OK, so you all probably know I am pretty banged up and like to whine about it on a regular basis.
The thing is, I have actually been getting better the past few months.
The left shoulder does not hurt at all and I am able to bench and Press again.
My left knee, which was basically hamburger thanks to 21 years as a Deputy Sheriff and a few “incidents”, is pretty good and hardly hurts at all.
The left hip which has had me virtually unable to walk properly for the past year or so is on the mend and I am squatting again.
These are all good things.
Well, Monday I thought the game was over and the Canadians put it in during the last minute of Game 7.
Let’s review.
I had the best squat session I have had in years. We did 5 sets of 4 at an RPE 8 with the EliteFTS Yoke bar as the first exercise.
I have been using bar speed and hip pain as my indicator for RPE. This week the bar speed was fast and I hit an easy 300 with zero pain. I shut it down there and I was pretty happy.
Up next was heavy 15 yard Prowler pushes. I really like these. You get a lot of single leg work and you can load it up.
After that, 100 Band Good Mornings followed by 45 second timed sets of back raises.
The session went really well, I was toast after and I started on my recovery work.
It’s pretty standard for me. Roll, stretch, dip, eat.
I got to my last stretch, the Couch stretch. I didn’t have time to take a picture so here is a video of it.
I modify the stretch by using the leg pads on a decline bench instead of a wall.
I have a massive amount of scar tissue in my left quad and it has been breaking up over the past few months. I decided to really dig deep on the stretch and BANG!
I heard the nearly unmistakable sound of a muscle tearing.
I’ve torn enough muscles to know the sound. I stood up and was pretty sure I tore my quad and then the thoughts come in.
It’s over, I don’t have time for this, training was going so good, you know the usual when you get hurt.
I stood up and surprisingly I noticed my hip pain was 100% gone and there was no immediate swelling, bruising or real pain. I also couldn’t find my quad rolled up like a window shade, so I went downstairs and iced it while I dipped a half a can of Skoal. Too bad dip does not make you jacked.
I immediately consulted via the interwebs with team member Dr. Tom Deeble.
He surmised it was most likely scar tissue letting go and not a muscle tear.
I called my PT and set up an appointment for the next day.
This is where it gets fun.
I went to see the World’s Greatest Physical Therapist, John D at North Suburban Orthopedics in beautiful Everett Mass.
John is a funny dude. I took three key points from our meeting.
Point 1: Upon his initial exam of my leg he said “How the ‘ef do you walk on this thing”.
I said not well.
Point 2: As he was doing some ART on it, he said “without a doubt, this is the worst IT Band I have ever seen”. He was digging into a giant finger sized protrusion near my left knee and said “your IT band is awful”, note this is the second time he said how bad it was.
I told him that was not my IT band, it was a tendon.
He told me I was an idiot and it was indeed my IT band.
This has been the cause of my hip pain. The IT is so jacked up it was pulling everything to the left and the adductor was pulling everything to the right causing an East/West Schism in my groin. When the scar tissue popped it allowed the Adductor to relax.
Point 3: He said my leg was so messed up that I am going to come in weekly for treatment and he is doing a formal case study on it.
Why didn’t I go and see him sooner?
I’ll tell you.
I have no idea.
Anyway, I am looking at this as a good thing.
I am almost 100% confident John can get me back to normal. It’s also kind of cool to be a case study.
That’s all I have time for this week.
Oh wait, I mentioned a free training template.
Here you go.
This is a 4 week block for “off season” powerlifters designed to add mass and strength.
This is the actual training block me and my crew are doing now.
It's working well.
Week 1
Day 1- Intensity
1. Yoke Bar Squat 4x3
RPE 8 w/4 chains
2. Yoke Bar Paused Squat 1x2
2/1000 Pause
3. Prowler Push 4x100 ft
4. GHR-50
5. Shoulder Tap Plank
X 45 seconds + Ab Wheel x 8-12 x 4
Day 2- Intensity
1. Floor Press 3x3 RPE 8
2. Paused Floor Press 1x2 2/1000
3. Close Grip 2 Board Bench 3x8-12
4. Scap Pullups x 8 +
Pulldowns x 12-15 x 4
5. DB Rows 12-15 + Face Pulls-shitloads x 4
6. Tate Press 8x8 +
Hammer Curls 8x8
Day 3-Volume
1. DL 4x6 RPE 7 w/ 2 chain
2. SSB GM 3x8
3. Swings-ahap
3x15-20 + Scap Pullups x 8
4. R/H- 2 super strict x 12-15
2 loose x 12-15
5. GHR Situp-50+
1 TGU between sets
Week 2
Day 1- Intensity
1. Yoke Bar Squat 3x3
RPE 9 w/4 chains
2. Yoke Bar Paused Squat 1x2
2/1000
3. Prowler Push
4x100 ft.
4. GHR-65
5. Shoulder Tap Plank
X 60 seconds + Ab Wheel x 8-12 x 4
Day 2
1. Floor Press 4x3 RPE 8
2. Paused Floor Press 1x2 2/1000
3. Close Grip 2 Board Bench 3x6-8
4. Scap Pullups x amap +
Pulldowns x 10-12 x 4
5. DB Rows 10-12 + Face Pulls-shitloads x 5
6. Tate Press 10x10 +
Hammer Curls 10x10
Day 3
1. DL : 4x6 RPE 8 w/2 chain
2. SSB GM 3x8
3. Swings-ahap
4x15-20 Scap Pullups x 10
4. R/H- 2 super strict x 12-15
2 loose x 12-15
5. GHR Situp-50 +
1 TGU between sets
Week 3
Day 1
1. Yoke Bar Squat 4x4
RPE 8 w/6 chains
2. Yoke Bar Paused Squat 1x1
3/1000
3. HEAVY Prowler Push-not sprints!
10 Yards + HEAVY Sled Drags 100 feet
X 8
4. HFBR w/wt. 3x10-12
5. Plank-SUPER HIGH TENSION x alap x5
Day 2
1. Bench 3x2 RPE 9
+ 1 repeat set
2. Paused Bench 1x1 3/1000
3. DB Floor Press 6-8 +
Chain Flyes near failure x 4
4. Scap Pullups 8-12 +Barbell Rows 4x12-15 + Shrugs
5. Avg. Band Pushdowns:
100 reps
Plate Pinch Curls in between sets x 8
Day 3
1. DL 5x5 RPE 7 w/4 chains
2. Block Pull off 45 pound bumpers 3x6
3. Band Good Mornings-100 reps
4. B/R: Timed sets
45 seconds x 4
5. Side Bends 5x8
Week 4
Day 1
1.Yoke Bar Squat 3x4 RPE 9
2. Yoke Bar Paused Squat 1x3
1/1000
3. HEAVY Prowler Push-not sprints!
15 yards + HEAVY Sled Drags 100 feet
X8
4. HFBR w/wt. 3x10-12
5. Plank-SUPER HIGH TENSION x alap x6
Day 2
1. Bench 3x5 RPE 6 w/1 chain
2. Paused Bench 1x3 1/1000-same weight as top set
3. DB Floor Press 6-8 +
Chain Flyes near failure x 4
4. Scap Pullups amap+ Barbell Rows 4x10-12 + Shrugs
5. Avg. Band Pushdowns:
120 Reps
+
Plate Pinch Curls in between sets x 8
Day 3
1. DL 5x5 RPE 8 w/4 chains
2. Block Pull off 2-45 pound bumpers 3x6
3. Band Good Mornings-120 reps
4. B/R: Timed sets
60 seconds x 3
5. Side Bends 5x6
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Vincere vel mori
