My Year With 3J - a journey into fitness

[cybrsage]

I increased my incline leg press significantly. I slowly raised, doing sets of 5 reps until I got to one where I was not sure I could go higher, so I stopped rather than push it TOO much. I was VERY pleased with the results. I am able to push 500 pounds 5 times without losing it.

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Most of my life I had chicken legs, well no more chicken legs for the Sage!

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[cybrsage]

I blew my weigh in - a friend was having a crisis and by the time it was calmed down I had completely forgotten...this Sunday will be a weigh in day, though.

Well, I forgot to add in the weight of the sled to my incline leg press - the sled weighs 120 pounds, so I have to add 120 pounds to all the weights moved on the sled! I also forgot to add in the weight of the bar for the bench press, which is 20 pounds. I also upped my weights on many things, here are my new numbers. I do everything but legs every day and do legs on Thursdays.

Chest
Flat Bench Press: 15, 4, 6, 8, 20 - 130, 160, 140, 130, 80
Flat Bench Flys: 20, 20, 20 - 20, 20, 17.5

Back
Narrow Grip Rows: 15, 4, 6, 8, 20 - 120, 155, 135, 115, 65

Shoulders (numbers are per arm - limited by my doctor)
Military Press: 15, 4, 6, 8, 20 - 10 for each
Side Lateral Raises: 15, 4, 6, 8, 20 - 10 for each
Front Lateral Raises: 15, 4, 6, 8, 20 - 10 for each
Shrugs: 20, 15, 20 - 10 for each

Legs
Incline Leg Press: 15, 4, 6, 8 - 480, 710, 660, 570
Leg Extensions: 15, 4, 6, 8 - 175, 240, 195, 180
Leg Curls: 15, 4, 6, 8 - 145, 190, 160, 145
Calf Raises (done on a stepper to increase drop distance): 20, 20, 20 - Body Weight +45

Arms
Machine Bicep Curls (one arm at a time): 10 reps at 80, drop 10 pounds (one plate) and do 10 more reps, continue until at lightest weight for 20 reps
Machine Tricep (one arm at a time): 10 reps at 55, drop 10 pounds (one plate) and do 10 more reps, continue until at lightest weight for 20 reps


I saw my surgeon today and he said I am healing very nicely, he said I am healed further than he would have expected and said I could double my weight lifted (per arm) to 40 pounds. That is more like it! I am going to keep doing isoluation exercise for now until the swelling is down more. Slow and steady so I do not have to get it redone. My surgeon said he would make it very painful for me if he had to redo all his fine work.

 

[cybrsage]

I have raised my shoulder weights to 15 pounds per hand - slow and stead increase.

 

[cybrsage]

So...I have not been updating much because it has all been recovery time. While the recovery is actually happening very quickly, faster than it normally should have (due to me taking healing peptides), it still feels slow and long.

Exciting news, though! Since December I have not been able to do any push-ups. My right tricep simply would turn off and not engage, so my right arm would not even attempt to lift my body up off the floor (in fact, I would fall to the floor as soon as I put my weight on my right arm). As of last week, it was still that way. Yesterday I decided to try to do a push-up and I could do them! I did 10 of them without any real effort at all! I know I could have done a lot more but did not want to push my luck.

Today I learned about Tate Presses. It is a type of tricep workout made famous by Dave Tate. They are not nearly as easy as the videos make them appear to be! I am replacing my machine tricep curl with them - and replacing my machine bicep curl with standard bicep curls. I want to move away from the isolations slowly so my stabilizing muscles start to get a workout again.

If only the food over this last holiday did not contain so many calories! UGH! Still, holidays with the family are to be enjoyed - I can work the calories off later, but you can never replace fun family time.

I will do a weigh in and such this Sunday and post it here. Have not been doing them since everything is basically staying the same - just maintaining during the healing process.

 

[cybrsage]

It has been a while, mostly because nothing has been changing. My weight went up over the holiday, but is back down to almost where it was before the holiday. My recovery keeps moving forward, I see the surgeon again in another few weeks and it should be my last visit with him, I would think. I am pretty confident he is going to release me for unlimited weight, taking care to listen to my body of course.



My right triceps is improving greatly. My left triceps is shrinking slightly, but that is to be expected since I am limiting it to the weight my right triceps can push so they become symmetric again. I am actually starting to see some definition in my upper abs, which seems a little odd since my stomach measurement went up. I have been doing ab work (crunches and such) since I can do that lying on my back - no strain on the neck at all.

Here are my stats:

Weight: 193
Neck: 16.5
Chest: 40.5
Stomach: 35
Waist Line: 35
Biceps: L: 13 R: 12.75
Thighs: L: 24 R: 24
Calves: L: 15 R: 15
Forearms: L: 12 R: 12

 

[cybrsage]

Been a long time since I have updated this log - mostly because I was in full on recovery mode and life sucked big time. My pain is mostly gone - I can do 25 mins of cardio without experiencing any pain. This is a big deal, I have not really had this for going on a full year. I get a little bit of pain when I type for a long time (several minutes straight - take note that I type 55 wpm after errors so that is a LOT of typing) but I would put it at a 3 on the pain chart - more of a "man, I wish this would not happen" vs the 8 I had been experiencing for almost a year (which is along the lines of "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani!" - which translates to My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!).

I am easing into cardio again, each week adding another day until I can regularly do 4 days of 25 minutes without pain. I am also starting strength and muscle building again, doing one set of exercises each day assigned to that muscle group - except legs, I do a full on leg day. I do not do much in the way of squats (I do 40 pounds of front squats - still limited to 40 pounds by surgeon orders), but my incline leg press is now up to 840 pounds.

 

[cybrsage]

I have been working myself back into doing 25 mins of cardio every day. I had to stop for a while because my hands would burst into flames part way through. Now I can do the entire 25 mins with very little discomfort to the hands.

Yesterday I decided to see if I can do pull ups yet. I had to stop a few months before my surgery, my right tricep would not turn on so it was impossible to do many things. Well, my first try in months and I pounded out 10 pull ups. 9 of them were spot on, the 10th a little iffy.

 

[scorob777]

Cybersage, mind if I ask you what type of surgery you ended up having, and the outcome? I have similar problems with my left arm.

 

[cybrsage]

I do not know the exact name of it, but I had the C7 vertebrae removed and replaced with one from a bone bank, then the C7 and C6 were fused together and metal plates added.

I am almost complete recovered from the surgery, though it has taken 7 months to get here.

 

[scorob777]

Do you have full use of the arm that had the impinged nerves? Do the nerves come back quickly, then require muscle retraining?

 

[cybrsage]

Do you have full use of the arm that had the impinged nerves? Do the nerves come back quickly, then require muscle retraining?

The biggest problem I have run into is the (in my opinion) SLOW recovery time for the return of proper feeling. Feeling has slowly been returning over the last 7 months, but the last 5 months of it has been mostly painful. As the nerves kept healing, the pain has slowly reduced and now only happens when I use my right hand a lot, such as with long term typing or, sadly, long term sex encounters (you never realize how much you use your hands during sex until it is painful to use them!).

The other large problem is that I had major atrophy in my right tricep. It refused to work at all at a certain point, for anything over 40 pounds. I have been working it harder and harder to try and make it look like the left arm. I am still limited to isolation exercises for many things, so I do the tricep extension machine one handed, ensuring I only push my left arm as hard as I can actually work my right. It is slowly, but surely. rebuilding strength. I have been doing a reverse pyramid with it, starting at 65 pounds 10 times, then 55 pounds 10 times, 45 pounds, down until 10 pounds which I do for 20 reps.

I am almost back to full speed - in 2 weeks I see my surgeon for, hopefully, the last time.

 

[cybrsage]

He wants to keep me limited for another 4 months. :-(

One thing is good, though. I have proven that eating mostly clean on a 3J diet for 9 months at 2000cals keeps me at my current weight and spares my muscles. I have certainly lost strength, but I have not lost muscle mass!

Quite happy to learn I can maintain my physique so well with so little exercise. And by little, I mean compared to what I want to do. I still do more than the average person does.

 

[anzel]

Hey Cyber I just read through the whole log. Took a while! Great real life story!
So u have used the 3j reverse pyramid training throughout?

 

[cybrsage]

Thanks!!

Yes I have, but modified it slightly on the Triceps Extension Machine.

 

[cybrsage]

OK, so I am going to*try to return to the gym on a daily basis. I started yesterday and am just starting with some*simple things. I am doing Cardio for 25 mins at a moderate rate (machine says I*burn slightly over 300 cals) and do a single exercise (reverse pyramid style still, so 4 or 5*sets depending on the muscle group) for a muscle group (back, arms, shoulders, etc) just to get me in the*habit without pushing me too*hard. I am keeping tabs on my neck as I do things to make sure I*do not*hurt myself.

I am hopeful this is the return of CybrSage!!