Just. Don't. Suck (Part 1)

7.10.18

Woke at 239.8 lbs. I got a late start on eating yesterday but I was starving once I finished my workout. I’m sure I replenished my glycogen a bit after two days of restricted eating. I also feel tired today. My body is worn down from yesterday’s session. Good thing I’m not doing any conditioning today.


You are correct here. I just let my brain get ahead of my body. It wasn’t very long ago that I pulled 500 almost easily after maxing on squats. I thought 455 was going to be a bit easier. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t train a lift for a few weeks - the body forgets. And that’s why I’m afraid to shut down squats. I’ve said it before, but in the past I’ve pushed the lift and got to 365 lbs and then quit doing it and lost all my progress. I’m tired of doing that. It’s going to be hard to shut it down AGAIN.

My hip still hurts. It’s probably a 1-2 out of 10 but it seems worse when it never stops. It wears on me. I’m going to keep doing the rehab work. I might schedule a visit to the chiro next week but one trip won’t fix it so I know it’s going to get expensive. I’m just not sure if I’d benefit more from needling or ART.

Interested to see how Built for Battle goes. It looks like a lot of fun.

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It doesn’t feel like it this morning! I think it’s going to be a short term program. I’m doing three weeks for sure, maybe four. That’s assuming my hip doesn’t get worse.

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Ya, there’s no way I’d try the size/strength group. Squatting and deadlifting 5 days a week… Hard pass for me. Eventually, I’d like to run the power look group, but I need at least another set of j-hooks first.

Guaranteed Simple Strength & Size had squats and deads in it and I survived. I’ve actually done that to myself in the past too. I like deads and it’s my best lift so I make sure I squat first. I can deadlift tired but I wouldn’t want to squat that way.

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I hear you. I like deadlifts too. Much more than squatting anyway. I struggle to recover if I’m deadlifting and squatting heavy in the same week. That and using more explosive movements like the continuous clean press and the power clean are why I’d like to do the power look group.

Have you seen or tried his Russian Strength-Skill template? It looks like something you might like.

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I haven’t done that one. It looks similar to Built for Bad/Battle with the high frequency approach. The Manual Labor day is almost identical to B4B. I like the idea of singles with 80%! That sounds like a nice break from heavy work.

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Here’s another vote for dropping squats and deadlifts (or at least going easy on them if you think they don’t hurt). You’ll still be lifting in a year. That hip can either be better or worse then. If you let it heal, you get to squat then and for a long time after. If you don’t, you might be done squatting for good. So the math would suggest you get to squat more if you don’t squat now. I know it sucks, but time really is the healer after real injuries and sometimes there’s nothing to be done but wait.

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I dropped squats in May of 17. I dropped front squats in June. I had hip surgery in December and took 12 weeks off after that. Doc said I was good to go (within reason) so I went. It took about 8 weeks before the loads got heavy and I had no trouble running the Guaranteed Simple Strength & Size program in its entirety.

My nagging pain made its appearance after doing front squats last week. The funny thing is that front squats didn’t bother it much last year.

My pain before surgery was associated with specific movements. It never hurt unless I moved. This pain is constant and in a different location (although I have felt the same pain with the same old movements this past week).

I don’t know if this is a new problem or an old one. I also don’t know if it’s just a residual effect of surgery. They did dislocate my hip to fix my labrum.

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Built for Battle W1 D2

2 LAP DYNAMIC WARM UP + 3 x 10 w/ 90 lbs on the hip abduction machine

CIRCUIT #1 (Time: 29:29)
HANG POWER CLEAN / SQUAT / OHP

REPS: 3, 3; 5/4/3/2/1

HANG CLEAN
115, 165; 190/200/215/225/235

SQUAT
185, 225; 255/270/285/300/315

OHP
115, 115; 135/145/150/160/165

CIRCUIT #2 (Time: 26:04)
BENCH / DEADLIFT / UNDERHAND BENT OVER ROW

REPS: 5; 5/4/3/2/1

BENCH
185; 215/230/240/255/265

DEADLIFT
225; 365 x 3 x all 5 sets

ROW
185; 215/230/240/255/265


Well, @flappinit, you were right! Deadlifts felt awful today. I probably increased the weight too fast but I thought I was good and warm after finishing Circuit #1. 365 felt like 455 did yesterday on the first set so I called it at 3 reps instead of doing all 5. Circuit #1 felt pretty good and then I hit a wall on Circuit #2. I felt like I was moving at a snail’s pace so I was surprised to see the clock at the end. I don’t stop the timer until I clean up after myself and rack all my weights.

I’m feeling pretty worn out now. I’ll be dropping my 3RM numbers to make sure I can finish these damn workouts. I guess I could rest longer but that’s no fun. I set the timer at 45 seconds for Circuit #1 and I figure I was getting back to work in 50-75 seconds between sets. I barely used the timer in Circuit #2. I just kind of waited until I had enough energy to do the next set. My lats feel like they’re about to rip out of their insertion points in my armpit. Apparently deadlifts followed by rows is a bad idea.

Lastly, I hate my body. My shoulder is angry about bench and my hip didn’t like squats. The first couple of sets didn’t bother me but the majority of them did. I even tried to do narrow squats but it didn’t help.

It might be decision time. It really sucks having to choose between reaching my goals or staying healthy and avoiding pain. It’s one of the reasons I’ve never hit a 4 plate squat or 3 plate bench. This shit happens. I haven’t found a way to keep progressing on those lifts without doing the exact lift. When I quit benching I switch to DB bench/incline. When I quit squatting I do more lunge variations. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to that this time around since the problem is the hip (instead of the back like usual). Unfortunately, neither of these adjustments has helped me reach my goals. It’s not like I go back to the bench and throw up 275 with ease after a layoff. When I go back to squatting after a layoff 275 feels heavy.

I’d love to hear your recommendations and experiences. It’d be nice to hear about a way to maintain or improve my squat and bench without actually doing them. Pretty much all barbell movements are out for bench; they all hurt.

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Damn Big J, that’s a bummer.

I would then pull out the Dark Horse with a suggestion.
Not to do the DH.
But do a variation like DB Bench or maybe even dips then to OHP for emom with light weight.
On the other day do some OHP variation Z press and then BB bench light EMOM focus on technique.

Same with squat and Deads.

If you can do like 50% bench and squat?

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Variations are your friend. I’m a firm believer in working variations to bring up weak points.

With your hip issue I would start widebox squatting light at first and working it for up to three weeks then maybe a SSB squat. Box Squat etc. keep getting g the hip involved…

For the back Good mornings for low back and back extensions. Make sure you have some decompression work (hanging kneee raise, reverse hypers if you have access, gravity boot hangs. Etc. )

Bench: get the shoulders out of it. Work on form…the addition of Swiss bar work had done my shoulders a big alright. Incline, floor press, close grip, JM press.

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Have you tried benching with a swiss/football bar? I fucked my shoulder up benching last fall and still have some pain when I move my right arm overhead (couldn’t straight bar bench at all). I laid off bench for a week or so and then started playing around with my Rogue MG-1 and I haven’t had any shoulder pain benching at all in over 9 months.

@losthog beat me to it, lol.

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@mortdk, I’d like to keep doing the circuits and at least finish the three weeks I planned out. I might just have to swap out exercises and use DBs for bench and find something for squats.

I don’t have a SSB but there are boxes at the gym so I could try box squat.

These all hurt my shoulder except the JM Press because I’ve never done it. The good news is that the gym has a swiss/football bar so I could play with that.

My hip is a mystery but my shoulder is messed up. I had surgery in '04 to tighten it up but it’s loose again. The pathetic part is that I think I’ve done most of the damage by sleeping on it. I’m not sure if the labrum is torn; it wasn’t back then.

I was typing my response to the others and you snuck in. Swiss bar it is for tomorrow.

I haven’t had any luck getting the equipment I want this week though. The power rack was taken by guys doing rack pulls with 95 lbs.

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Gotta love commercial gyms…

As far as your squat goes, you might want to check out some of Ben Bruno articles if you haven’t already. He’s a big believer in single leg work. I’ve never tried any of his recommendations (that I can remember anyway), but it might give you some ideas of how to train around your injury.

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I’ve seen that benchmark of 225 on Bulgarian split squats. I guess if I could do that then surely I could squat 405, right? I was already thinking of the split squats as an alternative. I actually learned that I’ve been doing them wrong (toe on the bench instead of the top of the foot). I’ll get some practice tomorrow; they’re part of the assistance circuit.

As of now I’m thinking about box squats for squats though. They’ll probably feel better but it’ll be from decreased depth. I guess that’s just where I’m at these days.

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If you’ve gotta squat to a high box for now, it is what it is.

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Sounds like a pretty rough go of it man, but you’ve also been beating the shit out of yourself. Coming off a strength peaking program right into some WOD stuff isn’t easy and is a massive chance in demands.

Maybe take a week and just recover. If you can still deadlift and press without pain, hit those, but not hard. Do some pumpy stuff so you don’t feel flat, but again, all in the name of recovery.

You made significant progress on CT’s program and remained healthy throughout. It might just be that you need to find a program that works for you to maintain strength while improving conditioning (probably a zillion 531 options) and ping pong between the two.

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I was planning to run the strength program again and add running to it but then I got distracted by the shiny new Built for Battle program :laughing:

The nice thing about the B4B program is that each week is independent so I can make changes on the fly.

GSS&S requires you to pick 4 exercises for each day and stick to them for 6-12 weeks.

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