Shock Week...Not So Shocking

Okay, I’m not a fan of shock week either. I’m not sure you can call it a superset when the plan only calls for 1-2 sets of each exercise! I must have written it down wrong because I have had to modify each day this week. I might actually re-design the entire 3-week cycle to some degree before I head back into power week this coming Monday. It also doesn’t make much sense in my overly crowded gym to have a superset scheduled with machines / cables / free weights that cannot be done right next to each other. Once you leave a piece of equipment, it’s gone! Also, cables are pretty much a waste of time ever since they replaced the original ones (which has actual cables) with these awful new rope versions. The tension is totally off and most exercises just aren’t effective anymore. Machines are good for isolating muscles and for safety in form but in general, you can’t go wrong with free weights. The iron is my friend hehe :P

I have saved leg day for today but it’s going to be a light one for sure. That awesome leg burn I gave myself last week was perhaps a little too awesome. I think I actually tried to push myself too hard, specifically with the heavy squats and the 1-leg presses and now I am experiencing off-and-on pain in my knee joints! So far, the complete list of injuries is as-follows:

1. Shin splints in both legs (particularly the left & going on for nearly 10 months now!)

2. Ankle/foot pain in both feet (particularly the left which I am still wrapping almost daily)

3. Knee pain in the outer side of the joints (particularly the right)

4. Sharp tightness/pain in what I think is my hip flexor joint but I’m not entirely sure (only the right side)

5. Mild elbow pain in my right elbow beginning in the past week, I think the result of lifting too heavy on shoulder day. Praying it’s not the onset of tendonitis!

6. An absolutely horrible pain experienced in my right rear delt (I think?) when I tried to do rear delt flies the other day. All other shoulder exercises were tolerable but my arm literally gave out forcing me to drop the weight when I tried to do the flies and I embarrassingly had to resort to 3 sets on the left arm only. I think this is probably from yoga class (too many rapid sun salutations) so I might skip it this weekend.

And no, I am not exaggerating on any of this. Nor do I feel like I am over-training. I’ve actually cut out ALL cardio over the past few weeks simply because I’d rather have my legs sawed off than succumb to a mere 10 minutes of splinting shin pain on the StairMaster or Treadmill and the less impactful pieces of equipment like the elliptical or arc trainer hurt my hip flexor too much. I stretch, I foam-roll, I spread Icy Hot over myself before bedtime, I pop Ibuprophen like they’re candies…I am literally out of ideas at this point. I have an appointment with a Sports Medicine doc in June (that’s as fast as they could get me in unless there’s a cancellation) so I just have to keep pushing through until I get some better advice.

I also increased my calories this week to hopefully allow for better gains. I swear the more I eat, the hungrier I am! Hopefully my metabolism is ready for the increase or else I’m going to be blogging about my depressed state of being an injured lard-ass in the coming weeks LOL! So far so good though. It still amazes me how small food allowances can make a person so happy after being on a competition diet for so long. I literally think the cup of red seedless grapes I’ve been mixing my Greek yogurt with is such a delicacy! I mean grapes, seriously? But they are just one of those foods that while healthy, they aren’t a great option when cutting because there’s just such a high amount of sugar in such a small quantity. So so so sad.

Anyway, regardless of being in pain I’m still looking very forward to my leg sesh today. There’s been a couple new studs in there lately and I’m oh so bored without a show to focus on LOL! Tomorrow I’ll be taking my now obligatory off day and then I’ll hit back on Saturday for the last day of shock week. Have any of my readers ever tried Eric Broser’s Power/Rep Range/Shock program? I’m curious how others set-up their workouts and what tips you may have for ensuring satisfying lifts each time. As always, thanks for tuning-in to my latest gym rat rant! xo