You need to listen to your body mate, or you will wreck yourself for ages and lose the passion for lifting and become a normal 40 something year old who doesn’t lift. Powerlifting isn’t a 1 way ticket to pain, you need to swallow your pride and ego every so often and dial shit way back and build it back up.
Look at the progress you’ve made, then look at the set backs, seems like heaps of them over last few months, and each time everyone keeps saying take it easy, start light, then next log reading is deadlift 405 X 0 etc. Going to absolute failure is not starting light and taking it easy. Even a few days after your trashed back is feeling slightly better after not being able to get out of bed, last thing you should be doing is Squats, even just the bar.
You remind me a little bit of myself from a few years back.
Whether I was powerlifting or bodybuilding for that matter.
I would have some good days, but most of the time I felt frustrated because I just wasn’t where I wanted to be yet. I wasn’t strong enough, I wasnt ripped enough , I just had to hurry up and get there already. I would change programs after every bad workout or go back between bodybuilding and powerlifting at any given time if I felt too fat or too weak or too hungry or too injured etc, etc…
The journey didnt become amazing until I appreciated the strength that I had in the moment, and fully believed in my ability to someday get to where I wanted to be. Sure, i dream of a two plate squat, but I’m thrilled at the 185. I respect my own current level of strength , and if it takes me 3 months to add a pound, so be it.
You just don’t have to be there today. You’re amazing already.
I’m going to have to agree with @Frank_C here and say you have made some bad decisions in the last 6 months. Your passion and drive to do better are your greatest strength but also you biggest weakness. At our age we have to be smarter. Your progress last year was simply amazing and at times I looked at what you were doing and wondered if my coach has my programming wrong. But now look what it did to your long term progress. There is no real quick win in this game. You need to program for the long run.
I think you would benefit from a coach that can set a sensible long term program or chose a program like 531(pick a template that doesn’t have amrap or jokers) that allows slower progression with programmed reloads.
Maybe you can set yourself some mindset challenges with your conditioning like Brian Alsruhe (Alpha) does, that way you still get to push yourself and compete but you don’t effect your progress.
I really hope you work this out because I know you are capable of great things you just need to be patient. Heal up my brother from another mother.
I think this is great advice for you, @losthog! Hopefully it could satisfy your competitive urges and allow you to do it while you’re not under a loaded bar.
Consistently making poor choices in training has taken its toll.
Powerlifting isn’t a one way ticket to pain. Powerlifting while training with no proper regard for technique, recovery and longevity is a one way ticket to pain. I’ve said it here before: you have the potential to do well in the sport. However, to do so you will need to abandon the idea of your training being fun and buy in wholeheartedly to training properly. That means no maxing out, no going off plan, checking the ego and using weights that ‘feel too light’ and above all managing fatigue.
I think it’s a great opportunity for him to summon the lean hog, while he heals up.
Perhaps commit to a 6 month cut, slow and steady, or a goal weight, say 220.
It may be time to chase something totally different, succeed at it, and come back to strength in say 18 months and absolutely destroy it with your healthy mind and body. Imagine how good you would feel lean and mean, ready to take advantage of a primed body ready to slow bulk and get crazy strong (smartly).
Some bruising has begun to show up in the lower back today so it is a pulled muscle at the least.
@IronOne this is exactly where I’m headed and the plan moving foward. The plans I’ve been following (Deathbench, max Ort, conjugate, and 531.) have been fun. I’m ready to get lean and mean and just lift for health.
I know right. It’s all good. I’ve always just done me. I’ve set my sights and competed with people sometimes openly and other times secretly. At the end of the day I just do me.
Even before this latest injury, my son and I have been discussing changing up training to be more athletic and functional strength. This is why we switched back to a giant set format with more conditioning. Powerlifting took all of our endurance and cardio condition.
I honestly will be fine with a lower body fat percentage 15-18% that can hike a mountain without dying or wishing for death.
The talk about getting a hobby has me thinking of getting into some bushcraft skills and funiture building.
I’m thinking of doing some primitive wood working with some hand hune stuff for startes and going to some estate sales and flea markets to find some tools.
With the appearance of bruising on the back it has some muscular tear component to the injury. I’m crossing my fingers that there is no disc issue or other more serious thing going on.
I’ll do light squat work to get blood moving through the area and some mobility body weight stuff to keep it activated.
Upper work will also have to be light due to where this is and the ability to proper brace.
I’m thinking to keep it light and just rehab stuff for 4-6 weeks depending on how it progresses. Then I will do a linear progression starting super light with higher rep ranges just to reestablish all my lifts moving forward.
After 4-6 weeks the linear will be some sort of giant set format working the lighter side of lifting to reestablish the conditioning lost since last summer.
I’ll also use this time to aggressively cut weight and find that body fat percentage I will be able to move through space easier.
This is my plan as of now and is subject to change…
Why wait? Start adding conditioning now via walking with a vest, walking stairs (without a vest), and jumping on the exercise bike and elliptical.
I wouldn’t have guessed this, but my resting HR has been at its best when I start doing 20-30 minutes on the elliptical and bike. I usually do intervals but I don’t kill myself.
My HR is lower than when I play basketball or do my running intervals. It’s low intensity and easy to recover from each session. It’s not going to get you ready for CrossFit, but it seems to work for health.
A solid day at the gym. I had a good day. The back loosened up some midway through the workout and felt really nice. I could almost touch my toes at the end without any tension or stress on the area. I’ll ice and heat it tonight
Just a friendly note that most people get some sort of “disc issues” as they age. Be it disc degeneration, slipped discs, herniated discs, you name it. And people live with them without even noticing it. It may not limit their life in any way. No pain, no mobility issues, no strength loss.
What I’m trying to say is that if you go and get an MRI or whatever and they tell you you have a “disc issue” it is not a death sentence. Countless people have been diagnosed with disc issues and went on to setting new PRs regardless. Don’t become paralyzed by fear of your back exploding.
Also if you do have a disc issue it could have nothing to do with your back issue that you’re dealing with now. You could’ve had it for a long time and now that your back is hurt it’ll probably be blamed. (If there is an issue, that is)
