Let's try this again...

strumpusplunket · 17 Sep 2022 at 16:08

Continuing my 15-years and counting cycle of on-again/off-again weight training with an on-again phase. Hoping this one will last.

My last two training phases ended with injury, so I'm going to be extra careful this time. Last time, back in 2019, I tore my rotator cuff in my left shoulder and could barely move my arm at all without pain for months. Certainly couldn't lift anything substantial for almost a year.

It feels okay now, though, and I got marginally back into some sort of shape with diet and swimming and felt it was time to pick up some weights again. A month in and I am loving working out again. Feel great, look much better and it's about time I try to get things going a bit more rigorously. So...

I am now 47 years old. With a history of athletic/weight lifting injuries. To whit:

partially torn (now hopefully healed) left rotator cuff
long-head biceps impingement in right shoulder
mild subluxation of right sternoclavicular joint
some laxity in sacroiliac joint
damaged and never quite healed knee cartilage
tendinitis in both elbows (primarily golfer's elbow, but some tennis elbow too)

I'm a compact and bjijou 174cm, and sitting at 11st 2lbs and about 12% bodyfat. Feels good foundation from which to hopefully put back on the 20-25lbs or so of additional muscle I had at the point of my last injury and that will be my primary goal, but also working on stability and mobility (I like to think our hyperactive golden retriever helps keep on top of my overall CV fitness

)

So, initial goals will be hypertrophy with as much recomp as part of that as my new newbie gains/muscle memory will allow.

strumpusplunket · 17 Sep 2022 at 16:20

Routine-wise, I am starting with a whole-body split lifting every other day and doing core work on my non-lifting days, as follows:

Lifting day 1:

Pull-ups 3x10
Inc DB bench 3-15 (I got a slight feeling of instability trying to get to 3x10 for this, so lowered the weight and increased the reps, which feels fine so far)
Hack squat 4x8
RDL 3x10
Barbell row 3x10

Core day:

Planks
Side planks
Dead bugs
Leg lifts
Crunches

Lifting day 2:

DB bench 3x10
Incline DB row 3x10
Seated OHP 3x12
DL - here I am working up to 4x5, but going slow and at a weight that I can currently do 3x8 for (still not quite at 90kg). Want to take it slow and not put too much pressure on my SC joint (though it's been fine so far with this).
Bulgarian split squat 3x12

I am hoping that hits everything for enough volume. I have a memory of hearing that whole body splits are good to start with for the first 8-12 months and then might need chaging for upper/lower or pull/push splits.

Hoping this will get me to 12.5-13 stone at around 10-11% bf as I feel that's where I look and feel my best. Not massively ambitoius goals, but it will take some dedication especially at my age.

Any advice very warmly welcomed.

strumpusplunket · 18 Sep 2022 at 12:16

Decent workout, but today's discovery was that going four DL sets straight into BSS is brutal! Not sure I ever had these back-to-back before.

Did it without rest, and could only manage six reps per leg holding just 10kg of weight for the first set, and then barely eight more for the two next sets only with BW. And I could barely walk upstairs to shower afterwards. This is going to take some willpower to work through! Good workout, though.

strumpusplunket · 20 Sep 2022 at 10:14

A fair bit of stiffness in legs and back yesterday, so did a lot of mobility work instead of some of my core excercises. Feeling better today, but a warning that I need to get on top of mobility asap too.

strumpusplunket · 22 Sep 2022 at 16:52

An actual log this time:

DB bench 27.5kg 10, 9, 5

Chest-suported DB row 27.5kg 10, 9, 8

Seated DB overhead presss 15kg 12, 6, 5

Sumo DL 90kg 5, 5, 5, 5

Bulgarian split squat 10, 10, 5

DB drag curls 10kg 10, 7, 7 (I don't need an arm isolation here, but I only just heard of this lift as I saw it recommended somewhere else and wanted to try it out. Pretty decent, and quite a bit more intense feeling that standard curls I thought. Might rotate it in every so often if I feel I need an arm finisher)

Phew. Great tired feeling following this. I have missed this in my time away from working out.

Need to remind myself to take it slow and mind my joints. So easy to feel the urge to push on too quickly.

strumpusplunket · 8 Oct 2022 at 13:47

So, strained some muscles in my lower back on my second set of sumo deadlifts today. Doesn't feel very serious, but I do think I need to work on form a bit since I've lost good form with them, I think.

Specifically I think I need to work on the hip hinge as the end of the pull was feeling too backy. Anyone got any favourite barbell or dumbbell exercises for really developing the hip hinge to transfer to DLs?

strumpusplunket · 17 Oct 2022 at 21:11

Being very cautious with my sprained back. Took a week off, then just started doing only exercises that exert no shearing force on my back. This means a load of my usual go-tos are out, but it's possible still to do some things to work around it. Such as:

Pull-ups BW+5kg 9, 5, 4, 3

Inc DB Bench 22.5kg 12, 12, 6 (can't quite comfortably lower myself all the way down for flat bench, but higher inclines work)

Chin-ups 7, 5, 5 (pulling my body as horizontal as possible to try to work the lats a bit since I can't do bent-over or tripod rows, and having a very slow eccentric movement)

Split Squats 25kg 10, 10, 10 (quite easy, but keeping caution at the front of my mind for my back)

Press up variations (moving laterally in the opposite direction each push up adds a bit of challenge to this since I don't want to risk benching right now. Poor substitute, but meh...)

Floor fly 10kg 8, 7, 7 (very slow, trying to maximise TUT and squeeze pecs)

Super-setted with Svend press, 5kg plate 5, 5, 6

That felt pretty good, actually. I got the feeling that I hit my chest well despite not doing proper benches. The fly/Svend super-set was quite an intense pump at the end.

Missing variation in leg work, but there's precious little that doesn't pull at my lower back. Squats and any variation of deads or hip thrusts are out for now. I don't have any cables or machines, so this was all I could come up with with DB/BB.

Back is feeling a lot better and hopefully will be able to phase RDLs, hip thrusts and hack squats back in next week all being well.

strumpusplunket · 3 Mar 2023 at 16:21

An update here - a coule of months ago I was starting to get a bit stop-start in my trainig due to gnawing joint pain, espeically in my elbows. Then I had a golfers elbow flare up in my left arm and tennis elbow in my right that saw me need a couple of weeks rest. I resolved to rethink my training during this time, and went for more reps and sets of each muscle at a lighter load in a push-pull-rest split.

Not only have my joint injuries improved markedly, but also I have to say I've been absolutely delighted to see a minor explosion in muscle gain from this too. Have only gained five or six pounds, but think I'm at the leanest I've ever been in my life, and look and feel better than I think I ever have.

Current split breaksdown to:

Push 1
DB OHP
Hack squat
Underhand DB bench
Floor flies
Calf raise
Lat raise supersetted with triceps extensions

Pull 1
RDL
Gorilla rows
DB high pulls
Reverse flies
Drag curls

Push 2
DB bench
Svend press (3 sets with short rests)
Backwards lunges
Arnolds superrsetted with skullcrushers
Calf raise

Pull 2
Hip thrusts
Seal rows
DB pullover
Chest-supported rear delt rows
Seated incline curls

Rather light on legs at first glance, but one of my non-lifting days each week has the morning at the boxing gym, and we get run through lots of footwork drills along with lunges, weighted bag squats, box jumps, and ab work, so hopefully that helps offset the lack of leg focus in my weight split.

I have toyed with making a split with a leg day for a three days on/one day off, push-pull-leg split, but not sure I can make it work. I know from exprerience that too much leg work the day before boxing leads to a bad time anyway...