PtReyesGreg's Workout Journal

[PtReyesGreg]

Just got caught up in here after being unplugged for a week out camping. Nice work Greg, good luck at the meet. Your strength is there--Go in well fed and well rested and you will crush it

Thanks Andrew. Unfortunately now I'm nursing a rib cage muscle injury so the meet is uncertain (more details to follow shortly).

[PtReyesGreg]

This morning I completed Week 4 Workout A (Deload) of 531 For Full Body 1000% Awesome (Cycle 12) as follows:

Deadlifts 5-135, 5-165, 5-205

Squats 5-107.5, 5-135, 5-160

Multi-Grip Bar Bench Press 5-105, 5-130, 5-155

Bodyweight: 207.8 Pounds (Down 0.6 Pounds from Friday)

Workout Duration: 50 minutes (with variable rest between Sets)

Easy workout using light weights with tough to swallow results today mixed with some good and bad. The good part was since it was a light deload workout I worked out with my son. We alternated sets so that was a LOT of fun.

The bad was that my left lower ribs (where they meet up with the stomach) is extremely sore from the softball injury I got at my company picnic on Friday afternoon. I have been putting a lot of Artic Sports Balm and Icy Hot on it in the hopes that it would go away quickly but so far no luck. It is especially painful when I sneeze or cough but it also hurts when I lean on it in my chair and when I lay down on the floor to do some stretching. It also hurts when I sleep on it or use the toilet...basically it hurts when I do any sort of movement that affects my side/stomach. I went in to today's workout wanting to keep things very light and just see how my body responded to the various lifts. Deads were by far the worst. From the lightest set of deads on it hurt. Once I got up to the last set of 205 though it was really painful. At the meet I had been planning on starting with around 360 on the deads and I'm thinking that would involve some serious pain.

The squats felt OK. I felt a couple of twinges on the final set of 160 which is also much lighter than my planned starting set of around 265. Bench felt fine with no pain at all so I think I'd be OK there.

Now I'm in a pickle with the meet coming up on Saturday. My wife says I should call it to keep from hurting myself worse and register for a different meet in Santa Cruz in December. I looked up the injury symptoms online and it sounds like I have an oblique or rib muscle injury. It sounds like the pain usually lasts for at least 2 weeks (up to a few months) and the common advice is to take it easy for several weeks to prevent making it worse.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/43...t-in-softball/

I don't know. At this point I have been working towards the meet for a while so I don't want to back out. Also, I doubt I'll receive any kind of a refund. I think I'm the only guy in my age/weight group so I might win my category no matter what I lift, so I could go there and just take lighter deads and squats than planned just to total. Something seems wrong to me about doing that though. Oh well, I've got some thinking to do. I'll do another light workout on Tuesday to see if the deads feel any better then.

[RT1957]

I would say take it day to day and don't irritate it just rest.....sometime medical websites can scare us since we really can't ask questions and talk with someone.....Rest....ice......food....repeat

[MooseTequila]

Ask yourself this Greg...

How would I feel going into my first PL and not being able to give it my all? How would I feel if I went into my first PL meet and made my injury worse, and maybe add an injury in a domino effect?

[PtReyesGreg]

I would say take it day to day and don't irritate it just rest.....sometime medical websites can scare us since we really can't ask questions and talk with someone.....Rest....ice......food....repeat

Thanks Ron. I think that's good advice. I'll try to ice it and see if that helps.

Ask yourself this Greg...

How would I feel going into my first PL and not being able to give it my all? How would I feel if I went into my first PL meet and made my injury worse, and maybe add an injury in a domino effect?

Thanks Moose. I think that's good advice too. I definitely want to be able to give it my all. I also don't want to hurt myself worse to where it knocks me off my game for a longer period of time. That defeats the whole purpose of my lifting which is to get myself in better shape. I think I'll definitely have to see how I'm doing on Tuesday/Wednesday and if it hasn't gotten better by then I'll probably have to back out of it. I'll contact the meet organizer and see if there's anyway to get any sort of refund. If not then I can play it by ear up to the day of the meet without really losing anything.

[Jtbny]

Here's my take- If its going to limit the weight you can lift and risk further injury I would back out. No sense in making it worse, IMO. If its just painful from bruising and you can tolerate it I'd suck it up and give it your all. Many time lifters go into meets banged up. My second meet I fought 2 in juries right up until meet day and re-aggregated one of them on my second squat attempt. Now take this with a grain of salt. I'm from the rub some dirt on it crowd and I understand there are some that are not.

See how you feel on Tuesday/Wednesday before making a decision, IMO.

[PtReyesGreg]

Here's my take- If its going to limit the weight you can lift and risk further injury I would back out. No sense in making it worse, IMO. If its just painful from bruising and you can tolerate it I'd suck it up and give it your all. Many time lifters go into meets banged up. My second meet I fought 2 in juries right up until meet day and re-aggregated one of them on my second squat attempt. Now take this with a grain of salt. I'm from the rub some dirt on it crowd and I understand there are some that are not.

See how you feel on Tuesday/Wednesday before making a decision, IMO.

Thanks for the advice John. It's spot on as usual. That is my thinking too. I'll see how I feel later in the week and decide for sure then. If it's like today and there is no way I can give it 100% I'll back out. Otherwise I'll go for it. I'm the rub some dirt on it kind of guy too. At the same time I want to be able to give it my best and defintely don't want to make the ribs worse.

Btw, I keep trying to rep you for the good advice you've given me but I'm still on spread.

Also, I contacted the meet organizers and found out they also are promoting the meet on December 4 in Santa Cruz. They told me there are no refunds but if I can't go on Saturday they can roll my registration fee towards the meet in December so I won't wind up losing anything. That makes the decision a little easier. I still want to compete on Saturday if possible but if I'm still in pain on Wednesday I'll pack it in and heal up for December.

[Hammerhagen]

Bummer about the ribs Greg. Hope you can still make the meet but if not the Santa Cruz meet sounds like a good option. Hell--maybe I'll hit that one with you.

Crazy how we can get so strong with lifting and then performing a sports movement we are not used to can screw things up. I played one round of golf during my camping trip and it hurt my wrist. My right wrist is still painful and strained below the thumb.

[PtReyesGreg]

Bummer about the ribs Greg. Hope you can still make the meet but if not the Santa Cruz meet sounds like a good option. Hell--maybe I'll hit that one with you.

Crazy how we can get so strong with lifting and then performing a sports movement we are not used to can screw things up. I played one round of golf during my camping trip and it hurt my wrist. My right wrist is still painful and strained below the thumb.

Thanks Andrew. Yeah I'm definitely bummed. I've been working so hard to get ready for it and then something stupid happens. The funny thing about the softball deal was I was not even planning on playing. I was just standing there to watch and they asked me to fill in for someone else. My initial instinct was to say no but they needed someone so I stepped in. Like you said I guess it's doing some movement out of our normal range of motion that can cause trouble. I hope your wrist heals up btw and doesn't mess up your lifting too much. It's hell getting older ain't it?

The Santa Cruz meet definitely sounds like a great backup plan and I'll probably do it regardless of whether or not I can compete this Saturday. It's on December 4th so if you're free then you should definitely think about doing it.

[Jtbny]

Thanks for the advice John. It's spot on as usual. That is my thinking too. I'll see how I feel later in the week and decide for sure then. If it's like today and there is no way I can give it 100% I'll back out. Otherwise I'll go for it. I'm the rub some dirt on it kind of guy too. At the same time I want to be able to give it my best and defintely don't want to make the ribs worse.

Btw, I keep trying to rep you for the good advice you've given me but I'm still on spread.

Also, I contacted the meet organizers and found out they also are promoting the meet on December 4 in Santa Cruz. They told me there are no refunds but if I can't go on Saturday they can roll my registration fee towards the meet in December so I won't wind up losing anything. That makes the decision a little easier. I still want to compete on Saturday if possible but if I'm still in pain on Wednesday I'll pack it in and heal up for December.

That defiantly makes it easier. You'll know in a few days. On a good note Dec gives you time to add some freedom units to the bar if that's the route you go.

[shaneinga]

Sorry to hear this Greg. Maybe it will clear up for you by the time the meet rolls around.

If you decide to not lift, maybe still go to the meet and at least check it out. Walk around, watch the lifts, talk to people and get some experience that way.

Hopefully you are good to go by Saturday though.

Sending healing vibes your way.

[mirroroferised]

Sorry to read this Greg. Hopefully you'll be okay no matter what. If they can roll it over to December that seems to make the most sense. You don't want further aggravations.

[PtReyesGreg]

That defiantly makes it easier. You'll know in a few days. On a good note Dec gives you time to add some freedom units to the bar if that's the route you go.

That's how I'm going to play it. I'll see where I'm at in a few days and then make the call then. That is definitely a good note about Dec...a few more cycles would surely do me some good and allow me to add more weight to all of my lifts. So either way winds up turning a positive into a negative.

Sorry to hear this Greg. Maybe it will clear up for you by the time the meet rolls around.

If you decide to not lift, maybe still go to the meet and at least check it out. Walk around, watch the lifts, talk to people and get some experience that way.

Hopefully you are good to go by Saturday though.

Sending healing vibes your way.

Thanks Shane. Yeah I'm hoping it feels better when I lift on Tuesday. I'm going to apply some ice and icy hot in the meantime to see if that'll help.

If I can't lift I'll still try to swing by to watch some of it. It's a 2 hour drive over but I think it'd still be worth it to do some recon to see how the meet works.

Sorry to read this Greg. Hopefully you'll be okay no matter what. If they can roll it over to December that seems to make the most sense. You don't want further aggravations.

Thanks Dave. Yeah it was definitely an unforseen bump in the road. I was kicking myself the past couple of days for doing something stupid but it was just one of those things...can't live in a bubble I guess. Realistically I'm thinking the meet in December is a great piece of luck. Them offering to roll over my registration is extremely helpful and really is a nice gesture on their part. If things don't feel right on Tuesday that's most likely the route I'll go. Then like John was saying I can have more time to get stronger and add some pounds on the bar too.

[raynerd]

Chit Greg that sucks about the rib! But...sweet there is a backup option in December. Play it by ear and see how the week unfolds, maybe you will feel ok, never know. Either way you lose nothing, and gain more time to put weight on the bar! Rest up bud!

[PtReyesGreg]

Chit Greg that sucks about the rib! But...sweet there is a backup option in December. Play it by ear and see how the week unfolds, maybe you will feel ok, never know. Either way you lose nothing, and gain more time to put weight on the bar! Rest up bud!

Thanks Shawn. Yeah it's a real pisser how that wound up happening...basically I was stupid and trying to swing for the fences without warming up first. I'm definitely going to play it by ear and hope things turn around this week. I've got an ice pack on right now.

The good thing like you say is that I've got a good backup option. I'll probably do the meet in December regardless. The extra few months should allow me to make a lot more solid progress, so there is an upside to the whole thing.

[TM79]

Sorry to hear about your rib Greg. It sounds like you have some good options though. That's nice of them to roll over your entry fee like that. Hopefully it feels better soon.

[PtReyesGreg]

Sorry to hear about your rib Greg. It sounds like you have some good options though. That's nice of them to roll over your entry fee like that. Hopefully it feels better soon.

Thanks TM. It is feeling a little bit better today. It still hurts when I bend over, or laugh or cough, but it is improving. I'll do another light workout tomorrow to gauge where I'm at. I was able to run some sprints this morning. It hurt for the first few but then things started to loosen up a bit so I'm taking that as a positive.

It was definitely nice of them to offer to roll over the entry fee. I'm still a little hopeful that I can go this Saturday but if not it is great to have a fallback plan.

[SteveWright1]

life is ironic Greg

you spend weeks/ months/years, in a gym lifting heavy weights and then a company picnic and softball game results in a serious injury
whilst I can relate to what must have been initial dissapointment about the powerlifting meet , I agree that declining it due to the injury is a smart move

take your time to heal/ recover/ rehab the injury
the heavy stuff can wait until everything is back to full health.

[DocJekyll]

Sorry to hear about the rib Greg. Injuries are nothing but a giant pain in the a$$. I feel for you - having been geared up to hit this meet.

Rest up - 1 day at a time.

[BluesPreacher]

Sorry about the rib, man! Please heal up.

[PtReyesGreg]

life is ironic Greg

you spend weeks/ months/years, in a gym lifting heavy weights and then a company picnic and softball game results in a serious injury
whilst I can relate to what must have been initial dissapointment about the powerlifting meet , I agree that declining it due to the injury is a smart move

take your time to heal/ recover/ rehab the injury
the heavy stuff can wait until everything is back to full health.

Thanks Steve. Life is definitely ironic, and I'm thinking I could use a little less irony. The softball deal combined with twisting my ankle during my half-marathon a few months ago has me really cursing life's irony.

The good news is that each day my ribs/oblique are feeling much better. I was able to get a good deload workout in this morning (details to follow soon) and I'm seriously considering competing on Saturday. There was still pain but it was manageable. I don't know if I'll be able to hit my original goals but I should be able to hit 90% or so which I'm willing to live with for me first meet. The main thing is I don't want to push things too hard to make the injury worse, but if I go in there with a solid plan, hit those numbers, and stop, I think I should be OK.

Sorry to hear about the rib Greg. Injuries are nothing but a giant pain in the a$$. I feel for you - having been geared up to hit this meet.

Rest up - 1 day at a time.

Thanks Doc. Yeah I've been taking it slow and using lots of ice and Icy Hot and things are starting to feel better. It really only hurts when I laugh and cough/sneeze. As I was telling Steve I think I'll be OK for the meet as long as I don't push it too much.

Sorry about the rib, man! Please heal up.

Thanks BP. It's already improving so things are looking up.

*******************

This morning I completed Week 4 Workout B (Deload) of 531 For Full Body 1000% Awesome (Cycle 12) as follows:

Hypers 20-0

Deadlifts 3-155, 2-205, 1-245, 1-295

Bench Press 5-155, 5-185, 5-225
* I did a short 1-2 second pause on each of the reps in sets above

Squats 3-155, 3-185, 3-225

Multi-Grip Bar OHP 5-65, 5-85, 5-105

Bodyweight: 204.4 Pounds (Down 3.4 Pounds from Sunday)

Workout Duration: 44 minutes (with variable rest between Sets)

I'm thinking now I've got a mild oblique strain. It feels like it's up under the ribs where the stomach meets the ribs. The good news about that is I don't think lifting will make it any worse unless I really push the deads. I don't plan on swinging any more bats anytime soon so I should be good. I was able to do some yoga to stretch things out this morning. As long as I don't laugh, cough/sneeze, or fart I feel OK.

I wanted to do an easy deload this morning to loosen up and gauge where I'm at with regards to Saturday. I started with deads and followed the same progression I'll use to warm up for the meet and actually went one set higher than I intended just to see how it would go. I felt some pain at 295 but it was definitely manageable and much better than Sunday. The part of the lift that hurt the worst was holding it post-lockout and then setting it down. I'm thinking now for the meet I'll just go with 341.72, 374.79, and 396.83 (I have to do the lifts in kilos and that's why the lbs are oddball numbers). At any point after my first lift (on each of the lifts) if the pain increases I'll just shut it down. The main thing is I just want to hit my opener on each lift so I total.

With Squats I also felt a little pain in the hole but nothing too bad. There I plan to go with 264.55, 286.60, and 308.65.

Bench felt fine. I paused every rep to get in the groove for that. For the meet I plan to go with 275.58, 292.11, and 303.14

[shaneinga]

That is great news!

Don't go swinging for anymore fences between here and Saturday and it sounds like you are good to go for your PL meet.

[PtReyesGreg]

That is great news!

Don't go swinging for anymore fences between here and Saturday and it sounds like you are good to go for your PL meet.

Thanks Shane. Yeah I was very happy when I was able to move better this morning. I felt some little niggles with the deads but they are definitely doable so that is a big time win.

[PtReyesGreg]

Follow up. I checked with the meet organizers and they had already removed from the roster because of the injury. Luckily they had one slot left and were able to add me back in. Damn glad I went ahead and double-checked.

[raynerd]

Deadly! Get some vids Greg, I am excited as Faak for you!!

[PtReyesGreg]

Deadly! Get some vids Greg, I am excited as Faak for you!!

Definitely. I'll have my wife there taking videos of my lift attempts.

I'm excited too. Honestly man the nerves are starting to hit me a little bit now. That's OK though...I'm just going to follow John's advice and set my first attempts low enough to be no doubters so I get a total and then just go as high as the body will allow after that.

[raynerd]

Definitely. I'll have my wife there taking videos of my lift attempts.

I'm excited too. Honestly man the nerves are starting to hit me a little bit now. That's OK though...I'm just going to follow John's advice and set my first attempts low enough to be no doubters so I get a total and then just go as high as the body will allow after that.

Yup those first lighter lifts will get things rolling for you and take some of the nerves out of the equation. You will do great, just think of it as a you against you meet and have some damn fun

[PtReyesGreg]

Thanks Shawn. That is good advice. I will focus on knocking out my openers and definitely try to relax and have some fun... although the relaxing part may be tough.

[DocJekyll]

Excellent news and turn around Greg. Hope it heals up for you quickly.

Mental Note: No more softball when in the PL meet countdown.......

Good luck. Its almost here.

[TM79]

Glad you're going to be in it after all! Happy for you!