All Guts & Not About The Glory

Making this life my own, trying to win everyday, loving my wife and kids, and balancing the load and weight of my little world. I'm a husband and father, a teacher and coach. This blog is an effort for me to process my thoughts and feelings about my life, the life of my family, and my journey to better myself.

[allgutsnotglory]

The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I just generally hate social media. Going to try to make peace with it on my terms.

[allgutsnotglory]

Still alive after a busy week a work.

Good morning with the kids, then off to the gym.

Got a couple of good sets of squats in before my knee starts feeling a little weird.  Playing it safe with that and got in a little extra shoulder and back stuff instead.

[allgutsnotglory]

So I’m still alive. 

Sometimes I take a break from social media.  Especially when i get to that point where its just frustrating, or you start comparing yourself to others too much.

It’s been about 3 months since tearing my labrum.  Opted for no surgery, just rehabbing and trying to get back.

Started to feel back to normal this week.

Went 225x6 with more in the tank on the bench on Thursday.  Feeling good, but being cautious of my shoulder.  Worked too hard to do anything stupid.

Squatted 315 for a triple today, which I’m fine with.  One never really thinks about shoulder mobility when squatting until you don’t have it.

[allgutsnotglory]

Pics from yesterday. Proof that I'm still alive and kicking.

[goatrodeo72-deactivated20221113]

Suit aesthetic

Suppose a fella wanted to work on looking good in a suit. What would yous recommend as far as areas to target. Seems to me that shoulders are a must. Probably traps too. And gunz, especially forearms, for when the coat comes off and the sleeves get rolled up.

Any other ideas?

And any thoughts on best movements to use to hit these areas? Some must do movements at the end of a regular workout? allgutsnotglory, clevcrew, or farmfreshmuscle or anyone else with killer shoulders have some ideas?

Asking for a friend.

[allgutsnotglory]

OK- not sure why I didn’t get back to this faster... Sometimes I forget about tumblr entirely.

Question was by fatbastich -

Shoulders are my love and hate thing at the moment.  I love working shoulders and the related muscle groups. I also am rehabbing a torn labrum at the moment, so I have to be very careful.

My present shoulder routine involves some preventative stuff with very light dumbbells- picture laying face down on a 45 degree bench- dumbbell in your hand, straight arm, just hanging down.  I work slow rotating circles for about 40 reps both clockwise, and counter clockwise.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it is pretty solid for increasing the muscle viscosity in your entire rotator cuff complex. 

From this I stay in the same position and stick with dumbbells for lateral and front raises. Presently I am in the 5 sets of 8-16 rep range.

I keep the bench in the same 45 degree position, and switch to 1 arm dumbbell rows with the same set rep range.

I bump the bench up to 90 degrees for a couple sets of seated dumbbell raises.

Right about now, I’m usually starting to really feel it, so I have to be careful with my form and not just start jerking the weights around.  I swear, you can go to any gym in America and see some meathead in front of the mirror doing some really half assed lateral shoulder raises with dumbbells that are way to heavy.

Presently the only overhead pressing I am doing is with relatively light dumbbells, and it is only for about 2 sets of 20+ reps.

Things I DON’T do (and this is because I’m hurt and not trying to tear my shit up beyond repair):

I LOVE military/overhead presses- but to be honest, they put me in a bad position physiologically and I needed to cut them out.

I am NOT doing anything resembling dips at the moment for the same reasons.

Thinking about phasing pullups back in next week if I can be pain free.

Other stuff for you:

Traps:  Shrugs.... Pick a shrug that works for you... No need to have 3 variations of the same thing.  It’s a shrug whether you use a dumbell, barbell, kettlebell, machine, etc....

Arms- This might deserve it’s own description.  I keep it pretty simple, but I think I have a good plan for it.

[allgutsnotglory]

Got a little time in at the gym today. I also wanted to give a plug to my wife clevcrew who now has her own personal training and nutrition business. Most of you probably follow her already- but if you don't, she's the one to hit up for the professional advice. Check out the website also: www.clever-strength.com

[allgutsnotglory]

Spent most of my day at a conference about positive behavior modifications in the public schools.  That equated to 6+ hours of sitting on my ass.

 Finally got out, and made it to the gym.  I worked on some shoulder stuff and bi's and tri's today.

 I've been in communication with my athletic trainer who's given me some exercises and I'm taking my doctors advice.  The main goal at this point is to re-hab and regain the strength in my shoulder.

 Generally speaking you won't see me overhead pressing much, or anything that externally rotates my shoulder.  I've been told I can bench, but I have to do it lying on the floor for support.

 All that being said, I felt good getting what I consider the first good effort in for my upper body in more than 2 weeks.

Now I have to continue to live my philosophy of training smart, and listening to my body.

[allgutsnotglory]

Went back to see the Doc. Got everything confirmed that I have a torn labrum. Its not going to get better on its own, but he says if i take care of myself it won’t get a whole lot worse.

Doc says I can hold off on surgery as long as I feel like it, & can manage the discomfort. If I have another major issue, I’m going to have to get cut.

On the positive end, I took my son along for moral support, and had a good day with him. Sometimes kids need one on one time, even if it’s just hanging out and doing stuff like this.

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[allgutsnotglory]

Pretty much.

[allgutsnotglory]

This is an improvement. Believe it or not, the swelling has gone down, and the bruise is sort of fading. Did legs again for the 2nd day in a row. Did all the shoulder re-hab stuff, plus a few other things. Really hoping for the Doc to say no surgery when I see him, but I know either way I have to re-hab this thing and make it as strong and stable as I can.

[allgutsnotglory]

Another leg day.  Staying away from squats for the time being as it puts my shoulder in a weird position.

Did leg presses today, and keep reminding myself that it's cruel joke that we can't squat as much weight as we can leg press.  So I just banged out a shit load of them and tried to make it count.

Did about 45 minutes of cardio which for me is like a record.

Did my shoulder re-hab stuff, added in a few other things in an effort to get back to "normal".

Also had an appointment to get some injections and an MRI on that same shoulder.   Not much fun, but had to be done.

[allgutsnotglory]

Pic#1- The only machine I used today. X-rays on the shoulder. Pic#2- Doc is sending me to get an MRI. With all this being said, I am feeling about 1000% better, but we are still trying to figure this injury out. I've worked too hard to let things go to hell now. The easy and dumb thing for me to do right now is say "I feel better, so I'm just going to keep pushing through this". Trying to be smart on this one.

[allgutsnotglory]

Shoulder update:

Feeling about 300% better than yesterday, which puts me at about 60% healthy if that makes sense.

 I've been working pretty hard at getting my ROM back, and doing a bunch of little exercises my athletic trainer gave me.  Taking Tylenol pretty regularly, and icing throughout the day. 

It's working.

Went to the gym today, did my little re-hap workout, complete with dumbbells in the 5-15 lb range. It's humbling.

Noticed a few people watching me struggle.  Truly don't give two shits about any of them or their opinions.  It did however remind me that in the gym we need to not make judgments regarding people and their efforts. 

A lot of times, we never know what someone else is dealing with. 

Give your best effort, no matter what that effort looks like.

Nobody's opinion means shit except your own.

Listen to your body, take care of your body, and challenge your body.

BE HUMBLE, HUSTLE HARD  

[allgutsnotglory]

For all my followers who have beards.

[allgutsnotglory]

So I'm still messing around with this shoulder thing. I've been working hard to get my range of motion back. Rehab today also involved me maxing out working with an 8 lb. dumbbell. Sitting on the couch now watching a movie with the kids and Sab. Enjoying my 15th icebag of the day.

[allgutsnotglory]

Really had a good time on vacation, but it seems life took it's wear and tear on me a little.

Woke up a few days ago with a nagging pain in my shoulder.  Thought I might have over done it at the gym the one single time I worked out in Florida (And, I actually took it easy)  Keep in mind, I've had shoulder issues for over half of my life.

But my athletic trainer seems to think that my shoulder was already fatigued, and I strained it pretty good with a combination of sleeping in strange beds, swimming for hours in the ocean and pools, and hauling around the family luggage.

So here I am getting a little therapy and trying to get back to normal. 

Trainer seems to think it's  a combination of a biceps tendon/ A.C. joint sprain, and possibly something impinged.

This is one of the days that I truly am thankful for my job allowing me to have my own personal athletic trainer, and access to a professional grade electric stim machine.

Tried to work out today, but was limited to walking on the treadmill, and some easy leg work.  This thing aches like a mutha....

[allgutsnotglory]

Happy Independence Day. And yes... I AM unapologetically American. I'm proud to be an American. And I love our country. Supposed to be a rest day. Got some work in anyway since we will be traveling for a few days. General upper body circuit. Reps all in the 12-20 range.