Mike's Log - The Road to Recovery

Totentanz said:
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.
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I think in my case it's because I was a little over-ambitious in my programming for bench and squats, since both started in the gutter. The %-based numbers would actually prevent this, but since I was coming off of being fairly detrained (I hadn't squatted since May, and have not benched regularly since last year), I decided on end of cycle #'s that I knew I could hit, but would probably be fatiguing (i.e. a bit closer to limit sets). And, shockingly, they are. Future cycles would not really have this problem, so we'll see.

I've been doing some reading on costochondritis (which is what I have), and it's kind of a weird thing. Some people try (lots) of time off, only to have the problem flare up again. Some people just grin and bear it until it eventually goes away. Most sources seem to agree that it's "benign" pain, i.e. more of a pain in the ass than accruing actual damage, which is the impression I get.
 
This workout was done at home, which proved significant for a reason or two I'll detail below

Full Body - Day 2, Week 3 (test day)

CGBP (first reps paused)
Warmup to 185 for a paused single
160 x 11

High Bar Squat (oly shoes, beltless wonder)
Warmup
185 x 20 (ouch)

Chins (shoulders back, tight at the bottom - I figure this is worth pointing out)
Warmup
Me + 45 x 13

Hook Grip Deadlifts (oly shoes, beltless wonder)
Warmup
240 x 5,5

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 8 x 20/side
Side-Lying External Rotations (towel under arm - changes the angle a bit) - 8 x 12/side

1-Arm Cable Row
60 x 12/side (a little sloppy)

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 35 x 15/side

Notes:

Today was a pretty interesting workout on several levels.

First up is the bench press. While warming up in my bench in the basement, I noticed something interesting - very, very little sternal discomfort. It then occurred to me that the natural touch point on my bench is a little higher than the benches at the gym, and that all my friends who have benched in my basement have noticed that my bench feels a little harder. The reason became obvious to me - the bench in my basement must be a tiny bit inclined. This tiny incline is probably enough to help spare the sternum, since a flat bench would more resemble dips. The solution seems obvious to me - I'll just bench in my basement since I can do this largely irritation-free.

Next up is the squat. While warming up in my Chucks, I felt like I was getting a little more bent over than I wanted. This could be due to picking a different focal point in my basement (i.e. I could have looked up higher). But out of curiosity, I decided to re-warm up in my olympic shoes. Sure enough, the groove honestly just felt better, so I went with it. The result was a set of 185 for 20 without a belt, a feat I have not managed for a couple of years. This is probably not bad coming off of a ~2 month layoff from squats 2 weeks into the program.

Chins felt fine (albeit not an all-time PR, I think I managed +1 rep over this in the spring - whatever), and next up was deadlifts. One of the weird observations I've had in the past is that RDL's done with olympic weightlifting shoes were seemingly doable while flat shoes seemed to irritate my sciatic issues. The reason for this actually strikes me as fairly obvious - the ankle being in a comparatively dorsiflexed position (as it is in flat shoes vs. an elevated heel) literally puts more stretch on the sciatic nerve. For example, if you were to try a 1 leg banded hamstring stretch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIxGJAWQ9A0

You'll notice a "pulling" on the sciatic nerve whenever your foot dorsiflexes. Well, the heel on an olympic weightlifting shoe leaves your ankle comparatively plantarflexed, so there probably is literally less pull on the sciatic nerve. As such, I figured, why not, I'll just pull this way from now on, even if I'm a little stronger in flat shoes/Vibrams. While flat shoes didn't irritate anything last week, olympic shoes felt absolutely fine, if maybe slightly quad-ier.

Anyhoo, this session was reasonably solid, and I'll probably post a video of some of the lifts in a bit. However, I'm now contemplating what to do from here. I could continue another block of HST 5's, but as it is, my sternum is already a tiny bit pissed off. Less frequency, while maybe not as optimal from a strength/performance standpoint, may allow this to fully heal. One option would be reducing frequency to 2x per week upper/lower, which would extend the HST cycle(s) to 3 weeks. Another would be to experiment with some programmed bro training, something that has been on my to-do list for ages.

So, I'll either continue one more block of HST's, or just use this first 2 weeks as a "break in" ramp leading up to a slower progression. Any thoughts are welcome.
 
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I also appear to have gained ~7-8 lbs since the 17th (~11 days). Lulz. It's possible eating ~4000 calories a day lately has something to do with that, but I've been hungry as ****. It's possible I'm overdoing it a bit, so I may scale things back a little.
 
Well, after debating what to do, I guess I'll give at least the 5's block a shot, despite the aching sternum, in that I don't think it's actually getting worse. Hopefully.

Full Body - Day 1, Week 3

CGBP (first reps paused)
Warmup
165 x 5,5,5

High Bar Squat (oly shoes, beltless wonder)
Warmup
190 x 5,5,5

Chins
Warmup
Me + 55 x 5,5,5

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 10 x 15/side
Side-Lying External Rotations - 10 x 10/side

Inverted Rows
Me + 10 x 5,5,5

Leg Curls
80 x 5,5
85 x 5

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 45 x 5,5,5

Notes:

I'll probably continue lifting at home for this block, given that my bench seems to feel better on my sternum.

Nothing too exciting here, though I felt kind of juiced, probably from making Sunday a PR day. Still, the loads are light enough that it's not an issue, as per design.
 
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Full Body - Day 2, Week 3

Incline Bench (first reps paused)
Warmup
145 x 5,5,5

High Bar Squat (oly shoes, beltless)
Warmup
195 x 5,5,5

Chins
Warmup
Me + 60 x 5,5,5

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 10 x 16/side
Side-Lying External Rotations (towel under arm) - 10 x 10/side

Inverted Rows
Me + 10 x 8,8

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 50 x 5,5,5 per side

1-Leg Hip Thrusts
Me x 10,10 per side

Notes:

Well, I performed an experiment today. If dips irritated my sternum, and my home bench setup irritated my sternum maybe slightly less than the gym's due to a very slight incline, what would happen if I just did an actual incline bench? The answer was that it felt pretty much totally fine. On the one hand, I really wanted to bring my bench back up, but on the other, I'd also like to stay healthy. I suppose an incline bench will probably transfer quite well to a flat bench. Changing exercises mid-cycle is a little annoying, but discontinuing an entire cycle due to one exercise causing problems is probably even more annoying.

Either way, solid enough session. I'll see how my chest/sternum feels over the next couple of days just to make sure the incline bench really is less irritating.
 
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Full Body - Day 3, Week 3

Bench (standard grip, eyes on ceiling instead of bar, slightest incline)
Warmup
170 x 5,5,5 (first reps paused)

High Bar Squat (oly shoes, no belt)
Warmup
200 x 5,5,5

Chins
Warmup
Me + 65 x 5,5,5

Hook Grip Deadlifts (oly shoes, no belt)
Warmup
255 x 5,5

Shoulder Prehab
45 Degree Lateral Raises - 10 x 17/side
Side-Lying External Rotations (towel under arm) - 10 x 11/side

Inverted Rows
Me + 15 x 8,8

1-Leg Calf Raises
Me + 10 x 10,10,10 per side

Notes:

So once again I experimented with my setup to see if I couldn't find a way to make the standard bench work for me. For reasons that are unclear to me, when my head is tilted down, the sternum pain is noticeably worse. So I used the Rippetoe method of just picking a spot on the ceiling instead of watching the bar itself. Additionally, I brought my grip out to more of a standard power bench, figuring that a wider grip actually = less stretch on the pecs at the bottom. The combination felt pretty good. I WILL FIGURE YOU OUT, BENCH.

I am leaning towards finishing this block of 5's next week in an upper/lower format. My lower back is feeling tight, my knees are feeling tight, and while I've managed to get the bench at least temporarily under control, I feel a little worn down in general from the higher frequency. I would finish the cycle, then, in upper/lower, and probably just do future cycles in that format since it seems a little easier to recover from.
 
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I would suggest staying with the incline bench, it seems to be easier on the body in general than flat bench. Any particular reason for staying with the flat bench, despite the problems?
 
Sci said:
I would suggest staying with the incline bench, it seems to be easier on the body in general than flat bench. Any particular reason for staying with the flat bench, despite the problems?
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I will consider it, but sternal pain aside, flat benching feels fine on my shoulder, that's not the issue. In fact my shoulder feels the best it has in a long time at the moment.

Incline bench is fine and all, I think I just enjoy flat benching more, and still have long-term goals along those lines (i.e. a 300 lb bench). Best to date has been 280 with a pause on a couple occasions, though it's been a couple years now.
 
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Hypothetical, I know, but I wonder what sort of strength level you could get to on bench if you bulked up to 200 lbs. Considering your proportionally high strength levels, and injuries not withstanding.

Is your sternum pain costochondritis? I hear of that happening to gymnasts a lot from dips especially. Supposedly it should improve over time.
 
Totentanz said:
Hypothetical, I know, but I wonder what sort of strength level you could get to on bench if you bulked up to 200 lbs. Considering your proportionally high strength levels, and injuries not withstanding.

Is your sternum pain costochondritis? I hear of that happening to gymnasts a lot from dips especially. Supposedly it should improve over time.
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Yep, definitely costochondritis. I can hear/feel my sternum "pop" (and hurt a little) sometimes when sneezing and such, all the usual signs. The original irritant was dips, though it has since affected some other benching variants from time to time. Knock on wood, I think I've found a setup that's mostly discomfort-free at this point, but I'll play it by ear.

The bulking question is interesting. The highest I ever got my weight was in 2006, which was probably the peak of my overall strength. At the time I weighed in at 176 lbs and squatted 345 (just missed 370), benched 275, and pulled ~451 in competition raw. I was that big by consuming mass amounts of junk food, though, and for a variety of reasons I've been reluctant to get that big (and a little fat) since. Part of it is that I seem to hyper-respond to certain dietary stuff in terms of cholesterol, even lean at one point my LDL was 201, though I was able to get that back to normal by largely dropping red meat, butter and eggs. The past couple of years have been completely ****ed by injuries, as well. First my hip/sciatic problems in late 2010 to 2011, and then the rotator cuff tears last Summer/Fall.
 
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I did the junk food bulk before too and it didn't seem to be the best idea for me. My blood pressure was going up and I got a talk from my doctor about lipid profiles, etc. The next large bulk I did was made easier by instead adding olive oil to a lot of different stuff, even protein shakes. Tastes like crap but it didn't seem to effect cholesterol too much. Not sure if that would help you at all. Of course any time one gains significant amounts of weight seems to impact a lot of health measures regardless.

Numbers like that at 176 are pretty much out of most people's league. That puts you in the advanced category according to exrx for pretty much all three lifts. Pretty sure you could get into the elite category for all three if you bulked up a little and were able to remain injury free.
 
Beast mode right there, for sure.

Why did you stop competing? Seems like you could do really well in your weight class, as long as you aren't going up against someone who just dropped some halo before the meet or something.
 
That can't be your max dead, surely. You threw that about like a red headed step child ... seriously.
 
That's a good pull in my book. I didn't notice a round back problem, for me it helps to let the back flex just a little. If I try too hard to keep an "arch" I just lose my pulling power. I think there is nothing wrong with rounding the back slightly and getting the erectors to do some of the lifting, as long as you don't go crazy and crush a disc or something.
 
Totentanz said:
Beast mode right there, for sure.

Why did you stop competing? Seems like you could do really well in your weight class, as long as you aren't going up against someone who just dropped some halo before the meet or something.
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Combination of stuff, found out shortly thereafter I had some cholesterol problems and I got some SI joint issues from the wide-ish stance squatting I used to perform. I haven't wide stance squatted consistently since that, though I used to do rather well at it. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't attempt to give it a go again at some point, since other aspects of my form have improved. However, at the moment, I'm reluctant to even try low bar squatting, as that was one of the original irritants for my shoulder, and it still feels a little tight/painful to hold it in that position.

A lot of my issues actually stem from a congenital abnormality I have, femoral retroversion. The femur projects out of the acetabulum at a ~15 degree different angle on my right side, so I have some asymmetry issues which probably predispose me to problems.
 
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