5/3/1 Big but Boring. Muppet prep for July 18th ScotNational

[Lordmuppet]

Walking back tonight in the dark i may have scared a few people given the combination of my woolen hat and hoodie with a face that randomly contorted in pain and an 'argh'

Sorry. Hope you get well soon.

Besides this injury I haven't heard anything about your squatting. How's it going?

aye it was building back up slowly. Did three singles (with long breaks in between) at what was previously a 3RM.

How is yours?

[Lordmuppet]

I have zero desire to make this update but as I and others pointed out to VeganHal it is important to log even on bad weeks.

quit chiro

So went to the chiro and had a consult, then one 'adjustment.' That was when i discovered that the proposed course of treatment involved 22 sessions over the next three months tapering out to once a month forever after. I politely declined and so am going to go see a physio instead.

Did some research on Chiropractic as a discipline. Not sure what to think really other than manually manipulating spines is apparently a good thing (there is a massive AMA review of all the existing reviews of manual spinal manipulation which narrowed it down to 10 methodologically sound ones 9 of which seemed to show manual manipulation was a good thing.

It pisses me off when people say things online and don't cite so here ...

Assendelft, Willem J. J., Bart W. Koes, Paul G. Knipschild, and Lex M. Bouter. “The Relationship Between Methodological Quality and Conclusions in Reviews of Spinal Manipulation.” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 274, no. 24 (December 27, 1995): 1942 -1948.

wrist and back

Back feels totally better not sure what it was but i shall be tentative in future

Wrist is usual crap of sharp pain 1-3 times a day but fine for lifting. Still going to see physio to sort it out for good though.

sitting on my ass for a week

first session got injured
second session missed on chiros advice (was just after the realignment thing)
third missed to rest the back (or that was the excuse)

A sensible person would have done a bunch of other stuff that didn't involve the back. When I'm carrying one injury, I am very good about working around it but when something happens on top of that I just despair, get all moody and sit on my ass. I'm a dark person naturally so when i don't get a ton of endorphins I'm unbearable.

food/drink/sleep etc

did not keep track of any of this due to the 'f*** it' mood that took hold.

Appetite nosed dived (partly due to not training and partly due to the stress of cranking out a draft of this dissertation section that is due on the 10th USA time) and ate clean (mainly because i don't have junk in the house) but at 2/3rd of quantity. Probably good given i've been sitting on my ass.

sleep and drink were usual ... I like to think anyway.

home gym

buying the weights tomorrow probably.

bought a sledgehammer from argos and freaked out a few people around town with it, including the place I buy my tofu.

part of the problem was the massive raincoat hoodie I think.

Should have dragged it along the ground for maximum effect.

[JP]

stay strong buddy, injuries SUCK!

You just have to learn from them, prevention, lessons, tech, etc etc, and recovery.

This stuff is easy when things go well and progress is evident - only when things get hard is when its really measured if you want to do this

Most people say no lol!

[baldy]

Personally I wouldn't go to a chiro, the people that I know that do go to them always seem to use them as more of a maintenance thing rather than getting to the root of what is causing the problem.
Saying that going for a deep tissue massage amounts to the same thing. Have you thought about going for acupuncture?
With my back, deep tissue massage has always been more effective than acupuncture.

Keep you head up and as you say, just go to the gym and do other stuff curls, bench, pullups, dips.
Are you too sore to go for a run, in the past I have found a light jog can loosen up my back.

[seitanic]

Walking back tonight in the dark i may have scared a few people given the combination of my woolen hat and hoodie with a face that randomly contorted in pain and an 'argh'

Sorry. Hope you get well soon.

Besides this injury I haven't heard anything about your squatting. How's it going?

aye it was building back up slowly. Did three singles (with long breaks in between) at what was previously a 3RM.

How is yours?

Glad to hear.

Still getting stronger but I've still not reached my old level. I think. Routine is 5/3/1 again, so it will take a few months until the next heavy lifts. The last heavy squat was 120 kg, so current max should be somewhere above.

[Linnéa76]

Sending a bucket of pep your way!

[Lordmuppet]

thanks for the support/encouragement folks, it is very much appreciated and helps

Back is 100% fine, wrist flared up badly at the end of the week, possibly due to entering a lot of data. Have gotten new mouse, as opposed to touchpad, which should help in future. waiting on tire for sledgehammer. Seeing physio this week. Hear good things.

Bought 250kg of bumper plates and a 5 foot bar. No space in the garage just now as family friends have it filled up with their crap. Will be emptied when they move house which is hopefully soon.

No GPP this week other than one Jiu Jitsu class

Building up slowly back to original strength levels

Monday

2 hours of Jiu Jitsu

Tuesday

Gym full that night so switched to Wed, Fri, Sun

Wed

Squat 3x5 60kg (not easy)
Deadlift 100kg 1x5 double pronated (not easy)
OHP 3x5 30kg (first two with no wraps some pain, third set wraps and zero pain). Wraps from here on out!

Friday

Squat 3x5 70kg
Bench 3x5 50kg (mostly paused). With wraps felt fine.
CUs (wider so no pain on wrist) 3,5,5

Sunday

wrist hurting pretty much whatever I do

Squat 3x5 belted 80kg (easy)
Dead 155kg 1x1
OHP 35kg 3x5 wrists hurt at first but they hurt about the same when i make tea so whatever
wide PUs tried, all these hurt wrist too much so didn't

Eating clean but not eating that much due to having bad nausea a lot of the week. Usually a stress thing with me but there isn't any obvious stress right now. Odd. Sleep isn't ideal either. Getting up at right time but bad with bedtime. Will start tracking (and improving) both again next week.

[Lordmuppet]

Personally I wouldn't go to a chiro, the people that I know that do go to them always seem to use them as more of a maintenance thing rather than getting to the root of what is causing the problem.
Saying that going for a deep tissue massage amounts to the same thing. Have you thought about going for acupuncture?
With my back, deep tissue massage has always been more effective than acupuncture.

Keep you head up and as you say, just go to the gym and do other stuff curls, bench, pullups, dips.
Are you too sore to go for a run, in the past I have found a light jog can loosen up my back.

Never tried accupuncture. My mother swears by it but i haven't researched the evidence on it. Back is fine now (weird how quickly it got better) but I have three massage sessions that i'm trying to spread out over the year. Will get the first at the start of January. Guy is good, is a sprinter so kindof gets strength/power stuff.

[vegan hal]

hope you get some relief soon. I feel for you pal. Been there. actualy my left shoulder is starting to feel like my right one did last autumn and it's worrying me. I agree with Baldy to keep doing whatever you can do.

healing vibes!!!

[Lordmuppet]

short version: physio went well, getting back up to old strength

sleep average sleep for last week about 6.5. Was getting up at the right time just not going to bed at right time. Thought i'd experiment with 7 hours and yeah it caught up with me.

fine wine six glasses of wine spread over three different days

random addictions Have finally gotten bored of olives. New addiction is sourdough bread and spread. My position with bread is rather like that with peanut butter. You can take it away but my cold dead fingers ... etc etc

Food Mum made a ton of vegan food for a dinner with friends so spent most of the week eating through that. Good to get the variety but just ate when hungry and so didn't eat enough really. Probably part of the reason deadlift was such a grinder.

physio this went very well i thought and very glad to have switched from the chiro. Good news! (if he is right) is that he thinks the joint is just stiff as all hell and that the stiffness has built up from a lack of use (following the original injury two years back). So yeah the key seems to be as much non painful use of it as possible so I have morning exercises for it and am also heating it with a wrap.

Training

Tuesday

3x5 Squat (belt) 90kg (not easy)

1x5 Dead belt 120kg lower back was stiff during and after but had started over the weekend before. Same thing this weekend. Maybe too much deadlifting hmmm. Was fine before when I did 2 times a week. Maybe it is jiu jitsu.
3x5 Bench: 52kg paused. Easy as it should be.
10 mins cardio. Funny how i sweat more from this than the weights.

Thursday

3x5 Squat belt 92kg
3x5 OHP 37kg (some wrist discomfort but saw physio just before training who said to expect that)
Wide PUs 5,3 then aggravated wrist too much
10 mins cardio on seated bike L3

Friday

2 hours of Jiu Jitsu. Well first hour seems to be general fitness but that's fine with me. Then bunch of practicing backward roll and then kicking pads. Turns out I can kick rather hard Need to work on technique though.

Saturday

3x5 Squat belt 94kg
Dead belt single for 160kg. Was a grinder like no other. Few folks started yelling at me though and that got it up.
3x5 Bench 54kg paused Super easy.
10 mins seated bike L4 3.77km (figured to keep track of it to progress it)

damn these entries are long. Hence the short version.

[Lordmuppet]

short version stomach still bad, working around wrist very well but may have to give up jiu jitsu for a while. Oh and apparently i can't plank for s***

sleep average of 7.14 hours. Had a nightmare this week that i was teaching a new class and was late for it. Turned up late and started teaching but apparently it was the wrong class. Took me a while after i awoke to realise i didn't need to teach this year.

food compliance at 72%. Only one cheat meal but lots of missed meals due to the upset stomach that i have had on and off since i came back from the US. Nip of alcohol helps so presumably it is a tension thing, beyond that i dunno. Poop has been off since i returned too. A friend of mine says he has similar issues for a while after he moves anywhere.

alcohol 5 glasses of wine, 1 shot of run, 1 pint of beer. Hmm that is rather a lot. As always spread out over the week.

Training

25/10/11 RESTARTING TEXAS METHOD WEEK 1 WORKOUT A

Squat belt 5x5 85KG
Dead belt 1x5 100kg double pronated
OHP wraps 3x5 40kg
wide Pull ups 5,5,6
APU: 70lb of assist 10
Seated bike L4 10 mins 3.77km

27/10/11 WORKOUT B

Squats no belt 3x5 70kg
Bench paused 56kg 5,5,5 (not easy but controlled)
Chins with hands sideways 6,5,5
sideways assisted Chins 45kg of assist 10 (easy)
Seated bike L4 10 mins 3.86km

29/10/11 WORKOUT C

Two hours jiu jitsu. Great fun but wrist were messed up by the end of it. Will try again next week with warming wrist and with wraps. If that doesn't work i will quit for a while.

Some planks in warm up. Was not impressed that i could only do 1 minute.

30/10/11

Squat belt heavy singles: 125kg for 1x1 then totally failed 130kg. Shouldn't have attempted it.

Deadlift with new hooks from Buzz! https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/hand-power-hooks.html
Hooks enabled heavy deadlifting! by gripping bar for me Sticking with hooks as without i have to choose between light weights with double pronated and heavy weights but an eventual imbalance with mixed grip (i can only do one way round)

Dead double pronated with hooks 1x5 140kg with more in the tank! Forgot to put on belt but it was fine.

OHP 1x1 50kg (equal to PR)
OHP 1x1 52kg two attempts both failed and not even close

Wide Pull ups 7,5,5
Assisted Pull up 60lb assist (hurt wrists tried wider but couldn't really do anything) fail
Seated bike L4 10 mins 3.86km

mixed week: lot of fails but also equaling old OHP PR and able to lift heavy while resting wrists with the hooks!

[Lordmuppet]

short version: wrists healing and lifts at about 90% of PRs

diet 72% compliance due to stomach issues lots of missed meals
booze: 3 glasses of wine plus half a bottle tonight ...
weight: forgot to weigh self on account of being a dumbass
edited to add: sleep 6.8 average

TEXAS METHOD WEEK2

01/11/11 HEAVY high volume DAY

Squat belt 87kg 5x5
Dead with belt and hooks 142kg 1x5 (equal to PR albeit with hooks)
Bench wraps 50kg 5x5
Sideways CUs 7,6,5
Assisted side CUs 41kg 10 easy
bike L4 10 mins 3.96km

03/11/11 light day

Squat 70kg 3x5
wide PUs 7,6,5
Assisted PUs 50kg 10
OHP 25kg 3x5
bike L1 4km in 14 mins due to severe stomach issues

04/11/11 A NOD TO GPP

plank 1:30
3 mins rest
plank 0:52
3 min rest
plank 0:48

sideplank 0:14 left arm
3 mins rest
sideplank 0:23 right arm

05/11/11 HEAVY LOW VOLUME DAY

Squat belt 110kg 1x2
Paused Bench 75kg 1x1
Side CUs 8,7,5 (minor strain on wrist)
Assisted CUs 36kg 10
bike L4 10 mins 4.15km

general notes

Lots of stomach issues as there has been for has been for last three months (i haven't written about it) stomach issues are unconnected to food (also happen on empty stomach). Seem a stress thing. Going to look into meditation.

Range of motion of wrist is increasing!

Upper back giving me some grief so going to scale back deadlifts to once a week from two times a week. Seems right seen as it is way above 2xbw now for 5 reps.

[Lordmuppet]

short version: wrist healing very well, diet crap, sleep crap, lifts going in the right direction

diet: not going to calculate it's so bad. At first right quantity but too much crap, then crap and not right quantity. Going to try to start eating breakfast regularly (i know i know)

sleep: average 6.5 (argh ). Had to get up super early on two days and didn't go to bed earlier to compensate.

alcohol: 3 glasses of wine, 2 pints of beer. Spread over three days

[Lordmuppet]

08/11/11 TEXAS 3A:

Squat belt 5x5 89kg
Deadlift with belt and hooks 1x5 144kg (5RM PR albeit with hooks ...)
OHP with wraps: 5x5 30kg super easy
wide Pull ups: 8, 6, 5
Assisted PUs 45kg of assist 10
bike L4 10 mins 4.30

10/11/11 TEXAS 3B

Squat 3x5 70kg
Bench 3x5 40kg
palms facing each other Chin Ups 9,7,5
assisted palms facing CUs 32kg of assist 10
bike L4 10 mins 3.28km (exhausted)

12/11/11 TEXAS 3C

Squat belt 1x3 100kg (could probably do a wee bit more but form was degrading a little so i figured was heavy enough)
OHP wraps 1x2 47kg PR (albeit with wraps but also not gripping bar hard for wrist so swings and roundabouts)
wide PUs 9, 6, 5
assisted wide PUs 41kg of assist 10
bike L4 10 mins 4km

13/11/11 GPP

sad sad planking (shaking all way through): 1:01, 0:50, 0:40 (three minute rests)
sad side planking right arm 0:30, left arm 0:30 (three minute rests)

have the tire and sledgehammer all set up but wrist doesn't really like it so going to wait two/three weeks before trying again.

[Rach]

Good news that the wrist is healing and lifts going in the right direction . Scaling back the deads to 1x a week sounds like a good move and the recovery time should help you get more out of the next sess.