P77's Post-Hernia, Post-lockdown postings

Hi.
As this title suggests I suffered a setback a year ago when an inguinal hernia pushed through my bowel wall on the right-hand side of my groin. If that wasn't bad enough, later that day the left one, which had always threatened to become a problem gave me stabbing pains as well.

Fast-forward over five months of near screaming agony and two separate operations I was back at work and cautiously ready to think about going back to the gym. Some very light work based on high reps followed and a completely modified programme ditching stuff like squats and deadlifts in favour of resistance and tension training which began to tone my seriously overweight physique.
Two weeks later the lockdown hit and apart from a little physical activity at my place of work, I couldn't do a thing. I tried to jog but that aggravated the hernias so that was shelved indefinitely. I couldn't get a bike for love nor money so I basically did a few press-ups and that was it.

Now the gym is open again and I've been reactivating my sessions. In my next post I will detail the kind of thing that I'll be doing, starting with a trio of sessions to get up to speed. I will treat this as a personal diary and I'm not looking for replies as such unless you want to comment - writing a journal merely helps keep me motivated and gives me a new target each week to beat.

Cheers guys :)

As mentioned above, my new routine goes as follows:
Four sessions fitted in when time permits. On the two upper body sessions I will perform six exercises with an extra two if energy levels allow me to thrash my ever-weakening bod further.

It’s all tension training as this allows me to pause whilst lifting without dropping the weight between sets, thus ensuring maximum resistance is put upon the muscles. I have already carried out a basic dummy run of the programme using weights that I thought were suitable post-hernia/lockdown. Happily, I exceeded the figures quite easily and seem to have not lost much strength at all. By golly, with almost a year passing since a last proper weights session all that rest must have done me good. Hopefully I will see the belly excess drop gradually and even see some increase in size once more for my 55+ years.

The jargon I use should be reasonably understandable. The sessions will go something like this, adding weight each time I return to that particular routine.

TRAINING PROGRAMME [To update following each session].

Weekday: Upper body Session A: 6 mandatory (select) + 2 optional.

Lat p/d, underarm
10x60, 6x65 +2, 4x70 +1+1+1, 15x40
Barbell curl, standing
10x25, 6x30 +3, 4x35 +1+1+1, 15x20
Reverse barbell curl (forearms)
10x15, 6x20 +2, 4x25 +1+1+1, 20x10
Pec dec
10x50, 6x55 +2, 4x60 +1+1+1, 15x35
Fly delt dec
10x72.5, 6x95 +2, 4x102.5b +3+3+3, 15x57.5
DB curl, x-chest, alt.
8x12, 6x14 +2, 4x16 +1+1+1
DB preacher curl, std, alt.
10x12, 6x14 +2, 4x16 +1+1+1, 3x18+2, 2x20+1, 15x10
Triceps cable p/d, alt.
20x10 rev., 20x15 fr., 10x20 rev. 10x25 fr.
Last session: 1/8/20


Weekday: Upper body Session B: 6 mandatory (select) + 2 optional.

Lat p/d, hammer
10x50, 6x55 +2, 4x60 +1+1+1, 15x40
Shoulder press (not yet introduced)
10x-6x +2-4x +1+1+1-15x
E-Z pr. curl
10x28, 6x33 +2, 4x38 +1+1+1, 15x18
Chest press
10x60, 6x65 +2, 4x70 +2+2+2, 15x40
Tricep pulldowns
10x25, 6x30 +2, 4x35 +1+1+1, 15x20
High pull bicep cable curls
10x25, 6x30 +2, 4x35 +1+1+1, 25x15
Bicep contraction curls
x12 to fail, -x14 t/f, x16 t/f, 20x10
Tricep extensions
10x55, 6x65 +5, 4x70 +3+3+3, 15x35
Last session: 28/7/20



FRIDAY: Cardio (90 mins – treadmill, bike).


SUNDAY: Legs 40 mins approx.

Incline leg press
25x150, 12x200, 5x250 +3+3+3, 25x120 + 20 ’bf’
Seated ham curl
15x45, 10x50, 6x60 +2+2+2, 15x25 + 6 ‘bf’
Sled press
20x140, 12x180, 6x200 +5+5+5, 25x120 + 15 ‘bf’
Calf press
20x130, 12x150, 5x170 +2+2+2, 15x100 + 8 ‘bf’
Extensions
15x50, 10x70, 5x100 +1+1+1 flex, 15x30 + 10 ‘bf’
Last session: 2/8/20

Rest days as necessary.

Cheers folks :)

Today's session was fundamentally a repeat of last week's effort. I'm giving myself time to settle back into all of this by testing the water to see how the hernias cope. The other two sessions will follow this procedure until next time they are performed.
Happy to say though that all went very well, I even added some light shoulder presses. I have updated my template for next week's session by adding weight to most of the following exercises. Here's how it went today:

Weekday: Upper body Session B: 6 mandatory (select) + 2 optional.

6/8/20
Lat p/d, hammer:
10x50, 6x55 +2, 4x60 +1+1+1, 15x40
Shoulder press:
10x30, 6x40+2, 4x50+1+1+1, 15x30
E-Z pr. curl:
10x28, 6x33 +2, 4x38 +1+1+1, 15x18
Chest press:
10x60, 6x65 +2, 4x70 +2+2+2, 15x40
Tricep pulldowns:
10x25, 6x30 +2, 4x35 +1+1+1, 15x20
High pull bicep cable curls:
Not performed this time.
Bicep contraction curls:
10x12, 6x14, 4x16, 20x10
Tricep extensions:
10x55, 6x65 +5, 4x70 +3+3+3, 15x35
Last session: 27/7/20