brikis98's journal

[crt1530]

When I last had a minor pull in my back, I found it helpful to use a tennis ball (or even a baseball) and roll on top of the ball while laying on the ground. I also will put the ball between my back and whatever chair I am sitting in. The pressure on the injured area helps to release tension and prevent those spasms when you move the wrong way.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: brikis98
06/25:

good news: weighed in at 201lbs today. I have a decent chance of hitting my goal of 200lbs before July, 1.5 months earlier than expected. sweet.

bad news: yup, definitely hurt my back yesterday. it's very stiff today and the odd motion will occasionally send a shot of pain through the area, especially the left side. the only reason i'm still hesitant to see a doctor is because of the experience of many friends and family members who also had lower back issues. the doctors and chiropractors very rarely can identify the issue and other than prescribing simple PT exercises (which I do now anyway), can never do anything about it. sigh.

can you get your hands on some ibuprofen?

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: brikis98
06/25:

good news: weighed in at 201lbs today. I have a decent chance of hitting my goal of 200lbs before July, 1.5 months earlier than expected. sweet.

bad news: yup, definitely hurt my back yesterday. it's very stiff today and the odd motion will occasionally send a shot of pain through the area, especially the left side. the only reason i'm still hesitant to see a doctor is because of the experience of many friends and family members who also had lower back issues. the doctors and chiropractors very rarely can identify the issue and other than prescribing simple PT exercises (which I do now anyway), can never do anything about it. sigh.

can you get your hands on some ibuprofen?

we have some advil at work and i can always buy some if need be. you think this would reduce inflammation of some sort to help my back? and if so, how can i tell if its actually reducing inflammation... or if just the pain reliever is what (temporarily) makes me feel better?

 

[brikis98]

06/26:

ahhh, finally a good workout. while cleaning up my room I dug up a weight lifting belt I had bought a couple months ago and totally forgot about. given the back issues I'd had, I gave it a shot for the two heavier sets of squats today and it made a HUGE difference.

back squat: 135x5, 175x5, 205x5, 225x5 (belt), 245x5 (belt)
bench: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x3, 225x8
hang power clean & push press: 95x5, 115x3, 135x3, 155x3, 165x2 (missed 3rd rep)
weighted dips: BWx8, 30x8, 50x8

Bar speed was very good for squats today. 225 felt light... 245 didn't feel too heavy, went a bit slower, but I got all 5 up pretty well. The belt let me stop panicking about hurting my back and just focus on form, and I'm amazed how much of a difference that made. My back felt 100% the entire time, so I think I'll stick with this strategy: first 3 sets are normal, last 2 heavy sets are with a belt. I'm going to start alternating front squats and back squats in my workout, so Saturday will be my first front squats in a while. I probably won't need the belt for them, but I will use it for deadlifts afterwords. The Tuesday after that, with a couple days rest, I'll do back squats again and hopefully put up 265. If I do, I'll finally feel a bit more like my old self and be more confident that I'll be back at the old weights in a few weeks.

Bench went extremely well: all the sets were pretty easy and I definitely had more in me. Power cleans felt *fantastic*. Explosive weight lifting movements are so refreshingly different than other lifts and really get me pumped. The weight I put up is still pretty pathetic, but I'm very new to the exercise (have only done it ~4 times so far) and I'm gradually developing my form. I'll have the occasional rep where I'll get the form perfectly and send the weight flying, almost hitting myself in the face... and then i'll have a rep where it barely clears my stomach - such as the last rep of the last set, where I was absolutely gassed. Practice, practice, practice. Finally, dips were problem free as well.

It's amazing just how different I felt after today's workout than the previous two. Nothing hurt, I felt strong, and I even had a bit of a "runner's high" type feeling. Let's hope I have more good workouts coming in the future.


edit --> also, forgot to mention that as part of my warmups, I did a couple sets of overhead squats. One with the bare bar and one with 85lbs, each for 8 reps. The bare bar finally felt very solid and balanced, but I was still quite wabbly with the 85lbs. I'll keep at it.

 

[brikis98]

06/27:

i finally got a new pair of running shoes this week - some very wide, comfy Asics - and decided to try them out today. It was also my first time running since the vacation, so taking these two points into consideration, I decided to just go on a slow jog and not do HIIT. I ran 3.0 miles in ~28 minutes and overall, felt pretty good. The shoes were great, and the extra width in the toe box was really nice. My left calf started to cramp a little towards the end, so I stopped, although I probably had another few miles in me. I'll go on a bit of a longer run (or do HIIT) this weekend.

I also updated my goals in the first post to reflect my new body weight, back injury and recovery after vacation.

 

[brikis98]

06/28:

woot. another great day at the gym:

front squat: 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5
overhead press: 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x4, 155x3
power clean: 135x3, 155x3, 175x3, 185x1, 185x1
weighted pull-ups: BWx8, 30x8, 35x8
overhead squat: 45x5, 85x3, 95x1 (missed 2nd rep)

It was my first time doing front squats in over 3 weeks (due to the vacation) but they still felt fantastic. i could really feel my core working to keep my body steady and i loved it. The last set was tough, but I got up all 5 reps. Given that on Thursday I had roughly the same difficulty with 245x5 with back squat, I think it's pretty clear how much the lower back injury is holding me, er, back. Hopefully it'll heal up and recover soon, as my legs are definitely getting back into lifting shape and are ready to put up some weight.

my overhead press form was significantly better today, but unfortunately, my shoulders were quite sore from the last two workouts, which included overhead press and the push press. I got up 155, but failed to get the 5th rep on the last two sets. I'll let my shoulders rest a bit and I'm sure I'll have it next time. this was my first time doing the power clean (instead of a hang power clean) and i loved it. i did singles with 185 for the last two sets, which is the most i've gotten onto my shoulders with the various clean exercises so far. it ain't much, but it's a start.

pull-ups were problem free as usual, although doing 8 reps is definitely quite different than 5 (with more weight). i'll get used to it, i guess. finally, i was weighting for a buddy of mine to finish his workout and decided to practice some overhead squats at the end. these things are bloody tough. with the bare bar, i did fine. 85lbs was tough and getting deep started to be a problem. 95lbs was damn near impossible and i only got 1 rep that *may* have been deep enough. the second wasn't even close as i wabbled all over the place.

 

[gramboh]

Glad to hear your back is feeling better, and your words about the clean are motivating me to learn (I'm looking into signing up for some Crossfit classes/certifications to learn oly lifting).

Maybe I missed it, but are you doing a certain program, or have you designed it yourself? I'm curious about the weight/rep progression you seem to do on each exercise.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Glad to hear your back is feeling better, and your words about the clean are motivating me to learn (I'm looking into signing up for some Crossfit classes/certifications to learn oly lifting).

Maybe I missed it, but are you doing a certain program, or have you designed it yourself? I'm curious about the weight/rep progression you seem to do on each exercise.

Aw man, I'd love to do CrossFit, but they don't have any gyms close enough to my house. I've heard awesome things about them, so if you can join one, definitely go for it.

As for my routine, it's basically a modified Starting Strength A/B style workout. I posted the details on the previous page of this journal. I tweaked some of the exercises to reduce strain on my back and the weight/rep progression is actually from the Bill Star 5x5. I do 5 sets of 5 reps for most exercises with ramping weight, as I find it works far better for me than 3 "working sets" of the same weight. Occasionally, time permitting, I'll toss in an extra set or two (such as power clean singles) or even a random exercise. These are just for fun

 

[brikis98]

06/29: unintentional day off. was planning to do some running, but just did not have time.

06/30: crappy weight lifting day. the very muggy weather & lack of AC in the gym may have had something to do with it, but I just didn't feel too great through out.

back squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 265x3 (belt), 205x8
bench: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x3, 225x8
hang power clean: 115x3, 135x3, 155x3, 175x3, 135x3
abs, obliques

My back felt ok during squats today, but my lift hip started to hurt instead. always something. my buddy was watching me do it and said that at the bottom of the motion, the outside of my foot seems to lift up. That is, my feet seem to roll inwards a bit. It's not clear whether it's my sneaker deforming or a problem with my form (he said I might be going a bit too deep, actually), but it's something I should definitely look into, as it could easily be the cause of my hip pain. The weight lifting shoes I ordered the other day will hopefully help with this a lot - can't wait for them to get here.

I felt very weak for bench & power cleans today. Even the first set of bench seemed to fatigue me and I just didn't have the strength to push for 5 reps of 285 as I originally planned. Power cleans felt ok, except that both shoulder joints really started to ache. I suspect this is because I don't actually drop the weight to the floor after each rep as my gym doesn't have bumper plates. Instead, I let it drop in my hands and catch it at the bottom - perhaps the tug of the weight from this is yanking on my shoulders and causing discomfort. Whatever it is, it made the exercise rather unpleasant and I didn't put up as much weight as I probably should have.

 

[gramboh]

I feel your pain on working out in hot weather, same thing for me on 6/30 and I didn't get my squats. It's weird, my gym has AC in one area full of machines and cardio stuff (also the area I stretch in) but the main weight area/track/gyms do not have AC and it gets riduclously hot since it's an air dome type of structure (so semi translucent roof). I know the hardcore gym types would laugh at my desire for AC though

 

[brikis98]

07/01: HIIT running was on the menu today. stupid gym doesn't have AC, so it was humid as hell, but the run felt pretty good:

10 minutes dynamic stretches
5 minutes light walk/jog
20 minutes of 30 seconds @ 9mph, 1 minute @ 6mph

07/02: weighed in at 200lbs again today. we now have catered lunches every day at work and i think i'm eating too much, which has slowed my weight loss. gonna need to do something about that...

I don't have time to hit the gym after work today (going to a birthday party), so instead, I'm taking 5-10 minute breaks every hour or two and using the tiny gym at work for some light cardio and lifting. Each session is usually:

200 skips on the jump rope
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
10 air squats
power clean & press with 40lbs dumbbells

it's nothing hard core, but gets my heart going. i would do more, but i don't want to be heavily sweating when i get back to my desk... remarkably, although it'll take up ~30 minutes today, it's keeping me a lot more awake, focused and productive the other 7.5 hours.

 

[brikis98]

07/03: I used my new Do-Win weightlifting shoes for the first time in today's workout. They were surprisingly comfortable and I completely forgot I was wearing them, which is probably a good thing. Saturday is back squat + power clean day, so that should be the real test, but so far I'm pretty happy.

front squat: 135x5, 165x5, 195x5, 215x5, 235x5
overhead press: 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5 (stopped, shoulders hurting)
deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5 (belted), 315x5 (belted)
weighted chin-ups: 10x8, 20x8, 30x8

Front squats felt very good, although I again had some slight hip pain. I can really feel my core working to hold up the weight and I'm powering through the sets with good bar speed. Overhead press sucked from the very first rep: right away, I had some discomfort in both shoulder joints. As this is not just my left shoulder, it's definitely not the same old injury I had before. My guess is this is the pain I was noticing from power cleans the other day - I really need to find a gym where I can drop the weights to the floor...

Deadlift felt alright. I was happy to find that 315 wasn't terribly tough, so my back hasn't lost all its strength. on a couple of the reps, it did feel a bit strained, but hopefully i didn't do any damage. finally, my grip was a bit fatigued after deadlifts, so chin-ups became fairly challenging.

 

[brikis98]

07/04: my body is falling apart. well, that's a bit dramatic: in reality, i think my joints/tendons/ligaments are having trouble dealing with the weight lifting.

* when I woke up, my lower back was pretty damn stiff, definitely a result of yesterday's deadlifts.
* i played some light basketball for 90 minutes to loosen it up, but it didn't help much. worse yet, i had some slight shoulder discomfort at the end of the basketball game. maybe it's just from not being used to playing basketball anymore, but it could also be the same pain i felt yesterday during overhead press and a few days before that from power cleans.
* the final nail in the coffin was after basketball: i tried to stretch and found that (a) my lower back was far less flexible, probably due to yesterday's deadlifts and (b) my hips were inflexible and i felt some discomfort at certain angles. I almost get the impression the hip joints are swollen, so i'm gonna take some ibuprofen.

i'm a mess and i'm not sure where to go from here. it's not a good sign when all 3 of my nagging injuries act up on a day off. even 3 weeks off from lifting (during my vacation) didn't seem to heal any of them 100%. and the more i lift - or maybe, the more weight i lift - the worse they get. i'm considering switching from my heavy, low rep starting strength style routine and doing something like crossfit. they tend to do higher reps, lower weight and also a strong cardio component. perhaps that will let me keep my body strong without overloading the various joints. time to do some thinking...

 

[brikis98]

07/05: i really should've taken a day off today. all the pain i had yesterday was a not-so-subtle hint to rest, but i ignored it, and as a result, had an abysmal day at the gym:

back squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x3... stopped from back/hip discomfort.
bench: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285x5... last two sets don't count as my spotter was a retard and stupidly helped on every rep.
hang power clean: 95x5, 115x3, 135x3, 165x3, 185x1... missed 2nd rep... stopped due to shoulder pain.
weighted dips: BWx8, 20x8... stopped due to shoulder pain.

i cannot imagine a less successful day. back squats felt like crap from the first rep of the first set and by 225, my back and hips were complaining too much to continue. bench was going fine, until I asked for a spot for my last set. The two guys I usually go with weren't around, so I had to ask a stranger and the dumbass helped out on EVERY rep. He clearly had no idea what he was doing and that entire set now does not count worth a damn.

I have also decided that i can not continue to do any olympic-style lifts for two reasons: (1) my gym doesn't have bumper plates, so I can't drop the weight. this was unfortunate, as I missed the 2nd rep of 185, and had to drop the weight, which got me some nasty stares. (2) I'm experiencing rather sharp shoulder pain from power cleans. I'm guessing the reason is that I have to "catch" the weight after every rep (rather than let it hit the floor) and this yanks painfully on my shoulders. The shoulder pain from the power cleans carried over into dips and i had to stop doing those as well.

This absolutely sucks. My body just will not tolerate heavy lifting, which is sad, given that I'm only 24 and in pretty damn good shape overall. I do not want to give up strength training, but in the interest of not destroying all my joints, I think a crossfit-style workout (lighter weights, more reps, strong cardio component) may be my last resort.

any opinions?

 

[brikis98]

I did a bunch of research today and I think I have a pretty good idea of what is causing all my lower body (back, hip) injuries. In a way, it's quite obvious: I am lacking in flexibility. However, the way in which this was causing injury and the extent to which my various muscles are too short only became apparent to me now:

Erector Spinae
My lower back muscles were what I always suspected and there is no doubt they are absurdly short. However, these alone are not the problem.

Hamstrings
When doing squats, deadlifts, etc, hamstring flexibility is extremely important. While watching a crossfit video on squatting, and squatting in front of a mirror, I noticed something: my pelvis rolls down and back at the very bottom of the squat. This is a clear indication of short hamstrings and inadequate lower back control. This definitely increases pressure on my lower back yet again.

Hip flexors
As it turns out, if these are too tight, the pressure on the lower back increases even more. I believe they are also inflamed - possibly from the problems caused by tightness everywhere else - which only makes full range of motion more difficult.

Calves
I have always had extremely flat feet and very very tight calves & achilles tendons. As it turns out, this tightness changes your posture and once more causes extra tightness in the lower back.

I've known for a long time that I am very inflexible - I can't even come close to bending over & touching the floor - but it never occurred to me how important this was for weight lifting. I was used to the "weight lifting makes you inflexible" idea and just figured it wasn't a critical problem. Now that everything in my mid-section hurts, I'm very much regretting it.

I think my new resolution is as follows: I need to once again stop doing exercises that put lots of pressure on the lower back - namely, the back squat & the deadlift. Depending on how my hips take it, I may continue to do front squat. But now, rather than just hoping everything magically heals, I'm going to dedicate myself to 15 minutes of stretching every single day. It has become apparent to me that this will be essential if I want to continue exercising and for my well being in general.

 

[brikis98]

07/06: played 90 minutes of basketball, including some exhausting 20 minutes of 1 on 1. stretched for 15 minutes afterwords, focusing on the lower back, hamstrings, calves and hips. lower back felt much better, which only confirms my thinking above.