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.

Recovery Squat. Medium Bench. Chin-Ups

BW - 227

Squat - 325X5, 5, 5

Bench - 210X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 5, 5, 4, 3 (23 total)

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

BB Curls - 45X12, 12

Left adductor pain and a terrible schedule the past few, and upcoming, weeks have led me to admit that I haven't really been doing the program successfully for a couple of weeks and won't be able to really follow it for a month or so upcoming.  I'm stuck trying to formulate a sort of "maintenance" block.

Failed pretty hard on I.D. last week and then couldn't get back into the gym because of Memorial Day schedule.  Left adductor is killing me (appointment with my P.T. tomorrow) so I went with the "middle day" programmed weights.  I also started playing around with moving my stance in a little bit as I saw some stuff on the SS forum about narrowing stance and switch to squat shoes helping with this issue.  Felt maybe a little better in the session and probably helped depth the most.  Walking with a limp the next day because of adductor pain.  Video of 3rd set shown.

Because of the adductor pain, I also move my feet in on bench, and used the same middle day weights as last time.  While the leg still hurt, the weight itself felt very easy.  Possibly a stronger foot placement for this lift?  Last set shown.

Chin-ups were okay.  One more rep and set than last week.  That's pretty normal for the ebb-and-flow of this movement, but at the same time doesn't feel much like progress.

I failed to get 10 reps on the 3rd set of pull-downs last time so repeated the weight and got all the reps.  Will move up next week.

Also managed to get to 12 reps on both sets of curls, so will add weight.