Don’t feel too bad mate. Sessions like this happen… Unfortunately
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It happens bro, you can’t let yourself be affected by it. If you’re living the lifestyle and training hard day in day out for years, it’s important to just keep following the path and work around any issues. The majority of your workouts will feel good, some will be amazing and you’ll want to shout your PRs from the mountains, and some will feel like shit where warm up weight feel heavy and you have no idea why. It’s ok man, it happens, the body isn’t a machine as much as we’d like it to be. You may walk into your session feeling great, but you start moving some weight and it’s just not clicking.
I think the worst thing you could do at that time try to barrel through no matter what, especially if you’re a powerlifter or doing some heavy stuff like you do. It’s just opening the door for injury. Work around the issue. Train something you enjoy, or just lighten the load a little bit and focus on execution, MMC and maybe add a little volume if you feel up to it. But, definitely don’t stress about it!
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I learned a long time ago that it’s better to rest and recover than push yourself to the point of injury or illness. I used to train when I was sick. I had terrible sessions, wore myself out even more, and probably prolonged the illness. Now I recognize it, rest and recover, and have higher quality sessions the next day (or day after that).
Remember, we grow when we rest. If work and life make it so that you aren’t getting much rest then training more might not be the answer for that particular day.
Take a page out of my book and do a lighter weight circuit. If you’re still doing back then stack your exercises up and get a pump and call it a day (like my last two Thursday sessions during my lunch break).
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@Irishman92 @robstein @Frank_C
Thanks guys. The worst part is, I know this. I would preach this to the next person I hear complaining about a bad session or injury. Sometimes I have trouble taking my own advice, as it is easier given than followed.
I think a major problem right now is trying to follow 5/3/1 BBB while having a knee injury. This prescribes squatting 2/4 weekly workouts and when I’m unable to squat I feel that 2/4 sessions are being wasted each week. It may be advisable to shake up my training a bit to work around my injury to still feel like I’m getting good work in, while providing my knee some time to recover.
My doctor said that it could be a few issues: Micro patellar tear (or just severely inflamed) or a bone bruise/fracture where my patellar tendon connects to the tibialis anterior. He is scheduling an xray, but he thinks the blunt force has likely just inflamed some patellar tendonitis. He advised that I see a physiotherapist, so I may begin this within the next week for a bit to try and heal asap.
I’ve started trying to work out in the mornings and I love how I feel for the rest of the day. I also like not wasting most of my evening in the weight room as the weather is getting much nicer.
I’m thinking of upping my training frequency and lowering the volume per day to keep my workouts ~45mins.
Rob may notice that I have taken his muscle group split, and worked it around my equipment and injury. I hope my quads don’t shrivel up into non-existence.
Below is a tentative workout plan for higher frequency, lower intensity. Criticism encouraged.
#Monday - Chest, Hamstrings
- Flat BB Bench - 5/3/1 with lower TM, using jokers
- Incline DB Bench - 4-5 x 8-10
- DB Flyes - 4-5 x 8-10
- Lying Banded Hamstring Curls - 4-5 x 15-20
- Barbell RDL/SSB Good Mornings - 4-5 x 8-10
- Back Extensions (focus on hamstring contraction) - 4 x 12-15
#Tuesday - Back Width, Biceps, Calves
- Straight Arm Band Pulldown/DB Pullover - 4 x 15-20
- Weighted Chinups - 4 x 10/7/5/3 (progressively increasing weight through the sets)
- Fat Man Pullups/Inverted Rows - 4 x 10
- BB Curls - 3x 8+8 (8 reps standard, 8 reps just top half with raised elbows)
- DB Cross Body Curls - 3x 10-12
- Standing Calf Raises 3 x 20
#Wednesday - Shoulders, Triceps
- OHP - 5/3/1 with lower TM, using jokers
- Seated Arnold Press - 3 x 10
- Front Plate Raise - 3 x 20-25
- Rear Delt Flyes/Hang and Swings - 4 x 10-20
- Weighted Dips - 4 x 10/7/5/3 (progressively increasing weight through the sets)
- Banded Triceps Pushdowns - 4 x 20
- Seated OH Tricep Extensions - 4 x 8-12
#Thursday - Cardio/Mobility
#Friday - Hamstrings, Back Thickness, Shoulders
- Lying banded Leg Curls - 3 x 10-20
- Deadlift - Light weight 3 x 10
- One Arm DB Rows - 4-5 x 10-20
- Bent Over BB Rows - 4 x 8-12
- Meadows Rows - 4 x 8-12
- Seated DB Press - 4 x 8-10
- DB Lat Raises - 4 x 8-10
- DB Front Raises - 4 x 8-10
- Band Pullaparts/Band Facepulls - 100+ reps
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I loaded up my split squats yesterday and it felt great. I suggest trying those with 5/4/3 wave loading.
Example loading:
100x5, 110x4 120x3
Start over with 2nd weight from 1st wave.
110x5, 120x4, 130x3.
2 rounds is sufficient at that rep range. It feels good and you don’t have to go over 5 reps which is always a plus!
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Split looks pretty good man. One small thing, for the triceps, I’d recommend adding or switching one of your exercises out for some type of overhead movement. Weighted dips and tricep pushdowns work similar parts of the tricep, getting in some overhead dumbbell extensions, decline dumbbell extensions, or even cable supinated reverse curls would be beneficial and hit more angles if possible.
Only thing that I’d be thinking about is wondering how heavy deadlifting, split squatting, and your strong man Saturday will affect your knee injury? The atlas stones, farmers walk, keg carries especially seem like it might be hurting more than helping. Just my .02, if I had a knee injury that was affecting my training, and possibly involved a fracture and tendon connections, I would not train it or aggravate in any way until it was healed up and I was sure I could get back into action without risking injury. You’re one step/one injury away from possible surgery, serious injury, leading to a longer lay off, and IMO the risk does not outweigh the reward of a couple sessions. If that means a couple of weeks off of legs or whatever, it’s not going to kill you and will only help you in the long run. Just my .02 bro, you know your body best!
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@Frank_C - Thanks man. I’ll give this type of loading a try at some point for sure!
@robstein - Great comments, thank you. I have simply added a seated overhead tricep extension to the day, and will give that a try. All these workouts may be adjusted depending on the time to complete each of them (trying to keep them under 1hr, TOPS). Heavy deadlifting hasn’t seemingly hurt my knee (although slight increase in swelling post workout this morning), the split squatting would only be used for my good leg (which in theory shouldn’t irritate my bad knee), but I think your point is extremely valid. I spoke with my doctor and he said that typically he would recommend to his patients that they maintain mobility and to not limit their use of the bad knee too much as it needs to remain mobile…but he said for me, to take it much more easy than I plan on doing because he knows that I would push it too hard.
Writing this out, it SEEMED like I was taking it easy on it…but now that you’ve pointed it out, I may be thinking a little too short term for this.
I have actually seen my quads tighten up/separate a bit from their lack of direct work. I’m sure they have been inflamed from working out for the past 2 years without much break, so a couple months off hopefully won’t affect their size too much.
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No doubt! You’re also looking leaner so easier to see the definition. If you need to take a couple months to back off of quads, as long as you’re getting your protein in, still training and moving around, you definitely won’t lose any LBM, like actual muscle tissue. It may appear that your quads might be smaller if they haven’t been inflamed from training, and you may lose a small amount of strength only because they won’t be trained, but that will come back within a week or two, and again you can rest assured you won’t lose any muscle.
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I totally understand how you’re feeling. Your plan looks solid. Keep reminding yourself you’re doing the right thing to stay in the game, no matter how frustrating it is for a while.
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I have come to terms with the loss of strength. I am happy to have hit a 600lb deadlift and over a 500lb squat at the beginning of this year. My focus has changed from powerlifting to strongman and I improved at some movements (stones and carries, specifically) and become worse at others.
Most recently, my focus has been improving my cardio and losing some fat. Again, successful at both of these endeavors. I have no doubt lost some strength in the process, but look and feel better now than I did.
I’m willing to lose some strength in my quads over the next few months if that expedites my knee healing. I wasn’t willing to lose a significant amount of leg LBM which seems a lot harder to come by than strength! Your confidence in the fact that this won’t happen (given that I am still active and nutrition is good) is good news. I’m going to take your advice and try and truly rest the knee. I should take this time to bring up any upper body weaknesses I might have.
@MarkKO - Thanks man, ya it is tough. You guys are absolutely right though. I just have to suck it up, and get the shit done that I’m able to.
Also, a question for all. What would you guys consider my upper body weakness right now? Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my feelings.
If I can’t squat, I’ll need something to really focus on. This will keep a fire under my ass to improve at something specific. Even if it is a couple things. I would be pretty excited to have the back improvements that Rob made over the last off-season.
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I have no idea when it comes to your upper body weakness. How about just see how close you can get to something like a three plate strict BB row for 10+, military press two plates/log equivalent for 10+ and bench 350 lbs for 10+?
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Possible to post some pics?
Thanks man. During the off season, for about 5 months, I trained back twice a week, once width focused and one thickness focused, I’m going to start that up again soon! They went something like this:
WIDTH - 3-4 sets each
-Weighted pull ups - alternate each week between pronated and supinated - 8-10 reps, really focus on initiating the movement from the lats and using your back as much as possible, not letting it all go to arms.
-Lat Pull Downs (narrow neutral V grip) - lower reps, 5-8
-Straight arm rope pulldowns - 10-12 reps
-Double cable pulldowns - 8-10 reps
THICKNESS - 3-4 sets each
-Barbell rows - 8-10 reps
-1 arm dumbbell rows - 10-12 reps
-T-Bar rows - 6-8 reps
-Hammerstrength Low Row (1 arm at a time) - 10-12 reps
-Couple sets of narrow grip seated cable row to fail
Sometimes I’d alternate exercises and/or sequencing, but overall focusing on a solid MMC, the frequency of the increased training, and eating enough for growth, you can make some great improvements in a relatively short amount of time with consistency.
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See, this is a good/solid training approach for back development!!! Everyone thinks my volume is high but I don’t even do this much…anymore (had to remove some of it when I added deadlifts) 
Holy hell, how strong are you guys? Here I am dreaming of a 3 plate bench and maybe, maybe, a 2 plate OHP someday…
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Those are currently way out of my reach, but @littlesleeper is a damn strong dude so…
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@robstein - Maple Syrup Strength (littlesleeper) - #552 by littlesleeper
It looks like that is my most recent set of progress photos. Nearly 2 months ago. I don’t think I’ve made significant changes, or at least haven’t improved any weaknesses since then. I actually have your back workout bookmarked from your log, but I’m limited to about half of the work you have listed due to equipment.
@Frank_C - You do have some insane volume sometimes! Oh, and we are super strong! I mean, I’m currently around 1-2 reps of each of those lifts, but still. Shoot for the stars.
@MarkKO - Oh come on now, we are pretty dang close for most of our lifts.
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Back is looking pretty good man! I mean, not sure you can ever have too thick of a back or too wide lats, so certainly nothing wrong with pushing for back gains. Your upper body really overall looks good bro, especially now that you’re leaner it’s easier to see. If I had to be picky, maybe emphasize shoulders to bring out the shoulder cap and make your upper body look even wider. During the off season I also trained shoulders twice a week and it was really helpful, pretty much the same workout each time, although I’d vary some of the isolation exercises. I’d always start with seated DB presses, one day heavy 5x5, the other day 4x8-10, then lateral raises, front raises, rear delt work, etc., making sure to get each head each workout.
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Excellent advice. I don’t isolate my shoulders very often.
BB OHP, band pullaparts and once in awhile I’ll do some front or side plate raises, but very inconsistently. Putting some actual focus on bringing them up will hopefully pay off!
I’ve taken some of your tips and altered my post (909) above to reflect the suggestions. I’ve dialed the volume down, simply for time efficiency, and kept some of my strength movements for my own self-satisfaction but if you have any suggestions for improvements I’m all ears!
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@littlesleeper close, OK, all not so much. You’re way ahead of me on all pressing. Squat and DL I’m not massively far off but still behind.
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Well at this point, we aren’t in the same weight class! So our Wilks scores are probably close
Wilks, bah!
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