Upper Body Routine Advice

[Antonf26]

So I got a ligament in my ankle partially torn during a protest. That was over a month ago, I'm getting it taken care of but just since recently i've been able to walk far enough to get to the gym (2nd time today).
I can't bend my ankle very far which takes out squatting and deadlifting (probably another month i guess). And I don't think I should be putting heavy weight on it which eliminates my other favorite - overhead press (a few weeks I hope).
So from the main compound lifts all I've got left is the bench press. This is probably well enough because my upper body strength is a particular weakness. What I need help with is my routine until I can get back to the regular movements. My basic goal is increasing strength but a bit of muscle wouldn't hurt. Here's what I did today:

Bench - 3x5X45kg (PB for me, yeh sad I know )
Chest Supported Row - 3 x 5 x 20kg (This is on a machine thing so i guess it's 20kg + whatever the lever weighs).
Lat pulldown - 3x5x40kg
Decline Sit-ups - 2 x 10

Could someone give me some suggestions/advice on this?
Thanks a lot

[thestoatyone]

Looks alright to me. Maybe some seated shoulder press?

[Antonf26]

Looks alright to me. Maybe some seated shoulder press?

oh great, didn't think of that.
Do you think I should add it to the workout above or interchange it with the bench press on every other workout?

[thestoatyone]

Alternating sounds good. Do you have a workout log? Would be easier to give advice if we could see your progress...

[Talyn]

what about rows? if you're at a gym they should have the seated row contraption there. either that or use a barbell. static leg position, and can even do them from the floor so it should be ok for your ankle

best of luck

[XkillerX]

session 1:

incline barbell press
close grip bench press
seated barbell shoulder press
something tricepsy

session 2:

fixed body cable rows, plenty
pullups, lat machine pulldowns, plenty
dry swim + biceps

session 3:

incline db press
stabiliser bench barbell press***
shoulder db press
something tricepsy

session 4:

repeat 2... or add variations. pullups, chinese db rows... whatever.
just make sure to do your dry swimming (officially referred to as the "standing straight arm lat machine pulldown"). and curls. plenty curls.



*** hang some kettlebells or dumbells on the barbell to make it wobbly. Strengthens your stabiliser muscles and helps focus on big lifts.

[Antonf26]

Thanks everyone.
Killer, i'm gonna follow what you said for a while. My ankle seems to be getting worse again so I may have quite some upper body time yet.

[baldy]

Did anyone mention pullups, chinups and dips?

[XkillerX]

Did anyone mention pullups, chinups and dips?

.....pullups..... something tricepsy....

[Antonf26]

started a log: http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/viewt ... 167#308167

can't do proper dips or chins yet. Figure i'll do inverted rows insteas of chins for now.

[XkillerX]

Inverted rows (fatmans) are a horizontal pull. Chins are a vertical pull. One does not make up for the other.

Same goes for pressups and shoulder pressing. Synergystic muscle groups, but a completely different excersise.

[aliquis]

I think what XkillerX wrote looks quite nice.

You can still do leg extensions and curls atleast.

Set a bar into position in a squat cage / smith machine / bench press rack / ... Get something to put your feet on and hang yourself with your upperbody close to vertical underneath the bar, practise pullups.

You could also use a bench or friend which help you somewhat, same for dips. Or just do close grip bench press and regular bench press until you can handle dips.

I guess barbell rows may be out of the question thanks to the foot? When I had broken mine I did renegade rows using dumbbells laying my feet up on a bench so to not put any load on them, worked as a substitute for regular dumbbell rows and such. Regular dumbbell rows if you got strength enough for them.

I too wanted to say sitting dumbbell shoulder presses, personally I like to rotate my arms so that the dumbbells go side to side at the bottom but front-back at the top, seems like you can get somewhat further down and higher up that way.

I also got a bench so I could lean against it and support some body weight with one hand and did shoulder raises or whatever it may be called against the side so to speak, also hammercurls but I guess you may be better of focusing on other things.

You could also do hyperextensions I guess?

Maybe crunches work? The renegade rows will get plank like training for the abdominal area I guess.

[XkillerX]

Renegade rows = not worth it, they ruin wrists too easily

Bent over rows = too much pressure on lower back, cable rows are more proliferate

Dips = PASS

Leg curls, Leg extensions = even with hurt legs I'd still pass

Hyperextensions = be careful not to pinch anything

NO SITUPS OR CRUNCHES.

[Antonf26]

Renegade rows = not worth it, they ruin wrists too easily

Bent over rows = too much pressure on lower back, cable rows are more proliferate

Dips = PASS

Leg curls, Leg extensions = even with hurt legs I'd still pass

Hyperextensions = be careful not to pinch anything

NO SITUPS OR CRUNCHES.

May I ask why no situps?

I don't think i can do leg curls/extensions anyway since the point of pushing ia round the aknle - hurt me last time i tried.

The renegade rows are just plain awesome looking though.

[aliquis]

Renegade rows = not worth it, they ruin wrists too easily

Bent over rows = too much pressure on lower back, cable rows are more proliferate

Dips = PASS

Leg curls, Leg extensions = even with hurt legs I'd still pass

Hyperextensions = be careful not to pinch anything

NO SITUPS OR CRUNCHES.

How do renegade rows ruin them? Thanks to the impact against the floor?

Yeah, bent over rows are heavy as shit against the lower back, but so are deadlifts, or well, atleast heavy deadlifts with shitty form ;/. I'd say my bent over rows hurts less on my back but still hurts, I wonder if I have ruined it forever.

Deep dips don't feel good on my shoulders either, atleast when I haven't done them for long, but what to do about it? I doubt things like french press is that great for the elbows instead? ..

Regarding hyperextensions just make sure not to pull the back way back at the top, just go to straight body.

Why skip leg curls? Leg extensions probably suck for the knees but if one want to do something ..

May I ask why no situps?

I don't think i can do leg curls/extensions anyway since the point of pushing ia round the aknle - hurt me last time i tried.

The renegade rows are just plain awesome looking though.

Probably for the same reason as he think one should skip bent over rows and hyper extensions, because you press your discs against each other. There are plenty of abdominal pressure affecting exercises which don't do that, for instance:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... midsection

I hade broken the middle bone in my foot to the fifth toe, so as long as I didn't put any pressure on the actual foot I was rather fine.

Want I think may be bad with the renegade rows is that if you go from arm to arm you get tired quite soon and maybe not from muscle / cns tireness of working the specific muscle. I like them thanks to the plank variation/require you to hold up your body with your stomach and since you most likely can't start the pull using your hips as you can with dumbbell rows.