Return to GLORY... from a torn labrum
Hey everyone, this will be my first log, and about my return to lifting glory after I had surgery on a [url=http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=370702851#post370702851]torn labrum [/url]in September of 2009.
Let me give you some background on myself. Currently, I am 24 years old, and I have been lifting since I was about 13 years old. I have been seriously lifting since I was about 17. I have never really hurt myself before while lifting, just some minor strains and pulls that required nothing more than taking a couple of weeks off of lifting, and stretching out more. The longest time I have gone without lifting before this injury was about 2 months.
Last MAY, I noticed that when I did pullups or pull downs, I had a sharp stabbing pain in my back. I worked around it for a few weeks, but It did not get better. I went to my doctor, and he said it was probably a pulled muscle, and to get some physical therapy. After a couple of months of no improvement, I got an MRI scan of my shoulder, and it turned out I had a torn labrum this whole time. I was told to stop lifting immediately, that was in July, 2009.
At this point, I was the strongest and most in shape I had ever been in my entire life. I was about 215lbs, benching 410ish, deadlifting 515 and climbing steadily, and squatting close to 500. I was very close to reaching several life-time lifting goals I had set for myself, and was planning on working on finally getting down to 10% bodyfat. I also had a lot of things going for me outside of the lifting life, unfortunately, my torn labrum, and surgery that followed sidelined all of that and more.
I made the mistake while recovering from surgery of falling into depression, and pretty much doing nothing but drinking whisky, eating pain killers, playing video games, and eating like crap. I did however, do physical therapy exercises at LEAST 2 hours a day, every day, which helped my shoulder immensely. Because of this bender, I have gained a good amount of fat, lost a lot of strength, and generally got myself into a rut.
Well, time to kick all those bad habits! I am working again, and recently my doctor cleared me to lift again (yay!) although only with about 40% (max) of the weight I was using, and I still cannot do many of the lifts I would normally do. For example, no lifts where my elbows drop below/behind my body, nothing straight up over the head, no nosebreakers, no upright rows, no raises straight out to the side, etc etc, you get the idea.
My whole lifting life, I have been a pseudo power lifter. I love deadlfits, squats, and bench, and i tend to focus and build around those, and my primary goal when lifting is for STRENGTH! I wouldn't say I am a pure power lifter, because I often go on cuts to try to keep my fat/weight down as well.
Since I can only do very light weight, I have decided to do volume training (10 sets of 10) which i have never done before. I also want to lose weight (I gained essentially 15 - 20 lbs of FAT on my whisky and perccocet bender) which disgusts me, so I figure volume training will be conducive to that.
Here is my workout plan:
-- focus on nutrition (will post more on that later)
--Monday: Chest and Triceps + abs + cardio
--Tuesday: Lower/mid back + cardio
--Wednesday: Physical Therapy + food shopping
--Thursday: Upper back + shoulders + abs + cardio
--Friday: Les + Biceps + cardio
--Saturday: Long run
Immediately after I finish my workouts (before the cardio) I drink a protein shake with 25g of Waxy Maise (a quick digesting carb) in it. I then stretch for 20-30 minutes before I do cardio. This gives time for the protein to feed my muscles. My cardio varries from biking, running, walking, and HIIT. Depending on what I do, it lasts from 20 - 45 minutes.
My goal is plain and simple: Get back to where I was before I got hurt. ~215lbs, 15% bodyfat, bench 410, squat 490ish, dead lift 515ish. I don't care how long it takes, but I will get there. I know I will need to pace myself, as I am still not fully recovered yet. My doctor told me the hardest part will be pacing myself.
I will probably only update this once or twice a week. I have a day job as an environmental chemist, then pretty much immediately after that, I go to the gym, which gives me just enough time to workout, make dinner, and shower before I get to my night job as a concert photographer (check out my website, [url]www.coppatopphotos.com[/url] ) If anyone has any suggestions for my training, extra lifts I can do, or advice from others who have torn labrums, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!