Early thoughts from getting back into lifting
There's been a whole lot going on these past few weeks. This past week even. The Corona scare is starting to die down, at least where I'm living, but there's still the George Floyd incident. I learned about the suicide of Hana Kimura from the show Terrace House, she was only 22. Also learned about Claire Wineland's story while surfing YouTube. Made me think about a lot of things, all these incidents made me sad, angry, somber, self-reflective. I tried writing a post about it, and it helped me organize my thoughts, but didn't make me feel good about posting it so I didn't. Maybe I'll feel more comfortable later on, more solid about my perspective.
But on the brighter side of things, my gym reopened this week. They were obviously very very cautious about the virus and had rules and plans created accordingly. And they're not the most comfortable to follow but I'm just glad I have my gym now.
So since it's opened this Monday (yesterday), I've only had two whole days at the gym. But it was enough to do one leg day, one upper body day. I'd like to talk about what I did as my first workouts since coming back to the gym and how I'm feeling currently, and then my plan for the next couple weeks.
Then I did the same for deadlifts, sets of 5. Went up until 110kg, and then my grip really suffered. That and my back, my back was on fire, which was greatly expected. While I was out of the gym, I would stand for long periods of time and realize that my back was getting tight very quickly. Some exercises regarding the gluteus medius usually work for me too (to minimize hip shift and consequential stress on the back), but to me it's usually a sign that, straight up, my back has just gotten weaker, or hasn't been used as much. And it was expected because I didn't really have a way to substitute deadlifts in my quarantine workouts. Now that I think about it I probably could have done some superman's, like sit ups but for your back sort of thing. So maybe something to keep in mind for future potential quarantine workouts. Lord please don't let that have to be a thing again.
So yeah, a day after the leg workout and my back and forearms are sore, as expected. Glutes are sore too, the high part of my hamstrings as well. Also expected. What was surprising but makes sense is that my traps and calves are also a little sore. My traps are really sore from the deadlift holds, I guess I hadn't really worked on those, and it kind of slipped my mind that those would be huge muscles in the deadlift. It's kind of interesting to be aware of these things now. And yeah interestingly my calves are sore. They were really sore right after the workout, but now not so much. I think it's due to my squats, and how my balance wasn't completely over the center of my feet, so the rocking caused my calves to be heavily involved in the balancing act. And that was sort of expected too, just didn't think they'd be that sore lol. Also another good reminder to keep maintain center balance on my feet.
In terms of arm day, I pretty much did the same thing, sets of 5 for bench press. BP was interesting because, so I went up to 70kg for 5 which is great, I mean I hardly remember what I was doing before and I think that's actually pretty good. Ok I just looked at the one rep max calculator, and so if I did 70kg for 5 reps at RPE8 then my one rep max is 84kg. So not bad, I think it was like 90 something before. Not bad at all. So yeah anyways, BP was interesting because the weight felt really heavy but I don't feel sore. At least not as sore as my legs. Probably because push ups are pretty close to BP. Granted, the whole "pin my scapula into the bench" thing felt really foreign and weird today. So there's definitely form stuff I have to relearn but I think I'll get it. But muscles wise, no big surprises when doing the BP. My triceps will probably be sore tomorrow. Don't feel them now though.
Oh yeah, also my hands are sore. Probably from deadlifts. I love it when my hands get sore. My hands get noticeably meatier when I'm lifting, they feel pretty skinny now. I don't know, there's something about having meaty hands that's satisfying.
I'll probably look to do squats 3x, and deadlifts 2x a week. Will probably be still sore in the back tomorrow to do deadlifts comfortably so at least this week I'll be doing that.
Honestly I feel like for the legs, especially for the squats, I might get back into pre-closure shape a lot quicker than I thought it would take. But then again I'll have to crunch the numbers again and see what "pre-closure shape" actually is.
But I think what really helped maintain my squat was the exercise I was doing at home during quarantine, which is to squat the person living with me. I asked him if he could just hop on my back and I could squat him. And that actually really helped develop my quads. Mostly because, the movement is actually a lot like a belt squat, which you might be familiar with if you've watched quad strengthening videos. So you do a squat, but instead of the weight being loaded on a barbell and on your upper back, you have a belt on, and the weight is being linked to something like a harness on the belt. So what that forces you to have to do is to really drive with the quads. So here's a pic of what it looks like:
So now that the weight is directly pulling down on your hips, there's not real way for the hamstrings or back to get in the squat. Because if you have a barbell on your upper back, you could theoretically straighten your legs, and then bring the bar up using your back, glutes and hamstrings. Obviously no one'll really do that, but my point is that it's easier for the posterior chain to aid in the traditional back squat.
And so why I brought up this belt squat is because, if you have another person on your back, it's kind of like the same feeling.
The pic is super random but I think you'll get where I'm going lol. So in the case of the picture, the woman is placing her weight right above the man's hips. So because of that, again, it's hard to engage the posterior chain when the weight is placed this low.
This was why I felt like I got a huge workout on my quads. And the effects showed on my squat, and how I had pretty much maintained strength, maybe even gotten stronger quads.
So a question in my mind was, ok so should I keep doing these lifts as accessories? And at the current moment, I've decided to hold off. The reasons are 1. the stress on my quads which led to minor discomforts in the tendon areas, which made me afraid of injury, and 2. It would be pretty hard to simulate at my current gym. Well unless I use the quad press machine. Hmm. Okay I might have to think about it. But the thing is that, I just like squatting more lol. It's more fun. And I feel like I'd just be naturally motivated to squat. Hard to really say for the machine. I'll have to see.
Okay that write-up on the belt squat/ carry-person-on-back squat came out of nowhere, I feel like organizing it and making it a different post but I'll just leave it here for now...
Anyways, on another note for future workouts, will probably look to throw some accessory movements like pause squats if my form is kind of whack. I actually felt a noticeable hip shift in my squat, shifting to the left, what with the ankle mobility being worse on the right side. But also irritating because the squat rack and the mirror in front of it isn't exactly perpendicular. So it messes with me. Oh well. I'll just have to be on the lookout for that, and realize that my squat can't be perfect all the time.
And yeah pretty much same story with BP. Probably ride all of these out with 5 rep sets. Feel like I'll get to normal real quick.
So yeah, that's pretty much it for the write-up. If anyone can learn anything from this, it's that I didn't think as hard about what to do to get back to pre-gym closure shape, and that I didn't go absolutely ham as soon as I got back into the gym. I hope this might help you make your own decisions on what to do after you get back to the gym. I hope your gym has opened up already. Because it was emotionally hard for me to stay out, and I can imagine it must be, or must have been, for you as well. Take care.
But on the brighter side of things, my gym reopened this week. They were obviously very very cautious about the virus and had rules and plans created accordingly. And they're not the most comfortable to follow but I'm just glad I have my gym now.
So since it's opened this Monday (yesterday), I've only had two whole days at the gym. But it was enough to do one leg day, one upper body day. I'd like to talk about what I did as my first workouts since coming back to the gym and how I'm feeling currently, and then my plan for the next couple weeks.
What I did
So what I did at the gym was pretty simple. For leg day, I did sets of 5 for squats. Bumped up weight until I felt the weight was heavy, and then stuck to the weight for like 2 or 3 sets. I think it ended up being 2 since my right quad started cramping in a weird way. I was able to get to 115kg, which was actually really good since my goal was to ideally hit 120kg, and I felt like I could have, but just wanted to be careful about the right quad and to not push myself too hard the first day, since I didn't find a good reason to.Then I did the same for deadlifts, sets of 5. Went up until 110kg, and then my grip really suffered. That and my back, my back was on fire, which was greatly expected. While I was out of the gym, I would stand for long periods of time and realize that my back was getting tight very quickly. Some exercises regarding the gluteus medius usually work for me too (to minimize hip shift and consequential stress on the back), but to me it's usually a sign that, straight up, my back has just gotten weaker, or hasn't been used as much. And it was expected because I didn't really have a way to substitute deadlifts in my quarantine workouts. Now that I think about it I probably could have done some superman's, like sit ups but for your back sort of thing. So maybe something to keep in mind for future potential quarantine workouts. Lord please don't let that have to be a thing again.
So yeah, a day after the leg workout and my back and forearms are sore, as expected. Glutes are sore too, the high part of my hamstrings as well. Also expected. What was surprising but makes sense is that my traps and calves are also a little sore. My traps are really sore from the deadlift holds, I guess I hadn't really worked on those, and it kind of slipped my mind that those would be huge muscles in the deadlift. It's kind of interesting to be aware of these things now. And yeah interestingly my calves are sore. They were really sore right after the workout, but now not so much. I think it's due to my squats, and how my balance wasn't completely over the center of my feet, so the rocking caused my calves to be heavily involved in the balancing act. And that was sort of expected too, just didn't think they'd be that sore lol. Also another good reminder to keep maintain center balance on my feet.
In terms of arm day, I pretty much did the same thing, sets of 5 for bench press. BP was interesting because, so I went up to 70kg for 5 which is great, I mean I hardly remember what I was doing before and I think that's actually pretty good. Ok I just looked at the one rep max calculator, and so if I did 70kg for 5 reps at RPE8 then my one rep max is 84kg. So not bad, I think it was like 90 something before. Not bad at all. So yeah anyways, BP was interesting because the weight felt really heavy but I don't feel sore. At least not as sore as my legs. Probably because push ups are pretty close to BP. Granted, the whole "pin my scapula into the bench" thing felt really foreign and weird today. So there's definitely form stuff I have to relearn but I think I'll get it. But muscles wise, no big surprises when doing the BP. My triceps will probably be sore tomorrow. Don't feel them now though.
Oh yeah, also my hands are sore. Probably from deadlifts. I love it when my hands get sore. My hands get noticeably meatier when I'm lifting, they feel pretty skinny now. I don't know, there's something about having meaty hands that's satisfying.
Future Plans
So my plan for the future is really simple, for both legs and arms: get back to lifting levels prior to the gym being closed, and then resume my workout routine (The Bridge program).I'll probably look to do squats 3x, and deadlifts 2x a week. Will probably be still sore in the back tomorrow to do deadlifts comfortably so at least this week I'll be doing that.
Honestly I feel like for the legs, especially for the squats, I might get back into pre-closure shape a lot quicker than I thought it would take. But then again I'll have to crunch the numbers again and see what "pre-closure shape" actually is.
But I think what really helped maintain my squat was the exercise I was doing at home during quarantine, which is to squat the person living with me. I asked him if he could just hop on my back and I could squat him. And that actually really helped develop my quads. Mostly because, the movement is actually a lot like a belt squat, which you might be familiar with if you've watched quad strengthening videos. So you do a squat, but instead of the weight being loaded on a barbell and on your upper back, you have a belt on, and the weight is being linked to something like a harness on the belt. So what that forces you to have to do is to really drive with the quads. So here's a pic of what it looks like:
So now that the weight is directly pulling down on your hips, there's not real way for the hamstrings or back to get in the squat. Because if you have a barbell on your upper back, you could theoretically straighten your legs, and then bring the bar up using your back, glutes and hamstrings. Obviously no one'll really do that, but my point is that it's easier for the posterior chain to aid in the traditional back squat.
And so why I brought up this belt squat is because, if you have another person on your back, it's kind of like the same feeling.
The pic is super random but I think you'll get where I'm going lol. So in the case of the picture, the woman is placing her weight right above the man's hips. So because of that, again, it's hard to engage the posterior chain when the weight is placed this low.
This was why I felt like I got a huge workout on my quads. And the effects showed on my squat, and how I had pretty much maintained strength, maybe even gotten stronger quads.
So a question in my mind was, ok so should I keep doing these lifts as accessories? And at the current moment, I've decided to hold off. The reasons are 1. the stress on my quads which led to minor discomforts in the tendon areas, which made me afraid of injury, and 2. It would be pretty hard to simulate at my current gym. Well unless I use the quad press machine. Hmm. Okay I might have to think about it. But the thing is that, I just like squatting more lol. It's more fun. And I feel like I'd just be naturally motivated to squat. Hard to really say for the machine. I'll have to see.
Okay that write-up on the belt squat/ carry-person-on-back squat came out of nowhere, I feel like organizing it and making it a different post but I'll just leave it here for now...
Anyways, on another note for future workouts, will probably look to throw some accessory movements like pause squats if my form is kind of whack. I actually felt a noticeable hip shift in my squat, shifting to the left, what with the ankle mobility being worse on the right side. But also irritating because the squat rack and the mirror in front of it isn't exactly perpendicular. So it messes with me. Oh well. I'll just have to be on the lookout for that, and realize that my squat can't be perfect all the time.
And yeah pretty much same story with BP. Probably ride all of these out with 5 rep sets. Feel like I'll get to normal real quick.
So yeah, that's pretty much it for the write-up. If anyone can learn anything from this, it's that I didn't think as hard about what to do to get back to pre-gym closure shape, and that I didn't go absolutely ham as soon as I got back into the gym. I hope this might help you make your own decisions on what to do after you get back to the gym. I hope your gym has opened up already. Because it was emotionally hard for me to stay out, and I can imagine it must be, or must have been, for you as well. Take care.
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