20 Apr Ashman – moving on, moving up… Training updates
Before I dive into my log here, the blog image… dude that was a horrible song…
Part of the challenge of life is to pick yourself off the ground and move forward at all costs. Sure, we have times when we want to quit, nobody ever went through life without feeling like quitting once or twice. If you say no you are a liar.
Throughout my life I have had many of those moments, both with lifting and life in general, but I found a way to keep moving forward. Sometimes moving forward was painful, sometimes it was easy, but quitting wasn’t going to happen even if I wanted to.
For the sake of discussion let’s talk about my lifting and training career for a few and not my personal setbacks.
When I hurt my back a few years ago, it made heavy lower body work a chore. I originally slipped a disk playing rugby and aggravated it playing flag football when I went to make a diving catch and hit the ground flat out on my back. It was winter and the ground was unforgiving. Coming back from that I could barely squat 225 for a few reps without pain and it was maddening. I went from pushing 500+ and at one point hit over 600 in the gym (never was a great squatter, unfortunately, and those lifts aren’t competition lifts so they don’t count as official) and having to use 225 while dealing with back pain was demoralizing.
I never fully got back to where I was before the injury with squatting. Sure I hit 500+ in the gym after that, but it was a one shot deal and aches in my back prevented me from pushing more.
When I was getting ready for Relentless Detroit I aggravated the disk again. This time I was squatting 455 for a few reps and once I racked it, I felt the shooting pain down my leg and the back starting going into spasms.
I scheduled a visit to the chiro and had an MRI done to show what the deal was. The disk is herniated but it’s not to the point where I need to worry about surgery but I have to be careful. It was also shown that I have disk degeneration which caused me to shrink an inch but that is common among athletes and lifters because of the stress you put your body under.
At the time I gave up squatting heavy for good and decided to stick to push/pulls.
After Relentless MN I came to a decision. I want to compete in full power and test myself. I want to work with the injuries I do have and find a way to make them better.
The only way I can do that is to lift equipped. It is taking on a challenge that is 100% new to me. Doing so will help me work with my back issues as it keeps my back at a favorable angle in the hole rather than bent over putting shearing force on my lumbar. That shearing force seems to be what aggravates it the most.
Taking on new challenge is daunting, it is hard and it is fun at the same time.
What I did was mentally analyze my position, my injury history and my future as a lifter and decided to find a way to work around it and still keep doing what I love to do.
Quitting crossed my mind for a short time with the squat because of what I had to work with but when presented an option, I took it and I will work with it.
Learning to lift equipped is humbling and I will have to take it slow to learn the differences from raw lifting, to learn how to use the gear and to rebuild myself.
That was some long-winded shit to read for a training log….
Wednesday 15th April 2015
** Flat Barbell Bench Press **
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 228.0 lbs x 5 reps
– 275.0 lbs x 5 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 5 reps
** Bench Raw 3 Board **
– 315.0 lbs x 3 reps
** Shirted Bench To 3 Board **
– 365.0 lbs x 2 reps
– 385.0 lbs x 2 reps
– 405.0 lbs x 2 reps
Easy weight and a minor tweak to the shirt to help me adjust to it even more by 405 Barbell owner, Chris Thompson.
** DB Floor Press **
– 100.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 100.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 100.0 lbs x 10 reps
** Front Dumbbell Raise **
– 25.0 lbs x 15 reps
– 25.0 lbs x 15 reps
– 25.0 lbs x 15 reps
** Rear Delt Cuban Press Combo **
– 10.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 10.0 lbs x 20 reps
– 10.0 lbs x 20 reps
** Crabill Shrugs **
– 50.0 lbs x 45 reps
– 50.0 lbs x 45 reps
– 50.0 lbs x 45 reps
** Rope Push Down **
– 85.0 lbs x 25 reps
– 85.0 lbs x 25 reps
– 85.0 lbs x 25 reps
Thursday 16th April 2015
** Neutral Chin Up **
– 2 reps
– 2 reps
– 7 reps
– 7 reps
– 7 reps
** Rack Rows With Mini Bands **
– 135.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 235.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 235.0 lbs x 8 reps
– 235.0 lbs x 8 reps
These are a bitch to do but I like them.
** Sumo Barbell Shrugs **
– 315.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 315.0 lbs x 10 reps
** Heavy Band Retractions **
– 15 reps
– 15 reps
– 15 reps
Combined a heavy and strong band for these today.
** Romanian Deadlift **
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps
– 185.0 lbs x 10 reps
** Glute-Ham Raise **
– 5 reps
– 5 reps
– 5 reps
Some extra hamstring work to bring them up more.
** Dumbbell Curl **
– 30.0 lbs x 15 reps
– 30.0 lbs x 15 reps
– 30.0 lbs x 15 reps
– 30.0 lbs x 15 reps
All in all a couple decent days. Taking shit slow with the gear, learning it and let’s see what happens.
admin
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