FB's Journal 2.0, Road to Recovery

[frenchbeauty]

Sup guys,

It's been a while, everything was going smoothly back in April/May last year, I was training hard, EFFORT had me on a tight program/diet, and I was making good progress. This is me at 6'0 and about 178-180lbs, haha it hurts seeing it, it might not seen like much for you big guys on the forum, shout out to Colossus and Fugly, but I came from 6'0 145lbs 3-4 years back :

http://img39.imageshack.us/i/115230.jpg/
http://img545.imageshack.us/i/115238.jpg/

I unfortunately hurt my shoulder doing Incline Smith Presses, I've been to several doctors, physio, and I always get different opinions, I got told I had a rotator cuff injury, tendonitis, and an impigment by another doctor. I have to get an MRI, but it's way too expensive, I'm a broke college student haha.
I've been doing rehab, foam rolling, Diesel's shoulder rehab, but nothing seems to totally rehab my shoulder. I've finally decided to work around it, and get an MRI once I can afford it in the future.

I can't get a hold of EFFORT, I've downloaded a couple of Shelby Starnes' books on training/nutrition, and I'll use a carb-cycling diet for now, like the following :

Workout Days

Meal 1- chicken or tuna/oats or rice
Meal 2- protein shake / oats
Meal 3- chicken or tuna/ oats or rice
Meal 4- protein shake / oats
Meal 5- chicken or tuna/ oats or rice
Meal 6- protein shake / oats

On non workout I'll have carbs for the three first meals, and then throw in fats + veggies for the last three, cutting off carbs.

As far as working out goes, I'll use Rippetoe's to start off, try to get my Squat up mainly, I can't do Deadlifts due to back problems.

I really love getting feedback guys, feel free to comment

Take care.
FB.

 

[Fuglydude]

Yo, welcome back... that sucks about your injury. Just rehab it slowly and listen to your physio's advice. Judging from your pics you have overdeveloped shoulders and chest... you've got great separation between your pecs and your anterior delts. Your back looks good but obviously could use a bit more width and thickness. A lot of rotator cuff injuries are caused by muscular imbalances between things like chest, delts and back... this is probably what happened in your case.

What back problems do you have? Can you do bench at all? Is there any light shoulder work that you can do?

Diet looks nice and simple... I'd sub in ground beef for 2-3 meals. The fat from ground beef is great for adding extra calories. 6 oz of meat each meal will do nicely. I'd recommend staying away from doing that many protein shakes. I know they're convenient, but I think our bodies just have a much easier time absorbing real food.

Why not just do 4-6 oz of meat every meal w/ yams or oats or brown rice and veges. Its simple easy and it works.

Just be careful not to get too sick of the same thing, so have equivalent meal combos ready to go.

Supplements?

 

[frenchbeauty]

Hey Fugly thanks for the developed answer man.

I haven't touched a weight for about 5 months, just following EFFORT's advice to take it easy. The problem is that it didn't really get better, still the same nagging pain in my right shoulder/elbow... I guess I'll take it easy to start.
And yes you're right my back always has been my weak spot, my bench press was much better than my rows before I got hurt, I was barely doing 4-5 reps @ 135 with BB Rows, while Bench Press 225 for doubles/triples.
I have sciatica in my left leg, probably due to heavy Deads about a year and a half ago. It flares up every time I do deadlifts & heavy back rows, hence why my chest is much more developed than my back.

I hope I don't make things worse while I get back to it, and you're right I could use a little beef in there, what's your point of view on mixing carbs/protein and fats though ? I know Starnes/ Berardi aren't big fans, but at this point I could really use the calories.

As far as supps go I have creatine/taurine on hand, I'm gonna buy a good multi as well, I'll see about fish oil if I have the cash. And also the only reason why I don't eat only solid meals is the money part, ground beef here is very cheap though so I'll probably switch shakes for ground.

I'm kinda worried about doing any shoulder work right now, I'll focus on back/leg work.

FB

 

[Fuglydude]

Unless you suffer a catastrophic injury such as evisceration, or a total complete obliteration of a joint you can still train lightly (not necessarily with weights) to help regain your strength. I work in critical care... we deal with the sickest people in the hospital, and we try and make them work to mobilize, etc... That's why I said listen to your physiotherapist, trust your body and go from there... The human body is build for movement and work.

I have rotator cuff issues as well, although probably not as bad as yours... Mine stem from having a back that's not thick enough and inadequate scapular stability. The general rule of thumb that some people have is that you should be able to row whatever you bench... this is supposed to help prevent muscular imbalances that can lead to rotator injuries.

The good news is that you can get quite big without having to lift heavy... I found this out in the last few months. I put around 20-25 lbs with maybe a 1% increase in bodyfat (as you know I'm enhanced). My deadlift and squat are less than they were last year this time even though I'm heavier. Bodybuilding, or inducing hypertrophy is all about doing controlled reps and really forcing blood into your muscles. This is a skill I'm still learning, and boy is it ever different from what I'm used to doing! A great thing about bodybuilding is that you can keep your weights low, thus preventing injury, and still get great results.

Berardi's diet ideas are fantastic for those who wanna stay lean while gaining muscle. From what I've heard the dude is quite intense in all aspects of his life, obviously including diet. In your case however, I think you're fine with mixing carbs, protein and fats. Your carb sources are low GI natural source carbs, so shouldn't spike your insulin the same way as drinking pop. As you said at this point you just gotta focus on getting the calories in.

If you'd like I can send you my current routine. Its very high volume, but I'm sure you'll be able to mix/match stuff in it and come up with a program that allows you to work around your limitations.

Fish oils are in my opinion an extremely underrated supplement. The compounds in fish oils, namely the omega-3 fatty acids are precursors for anti-inflammatory eicosanoids (local mediators of inflammation). By supplying your body with good amounts of omega 3's you're helping it to regular inflammation. Remember inflammation is involved in any and all disease processes/injuries, etc. I'd strongly recommend you get a fish oil supplement. Look for something that has a high actual EPA/DHA content per capsule (> 500 mg). Costco has some great economical ones.

I see also that you're from Montreal. My fiance is competing at the CBBF national natural physique show in April in the figure tall division. You should come by and check it out.

 

[frenchbeauty]

I would love being able to get big, without having to go through 3-5 heavy ass Squat/Deadlift reppers haha. I'm sure that's the cause of most my injuries, lifting too heavy/low rep. Wow 20-25lbs of lean mass in such a short period of time is really impressive. I would love to check out your current routine, I'll PM you my e-mail.

"Bodybuilding, or inducing hypertrophy is all about doing controlled reps and really forcing blood into your muscles. This is a skill I'm still learning, and boy is it ever different from what I'm used to doing! A great thing about bodybuilding is that you can keep your weights low, thus preventing injury, and still get great results. "

Man I would love to know more about that. Do you have any links/books to recommand ? I'm doing it 100% for aesthetic purposes, well as well as general health.

I'll definitively get some fish oil as soon as I can, I want to start lifting Monday. I forgot to tell you I also have one of those packs sitting on my shelf,http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/ai/swole-stack.html, EFFORT recommanded it, we were going to cycle it.. but I got injured.

Thanks a lot for all that info it's much appreciated, and yes I'll look into going to the CBBF physique show, never attended any before.

FB

 

[runner83]

Good luck with the comeback mate.

And hope you can get the MRI at some stage so you know for sure what the issue is. Hopefully it's something that can get fixed...

I'm out of action at the moment with a broken humerus (upper arm), it's been about 5 weeks so far, and I've set myself the target to lift weights again in early May.

So I have some idea how you feel..but with mine it should be possible to make a full recovery, as long as I am patient and don't push myself too much too soon.

I've also been using fish oil for a while, hard to say re effectiveness, but I have heard good things.

 

[Fuglydude]

Not really sure what to say about bodybuilding style movements. It sucks because you actually get weaker... My DL is around 10-20 lbs lighter now than last year. However, I find that my joints are way happier training this way. I'm not sure if there's any specific literature to describe it, but I simply focus on pumping blood into muscles and getting a great pump. You can do this quite effectively even with a fairly light weight. I still think there's a place for heavy lifting, but it can be done quite sparingly if aesthetics is your primary goal.

Unfortunately, in order to be effective you're gonna have to do a shiitload of volume as you'll see when I send you my program. Generally speaking I have a much easier time recovering from bodybuilding style workouts, even though they're high volume, relative to strength workouts. I use almost laughable resistances for many movements, but still get a great pump. For example for seated dumbell press I do 10 sets of 10 reps with 35-40 lb dumbells... I can crank out 6-8 reps w/ 80 lb dumbells for a strength set.

I suspect bodybuilding style work outs will help with your recovery. Just listen to your body and don't push it too hard.

 

[frenchbeauty]

@runner- thanks man, you too. Broken humerus.. that's tough. How did that happen ? Ya it's extremely tempting to want to push it too soon, a lot of patience is needed...

@Fugly- thanks, can't wait to check out your program !

Got all my meals set up for tomorrow, back to lifting, excited

 

[runner83]

@runner- thanks man, you too. Broken humerus.. that's tough. How did that happen ? Ya it's extremely tempting to want to push it too soon, a lot of patience is needed...

Believe it not, arm wrestling. It's a lot more common once you look on the net than you would think.

Story is here: http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=181439

And like you am keeping a bit of a journal of my progress: http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=181483

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When I started lifting in March last year I was about 155 pounds. End of last year before the injury I was about 185. I was way stronger and more noticeably muscular than when I started.

In 5 weeks so far since the break, I've slipped back to 170 pounds, and still have about 9 weeks to go before I can even start lifting weights with my upper body again (since I have to let the bone get strong again, get back PROM etc)

But I'll be back, and so will you.

Anyone can keep going when things are easy. True character is determined by what you do when times are tough.