Sunday 16 September 2012

Back and biceps routine

This is the routine I have been following for the past eight or nine weeks.  It is time to change it, so before I do, I thought I'd log this one.  Details of weights / sets are in the video description.  I finished with some roll outs, which I have been working on intermittently for the past few months.  My last video to include this exercise shows that I was not getting my body close enough to the floor.  Now I am happy with the proximity to the floor and just need to focus on extension of my arms, trying to avoid bending them at the elbow.


Thursday 13 September 2012

Obscure lifting injury

For the past nine weeks or so, I have had to put up with an unconventional injury I acquired whilst lifting.  It's not the conventional injury you'd associate with lifting, which would typically be some sort of strain, torn ligament or muscle.  This is in fact oral and was the result of biting my lip!  Typically, you'd get an ulcer, it would heal and that would be that.  But in my case, it healed but then came back and persisted as such, repeatedly healing and coming back.  I have now since been to a consultant who specialises in such things and has diagnosed it as a Mucocele.  Typically these things will heal themselves, but when they have persisted beyond three weeks or so, surgery is inevitably required to remove the gland.

Here is an article on Mucoceles: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1076717-overview

Hopefully I will get an appointment to have the faulty gland removed and that will be that.  There are some risks associated with the removal, but really, I am not that worried given how annoying this thing is and how painful it gets when swollen.  My advice is to avoid biting your lip when you lift and of course when eating.  If you are struggling not to, it might be worth investing in a mouth guard and wearing it to stop you from lip biting.

Might I add that this is generally only an issue when lifting heavy, since it's the strain associated with lifting heavy that can make you do irrational things, such as biting your lip!

If all that wasn't enough to put you off your tea, here is a photo of my Mucocele.


Saturday 8 September 2012

Update: 8th Sept

Have been using the jump rope as a warm-up / cool-down routine for the past two years now. I only spend between 10 and 15 minutes a day, excluding weekends, practising different techniques. For the past four or five months, I have been able to incorporate side swings (see them here if interested, I won't embed this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q5d_RlfNxw ). However, I have been eluded by double-under to running in place to double-under transitions for a while now, so these are my next skills to acquire on the rope. A few days ago, I managed a rather scruffy looking set of transitions, so it's a start. Definitely need to panic less when making the switch, then I think I will maintain a smoother rhythm. Skip to around the 2 minute mark to see where I got a good set of transitions in.


I haven't done a video of my usual training programme for a while, so I made a small montage of Weds leg workout. I failed on the 200kg deadlift at the end after hitting 190kg, so maybe next time! I have put the info for weight, sets and reps in the video description if you are interested. Oh, it's probably worth mentioning that it is a strength building programme that incorporates body building protocols, if you are wondering why the rep range is so high.