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Thread: New Geezer month #2 -- month of injury

  1. #1
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    Apr 2017
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    Default New Geezer month #2 -- month of injury

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    Hey folks,

    I don't know if it is bad luck or just me being too gung-ho, but after great strides in month #1, my second month has been a story of injuries and no progress. Literally a few days after my first post here, I fell apart. Over the last 30 days:

    Squat: +10 lbs
    Press: +10 lbs
    Bench = 0
    DL = 0
    PClean=0

    Injury #1. I had a nagging groin tightness & strain turned into a full-on groin pull. These injuries nagged me back in my football-playing days. I completely backed off squats, got a leg wrap, did I.C.E. at home, and hobbled around like an old man for a while. I am finally over this but I had to basically start all over with squats.

    Injury #2. Strained/pulled muscle in ribcage. Again, I've had injuries like this in the past too. This injury crept up on me like the groin one, but is much more severe. Had some soreness in my ribs one day, worked out, then poof -- woke up next morning to sharp pains in mid-back and ribs, pain when coughing/sneezing, and the like. While I have healed some over the weeks, and been able to resume squats and light to moderate bench presses over the last 7 days, I absolutely cannot deadlift or do power cleans. Like not at all. Even doing warmups with the bar hurts my back, so I am basically at square one again.

    On the plus-side, I am feeling strong (as weird as that is to say with aching ribs much of the time) and I've just crossed the 200 -lb mark. I have put on about 14 lbs in 2 months. I see the muscle mass accumulating in my shoulders/chest/arms and yeah, a little around my midsection too, but not too bad. When I was really down with the rib pains and was resting for a solid week, I actually dropped a couple of pounds.

    Basically I keep to my MWF schedule and just lift as much as I can without overly aggravating any injuries. Any thoughts about how to proceed, or where I screwed up, might be helpful. Ha. It sucks to get old huh?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Everett, WA
    Posts
    470

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Masher View Post
    Hey folks,

    I don't know if it is bad luck or just me being too gung-ho, but after great strides in month #1, my second month has been a story of injuries and no progress. Literally a few days after my first post here, I fell apart. Over the last 30 days:

    Squat: +10 lbs
    Press: +10 lbs
    Bench = 0
    DL = 0
    PClean=0

    Injury #1. I had a nagging groin tightness & strain turned into a full-on groin pull. These injuries nagged me back in my football-playing days. I completely backed off squats, got a leg wrap, did I.C.E. at home, and hobbled around like an old man for a while. I am finally over this but I had to basically start all over with squats.

    Injury #2. Strained/pulled muscle in ribcage. Again, I've had injuries like this in the past too. This injury crept up on me like the groin one, but is much more severe. Had some soreness in my ribs one day, worked out, then poof -- woke up next morning to sharp pains in mid-back and ribs, pain when coughing/sneezing, and the like. While I have healed some over the weeks, and been able to resume squats and light to moderate bench presses over the last 7 days, I absolutely cannot deadlift or do power cleans. Like not at all. Even doing warmups with the bar hurts my back, so I am basically at square one again.

    On the plus-side, I am feeling strong (as weird as that is to say with aching ribs much of the time) and I've just crossed the 200 -lb mark. I have put on about 14 lbs in 2 months. I see the muscle mass accumulating in my shoulders/chest/arms and yeah, a little around my midsection too, but not too bad. When I was really down with the rib pains and was resting for a solid week, I actually dropped a couple of pounds.

    Basically I keep to my MWF schedule and just lift as much as I can without overly aggravating any injuries. Any thoughts about how to proceed, or where I screwed up, might be helpful. Ha. It sucks to get old huh?

    You don't say how old you are. I'm 59 and I found I was going up the weights during LP to fast and brought the increases back a bit. I also made more progress once I went to twice a week:

    Wedneday: OH Press and Squats
    Saturdays: Squats, BP and Deadlifts

    I decided not to go with PC when looking at the risk/rewards and the fast I was working out by myself with no coach.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Talking

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveL View Post
    You don't say how old you are.

    I'm 47, so maybe a "young" geezer?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Ohio
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    I struggle with frequent minor injuries too (51). Screwed up my elbow squatting yesterday.

    The Barbell Prescription has a lot of useful advice for modifying SS for old folks. Like 2x/week instead of 3x as SteveL mentions.

    The main thing is to keep lifting, doing whatever exercises and loads you still can manage that don't make things worse. Injuries heal better that way.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Charlottesville VA
    Posts
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    I bet there are many of us in this same boat. I worked up to 270 and discovered my form was bad and I wasn't low enough. Got a coaching session to work on form and dropped down to 225. Worked back up to 270 and pulled groin. Did the Bill Starr protocol to rehab it and worked my way up to 255....couldn't get depth, dropped back down to 235.....and started working back up. This is a good 4 months of working..but I am still creating up. I feel better and I look better. Keep at it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    MA
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    Default

    Oh, good god yes. I've whined about it here.

  7. #7
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    Jun 2013
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    STL(ish)
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    +1 for The Barbell Prescription. You won't regret that purchase.

    As to your current issue, it's difficult to say without knowing what kind of jumps you were taking with your lifts. You gained weight, so you were eating... just make sure you're getting enough protein and sleep. Take conservative jumps.

  8. #8
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    Jul 2012
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    Ohio
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    I tell myself that by continuing to lift, I'm at least still accumulating *something*.

    Muscles grow faster than other tissues, so maybe during plateaus and resets we continue to build bone density and tendon/ligament strength. I like to think so anyway.

  9. #9
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    Apr 2017
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    Quote Originally Posted by cwd View Post

    Muscles grow faster than other tissues, so maybe during plateaus and resets we continue to build bone density and tendon/ligament strength. I like to think so anyway.


    Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement, everybody. Seems like this is the right board for me.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    UK
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveL View Post
    I decided not to go with PC when looking at the risk/rewards and the fast I was working out by myself with no coach.
    I'm 46 and a SSC advised me not to do PCs at all. He said he advises over-35s not to do them.

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