December 12, 2016 – Week 1, Day 1

5 Minutes Elliptical

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx25

Box Squats (15”)
BWx25

Regular Box Touches
BWx25

Squat Therapy
BWx25

Dead Floor Presses
45x5
45x5
75x3
75x3
105x1
105x1
135x5
165x5
195x5
225x5
255x5

Wide Grip Rack Chins
BWx15
BWx11

Stretching

Comments: Excited to get back to training. I think this is what a dog feels like when they take the cone off and ask if it wants to go for a walkie. Initially, this was going to be tomorrow for the start but weather indicates snow for Saturday so I moved this week up a day. Usually I do a dynamic warm-up but workout calls for short cardio to start. 5 minutes on the elliptical with the highest elevation to target the most muscles and least joint impact. First half moving forward, second half backwards. Checked heart rate at 162bpm at the end. Got a good sweat. Lot of high rep bodyweight stuff. I didn’t think the calf stuff would be that tough but near the end, they were burning. I did like 10 at the start but I felt I wasn’t at a 45-degree angle so I adjusted and started over. Next on to box touches with a wide stance. No issues here, good stretch in the hamstrings and good blood flow. This had been one of the exercises I had been worried about at the start. Then on to box squats. I kept my arms up to mimic using a barbell and practiced keeping tight in my back. No issues other than feeling tired after all the reps. Back to box touches with my conventional stance. Not as much flexibility as the sumo style. I was even more concerned with how these would go but these also were fine on the back and hamstrings. I just hope I’m doing them right. Up next was squat therapy stuff. Arms over head and working on keeping good form. Shoulder width stance here. Thoracic spine held up well but left shoulder started to ache by the end. Then on to lifting with weights. Dead floor presses up to a conservative 5rm was the plan. Took a bit to feel like I was back at it. I did work up to 255lbs but it was definitely not a conservative 5rm, closer to a max effort. I should have stopped at 225lbs for the day. Need to realize I’ve been away for almost 7 months and keep the ego out of it. Need to get that out of my head before the next session or I could end up back like I had been. Sobering to say the least. Then on to wide grip rack chins. Never done these before. Plan was to do max reps keeping shy of failure by 2-3 reps. First set, I felt my left biceps cramp pretty hard on the 3rd rep. It went away after that but I need to keep an eye on the left shoulder and biceps as it does seem like the PT sessions really didn’t address the issue. But it felt good to exercise again. Home to stretch, eat and rest.