Training and its effect on injury recovery
Preface:
I'm a 31yo who has been following the SS program for roughly 4 months. 3 weeks ago while performing some very intense, hardcore G.P.P (ok, I was chasing my 9mo around the living room) I suffered what I would consider a significant muscle strain in my lower abdomen (just below and to the right of the navel). I took 6 days off from any strenous activity, skipping two lifting sessions in the process.
It felt much better when I returned to the gym and took it very easy the first week as to not further aggravate the injury. To my suprise I was able to do most of the lifts without any real discomfort (squats, deads, BP, PCleans). I've since gone back to my normal working-set weights in these lifts without problem.
There are, however, a few key lifts (the press, chin-ups, sit-ups specifically) that I cannot perform without receiving a very sharp,"stop doing that!" pain. Very light weights are tolerable, but nothing close to a working set.
Merely tightening the core for the squat or deadlift for instance doesn't bother me. It's when I have my arms extended overhead and the ab muscles are stretched that the contraction causes pain (i.e. the lockout portion of the standing press).
The Question:
While I wouldn't presume to receive free medical advice from you regarding my own specific injury, I am curious how you handle these sorts of core injuries when they occur to the athletes under your training.
The options I see available are:
a) rest until 100% recovered (this option seems the most sucky to me)
b) substitute the seated versions (more isolation/less compound...which I understand to be less desirable) in order to keep strengthening the primary movers while resting the injury
c) lower the weight significantly on the full version of the lift. Sacrificing progression on the primary movers in order to strengthen the injury and its surrounding muscles.
d) a combination of B & C.
What I've settled into for the past few workouts is a situation where I do the warmups using the full exercise up until I start to feel discomfort, then using the partial movements for the work sets. The idea being that the injuried area is engaged in active recovery just short of further damage while still forcing adaptation by hitting the primary movers with heavy weights. I plan to continue doing this until I'm able to do the real lift with real weight.
I'd appreciate any input you have on the subject.
Thanks!
Brian
P.S. Your books make for excellent back-of-the-toilet books. Which, I'm sure, is the complement every author craves.