Dsher10’s BodyBlog

Getting close! My right elbow is improved, but not 100% yet. Today my trainer had me work the "thick bar" with bands. Worked up to about 290 lbs equivalent weight/tension. Then I did a few regular benches, stopping at 250, which went up pretty easy. I’m hoping for the best.

I only have two training sessions left before my meet on September 12th after today. My left elbow is still not completely recovered, but it does not seem to hurt doing bench presses, though I have not tried a max lift with it. Today I again took it easy, but worked up to three reps with 225 without any pain. The weight felt light and went up smoothly, quickly and easily; I could have done a lot more. My trainers say my time off has actually contributed to recovery, and that I’ve gotten a lot stronger. They see no reason why I can’t hit a new meet PR in the 275-285 lb range. That would be a nice step forward for me. They also felt that I wasn’t far from my 300 plus lb goal!

Went to my bench workout today with some trepidation: Would I be able to do anything? Was my meet in jeopardy? Apparently not. My trainer had me do a series of light, wide-grip benches with a curved bar. I worked up to reps with 175 without pain, though my left elbow was still touchy at full lockout. My trainer thinks I’ll be OK for the meet; I just need to watch things closely until then and not overdue my training weights. He feels I’ll be able to do near my max at the meet even if I don’t work that heavy between now and then.

I sure hope so!

My overstressed elbows are beginning to mend, slowly. I limited my Monday session to just shrug work, as that did not require me to bend my arms. Even so, I still re-stressed my left arm a bit and had to stop. This Thursday at my bench workout all I did was 200 reps with a broomstick, then about 8 sets of 10-15 reps with the 45 lb bar. Hopefully, this helped loosen me up. I will do nothing else until next Thursday, except icing and pain medication. Hopefully I will be able to resume my regular training by then.

Damn. Here i am just about five weeks out from my bench meet and I have two injured elbows, especially my left! I have felt  over-stressing coming on the last few weeks and, as usual, tried to work around it. But to no avail. I really blew it about two weeks ago doing sets of eight reps of lying dumbbell presses, working up to 90 lbs. About a day later my elbows were so sharply painful I could barely move them. Now I can’t train! I tried workouts that didn’t involve bending my arms, like shrugs, but even those put a pulling strain on my arms.

Now I’m about to see my physician and physical therapist. I expect them to say DON’T WORK OUT! So, I will just need to assess the impact on my meet. I’m afraid it won’t be good.