have to add weight to them. I should probably start working towards doing these with no back flexion, that way I can load them.

Sissy squats
14,10,10 @BW
these are hard! The trick is to know how far you can go down. If you overshoot it, you'll fall, if you undershoot it, you'll be able to do 1000 reps

Seated SL ham curl
8,10,10 @25kg

The rest periods between the sets is just what it takes for my other leg to do it's set.

PWO: the usual 40g protein 80g carbs
 
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How long have you had that back injury for? It seems like about year now
 
yeah, I've had it since just before last summer. It seemed to be pretty good a while ago and I started doing squats again, but at the beginning of this semester I got really sick, very high feever, etc, and at the end of that I had the pain again. It was weird since while I was sick I didn't do anything to aggrivate it, I was pretty much just lying in bed.
 
Hoss said:
New bed perhaps?
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can't afford that, but I doubt it was the bed. Though it could be since I was laying rather much in it when I was sick.. Anyways, I'm getting quite used to it now, the only problem is that it's hard to hit the hamstrings without any form of DL..
 
Nice Karks. What did you end up needing to do the pistols? Balance, mobility, etc. 17 is a lot of goddamn pistols. What kind of loading do you expect you're going to be doing? I used to just hold a med ball in my hand or something.
 
well I've done pistols with 10kg in each hand, did around 10 I think, but that was at the beginning of my workout before my back acted up again. I also hold the weight straight down, holding it with my arms out in front of me would help me keep my back straight, but my shoulders give out way before anything else :(

what I needed was mobility to be able to get all the way down without falling backwards. Oly shoes with a heel helped a lot! I still do them off a box, though, because I can't quite keep my free fot straight ahead. I had the strength to do them all along, once I got the oly shoes and got some minor balance issues out of the way I was quickly able to do many.

Because of my long femurs I need to get my knee very far out in front, I don't know how I'm going to be able to do them without flexing my back. I'll try to get a video of them or something so I can asses things better. I've been thinking of attaching some bands to my hip or something and use that as resistance.. but that won't give me much extra resistance at the bottom, just at the top, and I want resistance getting out of the hole to hit those glutes while they're stretched. By ass is 1 cm bigger now than it was before, too :D I think it's all the pistols and bulgarian squats off a box, since both of those gives some mad glute stretching action.
 
hmm. I feel like working out today. usually I do upper on sundays, but I can move it to saturdays if I want. I just love working my upper body, specially the upper back. Get that tight feeling in the back when I reach my arms forward, that's so nice :D
 
Upper

A1 Bench
3x5 @90kg
1x2 @100kg
1x1 negative @110kg

Not happy with this, I haven't benched in ages, I want it back up at 5x5 @100kg

A2 Pulldowns close parallel grip
11@85kg
2x6@90kg

B1 Chinese row
10@50
8@60
2x7@60

These are just rows laying prone on a bench (I elevate the bench so I can stretch my arms out) and row the bar until it hit the bench.. I call it chinese row because every time I see a documentary about chinese weightlifters, they are doing this :p
I don't really have the bar hit the bench on every rep though, I take it as high as it goes. I want this to be heavy pulling and I don't care too much about ROM here.

B2 Pushups
Doing these with a weight plate on my back
7@25kg
5@25kg
6@25kg

The hard part is not letting the back arch at the bottom. If I let my shoulderblades push too far back into retraction, that will happen. I need to let them move, but not too far back. This really puts some strain on the serratus anterior

C1 DB chest supported incline bench row
10@32
9@32
2x7@32

32kg per DB I use 2 DBs.

D1 X pulldown
9,8,6@28.5
10@23.5

I use a dual pulley pulldown station. Grab the two handles, cross them, step back, put my one foot on the seat and stand, leaning slightly back, then pull. These really hit the back. I retract first, then pull, then keep retract as I let the arms go forward again, that really makes my back scream. I count this as a horizontal pull even though it's called xpulldown

E1 Face pulls
14,12,10 @50kg
these are not perfect facepull form.
I've noticed that if I try to pull my hands apart as I pull I feel it more in my back, possibly in my pos.deltoid.

F1 Arms thingy
Chins,curls,cgbp,DBskullcrushers. Repeat 2 more times.
Chins: 6,4,3
Curls,8@14;11,8@12
CGBP:9,5,5 @75
Skulls:6@12;10,8@10

G1 Scapula retraction, static
I do these in a fat man pullup position. Retract my scapula as far as I can and keep it there. If I use weight I put a plate on my chest.

30,26,25,25 @10kg
These are counting, I forgot my cell at home so I had no stopwatch.

Pec dec
14,10,8 @45kg

PWO: the usual

Damn what a workout. I love doing lots and lots of upper back work. it does take a lot of time, though :(
 
damn, that's 25 sets that hit the back! I just counted :D I'm trying out just destroying my upper back with lots of sets and exercises every upper session. I'll see how it turns out with respects to growth and strength.
 
avoiding what? I cure on pistols, which I know a lot of people will advice agains because of my back, but I don't feel any discomfort when I do it since it is unloaded. I don't do any kind of squat because of my back, I'll have to use a lot of weight for it to be heavy.

Now that I'm using 2x30kg DBs on bulgarian squats I thought about trying squats with 60kg.. I was thinking I could put overhead squats into my program. Those will limit the weight I can use and should make 60kg hard (probably less than 60kg in the beginning)
but then again, I've heard a lot of bad things about the OHS, a lot of people say that due to the instability of holding the weight overhead your legs won't work as much. They say you use way less weight than with a regular squat, so it can't hit the legs very well. On the other hand, the way I see it, maybe you use less weight because force transfer is way harder in an OHS. Maybe you're legs are working really hard, it's just that much less of the force they produce acutally reach the barbell.. sorta..
 
i_love_muscle said:
Looking good, Fredrik!!!

And yeah ... go get your back checked out. DUH ;)
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thanks! I'll have to wait with the back until I've gotten my disability insurance fixed. If they find out my back is ****ed now they will want me to pay more. And I should have a disability insurance so in case I'm disabled in the middle of my studies I won't sit there with no ability to work and a big loan on my hands.

Though I'm not a big fan of doctors, but I should probably go and get an xray of some sort to figure out what it actually is.
 
wow excellent log man! im so glad your back here!
about the OHS: it is a good exercise IMO because even though the legs arent hit as hard, the stabilizing muscles ARE like the abs, and shoulders. it develops balance for olympic trainees who have to be able to snatch or jerk weight above their head.

of course they are only a suppliment to back and front squats.

2x17 pistols is beatsly.
i will take video some day and get 1x20. >: D

i KNOW what you mean by the chinese row lollll i saw like 5 documentaries with those. i wanted to try it but my bench is too low xD

hope the back gets better soon man. i love u bro!(no homo) :D
 
Proteinboy said:
wow excellent log man! im so glad your back here!
about the OHS: it is a good exercise IMO because even though the legs arent hit as hard, the stabilizing muscles ARE like the abs, and shoulders. it develops balance for olympic trainees who have to be able to snatch or jerk weight above their head.

of course they are only a suppliment to back and front squats.

2x17 pistols is beatsly.
i will take video some day and get 1x20. >: D

i KNOW what you mean by the chinese row lollll i saw like 5 documentaries with those. i wanted to try it but my bench is too low xD

hope the back gets better soon man. i love u bro!(no homo) :D
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The benches at my gym are too low too.. I build up under the legs of the benches. I swear I look like a moron doing them :p

and yeah, the OHS will work my core. I have been careful with direct core work since it seems to aggrivate my back, I did some planks and felt great afterwards but not so great the morning after. That is some time ago, though, so I think I'll try to get some direct core work in there again.
 
It's sh1t that you can't back squat or deadlift, i hate injuries!!! Your young Kark it shouldn't be like this!

I'll be keeping up with the journal anyway.
 
LeiYunFat said:
I meant why are you trying to avoid back rounding for piostols? Full depth will make some back curvature.
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Yeah I know. I tried today to see and there is no way I'll be able to do them without rounding. I think it's OK as long as I don't load it, but often times when you injure your back it becomes less tolerable to flexing even without load. I'm just trying to be super careful.
 
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