Mike's Log - The Road to Recovery

Full Body - Day 3, Week 1

High Bar Squats (Chucks, no/no/no style)
Warmup
170 x 10,10 (as above, no belt)

CGBP (first rep paused)
Warmup
145 x 10,10

Chins
Warmup
Me + 30 x 10,10

Deadlifts (Chucks, no belt)
Warmup
225 x 5 (mixed), 5 (hook)

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raise - 5 x 25/side
Side-Lying External Rotations - 5 x 25/side

Cable Rows
127.5 x 10,10

Calf Raise Stack
175 x 10,10

Notes:

While I'm a little torn, one of the ideas I had while rebuilding myself, given the predisposition I seem to have for slight sciatic irritation, is basically to retrain my squats/deadlifts to be truly raw. Why, you ask? Well, for one, I notice that belted work sets are always slightly more flexed than truly raw sets, i.e. I can hold my lower back in a slightly better position truly raw. Insofar as sciatic irritation could relate to a bulging disc, this would be a point in favor of beltless work sets. For two, I kind of like the idea of not feeling like my strength is at all dependent on belting up. I am quite certain that unbelted strength will transfer just fine to belted strength if/when I want to compete again, but for the meanwhile, I think I'll swallow my ego and ditch the belt.

As another thought, I will definitely bench before squatting in general. I tried squatting first today, and noticed I felt more stiff in general, and when I benched, my shoulder was a little tight, probably from the shoulder stretch in squats. So, bench before squats from now on.
 
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RE: not doing squats first; I completely agree and can relate to the shoulder issues.

I used to squat before everything else because squats are one of my weak-points and because, for me, they require more energy than anything else. The shoulder/pec stretch of just grabbing the bar when the shoulder/pec were not sufficiently warm caused irritation. Now I've moved squats to my 3rd exercise after Incline BB press, which seems to work a little better.
 
mikeynov said:
I notice that belted work sets are always slightly more flexed than truly raw sets, i.e. I can hold my lower back in a slightly better position truly raw. Insofar as sciatic irritation could relate to a bulging disc, this would be a point in favor of beltless work sets.
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Not quite sure I understand what you mean here, Mike? Do you mean that you have a tendency to hyper-extend your lower-back when wearing a belt, or that you lose extension? Why do you think this is?
 
Lol said:
Not quite sure I understand what you mean here, Mike? Do you mean that you have a tendency to hyper-extend your lower-back when wearing a belt, or that you lose extension? Why do you think this is?
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A tendency to be in a slightly more flexed position with a belt. I suspect if you video your working sets, you will probably find the same, though YMMV.

The "why" is probably some combination of not having as much room at the bottom to maintain a slightly more extended position, and the fact that a belt changes the dynamics of core stabilization. I.e. there is increased rectis abdominis recruitment, as I recall, though less recruitment of some other stuff (obliques and I think another thing or two). The belt is basically giving your abs something to brace against, so it sort of follows that a stronger contraction of the abs may lead to an "optimal" braced position that is a little more flexed.
 
It's interesting how many different shoulders and shoulder problems there are.

For example, you like close-grip benching, but overhead work kills your shoulder, and dips hurt your sternum. For me close-grip benching or any kind of deltoid dominant benching or front raising impinges my shoulder horribly. Basically my impingement seems to come from movements where my arm is close to the body and flexes up, as in a front raise or a close-grip bench press. Especially close-grip benching, or barbell front raises are very dangerous for me! I can almost feel something impinging to the point of tearing on those movements. Yet, I am able to do overhead work and fairly deep dips without a problem...

Just an interesting observation. Of course there are probably many more examples, of different shoulder anatomies, and different exercises which hurt or help. The shoulder is such a complex, highly variable joint, that there certainly is no "one-size-fits-all" shoulder health routine.
 
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Sci said:
It's interesting how many different shoulders and shoulder problems there are.

For example, you like close-grip benching, but overhead work kills your shoulder, and dips hurt your sternum. For me close-grip benching or any kind of deltoid dominant benching or front raising impinges my shoulder horribly. Basically my impingement seems to come from movements where my arm is close to the body and flexes up, as in a front raise or a close-grip bench press. Especially close-grip benching, or barbell front raises are very dangerous for me! I can almost feel something impinging to the point of tearing on those movements. Yet, I am able to do overhead work and fairly deep dips without a problem...

Just an interesting observation. Of course there are probably many more examples, of different shoulder anatomies, and different exercises which hurt or help. The shoulder is such a complex, highly variable joint, that there certainly is no "one-size-fits-all" shoulder health routine.
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Very true, and I think that, if you listen to your body, you get a good intuitive grasp of stuff that's safe and stuff that's not.

For the record, I appear to be getting mild sternal irritation from basically any horizontal-ish press at the moment (though dips are far and away worst), and I have no idea why. It was actually worse after time off, bizarrely. It's low level enough (meaning it doesn't hurt at rest really and I only feel it a little after completing work sets) where I'm just planning on ignoring it. The other option would be to avoid pushing exercises indefinitely, but that seems rather drastic. It doesn't feel dangerous, just a very mild irritation.
 
mikeynov said:
Very true, and I think that, if you listen to your body, you get a good intuitive grasp of stuff that's safe and stuff that's not.

For the record, I appear to be getting mild sternal irritation from basically any horizontal-ish press at the moment (though dips are far and away worst), and I have no idea why. It was actually worse after time off, bizarrely. It's low level enough (meaning it doesn't hurt at rest really and I only feel it a little after completing work sets) where I'm just planning on ignoring it. The other option would be to avoid pushing exercises indefinitely, but that seems rather drastic. It doesn't feel dangerous, just a very mild irritation.
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It sounds like you have some sort of damage to the sternum, probably either the sternal attachment of the pectoral major, or perhaps even the pectoral minor is injured? The pectoral minor is heavily involved with dips, so that would explain why it hurts more with dips. Of course, the pec minor is small and not even visible, so is largely ignored, but I think it's active in all kinds of pushing movements, more so with downward pushing like dips and decline benching.
I can't even guess why the injury doesn't just heal up? Does it hurt in the center of the sternum or more where the pec minor is located?
http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisMinor.html
 
Sci said:
It sounds like you have some sort of damage to the sternum, probably either the sternal attachment of the pectoral major, or perhaps even the pectoral minor is injured? The pectoral minor is heavily involved with dips, so that would explain why it hurts more with dips. Of course, the pec minor is small and not even visible, so is largely ignored, but I think it's active in all kinds of pushing movements, more so with downward pushing like dips and decline benching.
I can't even guess why the injury doesn't just heal up? Does it hurt in the center of the sternum or more where the pec minor is located?
http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisMinor.html
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Pretty much center sternum, and literally no idea why it won't just heal up completely. I actually dropped pushups a while back due to even those irritating it. My sternum appears to literally "pop" sometimes, or feels like it needs to. Maybe I need a chiropractic adjustment or something.

I'll play it by ear, but this is probably one of those inflammatory things that will just linger around/be annoying. I had brachioradialis pain that was on/off for the better part of a year at one point that finally went away with no apparent rhyme or reason. I think these things can happen as we age.
 
I just discovered something pretty interesting. Sci's comments about my pec minor had me wondering, and I've noticed my sternal pain might have a left side bias. So I tested out my pecs/pec minors on both sides with a lacrosse ball in a doorway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkTsM3yl64A

I couldn't find an actual video of it, but the setup is largely the same, just that the arm on that side is free to move around on the other side of the doorway. Sweet Jesus almighty am I tight on my left side, way tighter than on the right side. After lacrosse-ing it a bit my pain free range of motion almost instantly improved on my left side, i.e. I could basically abduct to 180 degrees without feeling a thing. This now has me wondering what, exactly, is responsible for my symptoms at this stage, since hypothetically the rotator cuff tear(s) happened nearly a year ago. Obviously the damage I did in those tears is a factor, but I am wondering if I don't have lingering tightness in surrounding musculature that is making my symptoms worse than they should be.

Either way, given the tightness alone, I will be including pec minor release (painful as it is) into my daily arsenal to see if it has any impact.
 
Full Body - Day 1, Week 2

CGBP (first reps paused)
Warmup
150 x 10,10

High Bar Squat (Chucks, no belt)
Warmup
175 x 10,10

Chins
Warmup
Me + 35 x 10,10

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 8 x 17/side
Side-Lying External Rotations - 8 x 15/side

Cable Rows
147.5 x 10 (oops, way too heavy, see below)
140 x 8 (same deal)

Leg Curls
75 x 10
80 x 10

Calf Raise Stack
175 x 12,10

Notes:

Solid session. I think my crazy tight pecs on the left side are at least part of the puzzle of my sternum pain, and I lacrosse'd the area pretty good before benching. The slight pain/discomfort I felt after sets (not during, interestingly) was now more proximal, slightly more in the belly of the chest than sternum. I will continue to work out the crazy trigger points I have, and hopefully this will clear up over time.

Everything else was solid enough. I realized I wrote down the weights incorrectly for cable rows last time, it wasn't 147.5, it was 127.5. 140 was actually my target for 2 sets of 10 (about a 15 RM), so I screwed up here. I'll probably just sit at 140 for the next session or two.
 
Glad you found your tightness. Most shoulder problems are a combination of some sort of weakness, and some sort of tightness. For me, my main problem is the dominant right shoulder, which has an extremely inflexible infraspinitus. My external rotators are so tight on the rights side, I can barely touch the center of my back with my right hand. I can reach significantly higher up the back with the left hand. Anyway, I have been largely ignoring the tightness, and yesterday noticed that it has gotten worse with the weight-training. So its back to daily infraspinitus stretches.

Oh yeah, the other problem with my right shoulder is the weaknesses, a very weak supraspinitus and a slightly weak serratus. These wouldn't be so noticeable as problems, except when combined with my super-tight external rotators, makes for a nasty impingement. So obviously weight-training targeting the suprasinitus and serratus are on the menu, also.

Every shoulder issue is unique, but almost always some combo of a tightness and a weakness somewhere.
 
Bodyweight is already +5 lbs after week 1 of the HST program and increased calories, which seems about right. My goal is to hit 170+ lbs again this year, but have it be as lean as possible.
 
mikeynov said:
Bodyweight is already +5 lbs after week 1 of the HST program and increased calories, which seems about right. My goal is to hit 170+ lbs again this year, but have it be as lean as possible.
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Sweet. You'd look pretty brawny at 170. I am already 215, and though I look pretty flabby in the buff (probably pushing 18% BF), I am surprised that I still look very fit when clothed. I cant imagine you'd get too fat at 170, as long as you don't go super-fast on the bulk.
 
AlexAustralia said:
@Sci - you're definitely not pushing 18% based on those recent vids.
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Lucky for me, my fat belly, hips and thighs were covered up in that video. ;)

Anyway, it's all relative, compared to Mikeynov I'm pretty fat, the guy is shredded.
 
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Full Body - Day 2, Week 2

CGBP (first reps paused)
Warmup
155 x 10,10

High Bar Squat (Chucks, beltless wonder)
Warmup
180 x 10,10

Chins
Warmup
Me + 40 x 10,10

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 8 x 18/side
Side-Lying External Rotations - 8 x 10/side (done immediately after lateral raises, much harder)

Cable Rows
140 x 10,10

Hip Abduction Machine
115 x 10,10

Calf Raise Stack
195 x 10,10

Notes:

A definite jump in RPE today. I felt a bit rundown and the weights felt heavy, albeit manageable. I keep bumping up calories a bit to accommodate how I'm feeling, which seems appropriate.

My sternum definitely sucked a bit today, but it's never more than a low-level, irritating discomfort. I suppose if things persist indefinitely I may try to find some push substitutions, but as it is, my only real "push" is a close-grip bench, so I'm at a loss.

However, my shoulder has been feeling better, I think. I barely feel it in anything at this point and basically not at all day to day. I find this kind of funny/ironic. One more day (Sunday) for 10's, I will probably test conservative RM's in most lifts.
 
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mikeynov said:
A definite jump in RPE today. I felt a bit rundown and the weights felt heavy, albeit manageable.
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Possibly related to the increased frequency? That is how it goes for me. I start a cycle at 3 days/week, then by the end of the 10s, and onto the 5s, the loads get so heavy, that I always end up with 2x/week. Heavy weights and high frequency are a tough combination.
 
Sci said:
Possibly related to the increased frequency? That is how it goes for me. I start a cycle at 3 days/week, then by the end of the 10s, and onto the 5s, the loads get so heavy, that I always end up with 2x/week. Heavy weights and high frequency are a tough combination.
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Could certainly be. The upper/lower split that comes out to 2x per week frequency may be a more viable approach in the long-run (maybe), but I wanted to kick start things with an old fashioned full body routine. Switching back to upper/lower is also another idea I had for dealing with any overuse symptoms, but I'm attempting to give the increased frequency an honest shot.
 
For what it is worth, I think you may just need some time to get reaccustomed to the higher frequency. Some time ago I went through a similar experience. After a long period of upper/lower where I was lifting 4 times a week, a return to 3 x a week fullbody took some adjustment but after a few weeks, I was fine. Of course I'm back to 4x a week with an upper/lower type split, but that's not because the 3x a week wasn't working well for me.
 
I figured a title change to the log was warranted, given all that's happened to me over the past year.
 
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