CybrSage's Log - from normal American to Fit and In Shape

My Sports Fitness Therapist has cleared me for working out again, but cautioned me to ensure I listened to my body very closely and did nothing to further injure myself. In that light, I have restarted!

WOW! My chest exercises have plummeted in weight. This is not due to not working out, but due to the nerve entrapment. At a certain point my right arm simply ceases to engage and does NO work at all. For example, my Flat Bench Flys used to be done at 3 sets of 20, 30 pounds each set. I picked up the 30 pound dumbbell, laid flat on my back, put the dumbbells above me and started to move them outward to the proper start position and BAM!!! My right arm just decided to no longer work and the dumbbell was on my chest in an instant. Only 30 pounds, so no harm done, but I was a bit shocked. I had to drop to 15 pounds before the right arm would engage. I will be so happy when this nerve entrapment is fixed!

I also tested out biceps and triceps, just to see how they would respond. No numbers until Arm Day, but I found biceps worked as expected but triceps had the same problem with a lack of muscle engagement at too high a weight. BLAH!

On Sunday, I will update with body measurements. Onto the exercises:

Chest
Flat bench press: 15 reps of 100 pounds, 4 reps of 130 pounds, 6 reps of 110 pounds, 8 reps of 90 pounds, 20 reps of 50 pounds
Incline bench press: 15 @ 70, 4 @ 110 , 6 @ 90, 8 @ 60, 20 @ 40
Flat bench flys: 3 sets of 20 @ 15 pounds

Still hard at it my brother keep it up

Thanks, my friend and brother!!!

Info from both shoulder and leg day. I LOVE leg day! I love it even more now that I saw a classic "skip leg day" example at the gym...I should have snapped a pic. The guy was huge..his chest massive and his lats were super impressive. His arms were almost as large as my legs. Then, thinking about legs, I looked down at his and cringed. My FOREARMS are as large as his legs!! I also gasped out loud in shock and horror...but managed to not. Still, it took me a few moments to tear my eyes away - much like the horror of seeing someone hit by a train. You do not want to keep looking but you cannot stop yourself.


Shoulders
Military press 15@30lbs, 4@40lbs, 6@30lbs, 8@25lbs, 20@15lbs
Side lateral raises 15@20, 4@30, 8@25, 8@20, 20@10
Front lateral raises 15@20, 4@25, [email protected], 8@15, [email protected]
Shrugs 20@65, 15@70, 20@65


Leg Day
Squats 15@90lbs, 4@180lbs, 6@110lbs, 8@90lbs
Leg extensions 15@175, 4@230, 6@185, 8@165
Leg curls 15@140, 4@180, 6@150, 8@135
Calf raises 20, 20, 20 - All done holding a 45lb plate and standing on a step up doohickey.



I am feeling lighter and thinner - the thinner part comes from how much easier it is to buckle my belt.

Killin it brutha

Keep at it my freind I gotta say ur all heart buddy a true insperation to all

Had food poisoning last week. Remember, just because Yogurt SMELLS good and TASTES good, does not mean it actually IS good! I wanted the active cultures to help with digestion of food and smoother bowel movements. Instead I got very rapid bowel movements and a repeatedly emptied stomach. Not fun.

Just had my EGM test done...I have severe carpal tunnel in the right wrist. I also have to have an MRI done on my neck because the neurologist is confident my severe loss of tricep strength is due to a pinched nerve in there somewhere. Why have one problem when I can have many, right? Also, the EGM test is horrific! They lay you down on a bed and connect electrodes to various locations on your hand and arm. Then they take an angry wasp and have it sting you repeated, with each successive sting being more hate filled than the one before it. After 4 or 5 stings, they move the wasp to another area and repeat the process. They do this for 15 minutes. By the end I was sweating profusely and in great pain in my hand and arm. I will say the nurse who did it was funny and tried to make me laugh as much as she could. She was amazing and I would never want her job...it did not make it less painful but it allowed the pain to be more bearable. She said I have no nerve damage, which is why it hurt so badly. She actually had someone fall asleep during the procedure once! Yeah, massive nerve damage there.

At least they found problems that have known fixes...I can finally get relief once the MRI is scheduled and completed.

I have been forbidden to do any heavy lifting involving the right wrist. This means I am about to become a cardio fool and I still get to do leg day.

So far, I have done (3) 20 minute cardio sessions this week. I have my MRI on Monday to find out what is going on in my neck.

Hope they get u well soon my brother look forward to ur journals

03-19-16


I LOST 5 POUNDS!!! Down to 192!! A silver lining in the storm clouds of my life. Concentrating on Cardio and Legs right now, since I have no other choice. I am checking in a day early because I will be out of town all day today and all day tomorrow. Of course, I do not know where the weight loss came from - ALL my other stats stayed the same...


Onto the stats:


*Weight: 192
*Neck: 16.5
*Chest: 41
*Stomach: 35.25
*Waist Line: 35
*Biceps: L: 12.5 R: 12.5
*Thighs: L: 24.5 R: 24.5
*Calves: L: 15 R: 15
*Forearms: L: 11.75 R: 11.75

Had my MRI done - I have a bulging disc at the C7 location in my neck. No clue how I did that! I spoke to Orthopedics to setup an appointment to figure out a game plan and the women I spoke to thinks my carpal tunnel is actually being caused in my neck, so they will concentrate on the next and she is fairly certain the wrist will be fixed too. That much is good news.

So I am still crushing cardio and doing legs. I am going to add in push ups to keep the upper body doing SOMETHING.

Another update.


I saw my chiropractor this morning and he went over the MRI report with me in detail. The C7 bulge is the most egregious, but two others are bulging slightly as well. Also, and this is the worse part, the space between the vertebrae has reduced, making that hole that the nerves come out of smaller than it should be. At the C7 location, the bone is actually touching the nerve bundle slightly. He said it is almost a guarantee that this is also causing the pain in my hand and he would be surprised if I actually have carpal tunnel.


In good news, the vertebra that kept slipping out of alignment (about halfway down my back) is staying put and my right arm radius is spinning freely and as it should. They have been this way for 3 weeks now, so confidence is high they will stay working and in place as they are meant to be.


I am shifting to every 10 days with the chiropractor until orthopedics says what needs to be done.

Good luck with all this. I have 2 bulges and 2 "protrusions" in the same area, C4 through C7, but thankfully no nerve issues. Though I have had nerve issues in the past. I had an epidural injection in my neck at one point to try to alleviate the nerve problem, which was partially effective. I hope yours improves!

I was quite proud of myself today (yesterday, since it is after midnight). I went to the gym in the morning and did 30 mins of moderate cardio and then went BACK to the gym in the evening and did leg day. I also raised ALL my leg day weights by 5 pounds. I am not doing squats due to my current injury, though.


I actually feel very good about myself for doing that...I am going to see if I can incorporate that into a routine schedule. On the days where I cannot do normal workouts due to my injury, I will just do two sessions of cardio.

Geez Louise! Somehow I completely forgot to update this. I just got out of surgery this morning on my neck to remove the C7 vertebrae and replace it with a bone from a bone bank and then fuse C6 and C7 together. I Am Naturally an optimist, and even I didn't expect to feel as good as I do after the surgery.

Glad and very happy to see ur doing well I'm ur biggest fan love ur dedication and all u have overcome and achieved in your life u my brother inspire all

Holy shit, a bone bank?? It really is amazing what surgeons can do nowadays! Very good to hear you're feeling good after an operation like that! Hope you're healed up soon and back in the saddle.

I share MM's sentiments!

So far so good. My surgeon's assistant said I have recovered faster than anyone else he has ever seen. He did not say it, but I am also probably in the best physical shape out of all the people he gets in for neck surgery. I am sure the 2IUs of HGH are helping me greatly. I am also now using Pal-GHK along with the HGH and am about to add in TB500. I am going to make them all GASP at how fast I recover!

Go Team Cybr!!!

I just started your log today and I'm hooked! I'm on Team Cybr! Where do I sign for a t-shirt?? Lol! I'm sorry to see that you had to deal with an injury, but your positive attitude is quite refreshing. I know you'll be back at it in no time and probably even more motivated! I look forward to picking up where I left off and of course I'm joking when I say this, but now that you're in recovery mode, I'll actually have time to catch up before you continue you journey, lol! Take care

SilkQuads said:

I just started your log today and I'm hooked! I'm on Team Cybr! Where do I sign for a t-shirt?? Lol! I'm sorry to see that you had to deal with an injury, but your positive attitude is quite refreshing. I know you'll be back at it in no time and probably even more motivated! I look forward to picking up where I left off and of course I'm joking when I say this, but now that you're in recovery mode, I'll actually have time to catch up before you continue you journey, lol! Take care

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I had started to slack a little, but this injury has shown me that I have to redouble my game, so you are right there! I hope you not only catch up, but surpass me. That way I have to work hard to keep up with you.

I hit the gym today for the first time in weeks. I have always been cleared to do any kind of leg exercises, provided they do not impact the back at all, so no squats or such. I did some pretty heavy leg work, used isolation machines to work my triceps and biceps without moving the shoulders or back, and even did 20 minutes on the elliptical, keeping the heart rate to about 125bpm. I have been told I can do light cardio and so I kept it light. They want me to keep increasing my time and speed that I do cardio, slowly of course.


I feel the most alive I have felt in a long time. I did not realize just how much I enjoyed working out! It had started to become a routine, and maybe a little bit of drudgery too. Not any more, this has shown me that I really DO LOVE working out and that it makes me feel truly alive.


I cannot wait to be fully cleared to start slowly ramping up my weights again. In 2 days the neck brace comes off and I will be cleared for 10 pounds of lifting. Not too long after that I should be cleared for unlimited lifting, based on listening to my body. EVERYONE in our lifestyle (who is not an idiot) already listens to their body. Sure, sometimes we ignore it, but we listen. I plan on not ignoring it, too much at stake. But the future looks bright and promising. In another year I will be all but unrecognizable, that is how much I am going to change my body. 3J (from www.3jsdiet.com), my trainer and dietician, will keep me on the straight and narrow and prevent me from being stupid with it, of course, and together we will turn me into someone women half my age look at with desire.