Into block 2, hip flexor issue, no legs this week

I’ve been dealing with a right hip flexor injury, so going to skip leg day this week. Lots of stretching, walking, heat and NSAIDs. Trying to get this inflammation down so I can golf, lift and run, without it feeling all inflamed every time. I think it is primarily a golf thing, but adding in heavy deadlifts doesn’t help (even if it’s partial range of motion.

I am in week 2 of my second block. My upper body workouts are going well. I am benching 185x8s (up to 4 sets earlier this week). That is a movement from 6 sets of 5 during the last block.

Pushups and pullups are still a little ehhh. I managed a set of 7 after the bench earlier this week on pullups. I’d figure I would be seeing 8-10 at this point even fatigued. I suppose it’s being a little heavier ~230 that is impeding the body weight movements. Incline press this round I’ve added 10 pounds and keeping in the same rep range.

The Deadlift I worked up to 335 last week for a single. Not my heaviest ever, but made the 270 for 3s feel fairly light. The week prior to that was 4 sets at 275 for 6 reps, so half the reps felt pretty good. Skipping a week and some recovery will hopefully get that back on track.

Cardio has been just walking at a incline in that 125-135 bpm range. I did 30 minutes yesterday, but this should be 3 hours a week until the next block, unless replaced with golf.

Right now it’s all a matter of keeping my body mobile and healthy so that none of these workouts fatigue me so much that I can’t do the next or golf.

Looking forward to the next block already, it’s almost entirely bodyweight movements for the upper body. The lower body is supposed to be squats and deadlifts, but we will see how I work that. Depends on this hip thing recovering. I think I will treat that block like a cut… restrict calories.

Finished block 1 PB

I did my PB workout, modified this month, and completed block 1 yesterday. Today is a rest and walk day only.

I am excited to start block 2. As I’m a little older now, my body reacts in different ways. I find a few things that take it out of me, in no particular order:

• Heavish + higher volume ~4-6 rep range. The volume for bench press at 5-6 reps is tough. 6 sets of 5 reps at 185 is pretty tough on the nervous system. Next go around, I have adding a rep to these workouts. So instead, 185 at 6 reps per set starting at 3 sets, and then working up to 6. Heavy deadlifts are also quite neurologically stressful, even if it’s off the pins. The 285×6 for 5 sets didn’t happen, and cut it 1 set short.
• Squats. Any workout with squats is tough for me. It’s just an exercise I’ve always struggled with.
• Any day I run after one of those tough workouts.
• Long golf range sessions

One things that doesn’t seem to take it out of me as much is the higher rep bench day. I was doing sets of incline ~9 at 155, and that felt pretty good that afternoon and the next day. Fatigue was light.

The other thing that didn’t take it out of me… 18 holes in cart without a range warmup session! This was surprising. Very little fatigue without nailing balls for an hour. It goes to reason , I hit the ball 100 times, of which 30-40 were putts, leaving you with just 60-70 non-putts, and maybe 20% of those were wedge shots, or non-full iron shots. This is the key. I had no hip pain after the last round of golf… hmmm…

Walking at ~125-130 bpm for 1 hour on an incline. Appears to be the ideal refresh exercise for me at the moment.

The next block is pretty set. I know the first week, into the 2nd typically go well, with the higher volume in the last 2 weeks a bit of struggle. It goes Upper->Lower->Upper.

The undecided in this block are

1. Bench press, do I stay at 185 and try to push for 6 reps per set in this block or drop the weight to 175 and go for 8s
2. The deadlift pins… do I really pile on the weight, and how much. Thinking this week to go : 285, 305, 325, 345 , with 285×3
3. I have hip raises as an exercise and no squats, which feels weird for this block… Just checked the original and it had leg press. I think I will do goblet squats this go around for higher reps. I have decreased the amount of leg work, in the last go around that was used to balance running, this time I have less an excuse but golf…