Pregnant No More!

[MSKFAHIM]

This is where I intend to log my fat loss progress. I should have started this earlier. Anyway, here's what I look like now:

I am slightly over 5'8 and started the training to lose my belly from the 29th of April. My goal for this first 12 weeks of the training plan is:

- Get rid of the pregnant-looking belly and love handles and hopefully a leaner face
- Drop body weight to 78-80 kg
- Build up work capacity (lifting)
- Learn to eat good things and in measured ways

Here's the progress so far:

29th April: 87.8 kg - didn't measure belly
6th May : didn't measure weight - 105 cm belly
12th May: 85.5 kg - 103 cm belly
19th May: 84.9 kg - 101.5 cm belly

Currently, I am trying to see if I can sustain a loss of 0.5 kg / 1.1 lbs every week. My next weigh-in is on the 26th.

[adigiro1]

good luck! hope you're tracking your calories and macros

[MSKFAHIM]

good luck! hope you're tracking your calories and macros

Thanks Adigiro!

I am kinda sorta tracking my calories and macros.

This is what I'm following:





I left dinner out of that log because that's the meal that keeps on changing. For dinner I usually eat things like Pesto Chicken Penne, Caribbean Jerk chicken Stew with Ciabatta, Lemon and Garlic Chicken with lentils and garlic bread, Spaghetti Meatballs, Rice with Minced Beef and Potatoes, Egg Fried rice with White Fish etc.

As I've logged before, my weekly weight loss is dropping to that 1 lbs mark. As such, I want to at least wait until the next weigh in (26th) and see just how much I've lost in this 4th week.

[MSKFAHIM]

I think I should record what it is that I'm doing on here. So here it goes:

I gave myself a deadline of December 2019 to get back in shape. Which means that I have 8 months (including the last 4 weeks) to work with to achieve the previously stated objectives (and maybe more).I wanted to get the ball rolling by starting a 3 month initiation phase.

Plan for first 3 months:

This is where I planned on gradually altering my lifestyle and adopting different habits for both eating and physical activity. For eating, I am trying to be at a deficit to induce fat loss. I now eat green stuff daily and care more about a well balanced diet than I ever did before. Hopefully, as more time goes by, I will have picked up the knowledge and skills to have a diet that's optimum for my goals. For physical activity, I am trying to get back to lifting.

For the weight lifting plan, I am doing a modified version of StrongLifts 5x5. The idea is that I will gradually get lighter but stronger. The only thing I modified in the program is using High Bar squats instead of Low bar. Hopefully, the intensity of this program will help me retain more muscle mass than I'd have retained by dieting alone. I'm presently in the 4th week of my training and this is how things are going:

The difficulty for me is in dealing with something like this while on a calorie deficit. I'll just have to stick to this plan for 8 more weeks. Obviously I'm anticipating some deloads within that time-frame. IF I can sustain a weight-loss of 0.5 kg per week for the next 8 weeks, I'll have acheived the bodyweight target. The trouble is that I have no idea if I'd need to go even further down to tackle the PregnantBelly/ Love handles/ BloatyFace. Regardless, I'll think about what I should do AFTER I complete this initial 3 months of training.

As for cardio, all I do is go to the leisure pool every Sunday and just exhaust myself in the water for an hour or two. I DO NOT do this for "cardio". No matter how exhausted I may get, my brain processes the time in the pool as entertainment.

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly progress report:

Last Sunday: 84.9 kg - 101.5 cm belly
Today: 85 kg - 99.5 cm belly

StrongLifts 5x5:

Squat: 67.5 kg
OH Press: 32.5 kg
Deadlift: 65 kg
Bench: 32.5 Kg
Row: 40 kg

Thoughts:

I don't know how but I managed to GAIN 0.1 kg / 0.22 lbs in the last 7 days instead of losing weight! I lost 0.6 kg / 1.3 lbs last week. My diet has been more or less the same as it was last week. I suspect that I am hovering around my maintenance calorie level right now. Although that wouldn't expect the fatigue throughout the week. So what happened? One thing that might have contributed to this is yesterday's eating. I didn't follow the regular meal plan. I ate spaghetti meatballs for all meals. That's a lot of carbs.

As for the lifting, the weights feel very heavy. Mostly the Squats and the OH Presses.The rest still seems manageable considering the need to add weight to the bar every time I am at the gym.

[GingeyBreadDev]

I'm sure you know this but if you're hovering around maintenance then you will not lose weight, couple that with eating a few meals high in calories that pushes you over your maintenance and you'll gain weight.
Remember to track everything and hit minimum fat and protein requirements.

Your waist measurement has decreased and your weight has gone up, most likely a weight fluctuation. Also, don't be discouraged if the scale doesn't move every single day, the average weight over time is what matters.

Keep going and don't give up, you're doing well, it doesn't matter how fast or slowly you get to your goal, just that you get there!

[LadyBekah]

As for the lifting, the weights feel very heavy. Mostly the Squats and the OH Presses.The rest still seems manageable considering the need to add weight to the bar every time I am at the gym.

Do you think part of the problem could be that you are lifting weights BEFORE you eat? In previous times that you did Strong Lifts, did you eat before your work outs?

[MSKFAHIM]

I'm sure you know this but if you're hovering around maintenance then you will not lose weight, couple that with eating a few meals high in calories that pushes you over your maintenance and you'll gain weight.
Remember to track everything and hit minimum fat and protein requirements.

Your waist measurement has decreased and your weight has gone up, most likely a weight fluctuation. Also, don't be discouraged if the scale doesn't move every single day, the average weight over time is what matters.

Keep going and don't give up, you're doing well, it doesn't matter how fast or slowly you get to your goal, just that you get there!

Thanks for the encouragement.

I cannot afford to give up. I no longer wish to fail myself that miserably.

I have previously wrote about strange issues on this forum involving my constant lethargy, lack of hunger despite being on a deficit and diarrhoea. Below is an update to my log which probably will explain at least part of it:

UPDATE

So after a poopy and blood test, my doctor says that my folic acid levels are critically low! I will book an appointment to discuss this in details soon. I believe that my diet is very good but the digestion problems I've always been complaining about and being tested for without ANY resolution is what's to blame for it. I looked up Folate deficiency and many of the symptoms accurately describe my present condition.

The hope is that I the supplementation of 400 mg folic acid every day for the next 90 days will help improve a lot of things, including my training.

[MSKFAHIM]

Do you think part of the problem could be that you are lifting weights BEFORE you eat?

Yes. However, I don't have enough calories to move around for this.

In previous times that you did Strong Lifts, did you eat before your work outs?

Yes. For the morning workouts, I used to have the following 2 hours before gym:

- Oats
- Whole Milk
- Banana
- Almonds
- Coffee (after the above)

[MSKFAHIM]

Woke up this morning and felt incredibly weak. As a result, tried to sleep a bit more. However, that didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Today was Squat-Press-Deadlift day.

The squats let me know just how weak I was. I could feel random parts of my lower body tiring out/twitching/feeling tight/etc. I never felt this way before. The anterior side of my right hamstring muscle felt like it's almost about to pull.

I am not sure how much is this from any of the following:

- lifting heavy on a deficit
- lifting on an empty stomach (possible hydration issues too)
- inappropriate warmup
- recently diagnosed folate deficiency

Also, experimented with fractional plates today. Instead of adding 1.25 kg plates to the bar (Overhead Press), I added the 0.5 kg plates that I found in the gym. Considering how tough today's workout was, I think it totally saved my ass. Got to finish all 5x5.

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly Progress:

Today was my weigh in day. As usual, I measured my belly size and bodyweight. Below are the results:

I am sceptical about the belly measurement. The thing is, I have the worst intestines on this planet and as such continually have digestion related problems (bloating, too much gas, liquid poop, undigested food in my poop, etc). As a result, sometimes my gut is just internally inflamed and protrudes more than it should. So despite the weight loss, it seems to be bigger than last week. Also, I am not lying down and trying to disengage the abdominal muscles completely for this measurement. I just stand up straight and measure the girth of my belly over the bellybutton.

As for the weight loss, I am not sure if I actually lost all of that this week. It is possible that last week's 100 grams gain was faked by water retention due to my carb consumption on the days prior to the measurement day. So it's possible that I actually didn't loose all of the 0.7 kg / 1.54 lbs this week. Regardless, it does feel good to see that I am headed in the right direction.

As for my workouts, they obviously feel harder now that I lift more than a month ago. However, for some reason, today's workout felt better than Friday's. Even though I lifted more.

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly Progress:

Today was my weigh in day. As usual, I measured my belly size and bodyweight. Below are the results:



As you can see, my weight went up by 0.1 kg / 0.22 lbs. I suspect that this is due to the water retention from yesterday's carb-heavy dinner. Something similar to this happened the week before last week. I am guessing it's the exact same thing. Anyway, the belly size seems to have gone down from 100.5 cm to 99 cm. That's progress!

Doing the StrongLifts workout these days is VERY challenging like I said before. I guess all I can do now is to try to keep my form good and keep pushing it until I miss a rep/set and then deload as per the program suggests. Also, I'm having to take the full 3 mins rest.

As for my swimming: Firstly, I can officially swim now! It's bad but I can do it. I have also made progress there in terms of how long I can keep swimming. My technique is improving gradually (learning by doing it myself). I know it can be counted as cardio but the honest truth is that I do it for fun. Regardless, I am glad I am finally picking up this skill too.

[MSKFAHIM]

Two Updates:

Firstly, something happened to my left hamstring. I don't know yet what it is. I lifted and swam the day before yesterday and everything was fine. Yesterday, in the middle of the day, I felt a slight pull. Since then, this intermittent sharp wave of pain in the tendons of my left hamstring keeps coming and going. I opened a thread on it (not that anyone cares :P).

I tried to stick to my lifting routine. Therefore, when the pain seemed to have taken a break this morning after some extra rest and relaxing, I went to the gym and lifted with as much care and mindfulness as I could. Managed to achieve a milestone with the squats! Yay! Here's a video of it:

That was the last set of my 85 kg 5x5 squats. Which is heavier than my current bodyweight of 84.4 kg (potentially less). Surprisingly, my hamstrings felt just fine throughout the workout (squats, bench & pendlay rows). I don't know if it's something which works on a delayed fuse and will start hurting later.


Luckily, I have the next two days off from lifting. I'll try to eat well and recover as much as possible.

[LadyBekah]

Great job and AMAZING form! Your squats are WAY past parallel to the floor! Be proud.

And go a doctor if the pain persists.

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly Update:

Today was my weigh in day. As usual, I measured my belly size and bodyweight. Below are the results:

Luckily it seems and as per my prediction from last week, I did lose a good amount of weight. I lost 0.6 kg / 1.32 lbs and lost 1 cm from my Pregnant belly. Considering my weight loss is over a pound, I still see no point in fiddling with my diet that is clearly working.

Do I even need to say that the squats felt incredibly heavier? I am trying to work on my squat form though! Hopefully, I'll reach the next milestone (2 plates) with good form. Although the squats are so heavy that I am questioning if that will ever happen linearly. There might be one deload waiting for me.

I am not sure how long I will keep losing weight for. The original goal was to reach around 80 kgs. I just might need to lose a few more Kgs. As for the swimming, it's going fine. I don't really have anything tangible to achieve there. Maybe working on not drinking chlorinated water every Sunday due to terrible swim-breathing skills is something I could do :P

[MSKFAHIM]

I don't know what to do with this log. It won't let me post anymore. I can only write small amounts of texts. Otherwise the site crashes and it takes me to this 404 error page.

[MSKFAHIM]

Trying this hack on my own to bypass the crash:

The following are updates from Sunday the 23rd of June:
---------------------




I lost 0.3 kg / 0. 66 lbs and lost 2 inches belly-size. The last rep of my 4th squat set was freaky! I kinda got stuck and the bar wasn't moving up. Kept pushing and went through it anyway. Might post a form check video soon as I hit my next strength milestone.

I am not sure if I should adjust my calories now or see another week and adjust it. I don't know!

This post was meant for Sunday the 23rd of June but this forum keeps on crashing so I can’t seem to post in time.

--------------------

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly Update:

I made further weekly weight loss progress and my belly size is gradually getting smaller.

I also managed to reach my next Squat milestone of 2 plates for 5x5 (100 kg at 83.5 kg bodyweight):

I did make a bit more strength and weight loss progress since then (squatted 105 kg for 5x5 at 82.9 kg bodyweight).

I won't make any major modification to my diet since it seems like I am losing healthy amount of weight per week as it is. If I stall, I will see what to do to keep the weight loss going. But until that happens, I will just keep eating the same way I do now. The only difference is that I am dropping that yogurt from my lunch on non-lifting days.

Notes to myself:

1. Learn how to hook grip! That bar keeps rolling right out of my grip during deadlifts (100 kg for 5 reps).
2. Fix breathing and bracing techniques for the squats.
3. Investigate good Powerbuilding programs for post-StrongLifts training.

[MSKFAHIM]

I think I messed up my back somehow:

So I tried out the hook grip and here's the video:

I think I haven't performed the lift correctly. I was way too fixated at how my thumbs felt. That's more so because of how I injured the right thumb RIGHT BEFORE the lift by pinching it between plates. Maybe the focus on the thumbs distracted me from doing a proper deadlift.

More importantly, the two days after the deadlift, my back felt VERY tight. My lower back felt like it was compressed. I didn't know what to make of it as I wasn't in pain. It was just a feeling like hundreds of kilos were pressing down on my spine and compressing my lower back and making it very stiff. After these two days, on the third day, I went ahead and resumed training as planned.

I felt like my form was totally fine but my lower back was feeling very weak. As a result, I decided to film it to check if I was delusional. This is what my form was like:

After the second set, I could tell that my lower back felt like it was taking a good beating. So I decided to go for the 3rd set and stop when I think it just felt wrong and film the whole thing. I got 3 reps but started fearing what I was doing to my lower back. To my surprise and perhaps ill-informed judgement, my form looked totally fine. I just couldn't understand how squats like this would ever injure my lower back. This is where it got super tight:

Anyway, I didn't complete the 5x5 for back safety. I then did 5x5 for my bench with more weight than before and it kinda made my back feel good. Something about that arching was making my back feel better. However, my back got really sore overall.

As the day went by, my back just got tighter and tighter until I couldn't bend over or make certain movements at all. I was anticipating sharp pain/tingling sensations/etc in that lower back region but so far not much has happened. It starts hurting a bit, like a dull pain, when I sit down. It feels better if I stand up and walk around for some weird reason. Lying down generally feels much better than sitting. To heal it, I've done:

- applying ice packs for 20 mins randomly
- taken painkillers and muscle relaxants (yesterday)

I woke up this morning with less discomfort than yesterday. However, it still feels very tight and I can't bend over much. I tested getting into the conventional deadlift stance and somehow I am able to do that pain free. The problem is that tomorrow is my lifting day.

All I know right now is that I'll go in tomorrow and hang from a bar. I have previous experience of that somehow making my lower back feel decompressed after squats.

I want to heal. I want to master these exercises and I want to get stronger. I just don't know what to do right now.

[Millz12323]

I've injured my back many times when I was younger. Pretty badly a few times and it kept my from training for years. I've been injury free for the last 1.5 years and most of the last 3. I think if you're not having pain then your injury can't be that bad but it should be a warning sign that you need to take seriously or risk getting side lined for an extended period of time.

Sometimes my back gets stiff for a few days to. The last time was when I tried to pull a reasonably heavy weight without straps. My grip didn't fail but I feel like I somehow compensated at my back due to inadequate grip.

I've watched that Deadlift video a few times in slow mo and the second rep your back was much more rounded than other reps and reps 3-5 were probably the best.

The dude in your thread said all reps your back was rounded... I can't really tell to be honest.. only you can tell if it's possible for your back to be any flatter. Maybe you don't have the mobility to pull with a flat back? I don't really know. If you continue to have discomfort when you pull, I would really give sumo a try. It will make your conventional stronger I promise and many people say it's a huge relief to their back. It takes a few weeks to get used to though.

In terms of current rehab, what I find helps me feel normal again is moving around and doing just air deadlifts with no bar or no weight and having good form. Alan thrall did a video on it where he hurt his back and talked about recovery. Don't mope around and lay down all day. This makes things worse for me.... Sitting for prolonged periods of time really aggravates it too.

It's weird that benching didn't aggravate the tightness which it does for me.

Sorry I don't have much to offer you..hope you feel better soon m8. Nothing more.deprrsdong to me than getting injured.

[MSKFAHIM]

I've injured my back many times when I was younger. Pretty badly a few times and it kept my from training for years. I've been injury free for the last 1.5 years and most of the last 3. I think if you're not having pain then your injury can't be that bad but it should be a warning sign that you need to take seriously or risk getting side lined for an extended period of time.

There in lies the problem. I have no pain! It's just tight to the point that I was unable to bend over.

Sometimes my back gets stiff for a few days to. The last time was when I tried to pull a reasonably heavy weight without straps. My grip didn't fail but I feel like I somehow compensated at my back due to inadequate grip.

I want to know WHY this is happening. I wonder if it is because I am at a deficit and training essentially after a 14 hours fast every session. Could it be that I am simply not recovering fast enough!? I don't know.

I've watched that Deadlift video a few times in slow mo and the second rep your back was much more rounded than other reps and reps 3-5 were probably the best.

I have this annoying fat pad (love handles) on that lower back region. I am trying to get rid of it with the rest of the weight loss goal mostly because I want to be able to film my deadlifts and not have to wonder if my back's rounding or not. I didn't feel like there was anything obviously that wrong throughout most of the lift. However, it is possible that like you said, I probably rounded my back at some point (second rep for example).

The dude in your thread said all reps your back was rounded... I can't really tell to be honest.. only you can tell if it's possible for your back to be any flatter. Maybe you don't have the mobility to pull with a flat back? I don't really know. If you continue to have discomfort when you pull, I would really give sumo a try. It will make your conventional stronger I promise and many people say it's a huge relief to their back. It takes a few weeks to get used to though.

I have previously pulled much higher weights at a lower bodyweight without ANY back problems. I never associated deadlifts with back problems. Squats has always been what gave me back issues and now I think I have the form improved a great deal on that and hence don't get back pain from it. The point is that I know that it's possible for me to do the conventional one with good form and never suffer injuries.

I truly want to fix this form issue and get back to training. If it turns out that for some reason I am incapable of having good form with the conventional, I'll switch to sumo indeed.

In terms of current rehab, what I find helps me feel normal again is moving around and doing just air deadlifts with no bar or no weight and having good form. Alan thrall did a video on it where he hurt his back and talked about recovery. Don't mope around and lay down all day. This makes things worse for me.... Sitting for prolonged periods of time really aggravates it too.

I saw that video too. I actually have tried to be a bit active today. You are right that sitting for a long time makes it worse. I have also been doing random imaginary deadlifts (air-deadlifts) just to check and see if my back hurts. Surprisingly, NO PAIN. Even though as I slowly get into the position, I feel tight and it FEELS like I am heading toward some pain but nothing actually happens.

It's weird that benching didn't aggravate the tightness which it does for me.

IKR!

I arched my back and it actually gave me a sense of relief back there! Although I was unable to sit up between sets without using my arms to kinda push/press myself into the sitting position.

Sorry I don't have much to offer you..hope you feel better soon m8. Nothing more.deprrsdong to me than getting injured.

Thanks for your input and kind words.

I plan on going to the gym tomorrow and trying to hang from a bar to try and see if spinal decompression feels good. Then I will do some air-deadlifts. Then I might try to do whatever exercise that won't make my lower back feel worse. After all that, I will get into that sweet leisure pool and see what that feels like.

[Millz12323]

IKR!

I arched my back and it actually gave me a sense of relief back there! Although I was unable to sit up between sets without using my arms to kinda push/press myself into the sitting position.

This benching descrepancy leads me to believe your back is hurting from over extending at the top (which you are doing) rather than rounding at the bottom.

Fix the neck and don't over extend at the top. The rest I think looks okay. You pull the slack out well and load up your hamstrings before you pull well. Your back angle is pretty consistent throughout most reps except maybe 2 where you didn't reset and it may have been sloppy.

Just a guess. If you're concerned the best thing to do is find a good physiotherapist. They can really identify what the problem is

[Millz12323]

This benching descrepancy leads me to believe your back is hurting from over extending at the top (which you are doing) rather than rounding at the bottom.

Fix the neck and don't over extend at the top. The rest I think looks okay. You pull the slack out well and load up your hamstrings before you pull well. Your back angle is pretty consistent throughout most reps except maybe 2 where you didn't reset and it may have been sloppy.

Just a guess. If you're concerned the best thing to do is find a good physiotherapist. They can really identify what the problem is

What I said doesn't really make sense, but you are over extending at the top and may be the reason for the pain

[MSKFAHIM]

Weekly Update:

Looks like I lost another 0.7 kg / 1.54 lbs this week. I also lost 1 centimetre from my belly. I can't wait to lose some 10-15 more cms from this embarrassment. The good thing here is that my belly measurement isn't really only the belly, it's my girth around the belly-button region. Which means that it also includes the back fat pad (love handles). I'm just glad that the measurement is going down.

All I did at the gym today was hang a few times from bars, a few random sets of pointless bicep curls and tried out getting into the bench press setup. Surprisingly, benching feels just fine. I realised that air-deadlifts work just fine. However, when I tried it with a real loaded bar, it felt a lot more difficult to get into the position. My lower back felt too tight to allow me to straighten my back and get ready in that pull position.

Swimming felt great. There's not much to say about it. All I am hoping for now is that my back will heal fast enough for me to get back to lifting ASAP.

[MSKFAHIM]

This benching descrepancy leads me to believe your back is hurting from over extending at the top (which you are doing) rather than rounding at the bottom.

Fix the neck and don't over extend at the top. The rest I think looks okay. You pull the slack out well and load up your hamstrings before you pull well. Your back angle is pretty consistent throughout most reps except maybe 2 where you didn't reset and it may have been sloppy.

Just a guess. If you're concerned the best thing to do is find a good physiotherapist. They can really identify what the problem is

What I said doesn't really make sense, but you are over extending at the top and may be the reason for the pain

I see it too. I really am doing that hyper extension in the lock-out part. From memory, I was actually trying to get a great bar speed. I have to be a lot more mindful of that and possibly film all sets including the warm ups to detect any future tendency to hyper-extend my back during lockouts.

I WISH I had a spotter. I wish someone who knows what it's supposed to look like stood by to watch and warn me at the first sign of me being stupid.

My plan for now is to just film all the sets as I work up to the work weight. Then I'll share on here and perhaps ask you guys to take a look. Once I get the green signal, I will start doing it for the required number of reps.

My back feels better today than the days before. So that's there!

[MSKFAHIM]

Injury Update:

As I've stated before, I am having issues with my lower back. So, yesterday, I visited this sports physiotherapist. She told me to not immediately go back to lifting heavy. She said that it might take about 2 weeks for things to return to normal. She also gave me some stretching drills to do for my lower back. In the session itself, she did some electro-shock or whatever on my lower back. Then she did a deep tissue massage. Then she did some cupping thing. Then she did another deep tissue massage. Told me that I might get a bit sore and even see some bruising on my lower back but not to be alarmed.

I did not go to the gym this morning. My hope right now is to adequately rest and recover the lower back region before I go and perform the heavy lifts again. I am thinking about coming up with a proper plan to get back to my work weights. I need a decent method of ramping things back up to normal without messing with my recovery.

[Millz12323]

Wish you a speedy recovery ! Always better safe than sorry.

[MSKFAHIM]

Wish you a speedy recovery ! Always better safe than sorry.

Thanks, man! I am feeling better today.

Recovery:

I visited my GP today. She made me do some twists/turns/bends and said I am probably just fine and need to rest that region. She thinks I just ended up pushing my body (or the injured region) beyond it's ability to recover from. Meanwhile, she gave me info on this university physiotherapy clinic and said I can book an appointment with them if I feel like it/want to double check things. So I booked an appointment for tomorrow.

Meanwhile...

I am doing the stretches and sticking to my diet. Tomorrow is another gym day. What do I do at the gym these days? Just mess around with things for the most part. For example, I benched the other day (3 sets of 5 reps with heavier weights). It felt just fine. I still don't understand how I am able to do the whole arching thing and have no back problems. I am thinking about trying out overhead pressing tomorrow. My reasoning is that the overall weight is much lighter than my usual squats. As such, it shouldn't mess with the lower back as much. But the truth is that I don't know.

I just don't want to get weak again. I might just try out some reps of 40 kg deadlifts tomorrow. The thing is, I don't know if putting the bar on my back at this stage is good or bad. I know I'll be able to rep it out. But! I don't know if I should.

[MSKFAHIM]

Update:

I didn't go to the gym this morning. I thought an hour more of sleep was going to help me more than working out. Then I had my University Physiotherapy session.

The therapist guy was really good. Did all kinds of tests on me including making me squat. Also gave me a nice soft tissue massage thing. I liked how the guy factored in my training program specifics, dietary issues,etc.

He gave me some rehabilitation exercises to strengthen my ass I guess. Asked me to do 3x8 of some band exercises, bridges and variations of hip thrusts to get my glutes to fire as they should. For my back, he asked me to perform 3x8 of that odd exercise where you lie down and raise your legs up backwards. It's that hyperextension thing. Although he told me to start easy by lying flat on my tummy and just trying to raise both my legs and chest up at once.

He said that it's a positive sign that my symptoms are going away and that I've been able to try out lighter deadlifts without any problems. He said I should gradually work my way back up to my work weights instead of not doing those movements anymore. He seems to think that the last almost 3 months of calorie deficit coupled with progressive overload could have just pushed my body beyond it's ability to recover from within my planned rest times.

He made me perform squats and other exercises to see what hurts but nothing was hurting. We weren't using real weights or anything. Just a glorified broomstick. He wanted to check what, if any, position makes my symptoms worse. We found no problems there. He told me to do front squats in case back squats don't feel comfortable yet once I try squatting with some weights.

The toughest part for me right now is to program my program. Or rather, alter the program. My stats when I intentionally stopped the program:

Bodyweight: 82.2 kg
Squat (5x5): 110 kg
Deadlift (1x5): 105 kg
Row (5x5): 60 kg
Bench(5x5): 55 kg (I actually did 3 sets of 5 reps with 57.5 kg after that and it felt hard but doable)
OH Press (5x5): 41 Kg

[MSKFAHIM]

Now! My next workout day is Sunday. On that day, the workout will be Squat-OH Press-Deadlift. The question I need answered is where to start in terms of load? Of course I'll actually start with the empty bar. But how should I test things should that prove comfortable? I am thinking about just adding a bit more weight (10-20 kg) every set to gauge what feels fine and what doesn't.

I am simultaneously excited to do this experiment and sad about my situation and scared about what might happen.