Good afternoon coach,
I am a 22 year old natural lifter from the UK. For the last two weeks I have been on holiday to the US, and during this time I have been unable to train heavy during this period as the only gym access I had was a set of dumbbells up to 50lbs, and a chest/shoulder press machine which I used for for pressing and shrugs.
I only trained twice per week in this two week period, and all sessions were based upon pre-exhaust and then high intensity techniques due to the low weights. This is in contrast to my usual heavy, high percentage powerlifting/strength/periodized based training.
Previously to going away on holiday, I did the vast majority of my training with barbell/powerlifting focus. I tested my maxes prior to going on holiday, and had a max 210kg low bar back squat (I think this is about 465lb). I planned on starting a new periodized cycle when I returned from holiday (which was Saturday 16th) and as a result the above period of longer rest and fewer training sessions was intended to serve as a deload.
When away on holiday, however, you released the 915 program, and I planned to start that program today. I began with heavy legs as opposed to heavy chest as I have had limited opportunities to train legs when away on holiday. I set my max at 200kg due to this being my first heavy session back and the fact I may have experienced some strength loss following my specialised squatting program.
I began with my usual warmup of mobility/dynamic stretching, and then 2 sets of only barbell front squats, 2 sets of only barbell back squats. I then did a ramp to 160kg: a set of 5 at 60, set of 5 at 100, set of 5 at 140,
When I loaded 160kg on the bar for my 1st working set, it felt extremely heavy. Prior to holiday this would have been an easy 3 rep warmup before hitting heavy sets at 170kg+, however I only managed 3 reps. When I reracked the bar, I felt an instant pain in my right leg between my hamstring and groin. I brushed this off as i was determined to hit my heavy sets, did a few groin stretches and leg swings to ensure I was mobile, and then only managed another set of 3 at 160.
My groin was giving me a really dull, constant pain and I decided to cut the session short as I did not want to exacerbate the issue. I attempted to hit a few bw front squats to ensure mobility/try and grind it out, and this was also painful.
I have a few questions regarding this!
1: is my injury related to my 2 weeks off? I have never experienced any injury more than a few days of joint pain, however this feels more serious.
2: Could there been a detrimental effect on my nervous system by taking almost 2 weeks off, and is this why I was unable to do a weight at which I usually can?
3: when returning to the UK from the US, there is a 5 hour time difference, and as a result I have only had around 12 hours sleep in the last 2 days since returning.
Furthermore, my nutrition has been shocking as I have eaten fast food and aeroplane food on my return, and then had funny sleeping so my timing has also been bad. Could this have had an effect?
4: when I do either heavy bench or heavy deadlifts in the days to come, can I also expect either a fall in my performance/an increased risk of injury? When I began squatting today I initially found it difficult to regain my groove, should this be expected?
5: how do I proceed from here? Should I attempt to continue the program with the prescribed weights, or reduce volume?
6: do you have any further advice in how to bounce back and regain my usual strength levels quickly?
Any and all advice is thoroughly appreciated!
Thanks in advance, Robbie