Shoulders, Triceps & Cardio Day
Lifting
Lifting Summary
Today's lifting session was the scariest for me. As usual, I warmed up with 10 minutes of rowing (see cardio below), then I did one warm-up set of Arnold Presses with 25lbs to get the blood flowing in my shoulders. I didn't have any shoulder problems, although I should probably lower the weight on shoulder press next time because I was straining somewhat in my back to complete my last 5 reps, which is bad. I felt guilty about it afterwards.
The dumbbell lying one-arm rear lateral raise, aka reverse flies, were a good addition. I really felt my rhomboids and rear delts working hard. It's a controllable weight, but it got difficult towards the end in the second and third sets, so it's a good weight. Because it's such a light weight, it'll be hard to progressively increase weight on this lift; so I may increase reps before increasing weight. As I mentioned in the workout plan, this lift is designed to increase shoulder stability by incorporating scapular muscles in the shoulder exercises. My back and shoulders are both weak points for me, so this workout is great.
The forward rotations are for my rotator, which has been chronically strained for about 5 years now. I want to shore up that weakness before getting back to heavy weights. It's not worth risking re-injury or new injuries because I have to compensate for that weakness. I'll be adding in additional rotator workouts as I progress in strength, but I felt pretty crampy and tight after this first workout; I don't want to overdo it and delay my healing process further.
Shrugs are pretty standard. I need to incorporate some trap work into my program and this day is easier than back day, so I plugged it here. I did feel like my back strains when I do these, which concerns me. Not sure what I need to do to make the middle part of my back stronger. Maybe I just need to do more ab work or more stability work for my back. I do know that it's odd I can squat more than I can dead lift, so back weakness in general could be the culprit. I'll just keep plugging away and look into some more research as I go; see if anything comes up.
Triceps were the scariest part of this workout, since it was triceps exercises that caused my elbow problem in the first place. The reverse pulldowns felt good, no problems there. I like reverse pulldowns for my recovery period because they work the inner and lower heads of the triceps muscle and increase the focus on forearm strength, which may help me shore up some weaknesses that are causing my pain.
Skullcrushers were the riskier of my two triceps workouts. I was a little nervous about them since I'm pretty sure they were the exercise that really instigated my elbow pain. There's so much tension on your forearms and all throughout the triceps during this exercise that it can cause a lot of straining. My focus is on controlling the weight smoothly and slowly, rather than on lifting the maximum amount of weight. I started with 50lbs and felt that it was too much for my injury, so I dropped the weight to 40lbs and focused on control and form. I included this workout, in part, because I knew it was the one that contributed to my injury and I want to strengthen my weaknesses in a controlled way. Additionally, this workout is one of the few triceps exercises that works the entire triceps muscle group from the elbow all the way to the lats, so it's one of the best triceps exercises available. Since my volume is relatively low and I'm only doing a couple exercises, I wanted to make sure my triceps were getting a well-rounded workout to prevent imbalances.
Cardio
Cardio Summary
Cardio was good today. My goal was to hit 400 calories burned, which I managed in about 45 minutes. I can't row long enough without stopping to hit that mark...yet, so I mixed it up and started with the stair climber. The first 10 minutes of rowing was my warmup. It was pretty easy.
The stair climber is always tough right after lifting, but gets easier towards the end. I want to phase it out as soon as possible, though, because it's inefficient at burning calories and it's hard on my feet. I do like reading while doing it though. We'll see if my feet adapt.
The last rowing session I went just about as hard as the first time and went until I hit 161 calories, which put me at my 400. I'll try to row more and stair climb less moving forward until I can row the full 400 calories. Then I'm going to start trying to increase my pace to get to 400 sooner. Once that's easy, I'll increase my calorie target.
Injury Report
I feel no change from yesterday, which I'll call a win. I still feel tension in my elbows, but if they're better or worse, it's not a noticeable change.Diet Log
My diet today was pretty close to what I wanted. Still too little protein, just about right on fat, and too many carbs. I was just over my target calories, but was still well under my daily maintenance threshold. I'll call the day a win. I do, however, need to figure out how to increase the amount of protein I consume to hit my target. I was still about 30 grams of protein under and 30 grams of carbs over. That's pretty close though in the grand scheme of things. I'll keep fiddling with it.
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