I have to admit this website has inspired me. For the majority of this year I've been down and out as a result of tearing my left pectoralis major and the nasty surgery to re-insert the pec back into my humerus ------> tendon was wired and drilled back into my arm. It took several months just to get my mobility back in my arm.
Late September I discovered this site and was ticked off at myself for allowing the surgery to get the best of me, and was basically sick and tired of feeling weak. I bought some push up handles and 10 lb. dumbbells and got to work. Soon there after I was cranking out push ups to the tune of doing 525 push-ups in the space of 40 minutes. I was taking the 10 lb. dumbbells and doing walking lunges in the parking lot of my condo. I would then shoulder press the 10 pound weights and do sets of 20....soon it was sets of 50.....and then sets of 85.
I went to Sears and bought 25 lb. dumbbells. I did the walking lunges outside and the shoulder presses in my little condo. I started at sets of 20.....soon it was sets of 60!
Screw it. I'm going back ot Sears. (I thought to myself) I bought 45 lb. dumbbells. Again, walking lunges outside, shoulder presses inside. I could give a *uck what the neighbors thought ----> I'm on a mission.
Here we are today and I'm doing standing shoulder presses for sets of 15 to 20 reps with 60 pound dumbbells and for push-ups I wear a 50 lb weighted vest. I can curl 55 lb. dumbbells for 10 reps....I'm back.
In the gym, I will focus on back squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, standing shoulder presses, weighted chin-ups, uprights rows, decline sit-ups, and jumping rope. I do the weighted push-ups in the privacy of my home. I will NOT work a regimented, fixed schedule.
Instead, I will lift when I feel good. I am focusing on high reps to get my lifting endurance back in form. I will start front squats in January....not doing them yet for the obvious reasons
My goal: Learn Olympic lifting
Come mid-February when I'm one-year post-operative I will begin to learn clean and jerks and snatches. I could care less how much weight I'm NOT lifting, as I know form is key. I want strength, I want development, I want to stay focused.
For now on every muscle in my body will be tight. I don't have a girlfriend, and I don't want one. I want to lift and get stupid strong. Forget everybody else, this is about me.
Weighted chin-ups:
Bodyweight (152 lbs.) 26 reps
B/W with 25 lbs. 8 reps (2 sets)
B/W with 25 lb.s 6 reps
B/W with 35 lbs. 5 reps
Decline sit-ups:
Failure
On Saturday I will lift even more and better. I will include upright rows to get my trap strength up to where it should be. In a few months I want to be up a few pounds to about 156 pounds in weight and I wanna lift heavier with higher reps. I will be conditioned to learn oly lifting when the time comes.
Hey Johnny,
I feel for you man. I tore my pec back in 1996. I wrote about the whole ordeal in my latest article. I commend you for getting the surgery to correct it. At the time it happened to me I was 21-22 and really didn't know the extent of the damage that I had caused. I declined the surgery because it sounded way too overwhelming for me a college student at the time.
I regained most of my strength, but I still suffer from asymmetries on my left side. My incline bench is back to 225, but that is the most I'll go.
Good job and the journey to getting back in the game certainily defines who you are.
Thanks for the kind words. If I lived in CT I would take you up as an olympic lift trainer. They are hard to find in the philly area. I'll look at your website after work!
310 lbs. is my new max. Also, I've been able to increase the number of reps on the lighter weights. Not sure if you guys and gals that train for olympic lifts agree with me, but I really believe the super high reps I've been doing have helped a lot.
When I'm one-year pot-op from pec surgery I will begin my oly training. For now, I'm focusing on getting strength and form. Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week I'm putting six 45 lb. plates on the bar for a total 315 lbs on my squats. This will be fun to see. Some guy actually came up to me and said my form looked good and that my ass was practically hitting my ankles - Yes!!!!!
After this did some deads, sit-ups, calf-raises, etc........ blahblahblahblah.......
Tomorrow morning I'm gonna do some bodybuilding stuff like weighted chins, dumbell curls, and lateral raises.
Delts were pretty good today. On one of my sets I was able to do strict, standing shoulder presses with a 145 lbs. for ten, clean reps - - - - > I weighed myself this morning and I'm a whopping 152 lbs. with no clothes on. At 5'2" and 152 lbs. I'm a mjor force to be reckoned with!
This is weird because I think my hips, biceps, lats, and shoulders are stronger now than before my surgery.
I hope I can keep up this momentum, as I wanna be able to standing shoulder presses with 185 lbs., with no jerking, for reps.
Yesterday was not very good, as I've been taking prescription Promethazine/Codeine Syrup for a cough and cold I had. That stuff kinda wore me out making me feel tired and always thirsty. The good news is the cold and cough are out the door.
Went to the gym and did some stuff:
(A) Squats
5 sets of 20 reps with 205 lbs.
(B) Chin-ups
5 sets with bodyweight plus 15 lbs. hanging from the belt
(C) Decline sit-ups with weighted medicine ball
(D) Started to learn how to do dumbbell snatches with just a 45 lb. and then 50 lb. dumbbell.........so that was cool.
Went home after that. Still not 100% from the cough/cold but I'll be there in one more day. Doing 5 sets of 20 reps with 205 lbs. was better than I thought I'd do and at least I got the reps in.
One more thing ------> This woman, Natalie Woolfolk, is awesome. This is very motivating!!!!!!!
Saturday I WILL be doing 20 DEEP squats with 225 lbs. nonstop. I am focused. I know there are some studs on this board doing some serious weight, but seeing how I'm only 152 lbs. when soaking wet, this is not bad. I want more....
"Indeed, man is becoming stronger. May strength be kind and courage gentle."
1 set of 20 reps with 135 lbs.
3 sets of 20 reps with 225 lbs.
1 set of 12 with 245 lbs.
1 set of 10 with 275 lbs.
I AM GETTING BETTER. 3 sets of 20 reps with 225 lbs. is my best so far with the high rep scheme I'm following. I'm telling you....this works. Not too long ago I wasn't doing this weight.
Did a strict shoulder press (no jerking or pushing with my legs) with 175 lbs. like it was nothing. I want to be able to strict shoulder press 185 lbs. soon.
Also, started doing some light clean and jerks for the first time just for fun. I'm only doing 135 lbs. as I want to make sure my form is perfect before I really start really getting into it.
I forgot all about this site. I took some time off, as I was getting some serious tendonitis in my forearms. I kept icing, and mild anti-inflammatory meds, etc.....but nothing worked. I decided to buy some heavy duty hand grippers with a 200 lb. tension and use them while driving to see if it would help. I was up for anything at that point to fix my aching forearms. It worked! People stare at stop lights as I would crank reps out, but I could care less. It totally cured my tendonitis. In fact, it made me stronger having a better grip. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Squatted 135 pounds for 80 non-stop reps on Saturday. It was killer and I loved every damn rep too. I've also been super-setting walking lunges with 20-rep squats to see how close I can come to throwing up. If you want to develop your legs I suggest high reps. But what do I know, right?
Here's what I've been doing all winter after I come home from the gym and right before I hit the shower. I'm starting to look a little bit like bodybuilding which is what I don't want because I don't care much for that stupid look. Probably somewhat due to the super high rep squat and chin up routines I've been doing. Anyway, I wear a 50 lb. vest to do the push ups. Normal bodyweight push ups are a joke for me so I have to wear the vest.
I rule. I picked up 135 lbs. from the ground, put it across my shoulders and did 10 walking lunges, go right into a 10 deep back squats, followed by 10 shoulder presses, and repeat going from one end of a basketball court to the other without putting the weight down.
Finally putting the weight down I did 25 slow, dead hang pull-ups. no kipping or jerking here.
Ran 1.5 miles in 9:36, followed by 100 push-ups, followed by 92 sit-ups, and swam 500 yards.
All yous are doin these little 1, 2 , or 3 rep routines would get destroyed from this. This is high volume and requires stamina. Aint gonna get that from 3 rep workouts.....sorry.
Ordinary men doing extraordinary things. Its people like this that keep me motivated to train hard with weights and swim hard. I know of no one that has pushed themselves harder than these men. I supported these guys back in the '90's and miss it tremendously. No big time weightlifters here....
Well, I turned 37 yesterday and since I had very little time for the gym yesterday, I celebrated by myself where I did a non-stop, 37 rep scheme with some of my favorite exercises.
Squats with 205 lbs for 37 reps (This one was fun!)
Standing behind-the-neck shoulder presses with 95 lbs. for 37 reps
Pull-ups for 37 reps.....had to stop at 29 then did 8 more
Stiff legged dead lifts with 135 lbs. for 37 reps
Calf raises for 37 reps....can't remember what setting I had it on! Is this my first sign of getting older????????
Straight bar arm curls with 70 lbs. for 37 reps.
This work out wore me out. I don't know whether to laugh or cry right now, 'cause I'm sore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but i have a better chance of finishing that - then you unracking 800lbs
Unracking 800 lbs.??? I don't even know what that means! Does it mean "move?" I don't know? There's a lot of things people can do that I can't do, Frank. So i'm not really concerned about it. Ya know?
I hope you can a finish a 1.5 mile run under 10:00 minutes, and swim 500 yards. It's not that hard. If you can't it means you're out of shape.
Been a while since I posted any progress, as I have been very focused with my career. Government contracting is brutal. Anybody who thinks working for the Federal Government is easy, is either ignorant or gets their information from gov't employees who have very little-to-zero responsibility. I'm all about competitive technical evaluations on complex, non-commercial engineering requirements and cost realism analysis.
I can now press 100 lb. dumbbells for 10 reps. like you care, but then again I don't care about many people. Progress has been slow but steady. I can do 10 dead-hang chin ups with 50 lbs. of additional weight, which is another improvement. I can C&J 200 lbs., which is an improvement over the 135 lbs. I was doing 6 months ago.
Little Johnny gets motivated!
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