Total Physique Online

This is my first workout since taking a layoff 5 weeks ago. As it turns out, my shoulder has something wrong with it that may be somewhat significant. The extra rest was necessary to allow for recover. It is not perfect even now. An MRI in one week will reveal more.

Today was just cardio. I resume traditional strength in one week. The next week will be cardio and cables, just to get muscles and lungs use to stress again.

I have started using a line of supplements I will tell you more about in a separate post, but it will be interesting to see just how good they are.

• Parallel Chins BW 10, 8, 8, 7
• Reverse Gravity Rows (off bench) BW 8, 7, 8, 8, 8
• Pushups 30, 20 (not going for 100 here - no need. Save that for tomorrow or day after.)
• High Step-ups off bench (per leg) 15, 15, 15

Plenty of energy. Obviously a bit more taxing than yesterday without going overboard. The idea was to do a slight crossover workout as a means of getting the feel for stress again. So, today was good. Not crazy, but challenging.

OK, so where were we? Oh yes. That’s right. In part 3a we came to the realization that you have the money and the space for a gym that offers just about everything you need for the total strength training experience. You have a fitness level that is challenged by COPD (or maybe you don’t), but nevertheless you are fit enough that you can wrap your mind around the notion of traditional strength training as a vehicle to a healthier you. So, what do you buy? OK, I’ll answer that. But first, a story.
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In my first two columns on COPD, Part 1 and Part 2, my objective was to help you understand that the challenge of exercise is overwhelming for most people, and that for this reason most healthy people choose not to workout. This challenge is made all the more challenging when you also have to deal with COPD.
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This is my first workout since taking a layoff 5 weeks ago. As it turns out, my shoulder has something wrong with it that may be somewhat significant. The extra rest was necessary to allow for recover. It is not perfect even now. An MRI in one week will reveal more.

Today was just cardio. I resume traditional strength in one week. The next week will be cardio and cables, just to get muscles and lungs use to stress again.

I have started using a line of supplements I will tell you more about in a separate post, but it will be interesting to see just how good they are.

• Rope Work 170, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 (60 seconds or less between sessions) Not bad at all. Did not get winded. Endurance good, all things considered I am very pleased.

Very nice, felt very natural. I am surprised that the lack of activity for 5-6 weeks has gone so unnoticed by my respiratory endurance. Naturally, my muscle mass have suffered quite a bit. But that will return in short order.

In my previous column entitled http://totalphysiqueonline.com/2007/01/11/about-exercise-and-copd-part-1/, I wrote a terribly lengthy and somewhat rambling (my apologies) piece on some of the obstacles preventing many people from starting fitness programs. I then expounded a bit further by extrapolating the argument in order to apply it to people who have medical challenges. The point of that column was that if it is hard for basically healthy people to get motivated to exercise, how much harder then is it for people who are not healthy? In this column, I intend to develop the idea a bit further, with the ultimate objective of offering a strategy for overcoming the obstacles that prevent us from achieving the active, healthy and vibrant lifestyle we all aspire to have.
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Serratus, Serratus, Serratus!

Holy Schneikies my Serratus are sore! In fact I hurt all over!

Let me just say it here: If you have never trained with bands/cables, just be warned that they are brutal!

Yesterdays workout left me feeling like someone shoved me inside an industrial sized dryer pre-loaded with 12 bricks, then hit the start button and left me spinning on the “fluff” cycle for about 25 minutes.

I am in pain, baby! I hurt all the way from the top of my beautiful head down to my gorgeous, furry kneecaps. I am loving it!

I also want to add that few exercises hit the serratus muscles better than push-ups! If you don’t know what the serratus muscles are, use the Body Buddy located in the right-most sidebar. Take a look at the Body Buddy image and locate the “rib” muscles on the chart. These muscles, once developed look great, but it takes months to get them to show, and a good diet to reduce bodyfat enough to see them.

Let’s Rock!

• Parallel Chin-ups: 25lbs x 7, 4, 3 (breathing excellent, sinuses clear)
• Push-ups: 40, 15, 15, 15, 15 (what is interesting is my breathing was great and my shoulder did not hurt once. I still want to get it exaamined, but it felt solid.)
• Chest Expander: 3c x 20, 15, 15 (excellent pump, stretch and contraction. I felt this putting pressure of a good sort on my right shoulder. )
• Upright Row: 3c x 15; 5c x 6 (wow, heavy), 6 (wanna stay with these)
• Side Chest Pressout: 1c x 20 (again, this is where my shoulder is at its weakest and most vulnerable and something tells me this is how I quite possibly injured it many months ago. It stands to reason this is how I am going to get it strong as hell again, with heavens help of course), 20 (its very light, I know, but I can feel it in both shoulders, even at this light resistance. Damn I feel like Richard Simmons. Good Lord! But hey, if this gets me stronger than I have ever been, well that is just fine!)
• Tricep Pressout: 2c x 20 x 3
• Pushdown: 2c x 15, 16, 11, 7
• Curls: 2c x 20, 20, 11 (oddly enough this kills my shoulder. But I am pressing forward with light weight and higher reps)

Now that’s what’ahm talkin ’bout! I am getting better. Pump fantastic. Energy, endless. Pump? Awesome. Busting out of my sweatshirt.

See how I feel tomorrow! I may do this again. Lungs feel awesome.

The past week was a wash. I was just too sick to train. I was having such a hard time breathing at night (sinuses) that my sleep was non-existent. Workouts were skipped for concern of making my immune system work even harded. Strength and some density was lost along with some mass. It will be interesting to see how my fitness level is. To be honest I felt weak and I was diagnosed as being dehydrated by the doc. yesterday. So, I am trying to put more water in my body. He also prescribed Ciprofloxacin (sp) for my flu (or whatever it is I have) which is drying me out and dehydrating me even further.

As an aside, my doctor is new. Yesterday was the first day I have ever seen him and while I want to give him the benifit of the doubt I am nevertheless puzzled by his lack of commentary on the side effects of Cipro. Have a look at this link to see side effects. Unbelievable! I should have asked him, true. But a doctor should never let a patient leave his office without warning the patient of the risks of using certain powerful drugs.

Anyway, I wanted to do a small workout tonight focusing on legs.

So:

• Bench Step-ups: 6c x 6 x 3 per leg (much harder than imagined)
• 1 Legged Squats: 6c x 20 per leg (combined for the first time with step-ups and wow! Damn)

As I suspected, I was tired. Ran out of steam fairly quickly, but it could have been worse. Besides, the cables are so brutish that a few lower-body sets with them and you feel worked. That said, my sinuses felt pretty clear and lungs felt good.

Tomorrow I will train again.

Today I am going to begin a targeted stretching routine for my right shoulder. I am days away from getting some medical work done on it, but in the meantime I am going to stretch my shoulders out with bands. I will train lower body and chins early in the day and then do some stretching tonight.

For more on bands, check out:
Elite Fitness Systems

or

Fabled Cables?-Ironmind Enterprises

I will be offering a review on these products soon.

• GoodMorning/Hyper Ext w/HipBelt and Vulcan Rack: 5cd x 15, 20, 20 15 (the Holy Grail of Low Back/Glute/Ham Isolation - damn! Need one or two more cables next session) Spinal Erectus pump from middle of the back down to sacroiliac joint is amazing!
• Calf Raise Cable: 17cd x 20, 15, 13 (damn brutal. I have GOT to get some pics of this.); pump is amazing again.
• Parallel Chins: 25lbs x 7, 3 1/2 10shsec fail
• Pushups: 10, 20, 25, 10, 10, 10, 10, 5

Awesome session. I had a protein drink just before training! I also had good sleep. Imagine me, training in the morning. I have not done that for…well, a long time. This was just incredible. I may consider this part A). I might want to do another session tonight. We will see.

For the last 3 days I have been battling the flu. Not a bad case mind you, but bad enough to leave me run down. That is what I get for staying up 48 hours straight to restore two databases and two blogs. Both of my blogs got nuked. Thank God for database backups.

Whew. Tomorrow is a brand new day!