It’s been a while since I’ve shared a fitness update on my blog. I’ve been doing a lot of meal preps lately and trying out new recipes so that’s what I’ve been sharing. Back in February I made a post about my plan to get back on track with my fitness goals for the year. And I did. I went hard at the gym and stuck closely to my nutrition and starting seeing results.
After a dieting phase in January, struggling to be consistent with my nutrition in February to maintain, I decided to do a reverse diet in March to increase my macros. I was so happy in March because I was eating more food, training heavy and hard, and also saw my physique change in the direction I wanted to change. I thought I was going to do another dieting phase in April to prepare for summer, but I was so happy with my training, nutrition, and overall mindset that I kept maintaining in April.
At the beginning of April during a squat session I noticed my knee was bothering me. I stopped doing squats that day and the following week to prevent an injury. I kept my other training normal including adding one run per week into my routine and didn’t have any problems. Then last week I went to pick something up off the floor in my living room, lightly placing my knee on the ground and felt more intense pain than I had during any of my workouts. My worst fear became a reality. An injury that prevents me from my workouts. Not only my workouts, but my favorite workouts – leg day and dead lifts.
After visiting an orthopedic I found out that I had a minor injury of the meniscus – the radiologist described it as fraying. At first I was pretty sad – very sad. All I could think about was how hard I worked during the first four months of 2017 and how it was going to go to waste. I was so determined to reach my physique goals for summer and I I kept thinking that there is no chance I could maintain without major compound movements. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing I can do about the injury except let it heal so I can be back to 100% – the doctor said about six week. Instead, I re-worked my split, adjusted my macros, and also changed my mindset. Sure, my split is heavily upper body focused, but I can use this time to improve my chest.
So here’s my new workout split once I’m more comfortable walking until my knee is healed:
Shoulders
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Barbbell Upright Rows
- Dummbell Lateral Raises
- Shrugs with 25 pounds
- Single Arm Cable Raises
- Rope Face Pull
- Abs
Back
- Dumbbell Rows
- Bicep Curls
- Bent Over Rows
- Lat Pull Down
- Seated Rows
- Straight Arm Pull Downs
- Cable Bicep Curls
Chest
- Bench Press
- Skullcrushers
- Incline Bench Press
- Dumbbell Flies
- Tricep Push Downs
- Tricep Cable Extensions
Before this injury, I had already been thinking about future fitness goals for 2018. At the beginning of 2017, my focus was to meet physique goals and up until this point I was on track for that. I know I’ll still have a little over five months left of 2017 to reach those goals, however I was already thinking of going back to powerlifting before the injury. Being strong and moving nearly double my body weight is what makes me the most happy at the gym. Being strong and having muscle also make me look like an athlete. After I am off the road of recovery, I will focus on my physique for the remainder of summer and build the muscle I may lose over the next six week, but for long term goals I can see myself training for powerlifting. Obviously this goal rides on my recovery so this may or may not pan out, but it’s still on my list of fitness goals.
For now, I have to be patient, do my physical therapy exercises, and “baby” my knee until it heals. I’m not going to lie, this has been very hard for me. Fitness has truly become my life and the past four months is the hardest I’ve ever worked in the gym, the closest I’ve ever stuck to my nutrition, and it’s the most progress I’ve ever seen. Of course, I’m worried about how I’ll look in six weeks and how much muscle I’m going to lose. What I need to focus on is my health and recovery.
So for now, expect new recipes and meals prep until I can get back in the gym and keeping working my fitness goals.
