Suck it up, buttercup

Last week saw a bit of a plateau for my knee. Got some more needling, soft tissue work and new rehab exercises, and I can see a bit more progress. I can also pinpoint exactly where it hurts, but I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

In the mean time, I've been stepping up my training, and have been trying my best to kill myself on every workout. Gotta push the pace to hit rank 1 in February.

I'm also excited because I get to add in some bag work next week! Yay!!! So starting next week, I'm adding in some low impact cardio on Friday's and bag work on Wednesday's in addition to the regular workouts. And farmer walks...and GHD's...I'm so excited!

Isn't It Ironic...

Everything, except my legs obviously, feels the strongest they've been. Ever. And I'm injured. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say it's because my cardio workouts are virtually non-existent, thus lifting is all I've got right now.

My knee is feeling surprisingly good lately. Must be the squats and lunges working all the cobwebs out.

In regards to kettlebells, I'm finally getting back up there. I was able to push some heavy jerks over the weekend, and today did some heavy LC as well.

Saturday's KB work: 3:00/3:00 jerks on 12kg, 10/10 jerks on 16kg, 5/5 jerks on 20kg

Today: 2:30/2:30 LC on 16kg (pushed 8 reps a minute, need to get the reps up there so I can make rank 1 in February), then 1:00/1:00 LC on the 20kg at 6 reps each hand

Not too shabby, though I'm sure I'll be feeling it tomorrow.

2 Months Post-Injury...

And I can finally squat parallel! And lunge relatively pain free! All with no weights, but one step at a time. Which, again, is so freakin' hard when your mentality just wants to push hard all the time.

How am I getting better? Trigger point dry needling (and following what Mark says). Basically an acupuncture needle is used to get a fast twitch response from your muscles releasing knots or "gunk". It's truly a life saver and I'd be a long way from where I am right now if it weren't for it. I've had a lot of areas needled for various things; shoulders, traps, lats, rotator cuffs from Muay Thai or "touch up" work from kettlebells; the areas next to the spine and lower lat from kettlebells; calves from running or training; quads and IT band for various reasons; and now I can add glute and abductor/adductor to the list. It isn't exactly fun while getting it done, as seen below by my facial expression, but the results are amazing.

So, more of the same for workouts, but I now get to add in weighted single leg deadlifts and body weight squats and lunges.

Kettlebell work is progressing slowly. I tore my hand Monday doing pull-ups, but that was after a blistering snatch sprint set on Friday and and long cycle on Monday. Friday was 6 rounds of 1min each hand followed by a 1min rest on the 12kg. I got 20 each hand on the first set, then 24 each hand the next five rounds with the exception of my very last round with my right hand. I felt my palm shift and decided 6 reps wasn't worth a bloody mess. Monday I got 3mins each hand on LC on the 16kg, just kept a steady 6reps per minute. Wasn't great, but it's mostly my grip and rack at this point. Legs seem to be holding up fine.

So...all in all, I'm feeling better. I long to kick or knee something, but being this much closer to fully functional makes me happy.

Training from last week through today

Doug has started new programming for me, so it's been a strange transition and has had some tweaking going on based on schedule, etc.

Monday & Thursday are chest and back days,
Tuesday & Friday are arms and legs.
Wednesday & Saturday are shoulders and abs.
PT/Rehab work daily.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, still have to get in my kettlebell work, since we are officially going to San Francisco in February!!! Time to get my rank 1 on the 16kg so I can start to work towards the 24kg in November!

I'm now on an A week and B week schedule. Some days are the same each week based on my schedule and my knee's limitations.

So far this week:

• Monday: 10x6 - DB press/DB 1-arm rows, push-ups/pull-ups (I STILL hurt from this, STILL), and 1:00 each arm long cycle sprint sets (x5) on the 16kg
• Tuesday: 10x6 - RDL's/skull crushers
• Wednesday: 2:00 each hand 16KG LC set, 2:00 each hand 14KG Jerks, 10x6 shoulder press/plate raises, then PT in the evening
• Today: 10x6 incline press/BB rows

On the PT, I have much better range of motion of this week. I get to work on properly loading my left knee/glute this week. My needling session last night was AWFUL. I still have sore spots today, but am so close to having the exact same range of motion as my right side!!! YAY! I am happy with the progress I'm making, but still frustrated it's going to be a long process. 8-10 more weeks until I'm close to 100%. That's a hard pill to swallow. But, with how much I do, need to make sure everything is properly prepared to use again. It's absolutely killing me that I can't kick anything. Or squat. Or lunge. Or jump...the list goes on. Just have to remind myself to be patient.

Workouts for 10-25 and 10-26

Workouts from Friday and Saturday of this week.

Friday, supersets of 5x10 (a little pressed for time, hence 5 sets, not 6):

• 15# db curls/20#skull crushers
• women's bar curls/12# double tri extensions
• 25# hammer curls/#40 straight leg deadlifts
• 25# weighted box dips (feet up too)/95# calf raises
• finish: "drop set" on bands chin-ups - 5 no band, 5 with lightest bands, 15 with medium band

Saturday:
 First 10:00 long cycle since Georgia comp! Granted it was on the 12kg, but I made it through without tweaking my knee! Progress! I made sure to push the pace quite a bit, so I got 56 each hand for 112 total!!!

Saturday's weight training, 6 rounds:

• shoulder presses; R1-2 - 15#, R3-4 - 20#, R5-6 - 25#
• plate raises; R1-6 - 20#
• farmer walk, length of gym and back; R1-2 - 20KG, R3-4 - 24KG, R5-6 - 28KG
• Finish: 30 Shrugs at 40#, 30 Wall Ball ABMAT sit-ups at 20#

There are times you want to baby and coddle your injury, and there are times when you just want to tell it to go f*ck itself. Today is one of those days.

Workout from 10-23-2013 with Weights

The workout wasn't bad, but the abs and finish were horrible.

Shoulders and Abs (shoulders are always superset in 10reps/6sets; DB = dumbbell; abs are 3 rounds):

• 15# DB shoulder press/12# DB front raises
• 15# standing rear delt flyes/15# plate raises
• 8# decline rear flyes/15# plate circles
• 12# piston presses/12# side raises
• 25# first round, then 35# next 2 rounds 20/20 standing oblique plate raises
• 20# ball 20 med ball toe touch crunches
• 25# first round, then 35# next 2 round 10 12-6 sit-ups w/ med ball (only 10 because the abmat makes me want to throw up)

Rest.

Cardio, 1 min ea., 5 rounds:

• 12KG KB snatches
• 12KG KB snatches
• 12# sledgehammer hammer tire
• air dyne
• negative leg raises
• rest

Workout notes:

• need to go heavier on shoulder presses
• Ab section was horrible. Instantaneous soreness. So. logically, I put even MORE abs in my FGB portion.
•  FGB finish wasn't bad, but snatches after the above shoulder workout sucked. Hammer tire after the snatches sucked. Air dyne always sucks. And more abs after the above abs also sucked.

I can't wait for some DOMS tomorrow.

Progress Is Sloooooowwwwww...

I'm slowly figuring out what I can and cannot do as my knee is healing. I can do long cycle with the 12kg now, which makes me happy, but it's stupid light so I have to go at breakneck speed in order to work up even a little sweat, and I can't go 10 minutes yet because of the repetitive motion/impact so. I can't squat but I can hi the tire with a hammer, which is very gratifying. I can do straight leg deadlifts, I can use the air dyne and use the rower very slowly to increase my ROM. Yesterday Doug had me start sitting on a bench and getting up again, about 20 reps making sure I don't push through my strong/healthy side too much in order to get my depth on my ROM even better too. Progress is slow though. If I pull my shoe on or off just wrong, it tweaks my knee. If I trip over something or catch my foot on something, it tweaks it. But, I can finally cross my legs!!! Yay!!! As an avid leg crosser at work, this makes me very happy!

Anyway, what are my plans for today? This, and hopefully it'll be as hellacious in real life as it is in my mind.
Shoulders and Abs (shoulders are always superset in 10reps/6sets; DB = dumbbell; abs are 3 rounds):

• DB shoulder press/DB front raises
• rear delt flyes/plate raises
• decline rear flyes/plate circles
• piston presses/side raises
• 20/20 standing oblique plate raises
• 20 med ball toe touch crunches
• 10 12-6 sit-ups w/ med ball (only 10 because the abmat makes me want to throw up)

Rest.

Cardio, 1 min ea., 5 rounds:

• KB snatches
• KB snatches
• hammer tire
• air dyne
• negative leg raises
• rest

Seems like a lot, but let's face it, I haven't done cardio since my knee got injured, so whatever definition (abs, arms, a little on the legs, etc.) I had is long gone. Time to get my ass in gear.