Sick & Injured September

IT'S been over a month since I posted. That's shocking, especially considering everything that's happened in the last few weeks. For real - major stuff in the local lifting scene has been and gone and I've been very remiss in not recording it. Any of it. But then I've spent a significant amount of that time being sick and/or injured, so I wasn't present for a lot of it.

The Perth Cup was pretty disastrous for me as it turned out. I partially tore both my quads on my second attempt at a 250 kilo squat. The bruising didn't really show up till a week and more after it happened. But when it did show it was pretty impressive. After the comp I didn't do much at all. I immediately got sick, this time it was a gastric flu which had me coughing until I would puke. Which brings me to the WA Strongman comp.

My biggest disappointment over the last month - greater than the injury that put an end to my Perth Cup campaign - was being too sick to get to Fremantle to see Kong compete (and win!!) his first ever strongman competition. Alex was there and he gave me a sterling review when I saw him the next weekend. Kong entered as a novice heavyweight, competing against a four or five others in the division. He hit a bunch of new personal records and his victory was decisive enough, he could call it quits in the final even after making the required number of reps to guarantee the win.


While this was happening I was either puking into a bucket or lying on the lounge room floor as both my adductors seized. I'm still not sure why it happened - likely related to how dehydrated I was and the fact I hadn't been able to keep anything down for the last day or so - but the spasms continued for quite a while. I was eventually able to stand up and try stretching them out and warming them, which helped. They released after a few minutes, but there remained a lump in the left one.


If my guts make a repeat of what they've been doing over the last few months I'll have to look at getting a full allergy diagnostic, which (last time I checked) cost over a grand and involved sending blood, stool and urine samples to a lab over east. My father had this test done several years ago. The results were extensive... he was mildly to moderately allergic to a whole lot of everyday foods like red meat, red kidney beans, peanuts and legumes, dairy and soy. And severely allergic to wheat and grains. In fact his results are a factor in what prompted me to go wheat and grain free back when I was focussed on fat loss. While my approach worked, I've since learned the folly of removing an entire food group from my nutrient sources. It's just another temporary measure which can work for some, for a period of time; it is not a proper diet.


Back to my injury. The ultrasound showed all kinds of tears. Rather than transcribing the prognosis, I have taken the below pic:
I followed up with my physio to confirm the program I'd started the previous week was still going to work and it was decided that, providing I spend a minimum of eight week after the injury doing no load-bearing lower body exercises (and bodyweight squats for mobility) I should be all healed up by the end of November if not sooner. I'm going to play it safe and not look at resuming deadlifts et cetera till December anyway.


In the mean time, here's what I've been doing through the week. Other than working around the damage, the objective is to build up to repping 150 kilos on the bench with as little discomfort as possible. From there I can re-assess. I have no idea - still - when my bench press will be back up to where it was last year. I may have to look at more treatment options for the bursitis.



Tuesday 4th October
*BW squats every session*


Bench press:
DB 15 kgs x 10
60 kgs x 8
80 kgs x 3
100 kgs x 5 x 5


HS chest press:
45 kgs p/h x 2 x 10
40 kgs p/h x 10


HS shoulder press:
40 kgs p/h x 5
20 kgs p/h x 2 x 10


DB front raises:
10 kgs x 3 x 10


Triceps pushdowns:
full stack x 15, 12, 10


Thursday 6th October
*BW squats every session*


Stiff legged deadlifts:
70 kgs x 8
100 kgs x 5
130 kgs x 5
150 kgs x 5


Bent-over BB rows (underhand):
80 kgs x 3 - too light
100 kgs x 10
110 kgs x 8


HS seated rows:
75 kgs p/h x 10, 8
70 kgs p/h x 8


Face pulls:
plate 6 x 20
plate 7 x 20
plate 8 x 10


Pinwheelz:
22.5 kgs x 2 x 10 - too heavy


Wednesday 12th October
*BW squats every session*


Bench press:
20 kgs x 10
60 kgs x 5
80 kgs x 3
105 kgs x 5 x 5


HS shoulder press:
45 kgs p/h x 8
40 kgs p/h x 8
35 kgs p/h x 5 - left shoulder felt crap


HS chest press:
35 kgs p/h x 10, 8, 4


DB front raises:
10 kgs x 3 x 10


Triceps pushdowns:
full stack x 20, 15, 12