Dear T-Nation - it’s been seven weeks since my last post. In that time, I’ve eaten a gallon of ice cream, drank two cases of beer, and taken maybe three or four unplanned days off. Other than that, I’ve been in the gym six days a week and recently (three weeks or so) taking a kayak out for a 45 min paddle twice a week.
I’m still in prehab/rehab mode but I’m feeling a lot better, sleeping through the night, and much more productive at work. Lately, my body feels like it’s clicking into place. Given my starting point, this is enormous progress. Still, this rehab stuff is probably going to take a bit longer. . .
Some general ideas that work for me:
For what I’m doing, doing something everyday is more important than anything else.
Diligent attention to foam rolling, dynamic warm ups, and late night stretching made everything else possible/more manageable.
For rehab work - I needed to relearn correct body position. Static holds worked well early on.
I needed to figure out when to flush a muscle with high rep work and when to go through sets with super slow, strict, and controlled rep speed. It was a bit of guesswork at the beginning.
The weight I’m using is deliberately light for controlled reps. Correct form through fill ROM is much more important than anything else now.
I wasn’t doing a lot of weight so I could hit areas several times a week. (3-4 days in a row, then take a day off). Everything got at least a warm-up every day I was in the gym.
Despite the whole body work, the “lifting” has been pull and posterior chain heavy.
There’s no rocket science here. The trick was remaining consistent and concentrating - especially when I was doing slow controlled reps - on the task in front of me.
The shoulder work was/is a bit tricky. My left shoulder has been rolled forward and in for a lot of years. I thought I was in better shape than I was when I started and I tried a few things that didn’t work. Looking back on it now, there were three distinct phases:
Addressing internal rotation - this took about three weeks. All I did was do slow controlled lying external rotations and some rear delt work. I also had to stretch my chest out. It was initially hard for me to get my shoulder into alignment but a few weeks in, I could start to fell things fall into place.
Strict form Is, Ys and Ts - on top of external rotation and rear delt work. (I tried these initially but my shoulder wasn’t ready for them). Super slow, super strict, and very very light.
Lately, I’ve added overhead shrugs, elevated push ups and face pulls. Thank you Mr. Robertson.
(Another thing I’ve learned is that I can’t sleep on my side - it rolls my shoulder our. Go figure.)
I will keep on doing these until they feel more resistant. I didn’t think they needed too much work until I started trying to fix them. I’m on the right track but I’ve got a ways to go.
The idea has been to move through bird dogs to pull-throughs to sumo deads to rack pulls and deads (thank you Mr. Cressey)in conjunction with hamstring work. On days I’m not doing “heavier” posterior chain work, I’ll do a few sets of 1 leg rdls.
Progress has been consistent but slow. I’m only doing 100 pound pull-throughs now. Higher rep (15) work with modest weight has kept me from re-injuring my back. I’ll take the strength gains as they come. Once I rack out the cable machine, I’ll start with the sumo dls.
My hamstring work has been equally slow - the goal is to get up to 3 x10 glute ham raises. I can do about three now. . .
These are the only exercises I can do that 1. Don’t hurt and 2) don’t hurt something else.
I’ll do something like chins, rows, and lat pull downs twice a week with decent weight. After years of slouching, I’m not sure this is a bad thing. . . .
Basic planks, dead bugs, side lying clams and anti-rotational work (kneeling and standing). Now that I read the Cressey back article I may add some anti-flexion exercises . . .