The Training Week That Was - 11/25 - 12/1

11/25
Muscle Snatch - 50x2x3 60x2 70x1 75x1 80x0
Back Squat - 60x3x2 90x3 120x3 135x5 150x2 157x2 165x5 (PR)
Front PP - 50x3x3 70x3 82x3 90x5 95x2 100x4 100x1 (forgot to do my down sets here)
DB Row - 85x8 105x8x2 115x8x2
Lat Pulldown + 4 Way Neck - 5 sets each
GH Raise 5x5 up to 25lb plate
Arches - 35kg for two sets for max time
Traction and Hypers

11/27
Pendlay Snatch Drills
Snatch + Abv Knee Snatch - 40x1x3 60x1x3 70x1x2 80x1 87x1 95x0 90x1 95x1 100x0x2
-85x3x4
Pendlay Clean Drills
Clean Pull + Abv Knee CJ - 40x1x3 70x1x3 90x1x2 100x1 110x1 117x1 122x0 (jammed the shit out of my wrist; puked a bit outside and almost passed out. Real winner of a workout. Note to self: just let it go when you get that far out of position.)
SSB Squat (can't grip anything with the wrist) 70x5 100x5 120x5x2
Cal Back Extension - 5x10
I should have tractioned after the SSB (it messes my back up sometimes) but my hand is a mess. Tomorrow morning might be a very enlightening experience with this hand. I'm very hopeful that it isn't broken and it's just really really sprained. The one other time I did this I dropped 125kg right on the palm of my hand; thought I had a spiral fracture of my forearm. This one is much farther back on the hand, so I'm hopeful it's all soft tissue. Everything in my hand just feels stretched/sprained, all the way into my fingers. It isn't super swollen or discolored, so I'm hopeful.

This also gives me a chance to test out an idea. When I iced the crap out of things, I notice that things are stiff for multiple days and my mobility/flexibility goes to hell. So here's what I'm trying, we'll see what happens: just got home a little while ago and I covered my hand in liniment (All-Pro Science Complete Relief). I'm also working it over in a bowl of very hot water and some epsom salt, alternating with bowl of ice water. The swelling is coming in a bit in my palm of all places, so I'm hopeful it's more of a big assed bruise rather than anything serious. The heat is actually going to encourage swelling, so my guess is this thing is gonna blow up like crazy. Trying to keep it active as long as I can and more Complete Relief before bed. I won't be able to keep the ice/heat combo going at work, but I'll ice it up and see what happens.

11/28 - Hoping for Sprain, but Planning for a Break
Hand swelled up like the Hamburger Helper overnight:

I'm currently alternating the hot water/ice water and figuring out what I can and can't do in the gym. Bruising is coming in hot and saucy and I'm going for x-rays Thursday afternoon. It would appear I will be doing a shit load of Safety Squat Bar work, posterior chain work, abs and plyos. Hardly the worst thing in the world, but kind of a bummer for my upper body work as that's where I really need work, relatively speaking (I need work everywhere, but you know that). I'm hoping the wrist will allow me to do some upper body pulling work with straps in the not too distant future.

11/29
Little bit of bar work, nothing special
Kneeling Jump Plyos bunch of sets
Front Squat (used straps) up to 120x3 127x3 132x3 (PR) then 120x4x2 120x5x1 (smoked these)
GH Raise worked up to 4x6 w/ 10kg plate behind head
Cal Back Extensions 4x12 w/ 10lb plate
Planks/Neck/Rev Hypers - three sets each
Traction

X-Rays: NEGATIVE. No broken hand, just very f'd up. Alternating the hot water/epsom salt with ice water seems to be really helping. On Wednesday I couldn't hold a coffee mug, couldn't button a shirt, couldn't turn my steering wheel and turn a door handle. Today I did all of those things plus did some bar work in the gym. Function and pain-free grip strength is returning real fast but the swelling is staying stubborn, especially in my palm. Still targeting next Tuesday as a return to full lifting. This Sunday is my last week of sets of five in the back squat so I'm going to aim for another PR at 170. Not being able to Oly lift is a natural deload and my squat should be raring to go as long as I can hold the bar.

12/1
Lot of warmup stuff
Bar work (ish)
Snatch Pull to 130x2x2 110x2x4
Clean Pull to 150x2 130x2x4
Rev Hypers

Function coming back real fast. Pulling doesn't bother it, but hand is still so swollen that my grip is messed up. Straps are unusable; causing too much pressure in the area. Tried compression wrap post-workout and having another thrilling day of alternating ice and heat. So satisfying ;)

"Wiggle Your Big Toe"

Recently I was sitting in a volunteer training at Judi's House, where I do some volunteer work, and we discussed emotional triggers. The discussion reminded me of an important one for me (completely self inflicted) in relation to athletics and injuries.

You remember that scene from Kill Bill where Uma Thurman is in the back of the truck, paralyzed and trying to will herself to move? She keeps repeating over and over again "Wiggle Your Big Toe" until her toe finally budges a fraction of an inch, thus rendering her free to move, kick, punch and slice her way to victory?

I can totally relate...and not because I've been paralyzed in the back of some dude's pickup truck. (5th Amendment)

In 2004 (I was 24 at the time), I slipped the L4-L5 and L5-S1 discs during a weightlifting workout. A smarter man would've taken time off, rehabbed and lived to fight another day. Being that I am, in fact, NOT a smarter man, I played through a season of rugby while training 4 days a week for powerlifting. Playing in the front row for rugby while also pulling/squatting for a max every Monday night is not conducive to lower back rehab and I developed some serious sciatica in my right leg.

At this time, I was also finishing my undergrad in sports medicine at Colorado State University and interning in the weight room. This entailed being on my feet coaching from around 11am until 4-5pm, at which time I would either head to Denver for rugby training or train with one of the other coaches. I've never felt pain like I did in those days of being on my feet; I actually chipped a tooth from grinding my teeth. That is not a badge of honor and pride; it's a badge of stupidity and ego.

Fast forward 9 months: I get an MRI after the rugby season ends and take it to one of the orthopedic surgeons at CSU. He has me take off my shoes, looks at the MRI, palpates my spine and puts me through some balance tests, which I fail spectacularly (go big or go home). He then asks me to stand on both feet and raise the big toe on my right foot.

Nothing. Not even a twitch of life.

I flexed my foot with every fiber of my being. The other four toes moved off of the ground easily, but the big toe mind as well have been glued to the ground. The resulting conversation was award-winning movie dialogue:

"I can't move my toe"
-Nope
"That is not good."
-Nope

From that day up until the day I went in for microdiscectomy (day before Thanksgiving in 2005), I would constantly test my big toe. From the time I awoke to the time I went to sleep, I would test it and try to make it move. It's the very first thing I did once I woke up post-op in the recovery room and I still do it from time to time because it sets off that cacade of memories in my mind. That surgery is a story unto itself (including my first and only experience with a catheder), but that experience of not being able to move something simple like a toe has stuck with me. The phrase "Lift Your Toe" is something that goes through my mind at key points in my life, both in and out of the gym.

Athletically speaking (both physically and mentally), recovering from surgery is one of the toughest things I've done. I went from limping and not able to stand upright pain free to getting back to playing high level rugby, going to camp with USA Bobsled, competing in athletics and just living a (semi) pain free life. When I'm dragging and hurting and I don't want to train, I always remember the times when I couldn't lift my big toe. It's an emotional trigger for me and it conjures up images of the pre-op days lying on my girlfriend's kitchen floor and the post-op days when I needed a grabber arm to get dressed and when my only activity came from pacing laps in my 600 sq ft apartment. Vasily Alexeyev (one of the greatest weightlifters of all time) said this (from Elitefts.com):

"It seems to me that some of the talented athletes lack one thing-- they
haven't had an injury. That's right!  An injury that will put them out of
commission for a year during which time they'll have a chance to weigh every-
thing.  I, too, would not be where I am if I had not injured my back.  I
suffered for a year and a half thinking everything over ... After a
misfortune, people pull through and become, if possible, great people -- and
sportsmen, in particular. Those who are stronger find their way out and to
the top.
The past can be a very powerful tool in your arsenal, if used appropriately. Athletes tend to focus on the "glory days" while forgetting the dark days and time spent rehabilitating from injury. Rehab and recovery from an injury is one of the toughest things that an athlete will do; it forces you to weigh everything in your life when you make the "Do I or Don't I" decision. Don't forget about those days when you're laid up on crutches or in a sling; those are the times when you really had to weigh everything. Those are the turning points, the times when you decided to really go to work.

Just Lift Your Toe.