Yaniv's Painful Road

[yanivh]

Friday (2018-08-24):
Deadlift: 5X1 (162.5kg), 8X2 (130kg), will go up next week
Bench Press: 5X3 (87.5kg), 8X2 (70kg) was ok, but going to stay on this weight for 1-2 weeks more
Barbell Rows: 8X3 (70kg)

[yanivh]

Monday (2018-08-27):
Squat: 5X3 (120kg)
Press: 5X3 (52.5kg), 8X1 (40kg) was not able to do the second set of 8X40kg
Barbell Shrugs: 5X1 (160kg), 8X2 (150kg)

Had to skip this workout last week so today was very hard, I will stay on the same weights next week

[yanivh]

Friday (2018-08-31):
Deadlift: 5X1 (165kg), 8X2 (130kg), Video of the 165kgX5
Bench Press: 5X3 (87.5kg), 8X1 (70kg), my shoulder was killing me after the first set, so I skipped the last drop set and finished the workout.

[Ken_L]

It looks like you have an ongoing shoulder problem. I know how that feels. I messed up my left shoulder over 30 years ago, eventually it will probably need to be surgically repaired. But for now I am trying to train a little smarter in order to promote healing. Drop the exercises that cause pain and lower the overall volume on the shoulder. Find alternative exercises for the dropped ones. For example I had trouble with the press but can do presses with a kettlebell without any problems since the mechanics are quite different. In fact they are helping to improve my shoulder. For right now I dropped the bench press and have been hitting the chest and triceps hard with heavy bands which are much easier on joints. I will be adding in low volume bench once a week soon, staying with bands for other chest workouts. With these changes the pain is gone and I feel good. Although not ideal it is far better then not training or living with constant pain. I am still getting stronger plus the shoulder is improving rather then self destructing.

[yanivh]

Ongoing for 3 years now
MRI did not reveal anything.
Actually the heavier my bench gets the better my shoulder feels day to day, so I am sticking to it for now, some days are better then others, I think I made some mistake on the first set that screwed up everything afterwards.
I'll try to be more careful with it next week but I did finish the working sets so overall it was an ok workout.
My issue with bands is that I don't know how to identify on going progress with them.

[yanivh]

Monday (2018-09-03):
Squat: 5X3 (120kg), was hard but going to go up next week
Press: 5X3 (52.5kg), 8X2 (40kg) if next week will be ok I will go up the following week
Barbell Shrugs: 5X1 (180kg), 8X2 (155kg)

[Ken_L]

Ongoing for 3 years now
MRI did not reveal anything.
Actually the heavier my bench gets the better my shoulder feels day to day, so I am sticking to it for now, some days are better then others, I think I made some mistake on the first set that screwed up everything afterwards.
I'll try to be more careful with it next week but I did finish the working sets so overall it was an ok workout.
My issue with bands is that I don't know how to identify on going progress with them.

It's good that the stronger you get the better the shoulder feels! Plus with a clean MRI you should be good to go. It has taken me a while but I have finally figured out the things that irritate my shoulder and get me into trouble. For me the biggest trigger is the bottom position of the press. When I press the pain gradually gets worse over time and then appears in the bench as a result. Try and identify triggers and make changes to the exercises that cause trouble, unless it just hurts all the time. Also very strict form helps a lot rather then trying to get a stretch reflex. I find that any kind of a bounce adds stress to the shoulder and causes pain. Not at once but slowly over time.

I am in week 4 of using bands, 2 more weeks left to go before trying to bench again. It will be just one day a week and at a reduced volume. Over time I will work it back up. Bands are not a replacement for iron but they can be quite valuable when joints need a break. They do have a learning curve and progressive overload is essential just as it is with iron. To increase the resistance stretch the band a little more, after that stack bands together and repeat. One thing that is cool is that you can increase or decrease the resistance in the middle of a set just by adjusting body position.

I am considering myself to be a science experiment! Time will tell how much strength has been preserved, or not on the bench press. All the muscles used have been hit hard during this time. One thing that is noticeable is that chest size has actually increased over the past month! I do know what would have happened if I had just quit training altogether and that would have been really bad! As I have gotten older gains come slower and losses come quicker

[yanivh]

Saturday (2018-09-15):
Deadlift: 5X1 (165kg), 8X2 (130kg), will stay on this weight next week
Bench Press: 5X3 (80kg), 8X2 (70kg) went down a little, will go up next week
Barbell Rows: 5X3 (70kg) will increase volume next week

[yanivh]

Friday (2018-09-21):
Deadlift: 5X1 (165kg), 8X1,4X1 (130kg), felt some pain in my left knee on the last backoff set so decided to stop on 4 reps, will go up to 167.5 next week.
Bench Press: 5X3 (82.5kg), 8X2 (70kg) will go up next week
Barbell Rows: did not do them this time, did not want to mess with my knees.

[yanivh]

Tuesday (2018-09-25):
Squat: 5X3 (115kg), was a few annoying weeks so went down a little, will go up next week
Press: 5X3 (50kg), 8X1, 4X1 (40kg)
Barbell Shrugs: 5X1 (180kg), 8X2 (155kg) will go up next week