Muddling through despite back troubles...

[Masher]

Hi fellow geezers!

I haven't made an update for a while, but I wanted to share some updates and progress for the fall and winter thus far.

It has been a mixed bag for me lifting-wise, since I was diagnosed with a herniated disc last summer. Long story short I have had two rounds of anti-inflammatory steroids since August, but I am not out of the woods yet and I'm seeing my spine guy again this week.

I have made some attempts at light DLs recently, but they always make my back worse so I continue to lay off.

With squats I tend to load, de-load, and load again, as my back allows, so I am not healthy there yet either.

It has been frustrating but I'm actually feeling pretty happy and optimistic about the future. I went over my workout notes going back to last March and I discovered some cool things that I kind of forgot about.

When I started this program almost a year ago I couldn't do a chin up without weight assistance. I can now do sets of 4-3-3 working my way to my first ever sets of 5-5-5, won't that be cool?

Last Friday I did my first ever work set on BP at 200lbs. I got 5 reps out of the first set and then it was downhill from there (ha) but still a first-ever for me.

My presses have gone up consistently and very gradually, so I'm at 125 right now. In a couple more weeks I should hit 135.

So yeah, you can see by my numbers that I am small and weak. It is obvious that my 2018 goal is all about my back, which is a glaring weakness. Still, even with all the disappointments I've had there's a lot of good news too.

[Cheesepuff]

Welcome back, and hang in there!
As always, start where you are and go from there.
Easy to say, hard to do... but if you can, you're unstoppable.