T3hPwnisher's Log

Training Training Logs
581

Swiss bar floor press 275
12 reps

Notes: 2 rep PR from last time. The messed up glute was actually an asset here, as it meant absolutely zero chance of using leg drive. Seems like the program is working.

Shoulder circuit
3 rounds

Close grip swiss bar bench 245
14 reps

Notes: 2 rep PR. Going to increase the weight next time.

D ring lat pulldown 180
16 reps

Notes: Going full on DC mode with this workout, and did the rest pausing and everything. Glute just makes me not want to do chins. Also had to cut out rows because of it.

Band pull aparts
100

Assisted GHRs
1x10

General notes: Woke up at 190.2. Once again, seems I don’t have a good ability to estimate the effects of nutritional variance. Actually saw a 1 and an 8 as the first two numbers for a second. Theory is that the lack of hard workouts is diminishing my appetite, and that I’ve got something of a nutritional guilt complex over eating bigger if I’m not training hard. Need to knock that out for now.

Still trying to figure out what’s going on injurywise. Back in pain this morning, wondering if the memory foam mattress is detrimental to recovery. As far as WHAT the injury is, still pretty clueless. I can contract the glute without issue, the pain is constant but can be increased with movement, and I noticed that the worse of it was when I held a weight in the hand of the opposite side and walked. Seems to be something involved with lateral movement and counter balance. May be taking the next 2 weeks off before the contest in terms of heavy lower body work and just stick with rehab. Might be a nice deload and a good way to transition into some different programming.

582

Trying your technique for lots of low weight pump work daily to fix minor injuries. Absolute genius, I will be stealing that from now on. Thank you

583

Awesome to hear that man, and steal away. It’s amazing how counter intuitive it is to heal injuries. You think you want to rest, but forcing the area to do some work tends to be what gets it back in shape. It needs to learn that no breaks will be given, haha.

I’m actually experiencing that with my glute injury as I type. I’m sitting in my chair at work and I seem to have isolated the issue. I can contract the glute pain free, and I can swing/extend my leg out with no issue, but if I try to extend my leg straight forward I get pain on the outside of the glute. So now I’m just doing that a bunch to get some blood flowing to it.

On the topic of injuries being teachers, I think this has shown me that I need to bring some unilateral work back into my training. I was talking about it before as a future training plan, and I think this shows me the dysfunction I have. Probably do it on my deadlift days, on the weeks when I went heavy with the SSB for squat day. Do some SSB lunges to still hammer the upper back, keep the shoulders neutral, and fry out what’s left of my lower body.

584

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Awesome to hear that man, and steal away. It’s amazing how counter intuitive it is to heal injuries. You think you want to rest, but forcing the area to do some work tends to be what gets it back in shape. It needs to learn that no breaks will be given, haha.
[/quote]

Did you guys ever read that long series of Dave Tate articles on here? I always thought the part right after he left Westside, when he said he was so fucked up that he could barely get out of a chair or walk up a flight of stairs, was really enlightening. He spent some time “training like a bodybuilder” (high rep pump work with light weight) and mentioned that a few weeks doing that did wonders for all of the aches and pains.

Have always felt this, myself, that active recovery of some kind seems to do much more to ease soreness than complete rest.

585

That was an awesome series. I still go back from time to time. Along with the bodybuilder stuff, he also did a ton of rehab. Lots of mobility work, band walking, rotator cuff work, things he hated, but along the same premise, it gets the body moving and gets things functioning again. It’s the part of training that sucks the most, but it’s helpful.

586

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Awesome to hear that man, and steal away. It’s amazing how counter intuitive it is to heal injuries. You think you want to rest, but forcing the area to do some work tends to be what gets it back in shape. It needs to learn that no breaks will be given, haha.

I’m actually experiencing that with my glute injury as I type. I’m sitting in my chair at work and I seem to have isolated the issue. I can contract the glute pain free, and I can swing/extend my leg out with no issue, but if I try to extend my leg straight forward I get pain on the outside of the glute. So now I’m just doing that a bunch to get some blood flowing to it.

On the topic of injuries being teachers, I think this has shown me that I need to bring some unilateral work back into my training. I was talking about it before as a future training plan, and I think this shows me the dysfunction I have. Probably do it on my deadlift days, on the weeks when I went heavy with the SSB for squat day. Do some SSB lunges to still hammer the upper back, keep the shoulders neutral, and fry out what’s left of my lower body.[/quote]

I’m starting to think the same thing, but for totally different reasons. Mine is just because I’m really bad at them.

While I think about it, also stole your 100 rep curls on Friday as well. They will also be getting stolen, I’m still sore today.

587

Awesome man, but credit where credit is due, this was my source

Also looks like I have a rep goal to chase, haha.

588

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Awesome man, but credit where credit is due, this was my source

Also looks like I have a rep goal to chase, haha.[/quote]

Dude, there’s no weight there’s any weight going on that bar for a while yet. I’m just aiming to cut my number of rests down.

589

Bodyweight was 189.6 this morning. Wonder if the injury is sapping nutrients or something. I’ve increased my food intake. Other possibility is that my metabolism was slowing down due to very low calories and now it’s speeding back up.

Think the reverse hypers are doing more harm than good. I’ve noticed now that, the morning after I do them, I can’t get out of bed, while the days that I omit them, I have an easier time. Think I need a less aggressive rehab approach, more focus on bodyweight movement, no added weight.

590

After about 8 hours of sitting on a heating pad at work and doing some movement drills, I have deduced that the injury is thankfully muscular and not spinal/disc/nerve. When I compress the glute, I am granted full range of motion. Heat takes away the pain, as does constant movement. After warming up, I have almost full mobility in terms of squatting, bending, kneeling, crawling, etc. Where I am limited is extending the leg with a straight knee forward, but even this appears to be trainable after extensive warming up.

Plan moving forward is to continue training the upper body reasonably heavy with high volume, and keep lower body training to a minimum. Going to just be focusing on movement and rehab. I have 11 days until the contest, and feel that, with a smart approach and enough willpower, I can be healed in time. The time off in all honesty may just be good for me in general, as I rarely ever take any off. And if push comes to shove, I’ll just wrap the glute up in a knee wrap and gorilla tape my body together.

Also planning on removing my memory foam mattress topper before bed tonight, as I feel like it’s doing me more harm than good in terms of recovery.

591

Standing DB shoulder press
20x10lbs
20x15
20x20
20x25
20x30
15x35
15x40
10x45
10x50
10x45
10x40
10x35
10x30
10x25
10x20
10x15
50x10

In between all sets

D ring lat pulldown
10x90lbs

Final set
30x90lbs

Notes: Injury made it difficult to support heavy weight overhead, so just went with a major pump workout. This was like last week, but actually challenging. If my hip/glute was a little healthier, I may have pushed to get 20 for all sets leading up, but it was putting a slight strain on things. Very decent pump in the shoulders and back by the end. Next time, need to go higher reps on the pulldowns.

Axle curl
1x120

Notes: Like last week: no setting the axle down. Great test of fortitude, and gets the arms pretty jazzed up.

Average band pushdown/miniband pull apart circuit
1x20/20
1x15/20
1x10/20

General notes: Woke up at 191.2. Happy to see the scale finally moving back up. Simply eating more, not worse. Also, woke up and was able to walk out of bed with minimal prep. Removed the memory foam mattress topper last night and it made a huge difference. First night in a long time where I woke up in less pain than I went to bed. I am healing this injury with a combination of willpower and hate, but some smart decisions never hurt either. On that topic, ordered a pair of Rehband warm-up pants so I can be an official strongman. I also busted out my old Inzer champion suit last night, and in a pinch I can wear it as hip support should the need arise, but it’s a bit too much work. Still going to take things easy on the lower body leading up to the show. I’m not going to get stronger in a week, but I can definitely get more hurt. Happy that this is such a light show, minus the yoke walk.

Am reducing my Naprosyn intake at this point. Sticking with the heating pad as much as possible, and will continue to keep moving as often as I can to get my ROM back.

592

It sucks to hear the pain is still around. Hopefully you get a lot better come competition time.

For dynamic stretching, have you tried doing single leg circles where you lay down and with a straight leg you move around throughout the full ROM. If necessary you can start with small circles and gradually increase the size. If it is related to the hip stabilizers, you can get some blood flow without really loading your hips. It is a pilates move so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, lol. You can also add weight or do it standing too.

As a disclaimer, I don’t have any education in kinesiology - I just like to read about the musculoskeletal system. Awhile back I came across the topic of the posterior oblique system which provides stabilization for the posterior chain and explains how load is transferred from the lat on one side of the body to the glute on the opposite side. The force transfer could explain why you’re feeling the pain when load is on the opposite side. To check you can try sitting in a chair with your knees in front of your ankles and reach down to stretch out the lats and glutes simultaneously. You can use a wider stance or pull on something to get more of a stretch too.

That’s all I can think of. Hopefully any of it helps.

593

[quote]lift206 wrote:
It sucks to hear the pain is still around. Hopefully you get a lot better come competition time.

For dynamic stretching, have you tried doing single leg circles where you lay down and with a straight leg you move around throughout the full ROM. If necessary you can start with small circles and gradually increase the size. If it is related to the hip stabilizers, you can get some blood flow without really loading your hips. It is a pilates move so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, lol. You can also add weight or do it standing too.

As a disclaimer, I don’t have any education in kinesiology - I just like to read about the musculoskeletal system. Awhile back I came across the topic of the posterior oblique system which provides stabilization for the posterior chain and explains how load is transferred from the lat on one side of the body to the glute on the opposite side. The force transfer could explain why you’re feeling the pain when load is on the opposite side. To check you can try sitting in a chair with your knees in front of your ankles and reach down to stretch out the lats and glutes simultaneously. You can use a wider stance or pull on something to get more of a stretch too.

That’s all I can think of. Hopefully any of it helps.[/quote]

It’s funny, but I’ve just been doing this naturally as part of the rehab. I’m not laying down, but sitting at my work chair, straightening the leg, and I just keep moving it through where the pain is. At least it means I’m not crazy, haha. Everyday I’m getting a little more pain free ROM. I hate how gradual this healing has been, but it most likely means that I pretty seriously jacked myself up this time, and has been a pretty good wake up call. I knew going into the farmer’s walks that it was a bad idea, but I was just too pissed off and stubborn.

I appreciate the input dude. Always good to get some more perspectives.

Injury update: Woke up at 189.6 today. May have mistook bloating as weight gain. Got to keep the calories up. Pain has shifted from the glute to the hip. Hypothesis is that I’ve been moving very irregularly to avoid pain, and have been placing stress on my hip in weight patterns. Still, I’ll take new pain over old pain, as it means things are at least changing, which is a possible sign of healing.

Much greater mobility today. Can walk without a limp for the first time in a week. Still on Naproxen, but a reduced dosage. Going absolutely stir crazy with how little I’ve trained my lower body, but trying to compensate by blasting the upper body. Office is having a 2.6 mile run tomorrow, might see if I can avoid it.

Still using the heating pad as much as I can. Think it’s been pretty huge in my recovery.

594

As of this afternoon I am pain free and have full mobility. I also ate a double meat quesadilla at the local Mexican place and can’t stop sweating. I am willing to believe that all of these events correlate with each other.

I may still do the run tomorrow. Thinking about doing some conditioning this weekend, perhaps bringing my sled out of retirement.

595

EARLY AM WORKOUT

Dips
4x25

superset w/

Pull-ups
4x20

Notes: Tried some overhead work with the axle, and I’m far more stable, but still somewhat painful. Dips did a great job pumping up the upper body. Goal here was just get in some quick work and flush the body with blood.

Band pull aparts
1x50

DB curls
10x45 hammer curls
10x40 curls

1 HOUR LATE

2.6 Mile Run

Notes: First few steps were a little stiff, but after that fell into a decent rhythm. After felt pretty quick, and seemed to finish around my normal time. Considering I couldn’t even walk on Tuesday, this was a massive victory.

General notes: Woke up at 190.2 (I think, forgot what came after the decimal). Got out of bed with minimal difficulty and am feeling more stiff than injured. Still taking things slow, but today is the first day where I’ve chosen to forgo the heating pad at work. I’ve been forgetting to take my Naproxen, which is a good sign, as it means the pain is really less debilitating. I’ve also switched to wearing my shoes more often, as I was wearing flip flops after work and it seemed to be aggravating my injury.

Contestwise, myself and my partner are currently the only 2 lightweights signed up for the show. If I’m feeling healthy next week, I may bump up a weight class. I don’t want to do that, but the challenge would be nice, if I can get my body to hold together. My only concern is really just the axle clean and press, as I’ve not been training my continental clean at all.

596

GHR sit up/GHR super set
1x8
1x9
1x10

Squat Stripset (minimal rest between sets, just enough to change plates)
2x460
4x410
6x370
8x320
10x280
12x230
14x190
16x140
18x100
20x50

Notes: I’ll let the numbers speak for the state of my injury. I don’t like to train angry, and prefer to be calm. However, once I got under the bar for my very first warm up set I could feel this deep, dark anger just start welling up inside me. Every set after that it just kept growing, and I just kept falling deeper and deeper into the pit. I was just mad at everything: at getting hurt, at being injured, at taking so long to heal, at being weak, at how many times up until this point I got under the bar with the same weight and had to shut it down, at feeling betrayed by my own body. I wanted to melt steel with my eyes and breathe fire. I wanted to get this all out of me in one workout, a punishment for my body for getting injured and redemption as well.

The first set’s double was a tough effort, but not maximal. Nice to see no real strength lost. After that, just going on autopilot. And that’s the story of how you do 110 reps in one workout.

Bodyweight was 190.0 this morning. Hip was a little stiff, but that’s about it. That might just be a forever thing at this point, but I can cope. Cheat meal was 2 servings of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Ice Cream (500 calories, 60 grams of sugar) with a quest bar broken up over it. Next time, just going to eat the quest bar separate, the ice cream doesn’t need any help.

I can’t be killed.

597

Oh yeah, also, Clutch’s new album “Psychic Warfare” is great to train to. Go get it.

598

“I can’t be killed” is just about the greatest thing I’ve ever read on here. Keep being awesome.

599

Thanks man, I appreciate the support! Injuries definitely bring out the best in me, for better or for worse. Nietzsche wrote quite a bit about how only those that have encountered great illness are given the significant insights into life (by no consequence of his own constantly failing health I’m sure) and it keeps resonating with me as well.

Squats w/buffalo bar
1x30

Notes: Incredible DOMs already, just getting in my feeder workout so I can move.

DB bench 105
22 reps

Notes: 1 rep progress from last time. Still using the ironmind bench. Very unforgiving.

Shoulder circuit
3 rounds

Chain suspended bench lockouts 225+mini shortbands
14 reps

Notes: Last week I used micro minis, this week was minis (or maybe last week it was minis, this week monster minis, either way it was a stronger band). I really like these. Despite being a little tricky to set up, they totally nail the lockout. As soon as my speed slips, I suffer for it, and have to grind the ever loving crap out of the rep. Having the bar suspended means that I can start every rep from a dead stop and that I can also really give it my all with zero fear of failure. Rotating them in every 3 weeks should keep my elbows safe. Hoping to see some big progress with this movement.

Chins (3 different grips)
25
10
5

DB rows 105
1x10

Band pull aparts
1x20

Notes: Back is feeling healthy, but don’t want to push it at this point. Close to the contest and freshly healed. Once this show is over, I’m going to engage in an aggressive campaign to bulletproof my back.

General notes: Woke up at 191.4. I am insanely sore from squats but not at all in pain. Was even able to sleep with the memory foam topper back on the bed with zero issues. Diet is getting a little looser this week as I get closer to the show and care less about my weight. Traditionally, I deload the week of the show, but since I’ve had about 2 light weeks in a row I plan to take this week like a pretty normal training week.

600

695×700 102 KB

Yoke Pick Ups
1x120
1x310
1x500
1x590
1x680
1x770 w/13 second hold
1x803 w/10 second hold

Notes: Legs felt completely hammered and I wanted to get under a heavy yoke one more time before the contest, so this seemed like a good compromise. Got to test out my new Crossfit Lite TRs on this as well, but I don’t plan to wear them to this contest because I haven’t had a real chance to train in them.

Trained angry again. Being realistic with myself, I am most likely experiencing fear that is being channeled into rage. My mind is apprehensive about getting under heavy weights so soon after an injury, and I’m overcoming it by just going berserk. I’m at peace with this though. I want to come into this contest angry. I want to just be a white hot laser beam of wrath and melt things in my path. It’s been a long time since I’ve tapped into this part of me (I’d say 2012, on my first 600lb pull in competition), and I think it needs to come back once more.

Kind of funny how it happens when I’m at my leanest. Maybe I’m just hungry, haha.

Included a photo of what the pitbull econo yoke looks like with 803lbs on it. Considering I got this first thing in the morning, off of a bowl of blueberries and honey with legs too sore to stand up in general, I’ve got no concerns for my comp. Additionally, I’m going to remember this movement on squat day mornings when my legs are too sore for any sort of ROM, as this was a great wake to still get under something heavy and feel accomplished.

Long entry, holy crap.

GHR sit ups
3x8

Notes: Focused on keeping tension in the abs the entire time.

Car deadlift simulator
Worked up to a 9 plate attempt.

Notes: Wasn’t able to break the weight off the floor, but my body was game for it. Got a lot of flex on the implements, and may have been able to do it if I was willing to be really stupid. After the contest, this will be the next thing I crush.

General notes: Woke up at 191.4. Legs still incredibly sore, slight recurrence of pain at injury location, most likely the result of altered walking mechanics due to soreness placing stress at odd angles. I get my rehband warm up pants today, excited about that.