A little background information. I’m 37 years old and after a 14 year break from lifting (after my collegiate track and field eligibility was over) I started 5/3/1 last August. During that time I’ve made incredible gains, my military press has gone from 175 to 270, deadlift from 445 to 565, bench press from 270 to 370, and squat from 405 to 530.
Everything was going great until the last few cycles I started having a nagging tightness in my right hamstring, popliteal area, and right calf. It improved with stretching and an extensive warm-up and I was still setting squat PRs but post-workout it would get really stiff again. A few weeks back I was doing some power cleans and power snatches on a deload week and that night my right knee became very stiff, warm, and swollen. I was also getting some chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain.
I’m a member on Jim Wendler’s forum so I asked the guys on there about it, and the consensus was to take a few deload weeks to get over the injuries and start back with a 2 or 3 day a week template and start setting caps on the PR sets. I wasn’t doing this and would frequently get 16 or 17 reps in week 1 for example.
The biggest injury issue was my right knee so I saw a sports medicine orthopod about it and he sent me for an MRI yesterday. I’m a doctor at the hospital it was done at so I got the report today. The good news is I don’t have a meniscus tear like the surgeon suspected but I’ve got a pretty large Baker’s cyst tracking up into my hamstring and down into my gastrocnemius.
I don’t know very much at all about Baker’s cysts other than what I’ve read in the medical literature but was wondering if anyone had any real world experience with these and doing heavy squatting. I’m planning on competing in my first powerlifting meet in November. My long term training goals are to get a 800 pound squat, 500 pound bench press, and 800 pound deadlift in the 275 or 308 class by the time I’m 45. I say that only to point out that I have some competition goals and I’m not just a casual exerciser, stopping squatting really isn’t an option in my mind.
I see the orthopod again on the 22nd to discuss the MRI and treatment options.
I purchased wraps from King Brand for my Baker’s Cyst, it was the best money I’d ever spent. I bought a cold compression wrap that got the swelling and cyst down really fast and then I used a BFST (blood flow stimulator) to get more blood to speed up the healing of whatever damage there was in my knee causing the cyst. I also eat really well and give my knee every other day off.
[quote]Discobolus wrote:
A little background information. I’m 37 years old and after a 14 year break from lifting (after my collegiate track and field eligibility was over) I started 5/3/1 last August. During that time I’ve made incredible gains, my military press has gone from 175 to 270, deadlift from 445 to 565, bench press from 270 to 370, and squat from 405 to 530.
Everything was going great until the last few cycles I started having a nagging tightness in my right hamstring, popliteal area, and right calf. It improved with stretching and an extensive warm-up and I was still setting squat PRs but post-workout it would get really stiff again. A few weeks back I was doing some power cleans and power snatches on a deload week and that night my right knee became very stiff, warm, and swollen. I was also getting some chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain.
I’m a member on Jim Wendler’s forum so I asked the guys on there about it, and the consensus was to take a few deload weeks to get over the injuries and start back with a 2 or 3 day a week template and start setting caps on the PR sets. I wasn’t doing this and would frequently get 16 or 17 reps in week 1 for example.
The biggest injury issue was my right knee so I saw a sports medicine orthopod about it and he sent me for an MRI yesterday. I’m a doctor at the hospital it was done at so I got the report today. The good news is I don’t have a meniscus tear like the surgeon suspected but I’ve got a pretty large Baker’s cyst tracking up into my hamstring and down into my gastrocnemius.
I don’t know very much at all about Baker’s cysts other than what I’ve read in the medical literature but was wondering if anyone had any real world experience with these and doing heavy squatting. I’m planning on competing in my first powerlifting meet in November. My long term training goals are to get a 800 pound squat, 500 pound bench press, and 800 pound deadlift in the 275 or 308 class by the time I’m 45. I say that only to point out that I have some competition goals and I’m not just a casual exerciser, stopping squatting really isn’t an option in my mind.
I see the orthopod again on the 22nd to discuss the MRI and treatment options. [/quote]
You did the right thing by getting another viewpoint on this with the sports med ortho and the imaging. For this, I commend you.
As for first hand experience with baker’s cyst, no, I personally have not. Hopefully, others can chime in that regard.
I will say this: despite your goals, you WILL need to make modifications in your current program.
I commented in a “Unilateral Movements Make You Weak” training article thread last week about the PhDs, medical docs, nurses, chiros, pts I’ve met who, in one way or another, managed to hurt themselves in the gym. To elaborate on that statement, the common denominator I’ve found with these people is that even though (or perhaps because) they spend so much time addressing an injury after it occurred with their patients, they somehow fail to grasp how to prevent the injury in the first place.
This is where you need to make certain changes moving forward. You mentioned how you’re going to now start “setting caps on PR sets” and this is a good start. But it’s not the only one.
The “…chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain” you’re experiencing is another issue that you should not take lightly. Ignore this, and I won’t be shocked to see you posting a pec tear thread here in the not-too-distant future.
I’d be a hypocrite to tell you to stop lifting for PRs (not that you’d listen) as I myself, at mid 190lbs, have a goal of 3.5 x body weight dead, one-arm pull up with additional 60lbs, one-arm handstand press, and several other lifts that are important to me. What I can tell you, in my experience with myself and many many others from all walks of life, is that the margin of error shrinks as you get closer to you limits. As insultingly obvious as the last statement may sound, people have an easy time forgetting this.
What all this means is that off-the-rack training protocols will be less and less effective at injury prevention after a certain period of time. I’m not telling you to completely ditch 531 since you’re so fond of it. However, a certain paradigm shift is in order. You’ll forgive me if I don’t spoon feed you or anyone else the exact answer as I’ve long stopped doing so on this or any other forum.
[quote]Discobolus wrote:
A little background information. I’m 37 years old and after a 14 year break from lifting (after my collegiate track and field eligibility was over) I started 5/3/1 last August. During that time I’ve made incredible gains, my military press has gone from 175 to 270, deadlift from 445 to 565, bench press from 270 to 370, and squat from 405 to 530.
Everything was going great until the last few cycles I started having a nagging tightness in my right hamstring, popliteal area, and right calf. It improved with stretching and an extensive warm-up and I was still setting squat PRs but post-workout it would get really stiff again. A few weeks back I was doing some power cleans and power snatches on a deload week and that night my right knee became very stiff, warm, and swollen. I was also getting some chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain.
I’m a member on Jim Wendler’s forum so I asked the guys on there about it, and the consensus was to take a few deload weeks to get over the injuries and start back with a 2 or 3 day a week template and start setting caps on the PR sets. I wasn’t doing this and would frequently get 16 or 17 reps in week 1 for example.
The biggest injury issue was my right knee so I saw a sports medicine orthopod about it and he sent me for an MRI yesterday. I’m a doctor at the hospital it was done at so I got the report today. The good news is I don’t have a meniscus tear like the surgeon suspected but I’ve got a pretty large Baker’s cyst tracking up into my hamstring and down into my gastrocnemius.
I don’t know very much at all about Baker’s cysts other than what I’ve read in the medical literature but was wondering if anyone had any real world experience with these and doing heavy squatting. I’m planning on competing in my first powerlifting meet in November. My long term training goals are to get a 800 pound squat, 500 pound bench press, and 800 pound deadlift in the 275 or 308 class by the time I’m 45. I say that only to point out that I have some competition goals and I’m not just a casual exerciser, stopping squatting really isn’t an option in my mind.
I see the orthopod again on the 22nd to discuss the MRI and treatment options. [/quote]
You did the right thing by getting another viewpoint on this with the sports med ortho and the imaging. For this, I commend you.
As for first hand experience with baker’s cyst, no, I personally have not. Hopefully, others can chime in that regard.
I will say this: despite your goals, you WILL need to make modifications in your current program.
I commented in a “Unilateral Movements Make You Weak” training article thread last week about the PhDs, medical docs, nurses, chiros, pts I’ve met who, in one way or another, managed to hurt themselves in the gym. To elaborate on that statement, the common denominator I’ve found with these people is that even though (or perhaps because) they spend so much time addressing an injury after it occurred with their patients, they somehow fail to grasp how to prevent the injury in the first place.
This is where you need to make certain changes moving forward. You mentioned how you’re going to now start “setting caps on PR sets” and this is a good start. But it’s not the only one.
The “…chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain” you’re experiencing is another issue that you should not take lightly. Ignore this, and I won’t be shocked to see you posting a pec tear thread here in the not-too-distant future.
I’d be a hypocrite to tell you to stop lifting for PRs (not that you’d listen) as I myself, at mid 190lbs, have a goal of 3.5 x body weight dead, one-arm pull up with additional 60lbs, one-arm handstand press, and several other lifts that are important to me. What I can tell you, in my experience with myself and many many others from all walks of life, is that the margin of error shrinks as you get closer to you limits. As insultingly obvious as the last statement may sound, people have an easy time forgetting this.
What all this means is that off-the-rack training protocols will be less and less effective at injury prevention after a certain period of time. I’m not telling you to completely ditch 531 since you’re so fond of it. However, a certain paradigm shift is in order. You’ll forgive me if I don’t spoon feed you or anyone else the exact answer as I’ve long stopped doing so on this or any other forum.
[/quote]
Riveting story, your finally back after the Knee schooling?
Second poster gave some good advice, baker’s cyst is typically related to OA, osteophytes, and cartilage damage.
Elevate compress, start maybe biking after squat sessions and possibly a knee sleeve. If all fails then they can excise/drain it.
[quote]Discobolus wrote:
A little background information. I’m 37 years old and after a 14 year break from lifting (after my collegiate track and field eligibility was over) I started 5/3/1 last August. During that time I’ve made incredible gains, my military press has gone from 175 to 270, deadlift from 445 to 565, bench press from 270 to 370, and squat from 405 to 530.
Everything was going great until the last few cycles I started having a nagging tightness in my right hamstring, popliteal area, and right calf. It improved with stretching and an extensive warm-up and I was still setting squat PRs but post-workout it would get really stiff again. A few weeks back I was doing some power cleans and power snatches on a deload week and that night my right knee became very stiff, warm, and swollen. I was also getting some chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain.
I’m a member on Jim Wendler’s forum so I asked the guys on there about it, and the consensus was to take a few deload weeks to get over the injuries and start back with a 2 or 3 day a week template and start setting caps on the PR sets. I wasn’t doing this and would frequently get 16 or 17 reps in week 1 for example.
The biggest injury issue was my right knee so I saw a sports medicine orthopod about it and he sent me for an MRI yesterday. I’m a doctor at the hospital it was done at so I got the report today. The good news is I don’t have a meniscus tear like the surgeon suspected but I’ve got a pretty large Baker’s cyst tracking up into my hamstring and down into my gastrocnemius.
I don’t know very much at all about Baker’s cysts other than what I’ve read in the medical literature but was wondering if anyone had any real world experience with these and doing heavy squatting. I’m planning on competing in my first powerlifting meet in November. My long term training goals are to get a 800 pound squat, 500 pound bench press, and 800 pound deadlift in the 275 or 308 class by the time I’m 45. I say that only to point out that I have some competition goals and I’m not just a casual exerciser, stopping squatting really isn’t an option in my mind.
I see the orthopod again on the 22nd to discuss the MRI and treatment options. [/quote]
You did the right thing by getting another viewpoint on this with the sports med ortho and the imaging. For this, I commend you.
As for first hand experience with baker’s cyst, no, I personally have not. Hopefully, others can chime in that regard.
I will say this: despite your goals, you WILL need to make modifications in your current program.
I commented in a “Unilateral Movements Make You Weak” training article thread last week about the PhDs, medical docs, nurses, chiros, pts I’ve met who, in one way or another, managed to hurt themselves in the gym. To elaborate on that statement, the common denominator I’ve found with these people is that even though (or perhaps because) they spend so much time addressing an injury after it occurred with their patients, they somehow fail to grasp how to prevent the injury in the first place.
This is where you need to make certain changes moving forward. You mentioned how you’re going to now start “setting caps on PR sets” and this is a good start. But it’s not the only one.
The “…chronic nagging issues with a painful left scapular area and a mild right pec strain” you’re experiencing is another issue that you should not take lightly. Ignore this, and I won’t be shocked to see you posting a pec tear thread here in the not-too-distant future.
I’d be a hypocrite to tell you to stop lifting for PRs (not that you’d listen) as I myself, at mid 190lbs, have a goal of 3.5 x body weight dead, one-arm pull up with additional 60lbs, one-arm handstand press, and several other lifts that are important to me. What I can tell you, in my experience with myself and many many others from all walks of life, is that the margin of error shrinks as you get closer to you limits. As insultingly obvious as the last statement may sound, people have an easy time forgetting this.
What all this means is that off-the-rack training protocols will be less and less effective at injury prevention after a certain period of time. I’m not telling you to completely ditch 531 since you’re so fond of it. However, a certain paradigm shift is in order. You’ll forgive me if I don’t spoon feed you or anyone else the exact answer as I’ve long stopped doing so on this or any other forum.
[/quote]
Riveting story, your finally back after the Knee schooling?
Second poster gave some good advice, baker’s cyst is typically related to OA, osteophytes, and cartilage damage.
Elevate compress, start maybe biking after squat sessions and possibly a knee sleeve. If all fails then they can excise/drain it. [/quote]
I don’t recall getting schooled by you or anyone else.
As far as getting punked, here’s some food for thought:
Go to the post dated 2-7-14 and the ones afterwards.
bholl the pathetic troll has been outed as a fraud cubicle slave with ZERO formal training or real world experience.
And note bholl the troll’s impotent attempt at trying to save face on the 2-8-14 thread and my response after that.
bholl the troll’s life is so pathetic and devoid anything worthwhile that he has this sad need to be the king of the injury forum here at T-Nation. I’ve been letting it slide but since he decided to poke his head out of the sewer, it’s time people know what he really is.
I saw the orthopod today. He injected my knee with steroids and encouraged me to cut back on my squatting. On my new template I’ll only squat every other week and I’m capping my PR sets and not adding Jokers for another 6 weeks. We’ll see how it goes. I wonder if using knee wraps on heavier sets would make this better or worse.
Note: I posted this on the Jim Wendler forum as well, so if my training lingo doesn’t make sense it’s referring to 5/3/1 stuff.