Tuesday, 13 March
Good news and bad news.
The good news is that I’m 217.2 this morning.
The bad news is located in my left knee.
This is the last thing I knee-d!
TL;DR: bum say ‘no’, knee go ow
Brief background: at the end of 2016 after a year or so of half-arsed training on a half-arsed program I squatted 95x2 and 90x3 as a high-bar max. Later that day I ran across the road to catch a bus, and as I climbed the stairs in the bus my left knee locked up and it caused me a lot of pain to straighten it.
After about 30-45 mins on the bus and hobbling off I was able to walk on it and limped around. It was OK a few days later but after a couple of physio trips including one misdiagnosis I was given a patellar tendinitis verdict, with an inactive/weak left glute as the cause.
This had me not really squatting or deadlifting for most of that year. Light squats were OK but as soon as I approached anything remotely challenging, my knee would be flaring up again the next day.
When I started this log I’d just begun again, having made the switch to low-bar which was much better on my knees.
However, today my left knee feels basically the same as it did this time last year - low-level, sharp pain under weighted extension e.g. squats, climbing stairs, etc. A low and manageable pain (maybe like 3/10 tops), but still concerning.
Don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve added front squats recently, which are much more knee-focused. I won’t blame them entirely, though; I’ve not really done anything to address my glute imbalance except to squat and deadlift more.
I had my girlfriend test my glute strength today, by my lying down and abducting my legs out against her resisting. She’s no physio but she reported that my left leg was significantly weaker.
So, pending consultation with an actual professional if I can find one here, I presume that my left glute isn’t firing properly in squats/front squats which is forcing my knee to do more work than it should and placing undue stress on it.
Moving forward
Last time my knee played up I basically gave up on lifting and just coasted for a while. This time, if for some reason I do have to make major programming adjustments, I’m not going to let it affect my upper body/conditioning work.
As I say, I will be looking to talk to a physio but until then this is the immediate plan for the rest of this Young Wendler cycle (next 2.5 weeks):
1. Swap out front squats for leg extensions and single-leg glute bridges.
High-bar squats made my knee flare up so front squats are likely doing the same. I still need to bring up my quads, and obviously single-leg glute work will help me out.
2. Do glute activation drills before squats/deadlifts.
After Flexible Five and before my KB squat/swing sets, I’ll throw in some glute activation stuff and see if that can get them firing.
3. Do focused glute work each day.
I should have done this before, but I should have done a lot of things. No changing that now, so better learn from my mistakes. Clams/bridges etc. each day, using Brett Contreas’ 2:1 method of doubling the work on the weaker side to bring it up to speed. I’ll also be doing isometric wall sits as prescribed last time I had patellar tendon issues.
4. Potentially just do the prescribed sets for squats
I’ll see how my knee feels next Monday but it might be an idea to cut out AMRAP sets on squats for now with a view to really focusing on getting them balanced and solid.
Workout
Anyway, onto the actual log part.
Warmup
Flexible Five
50 pullaparts
25 dislocations
Conditioning
Layne Norton’s Best Damn Cardio on exercise bike
5m warmup, 10s max resistence fast, 20s normal fast, 90s easy
Repeat for 15m
Diet
Pre-workout
Cereal and milk
Post-workout
Shake
Lunch
Tuna salad
PM snack
Grenade bar
Dinner
Bean burgers and hash browns w/peas
Evening
1.5 scoops Gold Standard
Total
Approx 2515kcal
Approx 185g protein