Last weekend I broke my right ring finger playing football.
Now, since I'm an active lifter, I knew this was going to seriously hinder my progress in terms of hypertrophy. The main reason is that I can't make a complete fist / grip with my right hand, thus preventing me from doing pullups, bench presses, rows, and basically any other lift in the gym that requires you to grip a bar.
So, what's my plan?
Well, for the next six weeks I am going to radically change my exercise routine.
First of all, way more running. I've decided to alternate between a short-distance / fast-pace run and a longer-distance / slower-pace run. Here is an example:
M: 20 minutes at quick pace
Tu: To the base of the dish and back (from my place on College Ave.)
W: 20 min at quick pace
Th: To the base of the dish and back
F: 20 minutes at quick pace
Sat or Sun: to base of the dish and back but then walk up to the dish
I'll do this for 3 weeks, then slowly try running up to the dish on the long distance days for the 5 weeks following. By the end of the 8 weeks my goal is to be able to run up to the dish and back within 40 minutes.
What about lifting? Is all lost? Not at all!
First of all, there are still pushups. Thankfully I can do pushups comfortably despite my broken finger. Pullups are out though. Although I can do some using my wrists as the anchor (semi-supinated), it *really* hurts.
So, I bought some resistance bands online. Here is my routine:
M: Pushups as per hundredpushups.com and resistance band curls and lateral raises
Tu: Three pushup exhaustions and resistance band triceps overhead presses and "cable pulls"
W: same as M
Th: same as Tu
F: special workout1
Sat or Sun: special workout2
The special workout it simple. I go the gym and run for 20 minutes at a fast pace on the treadmill. Then, I do back squats followed by seated quad and hamstring exercises.
The other special workout is 20 minutes on the treadmill to start. Then, move onto machines in the gym that don't require me to grip a bar. So far I've thought of these:
1. Dips (easy to use your palm on the grip instead of wrapping around the grip)
2. Curl machines (use palm)
3. Cable curls (using the triangle attachment. Again, using your palms)
4. Back pull machine thing
5. Situps on decline bench
6. Situps on swiss ball
7. For shoulders, draw the alphabet with a swiss ball in your hands (this actually is a good workout, try it).
Weight at start: 158lbs.
