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  #21  
Old 11-04-2007, 09:55 AM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since I've stopped in. The last month has been pretty busy with fixing up the house and moving in a week ago. I had this past week off work, but was busy painting this, fixing that, blah blah blah. The house is not nearly finished, but it's starting to take shape. We put a new wooden floor in the two bedrooms which has really made a difference.

Since we've moved cities, I'm going to a different gym here. It's a bit of a ghetto place but the atmosphere is pretty decent. It reminds me of my old gym in Hamburg Germany. For dutch standards, it's more geared towards bodybuilder type people. They actually have TWO racks and 88 lb DB's!!! Not that I use the DB's, but that's heavy for around here. I like the place better; I can atucally use their benches and they have a pair or 1.25KG plates, which makes me very happy.

Training has been going fine. My Squat is 5kg off my best single and I should be able to pass it soon enough. My Bench is still way down, but I'm not too worried about it. I know I need to put in a lot of work on the bench to get it moving. In the meantime, I've begun doing DE work later in the week and heavy triples and/or fives at the beginning of the week as the main stressor. Supplementary work is still progressing along fine as well.

Since last updating I've done one high cal week and have just finished 4 low cal weeks. The difference in the gym was very noticeable that week. As of now, my weight is down to 190 lbs, waist to 32 5/8, and caliper to 11mm. I've reached my weight goal way early and I'm 1mm off my caliper goal. As such, I'm going to do a couple higher cal weeks and then another 4 week diet cycle to take me into the christmas break. The next two high cal weeks will correspond with a higher workload as well.

OK guys, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Jeff
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  #22  
Old 11-04-2007, 08:02 PM
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HIThopper HIThopper is offline
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Gday Jeffo!!

Glad to hear from you mate, wishing you the best of luck with the new place.Sounds like the diet is working too mate.Ive ditched my low cals for a while to make a good run at some strength gains and try surpass my previous PRs.

All the best mate.
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  #23  
Old 11-20-2007, 03:50 AM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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Hi Gents,

Since last updating I've done 2 higher cal higher volume weeks. Heavy Days went well and the extra cals helped out there. The weights felt relatively light and I was able to add a set or two to each lift without a problem. RE Days were also fine and I added a set to each lift without a hitch. It's amazing what extra cals can do.

My weight went up 4 lbs in the first week, to 194. It stayed stable the second week and according to the caliper my bodyfat stayed the same. I'll be dropping cals back down this week and will do another 4-5 weeks of lower cals to take me to the Christmas break. I hope to get my weight down to about 188 or so and my caliper reading to 10mm.

I've dropped my volume back down and have started to push the weight up. Over the next five weeks I'll be adding volume here and there on Heavy Days, while RE days will remain at 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps with controlled rest periods. This seems to be going well at the moment without hammering the calorie deprived me.

My supplementary lifts are going up as planned and I'm ready for some PR's on some of those. I repeated my Squat PR of 330 today for three singles instead of just one. The third set was moderately difficult, but the first two were a piece of cake. It was nice to do at 10+ lbs less bodyweight. I expect to hit a new half decent PR there by Christmas. The bench has actually been alright. Volume Day is moving and the DE work is getting better. I'll test a 1RM before Christmas to prepare for a bench/squat cycle in the new year.

OK, thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Jeff
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  #24  
Old 12-13-2007, 12:17 AM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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Hey Gents,

Some lousy news to report. A couple weeks ago my shoulders started to show signs of overuse. They were sore most of the time and overhead movements didn't feel all too great. I decided to train only three days a week, Squatting on Monday and Friday and doing limited upper body work on Wednesday only. That seemed to do the trick, as they feel much better now.

The lousy news is that I seem to have strained my neck. My symptoms point to a pinched C6 nerve. My neck has a very limited range of motion and is very sore, the area between my shoulder blades is very sore, and mild pain shoots down my shoulders and arms, the left one especially. Upper body work is pretty much out of the question and I doubt I'll be able to supprt a barbell safely for squatting at the moment. I've got an appointment with a chiropractor for next Thursday, so I'll probably be out of action for the next couple of weeks.

On a somewhat positive note, I squatted 335 for three singles last week. It's a small 5 LB record, but it's something.

I was going to take a week off over the Christmas break to rest up for a more demanding cycle in early January. I guess I'll be taking this coming week off and then re-conditioning myself over the Christmas break instead. That is, assuming everying is in oder by then.

I should also note that I've begun doing some regular and/or reverse back extensions after Squatting. Just using my bodyweight and keeping the rest periods short. My back is feeling better now than it has since my accident happened a year ago. If it's not one thing it's another, but I'm happy to feel relatively normal in the lower back.

OK lads, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Jeff
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  #25  
Old 12-24-2007, 12:39 PM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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Hi guys,

I went in a did some lighter lifting today. I squatted, benched, and did a bit of light back and tricep work. My neck and traps between the shoulder blades didn't like it at all, especially supporting the bar during squats and the pressure on the bench. The problem is pretty much the left side, the right side being a-okay now.

I'm going to see the chiro again on Thursday and we'll see what happens there. If things don't improve relatively quickly, I may have to forget my 6 week cycle until February.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Cheers,
Jeff
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  #26  
Old 12-25-2007, 11:27 AM
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_Wolf_ _Wolf_ is offline
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merry christmas
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  #27  
Old 12-26-2007, 01:09 PM
Jonson Jonson is offline
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Sorry to hear about your neck/shoulder problems Jeff, hopefully the chiropracter can get them sorted quickly.
Well done on your squat record, and have a good new year.

Regards Jonson
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  #28  
Old 12-29-2007, 05:44 AM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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Hey Guys,

I saw the chiro again on Thusday morning and it was pretty interesting. By the time dinner rolled around my pain near the left shoulder blade was nearly gone. I was pretty excited about it for sure. Unfortunately I woke up the next morning and it was back, albeit in a lesser form.

I've still got some pain near the left scapula and a bit of ache down my left arm. This tells me the C6 nerve is probably not completely free yet. I'm going to see the chiro again on Wednesday, so we'll see what happens there. My neck is still stiff, but it's starting to loosen up slowly. I've got more ROM now than last week.

I did some looking around and apparently cervical strains can take months to heal sometimes. I guess this means I might be in this mess for a while. I have started doing some light exercise with my bodyweight and a few machines to keep some sort of conditioning. It feels pretty good at the moment so I'll continue with that until things get better.

Cheers,
Jeff


PS: Hey Jonson, good to hear from you again. I hope your holiday season is a good one.
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  #29  
Old 02-16-2008, 06:49 AM
Jeffo Jeffo is offline
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He lads,

Been a while since I last updated. I saw the chiro a couple more times and the C6 nerve feels free now. I haven't got any radiating pain down the left arm anymore, so I'm happy about that. I still have some muscular problem in the trap/neck area and it's not healing on its own.

Chrio gave me the name of a good physio in the next town over. I've had the chance to see him once and he worked me pretty good. It hurt, but it was a "useful hurt," if you know what I mean. The guy is a 130 KG fighter who used to PL as well. When I told him my problems he said, "Yup, I've had all of them before myself. I know exactly what the problems are." That was nice to hear. Anyways, my right brachioradialis is starting to feel better and the RC is slightly better already. We haven't made it to the trap/neck area yet. He said I should see obvious improvements by session 3 or 4, so I'm glad to notice something small already. I see him again this Thursday.

Another note; I've been using a supplement called Cissus Quadrangularis. It sells under the name "Medi-Stim" here in Holland. It's gotten great reviews and lots of athletes apparently swear it's great for healing bones, tendons and ligaments. I thought it might help my brachio and RC, and perhaps that annoying ligament in my lower back, but I haven't notice anything yet and I'm half way through the therapy cycle. I'll finish this cycle then leave it and see what happens. I may or may not try another later on.

I've been testing the water a bit the last couple of weeks. I am able to Squat heavy again without feeling any pull in my trap area, which is bloody awsome. I squatted 150 KG last week, a lousy 2 KG under my PR, and I actually felt like I had about 5-10 KG to spare. I also tried DLing again, for the first time in about 6 months, and it actually felt pretty good. No problem in the lower back and my form, believe it or not, felt really tight. I only went up to 150 KG and felt I had a good amount to spare. I didn't want to push myself, for obvious reasons. The only trouble I had was grip. I'd like to train double over from now on, insted of over-under, so that will take some time to get used to. I don't want to jump back in and start pulling max weights, so we'll take 'er slow there.

I've been exercising regularly, so I'm in decent shape but weak and out of practice on the big lifts. I'll be running a Sheiko program over the next four weeks. Here's a link to it:

http://www.joeskopec.com/borisp.xls

I know you're supposed to actually test maxes before beginning, but I'm not that far along anyways so a good estimate will be just fine. I'll use the following:

Squat 160 KG
Bench 110 KG
Deadlift 170 KG

Anywhere you see Dips, I'll be doing something else of my choice that day. Deadlift day will look different. I'll begin the workout with Power Cleans, then the press work, then some kind of DL work at the end. I won't always stick to the plan for DLs, for obvious reasons. If I start to have trouble with the workload, I'll adjust maxes.

I'll be eating slightly above maintenance. I'm 197 lbs at the moment and I don't want to be too far over 200 after the deload and test. It's a 4 week program, then I'll probably deload and test at the end of week 6. After that, if physio has gone well and I feel good, I'll rev up again and run something more hypertrophy friendly before trying to lose some weight for summer. We're going to Spain this year

Cheers lads,
Jeff
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  #30  
Old 02-16-2008, 07:35 AM
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Pitysister Pitysister is offline
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good to hear all the injuries are coming to an end man
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