Deadlift and a lesson for eveyone

The shoulder issue I created is a good one. In talking with Jim Wendler this weekend he hit the nail on the head. I got greedy. It wasn't good enough that I was able to get in 5-6 sets with the straight bar on my Press day. I followed that up with doing ALL of my Bench work with a straight bar a few days later. As if to tempt fate, I did ALL of my next Press workout with a straight bar. After all, it's been 2 1/2-3 years since I've been able to do any kind of pressing with a straight bar. It only sounds reasonable that I should throw common sense and 25 years of experience to the wind. In fact, if someone did what I did I would berate them mercilessly until I heard the magic words, 'Rhodes, you were right." I fully deserve what I have brought upon myself. I did hammer out 50 miles on the bike last week in place of lifting. Saturday I came in and started the rehab process.

• Trap Bar: 225x5/250x5/280x5
• FSL: 5x5@225
• T-Bar: 2x20/5x10
• Rehab
• Banded "A's": 2x20
• Banded External Rotation: 2x25 each
• Side Raises/Bent Raises: 50 each
• Pull-aparts: 100 (useless in rehabbing a rotator cuff)

Lesson learned: Know your limitations and listen to them. Be happy with little break through's (being able to do 5-6 sets on the straight bar). Don't get greedy - take what you can get. The upside to this is that I'll actually rehab my shoulder like I should've done completely after surgery. Again, I got greedy and skipped some stuff I should've done because I wanted to get back to "regular" training. Pre-surgery I had multiple shoulder injuries. In that time I was able to build up the joint and really not deal with anything except for the occasional bout with biceps tendonitis. As I've mentioned, surgery really destroyed my shoulders and I never rebuilt them and I believe this is also part of the issue I caused. I put added strain (straight bar pressing) on an already compromised joint. To say that I'm an idiot is an understatement. This fall has not been one of my better stretches in the weight room. I kind of knew it once I developed the pinched nerve in my back, but I refused to see it for what it was. Two more weeks of football season, Thanksgiving break and two weeks of being a gym manager before winter break.