Back in the saddle… sorta.

The Ankle Injury Sessions

• Work Set – Bench Press
  • 45 x 5
  • 45 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 3
  • 195 x 3
  • 215 x 3
• Face Pulls (superset with the bench press warm-up sets)
  • 40 x 15 x 5
• Close-grip Bench Press
  • 135 x 10 x 4
  • 135 x 8
• Seated cable rows (superset with the close-grip bench press)
  • 100 X 10 X 5
• Flared arm DB extensions
  • 30 x 12 x 4
• BB curls (superset with the extensions)
  • 50 x 10 x 4

First session back in the gym after my ankle injury. I did wear my brace boot, and also a running shoe because the boot has such a high sole and the running show gives a lot more evenness, tho it’s still shorter than the boot. Besides, why do I need a flat-shoed shoe? not like I’m doing any lower body work for a while.

Given that, I figured the best course of action for right now was to just go in and see what I could and couldn’t do. I’m healing decently since the initial injury a week ago, but things still aren’t stable. So I knew things like t-bar rows weren’t going to happen due to the pressure that’d put on my ankle. But seated cable rows weren’t so bad because the boot stablized most of it and there just isn’t the added pressure of the bar and my bodyweight.

I decided that I’d bench and just work up to a “heavy” triple. 215 is far from heavy, but I can’t tuck my feet nor generate much leg drive. I just opted to put X on the bar then go up in 20# increments. And I thought I could then try 225 but opted against it because 215 was a hair hard to get off my chest with no leg drive. No sense in pushing it.

Otherwise, the rest of the session went about normal, which was cool. I am liking the flared arm DB extensions.

You know I’ve been considering the Cube Method for a while. While now is not the time for Cube, I thought I could play with concepts some.

So my general approach — for now — is going to be: Monday bench dynamic, Friday bench heavy, Wednesday do some “light bodybuilding” stuff. All upper body, and doing what I have to do to keep pressure off the foot/ankle. Just going to wing it. I mean, I finally got the MRI scheduled, then that plus the post-MRI consult with the doc… maybe just a week left? So hey, winging it for a week is fine. Once I know more about what’s going on, I can make a better decision about exactly how I want to proceed with the lifting.

In other news… CarbNite.

I’m still frustrated, but I may see a glimmer of hope.

I still do not need any progress on the scale. That’s frustrating. Because while maybe I am losing fat and perhaps gaining muscle, the reality is if I am aiming to drop 40# of fat, there’s no way I’m going to put on 40# of muscle in exchange — just won’t happen. So I NEED to see some sort of actual drop in scale weight. So that I’m not is really getting to me.

But I’ve been taking weekly pictures and when I took one a couple days ago… well…. comparing to my start pictures, I swear there’s a difference. Looking at my torso, it looks like there’s not as much “roundness” on the sides. Wife looked and she sees it to.

So… that gives me some hope to carry on here. It’s only been a month, and I did expect more dramatic results by now, but well, even if it’s slow so long as it’s coming. I guess I’ll see where things are in another month.