Myosynthesis Forums

I started this discussion as a response on another thread, but I then began to think that it would be appropriate as a start to a workout journal. Here it goes:

I've gone to a linear progression program similar to Starting Strength (only difference is that I added shrugs after deadlifts in workout A). To implement I have reduced my weights so I will be hitting (hopefully) PR's in the lifts around week 4. Patience with smaller weights has always been a problem of mine, but I made a promise to myself to stay committed to the build up portion and be ready to milk this cycle to the end.

Once I have reached my stalling point, I plan to drop down to a 3-day Upper/Lower/Upper plan with weights ~15% lower than where I stalled. This way I work the muscles 2x a week, frequency and volume are lowered while intensity remains high.

I'm not exactly a beginner as I have been working out for the last year and a half, but I have never been on a linear progression cycle and I feel this will really set me up for some good gains here and into the future. My lifts are still quite weak and I realize I have some heavy lifting and eating in front of me. It's time to build that house.

Well, this is not going to be much of a training log due to the fact that I severely injured my knee playing basketball the other day. I have not been able to put weight on it and it has swollen up considerably. I have an appointment with the doctor and we shall see the severity of the injury shortly.

Well that sucks. Keep us updated, since you'll want to keep some kind of mobilization in there as part of the healing process.

It turns out that I have ruptured my left ACL and have a tear in my medial meniscus. I was able to bear weight on the leg about a week after the injury and since then I have been walking around with a very noticeable limp to my gait. Surgery is currently scheduled for the 28th of September.

As for working out I have been able to do upper body workouts consisting of: bench (focus), seated overhead press, shrugs and weighted pull ups (focus). I feel dirty for doing just upper body exercises after years of making fun of others for doing the same. At least I have a viable excuse rather than a severe case of vaginitus which prohibits most gym-goers from nestling under a squat bar.

I have made gains following this workout as my bench has increased to 150x5 from 140x5, each for 3 sets. My pulls ups have increased to BW + 10 lbs for 5x3. All this while only increasing my weight by ~1.5 lbs. While it does suck not being able to play sports or workout my lower body, I have used the time to concentrate on my upper body which was sorely needing improvement.

My surgery date is less than 2 weeks away and I am planning to overreach up until that date. I figure once I have my surgery that will preclude me from working out for at least a week or two and I can then use the post-op time to rest my upper body. Sound plan? I am interested in hearing some thoughts on this.