Low back traction has been an absolute godsend for my jammed up back. I'm fully symptom-free right now, only about ten days after I thought I'd have to stop training and get into rehab full-time. I'm going to start backing off and doing these every other workout and see how the back responds. One thing to remember is that the body adapts to EVERYTHING, including recovery means. Recovery means need to be cycled just like you cycle through training exercises/reps/sets/etc. If I tweak it again and I'm already doing traction four days a week then that's a tool that I've basically taken out of my toolbox.
I'm actually ditching the McCauley drills for a little while as they seem to be putting a bit of a loop into my pull. This isn't a question of the quality of the drills; it's a question of my ability to correctly execute them. So I'll go back to Glenn Pendlay's drills (snatch pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3; clean pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3). I'm also thinking about doing an unsanctioned Oly meet here in Denver in three weeks, which would be seven weeks out from Iceland. I think it'd feel good to get in front of people and feel that adrenaline pumping again instead of lifting in my little corner of the gym. It's on a Saturday, so I could train straight through it without disrupting my schedule. Something to contemplate.
11/18
Drills
B Squat 60x3x2 90x3 130x5 145x3 155x5 135x5 140x5 (heavy, but nice and sharp)
Front PP 50x3x2 70x5 80x3 90x3 95x5 97x5 85x5x2
(didn't check my notes, thought 95 was a PR; should've been 97 and then 100)
Chinese DB Row 90x8 110x8x3
Dips and Chins - 30 reps of each w/ Back Ext mixed in between sets
Hypers and Traction
11/20
2+1 Snatch 40x1x3 60x1x2 70x1x2 80x1 90x1 97x0x2 92x1 97x0x3 102x0x1 (82x1 87x1 92x1 95x1 100x0)
2+1 CJ 60x1x3 80x1x2 95x1 105x1 110x0 (these felt awful so I called it)
Clean Pull - 110x3 130x3x3 140x3
Back Squat 3x5 130kg (not easy but sharp. Bar rolling around on my back a bit says I've been slacking on upper back work)
11/22 (Happy Thanksgiving!!)
Box Snatch - 40x1x4 60x1x3 70x1x2 80x1 87x1 95x1 100x0x2 / 85x2 90x2 90x2
Box CJ - 60x2x2 80x1x2 95x1x2 105x1 112x1 117x1 122x1 / 100-105-110 2+1
Front Squat - 60x3x2 80x3 100x2 110x2 120x3 125x3 130x3
Cal Back and GH Raise - Four sets each
Hypers and Traction
11/24 (Trained at my friends' place Crossfit MHF; all weights in lbs)
Snatch up to 215x1 and four singles at 205
CJ up to 275x1, Clarked 285 real bad (misses here at 265 and 275 as well). Nice reminder that I need to train pulls a little more often, will start sneaking them in after main movements. Standing up with weights is noticeably faster, so the squatting is definitely helping.) It's becoming pretty clear that my squat (or lack thereof) is a big limiting factor in my lifts and it's very possible that I've been punching above my weight in terms of competitive lifts given my shitty squats.
Next week I'll start adding back Wednesday upper body training. I might jerk, Sotts press, overhead squat or muscle snatch as a first movement but I want to keep the pulling from the floor and bar on my back to a minimum and keep this as an upper body focused day. Nothing maximal here (even jerks), this is a day for supportive exercises, prehab and muscle/connective tissue building rather than quick lifts. My upper back is caving a bit on my back squats, which is probably because I've been neglecting upper back work the past few weeks.
I think I'm going to change up my squats for December, taking Sunday's back squat down to triples and Thursday's front squat down to doubles and start pushing a bit more in the front squat. I might take the push press down to triples as well, but probably not for a couple weeks. One way I get some extra volume in those sets of five squats and push press is to do back off sets on days in which I don't make a PR. Nothing super scientific; I take 10-15% off the bar and knock out 1-3 more sets of five. When I make a PR for a set of five, I'm usually SMOKED so potential returns from the back offs aren't worth it.
Couple nice videos here from Dave Tate to reinforce a couple of my above points; one on Recovery and one on Human Potential.
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, September 18, 2011
"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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)