Scj 2.0: Bigger, Stronger, Better Looking

Training Training Logs
81

2/12/12. Lower

First time squatting in a long time

SSB Squats - worked up to 175x8, then I hit 195x6 but some dude was in front of my mirror, which shouldn’t have fucked me up but it did. I’m not nearly as used to SSB squat form as regular squats. Every rep felt bad and awkwardly performed.

At one point I felt a pain in my left buttcheek down my left hammy. Racked it and went to 205 anyway, but I talked for like 5 mins between sets and completely lost focus and any memory of where my foot placement should be, it felt awkward as hell, racked after 2 reps.

I was feeling a good deal of numbness/pain down the left side of my ass and the back of my left leg at this point so I quit the heavy stuff and did 3 sets of reverse hypers and 3 sets of ab wheels and bounced.

I don’t expect any setbacks as I’ve felt this occasionally before. When I get my MRI hopefully it will tell me why this is a recurring thing. I feel fine today though so Thurs/Fri lifting are still a go.

82

2/15/13. OHP

I surprised myself again with OHP. Little to no strength loss from the layoff. I think the difference between this back injury and my last one is that I got back to caring about nutrition more quickly. Only 2 weeks of haphazard eating, then I noticed my weight going down and got back to force feeding myself calories and protein to stop the bleeding.

I upped the assistance work a bit more yesterday as well.

Workout
mobility
foam roll lower back, band resisted shoulder stuff

A) Standing OHP
bar x 8
85 x 6
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
170 x 4 x 4… last rep of last set was ungodly slow but I got it.

B) Close Grip Bench
155 x 8
175 x 8, 8, 6

-for some reason this really strains my chest? I’ve thought as CGBP as a tricep movement.

C) Lat Pulldown
130 x 10, 8, 7

D1) Face Pulls
2 x 15

D2) DB Laterals
2 x 10

D3) Rope Straight Arm Pulldowns
2 x 12

83

one day I will overhead press like you

84

2/15/13. DL

I am horrible at sumo DLs.

A) Sumo DL
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 6
275 x 5
315 x 5
325 x 4
335 x 4

B) unweighted Reverse Hyper
3 x whatever

C) Ab Wheel
3 x 7

[quote]scottkoscielniak wrote:
one day I will overhead press like you[/quote]

Hopefully not too soon. I have to beat you at something.

It’s been as much a priority in my training as bench/squat/DL for quite some time. To me it’s part of being strong even though it’s not one of the official powerlifts.

85

2/19/12. Squat/Bench.

Took the holiday off for various reasons, hit up squat and bench yesterday. First time back squatting in about 6 weeks since the injury so I didn’t push it too hard, but got some work in.

Also I’m beginning to think more seriously about joining an IM basketball league. Main issue is I don’t have a car so all games would need to be metro accessible.

Workout

A) Squat
135 x 8
175 x 5
215 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 5

B) Bench
bar x 8
95 x 6
135 x 5
185 x 5
215 x 3
240 x 3 x 5sets

With a crowded ass gym that somehow took me over an hour, so I skipped back work. 2 major lifts is probably enough volume for me at this point anyway.

86

Let me know if you join a league–i could be talked into playing as well. there is also innertube water polo this spring…for serious

87

2/21/13. OHP.

Seriously, fuck chin ups. I am done with them. I never progress on them, they only feel good once every 4 times I do them… every other time they hurt my elbows, don’t do anything for my back/lats, and generally make me feel like I am getting zero out of the exercise. Why am I still beating my head off a wall expecting it to be different the next time I do them just because a lot of people like them? From now on, it’s barbells, dumbbells and machines for back work, and that’s it.

Workout

A) Standing OHP
bar x 8
85 x 6
115 x 6
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 3 x 5sets

Final rep was less of a grinder than last week.

B) Close Grip Bench
135 x 10
185 x 8
185 x 8
195 x 10… had a spotter and went balls out last set

C) bodyweight chins
3 x 6
set/reps look mighty familiar. And my left elbow hurt.

D1) Lat Pulldowns
3 x 10

D2) Lateral Raises
3 x 12

fin.

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Let me know if you join a league–i could be talked into playing as well. there is also innertube water polo this spring…for serious[/quote]

Oh man that is tempting. Thanks dude I’ll let you know if I sign up.

88

2/22/13. Lower.

Sumo deads coming along a bit better. I actually felt my best form-wise on my last set, attempting a back-off set at 315 for as many reps as possible. The weird thing is I lost my freaking grip at 315 when I still had a few reps in me. I didn’t even consider using chalk because it was so light, but I didn’t realize most of my grip was on the smooth part of the bar.

Still got a decent amount of volume on my lifts.

Workout

A) Sumo Deads
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3
325 x 3
335 x 3
345 x 3
315 x 5 form finally felt right so of course my grip gave out after 5.

B) SSB squats
85 x 8
135 x 8
175 x 8
185 x 8
195 x 8

Focused more on being tight all the way through the movement, magically had no knee pain.

C) Ab Wheel
3 x 7

Conditioning
Pushed that fucking prowler again. I dunno what it was but the friction was intense, I felt like I was pushing 300lbs.

90lb x 40m x 8 trips

89

Use the nice bars that are in the closet! Just ask for the keys. But yeah, you’ve got to be picky on the bars when you move your grip in like that.

90

2/25/13. Bench.

Good workout. I was kinda pissed off.

I am toying with the idea of going back to intuitive training/progression like I did the last time I made serious progress. But I want to finish out one or two more cycles on my current set/rep scheme and at least see if it helped make me stronger. I really can’t tell at this point.

First time DB Rowing since my injury, it is a little tough on my lower back but is far and away my favorite assistance work for upper back.

Workout
Stretching and crap

A) Bench
bar x some
95 x 8
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 4
245 x 3 x 4sets… not too bad

B) DB Bench
80 x 12
90 x 9
100 x 6

C) DB Row
100 x 12
110 x 9
110 x 9

D) NG Lat Pulldown
130 x 12
130 x 8
130 x 8

E) Face Pulls
3 x 15-20

[quote]Polsen714 wrote:
Use the nice bars that are in the closet! Just ask for the keys. But yeah, you’ve got to be picky on the bars when you move your grip in like that.

[/quote]

That takes so much time though. I woulda been fine with chalk, I just didn’t expect there was a remote chance I’d need to use any.

91

2/26/13. Squat.

So I got a little ahead of myself and thought I could tackle 300x5 despite the fact that last week (first time squatting since I hurt myself) 275x5 was a struggle. I should not have jumped 25lbs in one week, but in my defense, the bar was warped as shit. I didn’t notice until it got relatively heavy at 265 and I was fighting like hell to keep the bar in one place on my back.

I started up RDLs again too. They have quickly turned into my favorite glute/hammy exercise. Didn’t go too heavy, mainly wanted to test how the ole lower back would handle the movement.

Workout
Foam rolling and leg swings

A) Squat
140 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 5

230 x 5
265 x 6 whoops
300 x 2

B) RDLs… weird weight increases since I was sharing the bar
135 x 8
165 x 8
185 x 8
215 x 8
245 x 8
275 x 8

C) Leg Press
3 x 20

92

3/1/13. OHP.

Well, I reaggravated my back doing leg presses tuesday. It feels about as bad as it did 3-4 weeks ago (not as bad as when I hurt it, but back to being uncomfortable all the time). Why the fuck did I do leg presses? They aren’t that important and I know they’re hard on my back.

That being said I hit a PR with 12 total reps @ 180 on overhead yesterday. Also after only 3-4 sessions, my close grip strength is damn close to my regular bench strength. A few more weeks and I might move my grip in that far full time. Ring finger about a half thumb length from the smooth.

Workout

A) Strict OHP
bar x some
85 x some
115 x 5
140 x 5
160 x 3
180 x 3 x 4sets

B) CGBP
155 x 10
185 x 10
205 x 7
225 x 6

C) Lat Pulldown underhand
130 x 12
145 x 10
145 x 8, 8

D) Straight Arm Pulldown
2 x 12

then went home for tacos and sex.

Sooo, I’m going out of town this weekend for a friend’s 30th birthday. I’m sure my diet will be on point.

93

[quote]scj119 wrote:
3/1/13. OHP.

Well, I reaggravated my back doing leg presses tuesday. It feels about as bad as it did 3-4 weeks ago (not as bad as when I hurt it, but back to being uncomfortable all the time). Why the fuck did I do leg presses? They aren’t that important and I know they’re hard on my back.

[/quote]

Ok, I tried this in your last log and was summarily dismissed but I hate seeing people with injured backs, so we’ll try it again. If you don’t want it, delete it.

About 6 years ago I herniated a disc in my back (L5/S1, sound familiar?) to the point where my left leg was in constant pain from the piriformis cutting across the sciatic and I had a drop foot, literally dragging my useless left foot around for a bit.

First thing’s first: Talk to a good sports doc. Most other docs are going to tell you to stop doing anything. You want a guy who wants you back to top form. My sports physio was the greatest guy in the world. His attitude was always “Let’s get you better so I never have to see you again.” He wasn’t looking for repeat business. And surgery, for anything, should always be the LAST RESORT, not the first. Getting cut on, even with the micro-stuff they have now is a traumatic experience to your body. Exhaust rehab options before you decide the knife is the plan.

Second: Mentality. Congrats, you screwed your back up. You are now INJURED. FOREVER. Accept this. You’re like an alcoholic now. You don’t get to be NOT injured. You just get to move normally and do all the other stuff you did. AS LONG AS YOU DO THE STUFF THAT KEEPS YOU HEALTHY! Lots of guys do the “Lessons repeated” thing. Try to be one that does the “Lessons learned”.

Ok, some first response stuff:

  • Do whatever your sports doc and/or physio says.
  • Try to get routine traction done. Taking the pressure off that disc helps a ton.
  • Decent massage therapist. Your back is a ball of non-functional meat right now because it’s trying to protect itself.
  • NEVER STOP MOVING. Walk whenever possible. If you have cardio equipment at home, get used to hobbling down and using it before work or anything else. Motion is lotion.

Exercises and resources:

Multifidus Back Pain Solution - Good book. Cheap. Educational. Gives you kind of the basic stuff to do that will, in all likelihood, become the basic template for your warmups. Takes a much different view than most people on backs. Don’t fool yourself. Almost all back injuries are disc related. The muscles are probably fine. The little stabilizers are gone and you’re trying to have prime movers do their job. This is like trying to do surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel.

McKenzie Exercises. This stuff is gospel to most people who end up with a disc injury. Or are even just stiff in the lower back.

Reverse planks. YMMV but this was the one exercise that finally stabilized my back to the point of zero pain. I was still doing all the other stuff but this was the kicker. I should just make up my own damn video for this because noone else seems to have one. But it’s very similar to below with some exceptions:

I don’t balance this stuff on a bench. I just stabilize myself with something solid in front of me.

I just do a static hold at the top. Emphasizing holding with the lower back/glutes.

Piriformis stretching and loosening. This will help take some pressure off the back and alleviate any pressure from the piriformis pushing on your sciatic.

Core work (from Stuart McGill). He’s verbose but there’s some good non-flexion stuff in here.

For later on when you’re moving more normally.

Defranco’s Agile 8 (lower body)

Defranco’s Simple 6 (upper body): DeFrancosGym.com - Joe DeFranco's Upper body warm-up routine - YouTube

You can pick and choose for some of those. I don’t do the rollover into v-sits as it never made my back feel good. Lots of the other stuff is money though.

Ok, I think that’s probably more than enough to get anyone moving. But start doing some work in stabilizing this or you’ll be one of those guys who gets to be in his late 30s and early 40s and has a “trick back”, meaning you reach up to put a box on a shelf and spend 3 days on a couch.

A note to the uninjured: adopt a lot of this stuff early and maybe you’ll never BE injured.

Good luck, kid.

94

Jesus that is a lot of stuff. I appreciate the time you took but a lot of it is assuming stuff that may or may not be true. Also you come off as pretty condescending.

[quote]frozenkilt wrote:

About 6 years ago I herniated a disc in my back (L5/S1, sound familiar?)[/quote]

Not really. I don’t know what my injury is so I’m amazed that you do.

[quote]to the point where my left leg was in constant pain from the piriformis cutting across the sciatic and I had a drop foot, literally dragging my useless left foot around for a bit.
[/quote]

That does not sound familiar at all. Neither of my legs are in any pain whatsoever. As soon as my muscles loosen up I am getting an MRI. The reason I’m waiting is I want to isolate the underlying cause - whatever’s wrong with my back once I get back to having no pain is clearly the underlying issue.

I will form a rehab plan once I actually know what is wrong. Doing so before that doesn’t make sense.

I am very happy with my current ART/chiro/sports injury & performance doc

I don’t really understand what any of this means or how it’s relevant. When did I say I wasn’t injured? And how on earth is that like an alcoholic?

After that, The first response stuff was general knowledge. You act like I am not doing this stuff or that I somehow think I’m above rehab which is just not true.

That’s not an actual thing, so I’m assuming you mean reverse hypers? I’m already doing them, as it says in my log if you’d read more than just 1 post before you started telling me everything I need to do.

[quote]
For later on when you’re moving more normally.

Defranco’s Agile 8 (lower body)[/quote]

I am actually moving pretty normally and I do some of that.

[quote]
Good luck, kid.[/quote]

“Kid”? Seriously? Do I get a pat on the head and a cookie too? How old do you think I am anyway?

95

Yeesh, lotta stuff goin’ on in this log.

Like taco’s and sex!! I’m jealous.

96

3/4/13. Bench

Was feelin good Monday, so I went for an extra rep on my 3rd top set of bench, and dropped down for an extra set at 225 as well. Bench felt as strong as it had in a while.

It was 3 days ago so I’ll post what I did as best I can remember.

Workout

A) Bench
bar x some
95 x 6
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 2
250 x 2
250 x 3
225 x 5

B) DB Bench
80 x 11
80 x 9
80 x 8

C) DB Row
100 x 12
100 x 10
100 x 10

In some order - face pulls (3 sets), lat pulldowns (4 sets), tricep extensions (3 sets)

3/5/13. Squat

Not much to see here. Shelved leg press because I think it made my back flare up last week. Didn’t go too heavy on RDL’s in case they were the cause (was really hoping it was leg press that caused it and not RDL’s). Will bump up top RDL set to 285 next week.

Workout

A) Squat
135 x 5
175 x 5
210 x 5
235 x 5
255 x 5
275 x 6

B) RDLs
155 x 8
205 x 8
245 x 8
265 x 8

C) Kneeling Rope Ab Thing
3 x 10ish

D) Curlzzz
3 x some

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Yeesh, lotta stuff goin’ on in this log.

Like taco’s and sex!! I’m jealous. [/quote]

I know you’d come here for food and sex

97

3/7/13. OHP.

I am getting really fucking sick of this gym being crowded. It’s March, why is it more crowded than it was in January? I am having to work in with people on all my sets and it is taking me forever to get through them. Go ahead and bench 185x5 for the 20th workout in a row, I’ll wait.

Workout

A) Standing OHP
bar x a bunch
85 x 8
115 x 5
145 x 5
170 x 3
180 x 2 x 3sets

B) Close Grip Bench
155 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 7
225 x 6

C) Meadows-BB-hybrid-tbar-row-thing
45 x 8
90 x 8
90 x 8

— I did a sort of row using the stationary tbar machine, by loading plates then rowing the handle. It really torched the shit out of my lats. I am going to experiment more with this.

D) Lat Pulldowns
3 or 4 sets of 8-10

98

[quote]scj119 wrote:
3/7/13. OHP.

I am getting really fucking sick of this gym being crowded. It’s March, why is it more crowded than it was in January? I am having to work in with people on all my sets and it is taking me forever to get through them. Go ahead and bench 185x5 for the 20th workout in a row, I’ll wait.

[/quote]

YES YES YES!! Gym is crazy busy right now! It’s cause everyone wants to look good for swim suit season and all that shit. I’ve talked to some trainers who say this is the busiest time of year for them, wayy busier than new years.

I WANT MY OWN SQUAT RACK

99

that was weird

100

Yeah apparently March is the busiest for personal trainers and such, once everyone finds out they can’t do it on their own after their new years resolutions…plus you gotta look sick on spring break brah…

agree that post was pretty douchey and condescending…but some good advice in there…