11/19

squat
155x5
245x5 - right leg felt kind of bad

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1
No leg issues with the briefs on

suit & wraps
745x1

double reverse blue bands (0 assistance at top, maybe 150 - 200 lbs assistance at bottom)
875x1
This is the most I've ever had on my back. It felt super heavy picking it up and for the first half of the descent. Once the band tension started helping, I buried it about an inch or two below parallel and it came up fast. wooooo!

The illness was still affecting my sinuses on the heavy lifts, so I moved on.

light RDLs
225x8x5

GHRs
15x2

11/20

floor press
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
^ all close grip

315x3x2 medium grip
My arms felt nerve pain, so I figured why push it - I moved on.

cable rows
200x15
250x12
300x10 - this was challenging

face pulls
150x15x2

Nice work tying a PR, of course, but sorry to hear about the sinuses. Shooting pain sounds pretty terrible while lifting that much weight. Get well soon.

Thanks! Its slowly improving. Slowly. I hate colds.

11/22

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
Everything to this point was very good and very fast.
675x1 - I got a little off balance. Despite that, I powered it up and locked it out.

715 - POP - fffffcukkkkkk. I tore my left hamstring. Grade 1 tear. I felt it pop right after the weight came off the floor. There was no warning. It just popped, so I dropped the bar.

My doc opened his clinic for me and injected me with PRP this morning. He says healing time is typically 3 weeks for this injury, and PRP cuts that in half. But that is healing just for walking around. Who knows how much I will be able to squat or DL in 3 weeks at the meet? It might just be the bar. I can take token lifts to qualify for nationals. Doc said he will probably do the same injections again in 10 days, which could bring back some strength, but he has no idea how much of it will come back. This guy is a great doc and a great friend.

There's still a good chance I will be able to press >600 at the meet and there's a non-zero chance I could squat a PR, but that chance seems very slim right now. This sucks so bad. I was so much stronger than ever and have put everything I could into getting bigger, stronger and staying healthy. Then this happens.

Damn. Sorry to hear man. Do what you can, heal quickly.

cha,

Bummer on the injury. As someone who never really posts advice. Don't feel the need to "prove" yourself at a meet where you may risk a more severe injury (well when risk reward is bad, I see plenty of people in the Olympics violate this rule. I'm not them and neither are you.) I do this on the reg with just myself, and I'm a derp. Don't be a derp.

Rehab it, and kill it next meet. Best of luck!

So sorry to hear that Cha. I wish you a quick recovery and hope you're able to qualify for nationals without any risk of re-injury. Best of luck.

@#$%#$

I think you'll come back stronger but with the meet timeline it makes things tough.

Sucks man, injuries are very frustrating. As others have said, be smart about not making it worse at your meet.

Thanks! I'm throwing everything including the kitchen sink at this.

Thanks for the kind words - I really appreciate it. I'm only going to do whatever my doc & PT tell me is ok. They both exchange text messages with me and each other (about me) every day and are on board with everything I'm doing. I'll have a lot more to say in my next post.

Thanks! Squatting the bar might be the hardest part. I dont know if I could do that yet. I know I can bench without pain or risk though - much more on that in my next post.

Thanks! I dont know if I will stay this heavy or get this heavy ever again tough. So I dont know if I will ever be this strong again. It sucks sleeping and feeling full constantly. Much respect to people like G4S who force fed themselves over way longer periods of time to get much bigger than I am now. I cant do that at this point in my life.

Thanks! yup, the plan is to be smart about everything, follow doc's advice, follow PT's advice and follow chiropractor's (who was an Olympic wrestler and has worked with numerous professional, college and Olympic athletes) advice as well (he is in contact with my doc as well). Also it doesnt hurt to have another great chiropractor on my powerlifting team who's been in the powerlifting game for well over 30 years and has also worked with many pro athletes - I bounce ideas off him as well. Doc & PT have final say over what I do, but so far all of us are in agreement on everything. I'm really lucky to know so many great medical providers who all are doing everything they can to take care of me.

11/26

PT including MAT - nothing earth shattering. She did find a bunch of supporting muscles for the hamstring that were shut off and she got them firing. We talked about what I should and should not be doing. She wants me to do things that get blood flowing through the area that dont cause pain. There's not a lot I can do yet, but I can do a little.

We discussed bench pressing. She said I could try benching. I asked if I could go heavy if everything felt good. She said yes, and she is well aware of the amount of weight I lift, as I send her videos of my lifts frequently.


I drove to the gym. Driving isnt comfortable, but its not bad if I get my leg bent into a certain position. I got very stiff from the long drive. I got a crappy parking spot about two blocks away. Dragging my bag during the walk sucked. As I was walking through the gym towards the power room, I was thinking to myself "I dont want to be here".

As long as I was there, I was going to try to do everything I could. I got through my normal warmup routine with minimal adjustments.

Sitting down and getting up sucks, but with all the stuff at the gym to hang onto, it wasnt too bad getting onto the bench. Once I started benching, everything was fine.

45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1 - this felt slightly harder than usual.
I tried benching with my feet tucked under me on my toes and also flat footed with my feet out wide. Both ways were fine - zero hamstring pain. Time to put on a shirt.

loose SDP
2 board press
585x1 - this felt a little harder than usual.

I knew I wasnt going to be doing tons of shirted work, so I though about what would be most productive. I just got my blue 3 ply SDP back from Ginny - she took in the arms and reinforced the collar. I wanted to see how much I would get out of this shirt compared to my tight two ply.

blue SDP
1 board press
585x1
This was supposed to be 675, but no one added a plate and I didnt bother to check it. It was harder than hell to touch, but it shot up like a rocket. I thought it was 675 until I looked at the plates on the bar a few minutes later. ****. No wonder it was so hard to touch. I'm surprised I got this to touch a 1 board.

675 x near miss - I locked the left elbow but could not get the right one locked.

I didnt turn my right elbow out soon enough.

I think I am going to try to touch ~635 in this shirt on Sunday. This might be a very good 2nd meet attempt. Despite having the arms taken in and getting the collar reinforced and being 3 ply, this shirt doesnt have as much pop in it as my tight two ply. I'll save the tight two ply for my 3rd attempt, which I am thinking should be about 672 or 678 if I weigh about 265 on meet day.

I dont think I was quite as strong as I was before the injury, probably due to CNS or something from the injury and the PRP treatment, but I am farther along than I expected to be. Both my doc and PT were very happy to see what I was able to do last night. I am most concerned now with re-dialing in an opener that I feel confident about. I have two more sessions to get that done.


After benching, I wanted to do some pulling stuff. Its hard to pull heavy **** without using your legs. I did some light chest supported rows with my feet tucked under me. That was fine. Then I did some face pulls. Those were fine as well.

Progress!

Cha,

Without being too snarky about how difficult it is to have 575lbs "touch" your chest (only thing I do with that is roll it around... carefully), glad to see that you aren't super hurt, pumped the brakes and are doing well. Best of luck.

thanks!

All I can do it pump the brakes on the leg. Its pretty useless right now, except for bench pressing. I never realized until now how I seem to use almost all the muscles of my body, except hamstrings, for benching.

None of you guys reading this other than Cookie or probably G4S will probably ever fully understand geared lifting. I've accepted that my sport is looked at by most outsiders as being weird. For those of us who do it, its great fun and a lifestyle.

I think because you tuck your feet and are on the balls of your feet. I’ve tried benching that why and feel it more in my hips. If you go with feet flat, wide, not tucked pushing through your heels you will feel your glutes and hams firing when you bench. I’ve had cramps in both hams and glutes when benching this way before

Two civil, non-abrasive posts in a row. It’s like your maturing before our very eyes.

Beesch,

You're*

Cha,

I think my recent adventures into old age over the last 2-7y (basically getting anything to give me a life altering owie that can) has opened my eyes to the reality of old age. I will never condone garbage bags and vegetable oil outside of a scat film, but I can certainly hope you don't hurt yourself in that pursuit!

Heal up quickly cha! That one shouldn't be too bad.


The struggle is real, and there aren't many people who know what it's like. My only advice/warning regarding it would be to be careful due to age. Pay attention to bloodwork, injuries, etc... I ignored a lot of that, and looking back, I wish I hadn't. Reading your log and seeing something (tweak, questionable feeling, sick, strains, tears, etc...) almost every training session makes me nervous and I think why? But, I actually know the answer cause I've lived it.

I would never even think about putting a bunch of weight on right now or attempting to be strong and chase PR's, even though I know I could. It would probably kill me, lol, and the cost benefit analysis can't justify it. But it took me a couple years to get there, and I'd be lying if I said I still don't find that attractive.

I had no hamstring pain at all during my flat footed reps. I did 275, 315 & 365 flat footed.

It gets harder every year too.

Thanks!



Yeah, I know the right thing to do after this meet is to drop about 20 lbs. I will sleep better and feel better right away and I know that will do good things for me in the long run. Knowing what you've been through helps me see that there should be no doubt at all in my mind what I need to do. I'm not even fat at this weight, but I'm just huge. I cant sleep well, I get winded easily and I always feel overly full.

I should either be a solid 242er or a light 275er going forward. I dont intend to stop powerlifting anytime soon. I doubt I'll be benching 705 as a 242, but whatever. Feeling good & being healthy is the main reason I began lifting again ~10 years ago. That's most important.

I had a hamstring pull of probably the same grade a few years ago when I thought a sprint-jog HIIT workout would be a good idea. I felt the pop pretty good. On the plus side, these things really do recover well. I now can't even tell it ever happened. OTOH, it was a problem for a few weeks and a nuisance for another six weeks or so after.

Nothing really earth-shattering there, I know, but I really do suspect you'll not even be able to tell which leg was injured once enough time has elapsed. Obviously the issue here is much more near-term, so I hope you'll be qualify for nationals and that you'll be strong at nationals with the help of your trainers and medical advisers. Pain-free benching is a good sign, of course, as you likely won't be significantly slowed in training for nationals there. Again, best of luck!

That's good to know, thanks!

That, is something I liked reading. Smart.

Thanks!

12/1

minor changes to warmup routine to protect hamstring

bench
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1
Everything moved well and felt good.

loose SDP
2 boards
585x1 - smoked

My body weight got up to 270 after pigging out every day since Thanksgiving.
This affected how the shirts worked.

Touch chest
615 x f. I struggled to get it to touch. Right as I touched, the guy calling me told the spotters to take it. Apparently I was going back and forth with the bar and probably would have gotten red lighted for the bar going up & down on the descent. bleh.

I figured a little more weight might make touching work better.
625x1 - smoked it. 10 lb PR.


I put on my blue 3 ply shirt that I had intended to try and touch 635 in. I figured 645 would be a better weight with my body weight up.

645x1 - it moved pretty well. I'm glad it didnt take any longer than it did because I was wearing out from holding my breath. 30 lb PR prior to yesterday.


All the shirted reps took a lot out of me though, and I wanted to see if I could touch something in my tight shirt.

Tight SDP
675xf. I can not touch and press this weight in this shirt when I weigh 270. On the descent, I could not keep my elbows out, so I tucked too early and touched way too low. Once it touched, the bar/my hands were not in line with my elbows anymore, so I couldnt budge it at all. If I take a 3rd attempt in this shirt at the meet and if I weigh 270, I think I might want to attempt ~689 or 695. I think if I weigh 265 I might be able to get 678 or 683.


I did some light pulling after this. I was pretty beat up in my upper body after attempting to touch 4 times in shirts.

The great news is my hamstring felt better than at any point since tearing it. Maybe the activity helped, but it seems like its starting to heal way more now.



12/2
Saw my chiropractor for ART, adjustments and some voodoo witchcraft. He put some acupuncture needles in the hamstring, then hooked them up to electricity. That loosened it up nicely before the ART. When he did ART on my left glute medius, that caused nerve pain in the spot he was pushing on plus I got referred pain into the hammy. It was extremely uncomfortable. Apparently the sciatic nerve might have gotten a little damaged during the injury.

Afterwards, the hammy feels way better and way looser. I can squat down to and up from a chair using both legs normally now. I can bend over with both feet flat on the floor and reach about the height of a loaded barbell if I was DLing. If the meet was today, I'm sure I could do token squat & DL. I'm sure couldnt do either prior to today.