Easy training while rotator cuff improves

My rotator cuff injury continues to improve slowly. I have been putting more energy into yoga than iron this past week, but decided to move some kettlebells around today. Here is the quick workout I completed.

Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps

Workout:

Double military presses
12 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25, 1300 pounds
Chinups – 5 x 1 = 5 reps
Double front squat
16 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25 reps, 1750 pounds
Basic jump-rope – 5 x 50 – 250 reps

Farmer carry
20 kg kettlebells – 2 x 100 paces = 200 paces, 176 pounds

Incline pushups – 1 x 25 = 25 reps

Weight: 3226 pounds

My shoulders feel a little wonky when I clean the kettlebells to press them, but I don’t think the move is causing any problems.

I am really enjoying the front squats. The part I notice most lately is the tension in my abdomen during the moves. I could increase the weight as far as the squats are concerned, but I don’t think I want to clean the 20 kg kettlebells just yet as I am afraid it might irritate my rotator cuff. I may increase reps soon instead.

After doing 500 jump-rope reps last Monday, my calves stayed sore for 5 days and I did not jump rope anymore for the rest of the week. To avoid a potential repeat, I performed only 250 reps today. It seemed easy, but now I should be able to do one or two more sets this week.

I doubled my recent farmer carry workout and added a set of incline pushups and still finished in 29 minutes.

Basic training while recovering from a rotator cuff injury

My rotator cuff injury is a little better, but still limiting what I can and want to do in training. Today’s workout is one that I have done several times over the past week with a little variation. I shifted from hill sprints to jumping rope today because a neighbor’s dog was barking and I did not want to aggravate him by running in front of his house.

Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps

Workout:

Double military presses
12 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25, 1300 pounds
Chinups – 5 x 1 = 5 reps
Double front squat
16 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25 reps, 1750 pounds
Basic jump-rope – 5 x 100 – 500 reps

Farmer carry
20 kg kettlebells – 1 x 100 paces, 88 pounds

Weight: 3138 pounds

The windmill stretches highlight the tenderness of my right arm and shoulder, but I think the move is useful to improving range of motion and strength.

I have been doing double military presses instead of performing swings to keep pressure off my rotator cuff. The last set felt better than the first set, so I am encouraged to continue.

The front squats are getting easy from a weight standpoint, but the pairing with jump rope that I added today is spicing up the experience. I thought jumping rope would be easier than hill sprints, but I was wrong. Jumping rope is harder, at least it is when I do 5 sets of 100 instead of 3 hill sprints.

I was over my 30 minute target for the workout when I began the farmer carry, but figured I should do a down and back anyway.

In addition, I am doing a series of yoga poses to work on my rotator cuff injury. Progress is slow, but real.

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Beginning to make adjustments for rotator cuff injury

The soreness I have been dealing with over the past several weeks is probably a rotator cuff injury. I don’t seem to have a tear and exercises my massage therapist taught me last week have been helping. Today she suggested I stop doing kettlebell swings until I am better. I had already done 100 by the time we talked, but I will avoid swings for the rest of the week.

Warmup:
Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps

Workout:

Two-handed swings
16 kg kettlebell – 5 x 20 = 100 reps, 3500 pounds
Chinups – 5 x 1 = 5 reps
Double front squat
16 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25 reps, 1750 pounds
Hill Sprints – 3 x 100 yards = 300 yards
Rack carry
16 kg kettlebells – 2 x 50 paces, 140 pounds
Farmer carry
16 kg kettlebells – 2 x 50 paces, 140 pounds

Weight: 5530 pounds

Notes: I alternated one chinup/pullup after each set of 20 swings.

I sprinted up the hill in front of my house for 100 yards after the first three sets of double front squats I completed. The effort left me sucking air and needing the walk back to recover.

I could not make it farther than 50 paces in a rack carry, so I went down the hill in the rack position and came back up the hill doing a farmer carry.

This workout took me 28 minutes. My plan is to complete 30-60 minutes of yoga too.

Strength training in spite of modest soreness

My upper right arm is sore and two days of rest over the weekend did not make it any better. My massage therapist showed me some stretches/exercises for it after she worked on me today. I will practice what she showed me this week.

I am traveling on Thursday and Friday, which will interfere with my exercise routine, so I went ahead and strength trained for 30 minutes.

Warmup:
Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps
Halos: 12 kg kettlebell – 10 reps, 260 pounds

Workout:

Two-handed swings
16 kg kettlebell – 5 x 20 = 100 reps, 3500 pounds
Chinups – 5 x 1 = 5 reps
Double front squat
16 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25 reps, 1750 pounds
Hill Sprints – 3 x 100 yards = 300 yards
Double military presses
12 kg kettlebells – 2 x 5 = 10, 520 pounds
Farmer carry
20 kg kettlebells – 1 x 100 paces, 88 pounds

Weight: 6118 pounds

Notes: Swings are not aggravating my sore spot, but I am concerned that the relatively high volume of swings I performed last week caused the soreness to start with. I kept my swings down to 100 reps. As has become my habit, I did one chinup/pullup after each set of 20 swings.

I sprinted up the hill in front of my house for 100 yards after the first three sets of double front squats I completed. This was the first time I have run in months and I did not perform well. My wonky left knee behaved, but my lower back felt a bit off and I was not able to achieve the speed I did when last I was running sprints regularly.

I was running out of time after just 2 sets of double military presses, so I stopped doing them and moved on to the farmer carry.

I will do 30 to 60 minutes of yoga too.

Fifth day of a streak

I am ending my strength training streak at 5 days and not lifting iron again until Monday. My right shoulder feels wrong, which is odd because normally it is my left shoulder that gives me problems. Neither shoulder seems to be interfering with lifts or swings, but two days of rest might be a good thing. I plan to participate in a 90 minute yoga class on Saturday, but don’t think that will strain my shoulders much unless we practice hand stands.

I trained with kettlebells and body weight exercises for a little over 2.5 hours and practiced yoga about 3.5 hours during this streak. I enjoyed the work, but the real question that interests me is whether I can accomplish a similar amount of work in the coming week. I did not let myself strength train as much as I would have enjoyed several days this week in hopes that restraint will support my being able to work steadily this coming week (and the week after that). We’ll see. Here is what I did Friday:

Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps

Workout:

Two-handed swings
16 kg kettlebell – 10 x 20 = 200 reps, 7000 pounds
Double front squat
16 kg kettlebells – 5 x 5 = 25 reps, 1750 pounds
Snatch
16 kg kettlebell – 3 x 10 = 30 reps, 1050 pounds
Farmer carry
20 kg kettlebells – 1 x 100 paces, 88 pounds
Pullups – 5 x 1 = 5 reps

Weight: 9888 pounds

Notes: I did a single pullup or chinup after the 1st through 5th sets of two-handed swings.

My left knee remains a little wonky, but did not give me any trouble while doing front squats. I considered doing another 25 reps, but decided to save that for another day.

My right shoulder continues to feel wrong, but I decided to do some snatches anyway. I did 5 snatches with my left hand and 5 with my right after my 6th, 7th, and 8th set of two-handed swings. I was running out of time for a 30-minute workout, so gave up on snatches following the 9th and 10th sets of swings.

I included 100 paces of farmers carry even though I was at 36 minutes on the clock by the time I put the kettlebells away.

I practiced yoga for about 30 minutes later in the afternoon.