Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 5. Day 2.

BW - 226

Starr Rehab Squats - 45X25, 25, 25

Press -
115X5 @ ~7
125X5 @ ~8
130X5 @ ~9
135X5 @ ~9

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 5, 5, 5, 3 (26 total reps)

Pull-Downs - X8, 8, 6 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

BB Curls - ~55X11, 8

Adductor strain has settled into persistent guerrilla warfare with me. Hides out until I've forgotten about it, and then strikes out of nowhere.  Decided to start trying the Starr Rehab Protocol thingy.  Starting of with 3 sets of 25 on squats.  These were okay.  Haven't noticed any real difference the next day.

Still fucking around with BBM and RPE on Press since it had been stuck for a while anyway.  Because I thought the extra volume of doing my normal warm-up jumps but with all 5s might have been fatiguing last time, I tried taking some bigger jumps to start this time.  Was hoping 125 was going to be @7, but 115 felt like it might be that when I got there.  Still I made my planned jumps to 125, 130, and 135.  These were okay.  I think the 135 felt a bit better than last week which seemed about @10

Chin-ups were only okay as were pull-downs.

Added weight to curls and they still went pretty well.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 5. Day 1.

BW - 225

Feet-Up Bench - 220X3, 3, 3

Pull-Ups - BWX6, 4 (10 total reps)

Pull-Downs (supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight, + "5 lbs." from last time)

Hammer Curls - 35sX12, 10

First day back from our annual camping trip.  Was itching to Squat, etc. again, but decided to keep playing it safe.  Thinking I'll still play it by ear a bit until after July 4th since that holiday will throw some more chaos into my schedule.

Feet-up bench still moving pretty well as long as I make sure my hips and shoulders are well centered on the pad.  Bench is probably the first movement I will try to come back on as my adductor heals ups.  I feel like I can just stay in this progression and put my feet on the floor for more power.  So maybe I go for 225 for 3X3 this Friday as my return to full power bench, and then progress back up from there.  It looks like I don't have a 3X3 PR recorded for Bench.  235X3X2 is probably the closest, so that would put me in striking distance on that.  And I would be adding a true Volume Day back in at that point as well, I believe.  May need to think on that a bit more. 

Pull-Ups felt very strong once again.  1 more rep than last time in the same number of sets.

Also got all 3X10 with more weight on the pull-up machine for supinated pull-downs.  These were definitely a couple of all out sets to get there.  Expect to hit a wall next time.  Or not.

Also got 10+ on both sets of Hammer Curls, so will add weight to those next time. 

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 4. Day 2.

BW - 225

Press -
130X5
135X5
125X7

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 5, 5, 5, 4

Pull-Downs - X8, 6, 5 (straight-weight, +"5 lbs." over last week)

BB Curls - 50X12, 12

Training day before a camping trip.  Decided to play around with RPE a bit (shhhhh, don't tell).  Was going to to shoot for 3 sets of 5 @ RPE 7, 8, 9.  Regular programming called for 142.5 for 3X5, so I was targeting that for my final set.  That ended up shooting me in the foot a bit.  125X5 felt a bit heavier than expected.  I jumped to 130X5 hoping for an @7, but it ended up being more of an @9.  Went up to 135, and it was just about a limit set.  Not sure what the take-away is.  Either it was a bad day, and I wouldn't have gotten the 142.5 for sets across even though I got 140X5X3 last week, or the additional volume of warm-up sets being all 5s generated enough fatigue to limit performance at higher intensity.  Probably the only real take-away is that I made a bunch of changes at once, and now I can't determine causality. 

Chin-ups went well, though.  More total reps in the same number of sets.

Upped the weight on pull-downs, and they really dropped off.  Will try that same weight next time.

Got to 12 on both sets of curls, so will up the weight next time.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 4. Day 1.

BW - 225

High-Bar Squats -
300X1, 1
315X1, 1

Bench (Feet-Up) - 215X3, 3

Pull-Ups - BWX5, 4 (9 total reps)

Pull-Downs (Supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs.")

Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8

Leg had been feeling so much better, I decided to play with some Squatting.  Low bar regular wasn't feeling great, so I moved my stance in a bit, and it felt better, but really awkward.  Moving to High-Bar seemed to make it feel more natural.  I started working up in sets of 3, taking small jumps.  If it hurt a little, or felt awkward, I would repeat the set.  Got into the mid-to-upper 200s and I was starting to have some discomfort through the quarter of ROM right around parallel, but it felt all good at the very bottom.  I switched to doubles, and then singles to get up to 300.  Did a couple of sets there and they felt a little sharp, but not too bad.  Got a little greedy and went up to 315.  First set was okay, but the second set had a very sharp twinge in the adductor, and now it basically feels like I've lost 10 or so days of recovery process. But hey, my previous best HBS was 250X5 (in 2014), and at least these were fast.

All I really wanted was to keep motor pathways fresh with some higher-intensity / very low-volume squatting in the hopes that would facilitate a more rapid "come back" once I can low bar Squat pain free.  Oh, well.  Luckily I'm going camping for 4 days this weekend and won't even be in the gym.  When I come back, I'll just have to take it super slow.  Last set of 300 and last set of 315 shown. 

Definitely wasn't putting my feet back on the ground for bench after this.  I'd already proactively decided to cycle down to triples at this point on the feet-up bench.  Again, just trying to keep relative intensity high while frequency has been reduced by schedule.  These moved well.

Pull-Ups also felt pretty good.  +1 rep from last time.

Supinated Pull-Down weight is now at a challenging intensity.  Probably the best strategy for next week is to stay at the same weight, and try to go for 12 on each set.

Arms felt worn out by the time I got to Hammer Curls.  Same results as last time.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 3. Day 1.

BW - 227

Press - 140X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 6, 4, 4, 4 (26 total)

Pull-Downs - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

BB Curls - 50X10, 10

Press still moving pretty well.  Last warm-up felt a touch heavy, but the worksets were fairly smooth.  Last set shown.

Was supposed to be Pull-Up day today, but I got it twisted.  Whatevs.  6 reps on the 2nd set would be a recent best.  Been working my way through PPST3, and was just reading the section on Dynamic Effort on TM.  It mentioned that it has worked for weighted-chins, and it got me thinking that maybe I'd been a bit "slow" in my execution of initial reps.  So I really attached these sets and tried to accelerate as fast as possible out of the bottom.  May have made a difference.

Got more reps with the same weight as last time on pull-downs.  I'll take this weight one more time going for 10-12 on each set, and then move up.

Curls felt stronger this week. 

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 2. Day 3.

BW - 225

Bench (feet-up) - 210X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 5, 5, 5, 3 (25 total)

Pull-Downs - X10, 9, 6 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

BB Curls - 50X10, 9

Went to the P.T. to get the run-down of my MRI results.  ALL CLEAR!!!  No sign of damage to any of the structures in or around the hip, and no sign of tendinopathy.  Diagnosis is just a really over-taxed adductor.  The pain had already faded quite a bit over the last week of not squatting and deadlifting.  Enough for the P.T. to really get in and manipulate the joint.  Prescription is some minor daily mobility work to keep it loose.  Advised not resuming squatting and pulling again until "you've forgotten it was injured," start with the empty bar and add weight as long as it's pain free.  He expects I should be back to work-sets in just a couple of weeks once I resume.  I've got two out-of-town trips and houseguests over the next couple of weeks, so I will just wait until that's all out of the way.

In the meantime, 210X3X5 was a lot more challenging than 205.  Probably some fatigue, but I also had to focus quite a bit more on balance.  I'll continue with this movement until I start squatting again.  Hopefully, I'll even get some slight benefit to my bar path motor pattern as a result of the balance component.  Or not.

Chin-ups felt pretty solid.  Didn't get as many reps on the first set as last time, but got more on the later sets.  But now we're to the point in the plan where I've hit 25 reps and 5 sets.  The plan now is: get 25 reps in 5 or fewer sets.  That is to say, try to show improvement without additional sets.  If I plateau  or regress, reduce the weight on pull-downs slightly, and add a set to those.  If there is no improvement, add another.  Then do the same to curls, then pull-downs again, then curls again.  This days programming isn't in a vacuum either, as there is the 2nd day with pull-ups, supinated pull-downs, and hammer curls.  If this days program gets to 5X~10 pull-downs and 3X~10 Curls without progress, then I will start adding volume to the pull-downs and curls on that day as well.  So the "final phase" program would look like:
Day 1:
Chin-Ups - 5XAMRAP
Pull-Downs (pronated) - 5X8-12
BB Curls - 3X8-12

Day 2:
Pull-Ups - 5XAMRAP
Pull-downs (supinated) - 5X8-12
Hammer Curls - 3X8-12

If I get that far and progress is stalling or regressing, then I will have to come up with something else. To be clear, progress = more reps on the first set and /or more average reps per set on chins.  That's a minor distinction because if one is happening with any consistency then the other must follow.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 2. Day 2.

BW - 224

Press - 137.5X5, 5, 5

Pull-Ups - BWX5, 3

Pull-Downs (supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs." from last time)

Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8

Had an MRI on my hips today and dropped the file off with my P.T.  Will see him on Friday to get the scoop.

Press felt really good today.  Even though this is 8 lbs. off my best 3X5, this still surprised me.  This lift had felt like shit for a while.  We'll see how it goes.  My current theory is a combination of factors went into this:  1) Not Squatting and Deadlifting for the last week has reduced overall fatigue, 2a) Pulling back on Bench and Press weights AND volume has also reduced overall fatigue, and 2b) has allowed for a little bit of "peaking."  Basically, I'm doing a little less and so am not as sore and tired, and so my lifts may be temporarily spiking.  Again, just a theory for now.

Also, Pull-Ups blasted off today.  Last session (which was my first time doing pronated pull-ups in 6 YEARS), they were really rough out of the gate, and getting 3 was a grind.  I grabbed the bar today expecting only 3-4.  3 was smooth, then 4 went up pretty well, and then I did a slow but certain 5th.  Felt so good, I was tempted to get some extra sets/reps, but I stuck to the plan and just increased by 1 rep over last session.  I expect this quick improvement is mostly neurological as I re-familiarize myself with the movement.

Pull-Downs and Hammer Curls were fine.  Discomfort in my left hand is still present even in the pronated pull-down.  Also hoping this will benefit from the break from DL.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 2. Day 1.

BW - 226

Bench (Feet-on-Bench) - 205X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 5, 5, 4, 2

Pull-Downs - X8, 6, 5 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs." from last session)

BB Curls - 50X10, 10

First time doing Bench with my feet-up, so technically a PR.  Didn't get any trouble out of my hip doing them this way, so should be good for the time-being.  Went in prepared to start with 185, but could tell it was going to be more than that.  Used 185 as my last warm-up, then jumped up to 205.  Felt about right.  Not easy, but felt confident not calling for a spotter (safety bars on the bench I used).  No video.

Chin-Ups felt pretty strong out of the gate.  Getting 5 reps on set 3 isn't consistent yet, but is getting more common.

Upped the weight on the pull-downs and definitely exceeded some threshold, dropping from 10 reps per set down to this.  Shooting for 8-12 on all sets so I'll back off 10 "lbs." (who knows what the actual resistance is on these machines), and see if I can get 12 reps per set and work my way back up.  For some reason, getting into position on this machine was lighting my hip up a little bit.  WTF.

Got 2X12 last time on straight-bar curls, so went up to 50 here.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 1. Day 2.

BW - 226

Press - 135X5, 5, 5

Pull-Ups - BWX3, 2, 2

Pull-Downs (supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs.")

Hammer Curls - 30sX12, 12

So, I went to my P.T. before the training session today to get my hip looked at.  He didn't like how pain was being triggered during one part of the assessment ordered an MRI.  Got that scheduled for the middle of this week.  Could just be tendinosis in the left adductor, but he's concerned that there may be some impingement or damage in the hip now. 

TL;DR = no Squats, Deadlifts, or full power Bench (i.e. w/ leg drive) until this gets sorted.  I was already planning a maintenance block due to recent and upcoming schedule difficulties, so at least I had a bit of a plan in place.

Press was okay today, but has just been feeling heavy recently.  That probably won't get better during the maintenance block, and I will likely be dropping reps down pretty quickly here.  Last set shown.

The plus side is I can hammer Chin-Ups and chin-up accessory as hard as I want during all this (maybe I should bring dips back too?).  Doing the full Andy Baker 2-day split for this period. 

Haven't done pronated pull-ups in a long time.  Pretty darn hard.  Decided to stay at 3 sets to start, and do my usual thing of getting more reps in each subsequent session regardless of how many sets it takes.  Similar to Chins, I'll look to cap these at 25.  I guess?

Was able to add weight and/or reps to the assistance movements.  Whatevs.