From Post Surgical to Post Workout

[joecam527]

Hello all!
My name is Joe and today I had abdominal surgery to fix my left inguinal hernia! I figured this would be a good way for me to introduce myself and start a log!

Im 24, 6'3, 225ish pounds and I'm a Doctor of Physical Therapy! I recently competed in the SS meet (my first ever meet) in Oakland CA where I took 3rd in my weight class and had a fantastic time! Tom Campitelli is a stellar guy and everyone I met there was equally as great! I have read Starting Strength clear through and have actually purchased 3 copies that I have given out to my father and a colleague of mine, and I recommend the book to each patient of mine that I think can benefit from it, which is a lot.

Late March of this year I was demonstrating my snatch form to a colleague (empty bar too) and felt a little pain down under. Went to the ER after almost passing out and they popped that little golf ball that was bulging out back in. Just got it patched up today! Mesh is in and I'm eager to get back under the iron.

The world of Physical Therapy is stuck in its old ways, like much of the medical community, and I hope that the newer generation of us will help to gear it towards strengthening because strength truly is the ultimate preventer of injury and the key to longevity.

The goal of this log is to track my progress of getting back to barbell lifting and lifting in general, as when my hernia came about I was stronger than I've ever been and need to get back to that. My PRs are as follows: Press - 215 Squat - 420 Dead - 475. I know those numbers wont go up for a long time but I need to start somewhere. I would also like to shed some light on the PT community and show that we aren't all bad, and that if I can get back to strong lifts after abdominal surgery (while everyone I know is saying thats the reason I blew it out in the first place) than so can my patients!

Here are some visual aids of my competition!

215 Press


475 Dead


420 Squat






Hopefully I can get some questions answered if there are any! Im going to be down and out for a couple days as it just happened this morning, and I'm going to be following the surgeons protocol for a while, but bear with me as there is no one who wants me to get back to the barbell more than me!

Thanks!

[joecam527]

Hey all! Still kickin. Im post op day 9 now and feeling almost 100% better. I've gotten back to running shorter distances, around a little over a mile, and I've been doing some light resistance training while I count down the days I'm able to get back under the bar. I have a check up with my surgeon on Wednesday and I will get verification from him as to when I can get back to it. Im sure he'll say a few months, but seeing as I have no pain with any mobility and I am able to regulate how much I valsalva under a load I think I may be able to take some time off of that. Excited every day that I'm one step closer to the bar!

[joecam527]

Just finished up with my 2 week check up with my doc!

Unfortunately, he is an old school doctor and rarely do they get out of their old school ways and embrace the new practices going on in the medical community, or stop to see what other providers are doing. Long story short, he said that I can now get back to running, doing light arm workouts to "keep my tone" and I can use ankle weights for my legs..... So, without saying anything more, I will be getting back to barbell lifting next Monday the 3rd of October. That will be 3.5ish weeks out from surgery, put me out of the subacute phase of healing and into a safe zone, IMO, for me to start doing some barbell motions. Until then, I will continue to run and plan out my exercise split! Time to flip back through the SS pages to see if theres anything I've forgotten!

[joecam527]

Couldn't wait until Monday to lift so I went in today to break my 4 month lifting fast!

Kept everything at or under 135lbs and just focused on getting back into my movements making sure there was full ROM and no pain at the surgical site while fully compressed or under a load.

Squat:
45lbsx10x3
65lbsx10
95lbsx5
115lbsx5
135lbsx5x3

Deadlift:
135lbsx5x5

Press:
45lbsx10x3

Sumo Dead:
135lbsx5x5

Front squat:
45lbsx5x5

Felt some slight twinges in my first set of front squat while I was fully compressed, but it went away. Definitely glad I chose to get back into the gym and that I waited until 3 weeks out (technically tomorrow). Will continue to slowly get myself back into the barbell motions, but I will progress linearly with 5lbs per session do make sure I'm not making any huge leaps that could compromise my surgery. Tomorrow will tell how I feel, how the surgical site feels and how my legs feel in general! Excited to be back!

[joecam527]

Got a few day update here! Was at a wedding in Pittsburgh all weekend, but I was able to lift Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning

Thursday
Bench Press:
95x5
135x5x2
155x5x5

Saturday
Squat:
95x10
135x5x2
140x5x5

Press:
65x10
75x5
95x5x5

Deadlift:
135x5
140x5x5

Still find myself shaking at the legs after my workouts even though the weight is ridiculously light. 4 months of nothing will do that I suppose. Surgical site feels great. No issues with pulling, pinching, or any pain at all. I'm still trying to only put 5lbs on the bar with each workout, but pending how impatient I become, I may progress with 10-15 pounds per session. Going to bench again tomorrow, and may do some barbell rows as well.

[joecam527]

Felt good with the bench press today. Bumped up 15 pounds with my 5x5 and had no trouble. I've also been getting back into running to help with my cardiovascular health and my stair climbing endurance so I'm not winded in public

Bench:
75x10
115x5
135x5
165x5x3
170x5x2

[joecam527]

Got a little impatient in the gym today and bumped up my squat and dead more than 5-15 pounds. Thursday will be post surgical week 4! Doc told me my lifting restriction was no more than 20 pounds for 4-6 weeks. Whoops. I feel great without any pain whatsoever. Im able to valsalva to almost 100% pressure during my lifts, although I have not brought the belt back into the mix, due to not need it with this weight, and not wanting to push my abdominal pressure too much yet.

Squat:
95x10
135x5
155x5
165x5
185x5x5

Press:
45x10
65x10
95x5
115x5x5

Deadlift:
135x5
155x5
175x5
185x5x5

Front squat:
45x5
75x5
95x5x5

I feel that these weights have been appropriately challenging for the time being, although I can definitely go up quicker with deadlift. Might be wise to slow things down while I approach the 200's.

I also will start logging my progression on a chart so that it will be easier to follow visually

[joecam527]

The weights have officially started kicking my butt, which is good because now I can have an appropriate linear progression of 5-10 pounds per workout. Yesterday was 4 weeks post op and I am feeling good! No pains with running, lifting or valsalva 100%. The following weights reflect yesterdays lifts! I had to use kilograms so I will spare the warmups sets being listed

Squat:
200x5x5

Press:
110x2x5
120x2x5

Dead:
220x5x5

Bench and possibly some bent rows and RDLs tomorrow. Currently studying for my PT licensing exam so I have a few more weeks until I can give SS a second time through and practical programming a once through

[joecam527]

Bench:
95x10
135x10
155x5
165x5
175x5x5

Underhand grip bent rows:
75x5x10

Overhand grip bent rows:
75x5x10

Ive had some trouble engaging my lats when it comes to deadlift and just in general (lat pull downs, low row, bent row) and I find that I use my arms more than I should, so with this workout I focused on contracting my lats prior to the underhand grip bent rows, like i would with a deadlift after brining my chest up in my set up, and really trying to pull with my lats instead of my biceps. I fatigued very quickly with underhand rows and hopefully once I work on this more I will be able to set my shoulders/scapulae and pull the bar against my legs with my lats even while under heavy deadlift loads!

[joecam527]

Short on time yesterday so I was only able to get in 5x5 with squat, but I will pick up the rest of my lower body lifts today. At the point now where the 5lbs I'm adding to the bar are challenging, even though the weight is still on the really low side.

Squat:
95x10
135x5
155x5
175x5
205x5x5