The past week or two, I’ve been lifting upperbody 4 days per week. Haven’t done anything else. With the research I’ve done, I’m thinking that I have SI joint inflammation. It’s My sacrum/pelvis area that feels inflammed and I have pain mostly in my glutes. My theory is that if it were nerve pain, the pain would be radiating down toward my feet. I still don’t know why my my right foot still struggles to plantar flex as good as my left foot. I’m really hoping I can at least find out what this issue is from the specialist I see on Monday.
I had doubts today that this Sports Chiropractor wasn’t going to be as near as good as the one I go to in Austin. But I was very wrong. This guy also knows and works with Dan. He was the key guy who worked on Obadele Thompson. I was very fortunate to have this guy work on me.
Unfortunately the diagnosis was that the motor function loss from the L4-L5 disc as expected. He tried ART and cold laser therapy and was able to pretty much retype the nerves that were being messed with. So he gave me some exercises to gradually work my way back to having normal function. There was little improvement, but there is a chance that this issue will be better soon.
What’s the Dr.'s name? Did you have those issues prior to surgery?
Dr. David Redding. Friendswood, Texas.
No I never had any issues with my plantar flexion before surgery. He says that it could be inflammation or some scar tissue that is in the way of the nerve.
My plantar flexion has been improving over the past few days. I can now do a full calf raise on my right leg, but I still can’t control the eccentric phase. I’ve been surprised by the progression though.
I’ve also been contemplating on what I could be doing during this injury period, and after being intrigued by the “Dispelling the Glute Myth” article from T I’ve decided that I’m going to give the phase one problem a try. I don’t see anything wrong with doing bridges and hip thrusts.
I went back for another appointment and he said that my nerve function is back to normal! I had so many doubts about this whole issue thinking that I would eventually have to have surgery again. It was my L5-S1 disc that was having the neural issue.
I will restart my training by gradually work back to where I was. I am not going to give up. I still have a lot of time to train until the next try out comes in the spring.
Dynamic Warmup
10 x 60yds at 65-70%
Bench press: 135 x 5, 155 x 5, 195 x 3, 205 x 3, 225 x 3, 250 x 3. Focused on acceleration of the lift.
DB Incline Bench: 3 x 10, 60’s
BW Lunges: 2 x 15
Lunges with spinal twist: 2 x 10, 10lb DB
Leg Press: 3 x 20
Taking it very slowly for now. I plan on running full speed by the end of next week.
Warmup
Glute Activation:
Glute Bridge: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the hop
Single Leg Glute Bridge: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the top
Lying Abduction: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the top
Chin-ups: 8 x 3, 30sec rest
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 x 8
Skull Crusher: 3 x 8
Hammer Curls: 3 x 8
Core Stability Circuit:
Prone Plank: 60sec
Side Plank: 30sec/side
Supinated Plank: 30sec
Prone Plank w/ hip extention: 1 x 5
Straight Arm Side Plank: 30sec/side
Supinated Plank: 30sec
Very sore from the running and the lunges yesterday. My right foot, the foot with the previous motor loss needs some more conditioning as it easily gets fatigued.
Thursday, 9-24-09
Warmup
GS (Waterloo): 3 x 10
Stretch and cooldown
Warmup (foam roll, hip mobility, sprint drills, light static stretch)
Buildups: 6 x 80yds, 80-90% w/ walkback recovery
Bench: 135 x 3, 155 x 3, 195 x 3, 225 x 3, 255 x 3
Leg Press: 1 x 20, 2 x 10
Pullups: 6 x 4
Bulgarian Split Squats: BW x 8, 22.5s x 8, 27.5s x 8
My calves were very sore after my last running workout. My plantar flexion didn’t get as near fatigued as it did last workout, this is a very good sign.
Warmup
Glute Activation:
Glute Bridge: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the hop
Bird-dogs: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the top
Lying Abduction: 2 x 10, 5 sec hold at the top
Prone Planks: 60sec
Straight Arm Planks: 60sec
Side Planks: 30sec
Straight Arm Side Planks: 30sec
Delt Triad: 3 x 8
Single Arm Lateral Raise: 2 x 8
EZ Bar Curl: 3 x 8
Skull Crusher: 3 x 10
Static Stretch/Foam roll ~ 10min
Hoping to feel good enough to sprint again tomorrow.
Warmup (foam roll, light static stretch, hip mobility, sprint drills)
Buildups: 6 x 40yds, 2min recovery
Double Leg Line Hops: 2 x 20
Single Leg Line Hops: 2 x 20
Incline: 135 x 6, 155 x 6, 200 x 6
Bulgarian Split Squat: BW x 8, 27.5’s x 8, 35s x 8
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 x 8
Hyperextentions: 3 x 10, 10lb plate
Went all out on the sprints today, I would say that I can do my speed work full speed for now on. I will gradually start working my way back into plyos and MB throws along with going heavier with the Bulgarians.
Warmup (foam roll, static stretch)
Glute Activation:
Glute Bridges: 2 x 10, 5 sec ISO hold
Single Leg Glute Bridges: 2 x 10, 5sec ISO hold
Fire Hydrants: 2 x 10, 5sec ISO hold
Pillar: x 10
Pedestal: x 10
Front Raises: 4 x 10
Lateral Raises: 3 x 10
Preacher Curls: 3 x 21’s
Rope Tricep Pressdown: 5 x 8
Hammer Curls: 4 x 8
Warmup (foam roll, short jog, hip mobility, sprint drills)
4 x 10yds, 3pt
2 x 10yds, Falling Starts
2 x 10yds, Mountain Climbers
2 x 10yds, Rolling Starts
Speed Skaters: 3 x 15yds
Power Skip for Height: 3 x 15yds
Power Skip for Distance: 3 x 15yds
Overhead Squats: 3 x 8, BW
Barbell Hip Thrusts: 135 x 5, 185 x 5, 185 x 8
Bulgarian Split Squats: 37.5’s x 8, 42.5’s x 8
Reverse Leg Press: 2 x 8, 130lbs
I’m going to start doing an Upper-Lower Split. They finally fixed the Reverse Leg Press machine at the recreation center!
What are your short-term/long-term goals? If you have some time you can set up a comprehensive program that should allow you to get bigger, faster and stronger.
Long term goals - to make the team during the spring, I’m guessing the tryout will be 3.5 months away.
Short term goals - to ease back into training where I once was, and avoid another injury at all costs! Once I reach that level of confidence then I want to strive to get bigger, faster, and stronger.
What do you need to accomplish to reach that level of confidence? Work towards those goals directly.
Warmup (foam roll, hip mobility)
Technique Runs: 2 x 4 x 50yds, indoor rubber surface
Pillar: x 10
Pedestal: x 10
I started to do some plyo-pushups to ramp up the nervous system for my upperbody workout today, but I feel like I slightly tweaked something in my shoulder/pec area so I stopped. It’s nothing to worry about, I feel like I need a break from all of this upperbody lifting anyways. I’m also very sore in my TA area, I’m thinking it was from doing the hip thrusts yesterday. I’m also starting to have better muscle balance when doing the pedestal. This is probably because of the glute activation drills I have been doing lately.
Warmup (foam roll, hip mobility, sprint drills)
Ladders: 3 x 10yds, 15yds, 20yds, walkback imbetween reps, 2.5min imbetween sets
MT (Bomb): 3 x
Overhead Squats: 3 x 8, 65lbs
Barbell Hip Thrusts: 185 x 8, 205 x 8, 225 x 8
Bulgarian Split Squats: 35’s x 8, 47.5’s x 8, 60’s x 5
Hyperextentions: 2 x 8, 25lbs
I was lucky to have access to the game field since it was a Sunday. I had to deal with some light rain, and the MB throws became useless because it was slippery.
Warmup (static stretch, foam roll)
Bench: 135 x 5, 155 x 5, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, stopped because pec felt weird again
Pullups: 5 x 6
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 x 8, 145lbs
MT (Gas): x 10
Pedestal: x 10
Pillar: x 10
I’m thinking there is a slight tear in my right pec from those plyo pushups I did last week. I should have taken this issue more seriously. I’m going start icing and take lots of iburprofen and only do pulling movements for now. I also found a partner who is a tennis player that was interested in doing a MB circuit today.