The Season of My Discontent

I was gonna call this "Things 240 lbs People Should Not Do", but I digress if only for a moment!

First was the bad chicken. Now, while on my vacation of all things, an accident involving hubris and a water trampoline. August has not been my month.

The day after we arrive in Lake Chelan, WA, I was on an Aqua Jump (a big floating trampoline). Mind you, I can do a front flip on these things. Well, I gave a back flip a try. Got enough height. Got my tuck. Not enough rotation speed. I landed right on my head.

This story could have obviously ended much, much worse. But it didn't. I tightened up everything just in time. But I knew something was wrong the minute I tried to swim back to shore and something was moving around in my chest. I didn't go to a doc at that moment because I didn't want to ruin my family's vacation on the account of my stupidity. But yesterday, my first morning back home and my 36th birthday, was spent at my doctor getting a battery of tests done and x-rays. The good news was that there was no damage to my neck or vertebrae. But my suspicions were confirmed when they found left rib #5 fractured (I landed while still tucked).

I didn't get the Vicodin as prescribed: I'm iffy about anything that strong, and I can deal with the pain. It is, however, very annoying and inconvenient. I've been told to avoid vigorous activity for a month: no running, nothing that would involve my lifting my left arm, nothing that will cause me to twist or jostle, no jumping. I tried floor presses today and it was ok for a moment until I felt my rib starting to move. I tried SSB bar squats,too (since it keeps my arms close), and learned just as fast how much load the ribs bear even from above (most of the pain was in the bottom position). Dragging sled won't be a problem (belt around the waist), neither will walking. I can't sleep on my left side: I did and when I woke up the rib settled into place and made me double over. Damn if I sneeze or cough, can't laugh too hard. Since it was not caused by severe blunt trauma, the rib was still in one piece and should heal without surgery.

I could take the gung-ho route and train with it. But one month is a small price to pay compared to what could have been, or a badly healed bone. I won't sit still, but I will be smart about it.

Know Your Chicken:)

I came home Wednesday evening at 4:30 just hungry but knew I would have dinner in 2 hours. And I didn't want a protein shake. So I raided the fridge and found a juicy piece of chicken breast: smelled good, looked good, tasted great with some ketchup on it - - - just that. I always have a rule that anything one week old in the fridge gets tossed: my wife would tell me that evening that it had been in the fridge since I left for Virginia, which would have made it about 3 weeks old. To make a long story short and spare the graphics, I'm just now slowly getting over a bad case of food poisoning. 5 lbs and a lot of Gatorade and Imodium later. So, my training week will really begin when I get back from my one week vacation.

I did bench only today, since I have to get ready for vacation and didn't want to push my luck. Worked up to a 205 single with chains attached (a 10 lbs PR), then 15 reps with 135 lbs bar weight only.

DE Bench

Lunchtime:
Running Intervals (3.8 MPH walking, 7.2 MPH running on a 1.0 incline): 7 intervals of 1 minute walking and 1 minute running. My goal for this PRT is a 12:23 1.5 mile run, so this running speed should help get me there.

Evening:
Flat Bench Press w/80 lbs of chain (half on the floor at lockout): 45x3, 65x3, 90x3x8. One day, I will experiment less and work out more:) Anyways, while in Virginia on military business, I at least get 3 sessions of benching in and I noticed that while I could hit 240 (however slow and drawn out), I could not triple 225. I also found that I could do 20 lbs more than my max on the 3 board, and I'm sure more than that for 4 or 5. I also wanted to make my program shorter for a while: PRT's coming, I slacked off on aerobics for a little too long. So I dusted off Ryan Kennelly's program that helped me get 240 the first time but added the chains and started off at 40% of a 225 1RM (At week 13, the goal is a 225 triple with chains). The ME days will not be for benching, but for shoulder pressing.

Superset:
Blast Strap Pushups: 30 reps in 6 sets
Inverse Rows: 24 reps in 6 sets. 4 reps per set was all I could manage with the inverse rows, feet raised by 2 45s. I got 5 reps per set on the pushups, a 1 rep improvement per set. My goal is to do more in less sets over time.

Superset:
Chinups w/Lt Bands: Failure at 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 reps
External Rotations: 3x15, 5x15, 8x12x2, 10x10

Jump Rope: 10 minutes of jumping. A little something I picked up from Chad Waterbury's 10x3 For Fat Loss, something to push my metabolism up. You could just tell I was a beginner:)


Addendum: I never did get to do the meet. My transfer to my new Navy Reserve unit was completed just before I left for Norfolk, and I learned that they do not drill on the same schedule as the rest of the Reserve Center. They drill on the second weekend of a month, and sometimes the third, instead of the first weekend. So I had to pass on the meet since I had drill that weekend.