Thursday, March 27, 2014

Training Journal #2 of 2014 (March)

Been a while since I've updated my training journal. Went off the radar for a while, and even stopped tracking my workouts for a while because I've been dealing with an interesting joint issue in my hip.

To make a long story short, about 6 years ago I had really bad sciatica in my left hip. My right hip felt tight, but never had the shooting pain, numbness, aching, etc. that is associated with sciatica. I went to physical therapy for the left hip, which turned out to have a bad joint impingement. This last year has seen that left hip finish up healing to the point where it now has better mobility than the right one!

This has become problematic, though, because the drills that helped me heal the impingement in the left hip weren't working to help the right. And the funny thing about the whole situation is that this right hip hasn't gotten any worse--it's stayed the same all this time. It's that the left hip has gotten SO much better that the right one is noticeably painful. I get pinching near my Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL), and it refers pain in to my knee. So apparently there is stiff hip capsule which also is causing my IT band to cause me pain. No fun!!

Anyways, for about 3 weeks in late February/early March I did lighter workouts with only kettlebells, focusing more on developing the skills I need to master to earn the level 1 SFG Kettlebell Instructor certification. That was fun, but now that I've been cranking on my hip a lot and it is feeling close to "normal" for me, whatever that means, I feel ready to head back to surging towards my initial strength goals of 2x body weight in back squat and deadlift, 1.5x body weight in bench press and front squats, and 1/2 body weight kettlebell overhead press, pull ups, and Turkish Get Up. When I achieve these goals, which I 100 believe will be attainable for me, I will officially go in "maintenance mode" for strength, and focus more on getting back into track and field...and honing my pickleball game :)

At the moment, this is where I stand. My current body weight is 163lb. 5RM (rep maxes) are "sorta maxes", meaning I can at least get 1-2 more reps after completing my set.
Back squat: 5RM 235; ratio=1.44
Deadlift: 5RM 245; ratio=1.50
Front Squat: 5RM 195; ratio=1.20
Bench Press: 5RM 150; ratio=0.92**upper body pressing strength is my weakest area, hands down
KB Press: 4RM 50; ratio=0.31
Pull Ups: 5RM 25; ratio=0.15
Turkish Get Up: 60; ratio=0.36

I've got a long way to go, still. All the while I am practicing with my bells on my off days, working on various skills. Definitely need to improve upon snatching. It will be my kryptonite come SFG cert day. Still haven't found out a way to do more than a few without ripping up my hands and needing to stop. Until then, though, I am steadily improving in my get ups and presses! Very encouraged by the way my shoulder and T-spine have handled the increased loads.


Here is what my program looks like for the next month or so. Cycling reps of 3x3 or 5,3,2 every workout. It's still working, why fix it?

Day "A"
Warm Up: Primal Move

Core: Crawling w/ball on back/Turkish Get Up practice (3/3)

Power: Practice Double Swings/Happy Baby Rolls

Strength:
Front Squats
Pull Ups
Rocking+Ankle Mob.+Shoulder PT Drill+Rest as needed

Deadlift
Bench Press
Hip Flexor+Shoulder PT Drill+Rest as needed

Battle ropes to finish out

Day "B"
Warm Up: Primal Move

Core: Crawling w/ball on back/Turkish Get Up Practice (3/3)

Power: Practice Double Cleans/Happy Baby Rolls

Strength:
Back Squats
Chin Ups
Rocking+Ankle Mob.+Shoulder PT Drill+Rest as needed

Contralateral SLDL (doing this to help maintain single leg and split stance movement pattern)
Cleans and Presses
Hip Flexor+Shoulder PT Drill+Rest as needed

Sled Sprints to finish out




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