vicarz | (no subject)

This is my first week of "not legs" gymtime. I'm taking a month off because for months my glute (MY ASS) has been screaming at me that it's hurt. I tried stretching, rolling on rollers, rolling on a ball, and going lighter and more careful...nothing has helped, it hurts more, and my weights are all going down. So I'm in rehab.

I feel like a guy. I'm in the gym doing all upper body work. I hope I get better before I look like a mid-life-brotard, with all chest and biceps but no legs. I am used to seeing my legs in the mirror and getting all proud, seeing this meat where there didn't used to be any, and reflecting on what tricks I can do. I want to quickly return to seeing that guy who takes 315+ into the bucket for reps every Sunday, and having that envy be a vision of something that I might achieve rather than a distant wish-I-could that it's morphing into.

One drawback of this rehab is revisiting my unquestioned workout regimen. Like the football ref call screaming in the mainstream news,
today's news is about a ref-call in a game last night, forcing me to reflect on how with important things going on around them, the average mainstream USian is wailing instead about a bunch of grown men played millions to play a game with different colored jerseys on...go green! USA! USA! Idiots...
not competing with theoretical other weightlifters is forcing me to realize that my strength training is
OPTIONAL
I don't need to do this. At all. I can run, swim, masturbate with peanut butter...I could even eat mcfood and get fat - everything I do is a choice. Perhaps it's good to revisit the options - the most compelling is endurance training, and really I should work in more cardio stuff, but instead I find...I like strength. Guess I'm a dwarf. Anyone want me to forge them a +2 axe?
I would like you on a long black lead...

The plus side, another plus side, or being forced into rehab, is discovering the weak areas. I have more time and less compound movements - Sunday I discovered that back raises really hurt. I think of my back as strong, but raises, done right, with only 25 lbs at my chin, left my back screaming like I had deadlifted a jeep. Something tells me I found a sticking point?
I've also revisited my maxes. I've DL 405, but did I do it right? I may just be ground-squatting the weight. My 315 squat was parallel, but who cares? Shouldn't I be taking it until my thighs touch calves? Or was my knee pain really based on that depth?

I know this is all I talk about, but my personal life is personal, work is confidential (or at least my funny stories don't have names attached), and you probably don't care about how I level my wizard in diablo. I'm boring but I like it...I won't pretend it makes for good storytelling.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But done right means fewer injuries.
What I hate about my golds is they charge for everything and, so far, make you feel like a fool if you ask about proper form or equipment use. that, and their frakking FOX fetish continue to piss me off.

So -- good luck and enjoy it while you can.

I don't pay a dime - not sure that's a good approach but it's what I've done.

I found FOX not to be them but the FOX nuts in their pool. Those who pay membership and want faux are insistent, the rest of us give a rat's ass so often the default is fox. However, fox is annoying but perhaps less annoying than ESPN which is their other default.

Lately they're doign more variety though, TBS, spanish channel - all over the map.

The part I find most frustrating when switching to other exercises to allow another part to heal is that I didn't reallly choose to switch exercises, so I end up feeling annoyed with my body for not being able to do what I really want. But then when I step back, I have to admit that it's probably a good idea not to focus entirely on the original plan anyhow. Good luck with your workouts!