500lb Squat: The Journey Begins...

[untjazzlift]

This will be my second attempt at Starting Strength. I did the program for ~2.5 months starting last November and ending in mid-January.

That end came courtesy of a pickup basketball game where an opposing player slammed into the inside of my right knee with the front of his knee. Of course, after a short break, I played for another hour and a half (it was outdoors, cold, in shorts, on concrete) and then squatted heavy (for me) two days later with work sets at 225. Knee felt screwy by the third set, and I called it quits. Attempts to drop down in weight and continue just made the knee worse. After a few weeks off I tried my own rehab and screwed up my left knee. Now I had an MCL sprain in each knee and some patellar tendon pain in the left.

Before the initial knee trauma I was doing ok with the program, and my knees were feeling pretty good.

BW went from 155-175lbs
Squat ended at 225x5x3
Deadlift at 275x5x3
Press at 120x5x3
Bench was at 170x5x3

Ultimately had to cut these three out when I hurt my knee. In late March, after some haphazard lifting, I continued with an upper body linear progression doing pull-ups/chins, bench, and seated press after Gary Gibson wisely advised me to completely rest the lower body for several weeks.

I did bench heavy every workout. Of course that bit me in the ass when 2.5 weeks ago I overextended my right shoulder on the lockout - hurt some part of my rotator cuff. Also strained my left tricep. I was doing 205x5x3 and missed on the last rep last set. A couple days later I was doing deadlifts at work sets of 145 and tried to pull a 225 single for the hell of it. I pulled a muscle in my lower right back. Yes, I'm a dumbass, and I believe I've finally learned my lesson.

I'm going to be cautious with my lifting and will ease into the program for the first two weeks. I'm going to hold off on bench and power cleans for probably another month, and do higher rep-lower weight on the other lifts while I work on form - a very(!) slight nod to the Starr rehab plan.

School has been extremely busy the last few weeks, so that in concert with the injuries has prevented me from doing any lifting at all for 2 weeks. This is finals week at UNT which, for a music major, is usually not as hectic as pre-finals week, so I decided to start up again today.



DAY ONE of easing into SS:

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 180lbs
Age: Just turned 26

Warm-up: Biked a mile (~3:30mins), did 15 pushups

Leg Press: 120lbsx25
Squats: BWx10 45x5(45lbs sucked) BWx10 BWx15 95x5(95lbs felt much better) 95x5 95x5
-next time I'll do 95x6x3 and work up until I can do 95x10x3 with solid form, then start the SS linear progression

Press: 45x5 45x10 45x10 45x10 45x10
-these were pretty easy, so next time I'll bump up reps to 45x15x3 and keep going up until I can do 45x25x3, then start SS linear progression; hoping this will be ok as modified rehab for the right shoulder

Deadlifts: 95x15
-again, working with higher reps b/c of the low right back injury, which is feeling better; will go until 95x25 and then start LP

Chins: BWx3 15x5 15x5 15x5

Foam rolled after workout and left inner thigh HURT - it'll be receiving much more foam torture in the coming days.

[untjazzlift]

A little slow in posting...

5/9/12

Squats BWx10x2 95x6 95x6 95x6 95x5
-go slower on descent, my best line of vision is the floor about 4ft in front of me

Press 45x5 45x15 45x15

Cable Rows 40x5 85x10 85x10 85x12
-still going a little easy on my knees, hence seated rows

Chins BWx10

[untjazzlift]

5/11/12

Squat BWx5x3 95x8 95x6(trying to film my form and some jerk walks off with my phone to turn it in so I have to chase him down...) 95x8 95x8 95x10
-experimented with widening form by a couple inches, felt better, depth was easier

Press 45x5 75x5 75x5 75x5 95x5
-coming forward a bit on the right side on lockout

Deadlifts 95x20
-Valsalva!

Chins BWx3 20x5 20x5 20x5

Foam rolling the inner thighs has made a big difference.

[untjazzlift]

5/14/12

Squats BWx5 65x5 95x5x3 110x5x2 110x10

Chins BWx3 25x5x3

Cables Rows 55x10 120x5x3

Back Hypers 20

OHP 20x25 20x20

[StrongLiftMyBalls]

As you get further in try to change to the recommended 5x3. All those reps will a) start getting very hard and b) tire you for the rest of your workout and c) not give you optimal strength gains

[untjazzlift]

@StrongLift I totally agree with you - that was my plan, definitely. I was going to do a bastardized nod to Starr rehab for two weeks and transition into SS. It was an ill-advised plan on my part because I've aggravated my lower back injury with the last couple workouts. Last night (5/16/12) I did the following:

Squat BWx8 65x5 95x5 (right knee patellar tendon felt a slight tweak, so I decided to stretch, foam roll, and stay at this weight) 95x5x2 (these felt good, so I went on) 125x5x3

Press 20x25 20x25
-my right arm wants to come forward at top of the lift...hmm

Deadlift 65x25

I think my biggest issues have been 1) reloading too fast and 2) not getting enough sleep! Morning classes (maymester) + afternoon teaching + gigs until late has made for a pretty horrible sleep schedule and has definitely slowed my recovery.

Here's my new plan of action: 3 days total rest. I'll be done with teaching (saxophone lessons) after tomorrow, I have a recording session and gig tomorrow, as well. After Saturday, I won't have any gigs for a week, so my life will finally calm down, and I'll (hopefully) be able to get some sleep.

On Sunday I'll start two weeks of complete commitment to Starr protocol for my back, shoulder and left tricep. Apart from that mild tweak last night, my knees have felt better than they have in months.

I plan to bike for about 4mins to warmup and after day 10 will probably add some bodyweight squats.

1. Press 10lbsx25x3
Deadlift 45lbsx25x2
2. Press 10lbsx25x2 15lbsx25
Deadlift 45lbsx25 55lbsx25
3. Press 10x25 15x25 20x25
Deadlift 55x25 65x25
4. Press 15x25 20x25 25x25
Deadlift 65x25 70x25
5. Press 20x25 25x25 30x25
Deadlift 70x25 75x25
6. Press 25x25 30x25 35x25
Deadlift 75x25 80x25
7. Press 30x25 35x25 40x25
Deadlift 80x25 85x25
8. Press 35x25 40x25 45x25
Deadlift 85x25 90x25
9. Press 40x25 45x25 50x25
Deadlift 90x25 95x25
10. Press 45x25 50x25 65x15
Deadlift 95x25 110x15
11. Press 50x25 65x15 75x10
Deadlift 110x15 115x10
12. Press 65x15 75x10 85x5
Deadlift 115x10 125x5
13. Press 75x10 85x5 90x5
Deadlift 135x5
14. Press 85x5 90x5 95x5
Deadlift 145x5

Rest two days. Begin SS LP 5x3. If anyone comes across this post and has any input about my interpretation of the Starr rehab protocol, please add your two cents.

[untjazzlift]

5/20/12

Day 1 of Rehab Protocol

Bike 1mi

Press 10x25x3

Deadlift 40x25
-decided to take advantage of the fixed-weight bars; also decided doing one set of deadlifts was a more sustainable progression since that's the way it's programmed in SS

Foam rolled

Updated Starr Rehab Plan:
1. Press 10lbsx25x3
Deadlift 40lbsx25
2. Press 10lbsx25x2 15lbsx25
Deadlift 45lbsx25
3. Press 10x25 15x25 20x25
Deadlift 50x25
4. Press 15x25 20x25 25x25
Deadlift 55x25
5. Press 20x25 25x25 30x25
Deadlift 60x25
6. Press 25x25 30x25 35x25
Deadlift 65x25
7. Press 30x25 35x25 40x25
Deadlift 70x25
8. Press 35x25 40x25 45x25
Deadlift 75x25
9. Press 40x25 45x25 50x25
Deadlift 80x25
10. Press 45x25 50x25 65x15
Deadlift 85x25
11. Press 50x25 65x15 75x10
Deadlift 100x15
12. Press 65x15 75x10 85x5
Deadlift 110x10
13. Press 75x10 85x5 90x5
Deadlift 120x5
14. Press 85x5 90x5 95x5
Deadlift 125x5

[untjazzlift]

Started the program again today. Knees are much better. Shoulder is ok, but I'm going to hold off on bench. Lower back is not 100% but felt ok through today's workout.

Stats:
5'10"
26
183 (got some fat around the middle)

Squat –75x5x3
Press – 55x5x3
Deadlift – 95x5
Chin-ups – BWx7x3

[untjazzlift]

Day 2: 6/7/12

Squat - 85x5x3
Press - 65x5x3
Deadlift - 110x5
Chin-ups - BWx7x3

[untjazzlift]

This'll be a short post addressing the gap between rehab and restart.

The deadlift as rehab work was very difficult to sustain, and I had to go out of town for four days suddenly. When I came back I switched to back extensions and focused on adding reps. This worked pretty well to help my back feel better. Still going to hold off on bench for at least another month, probably two. Will do press and chin-ups regularly and progressively as long-term rehab (and strength gain) for the shoulder.

Knees felt good after the last two workouts. Didn't move up on Day 2 with the chin-ups because they felt pretty weak Day 1. Will go up a rep a set tomorrow and continue until I can do sets across of 10, then start adding weight and do sets of 5 across.