Take Two- MP's Meet Training Log

Does the knee only hurt during lifting or does it bother you consistently throughout the day?

It isn't a constant pain throughout the day but over the past week virtually every time I get up from my desk or get out of my car or even get off the couch at home it bothers me.
 
5/1
paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 2x235, 1x285, 1x335, 1x367, 2x2 330
pull throughs 2x12 120, 2x12 130
hip flexion 3x10 30

367 moved slowly. Moved the back off doubles up five pounds to 330, first double was slow and the second double was my best set of the day.

Concentrated on driving the bar off my chest on the second double. The best I can figure is that I have been concentrating so much on trying to get my form back in the groove this week that I haven't focused enough on driving the bar off the chest. We will see for sure if that was the problem over the next several sessions.
 
Any knee instability or just the pain?

One time only. I was playing street hockey with my son and took a step and it locked up.

Had some moderate pain for about 10 minutes after then it was fine, That was four days ago and it hasn't happened since.
 
5/2

paused close grip bench 5x135, 5x185, 3x235, 2x275, 1x315, 1x340
double overhand sumo pulls 5x225, 5x275, 3x325, 1x375, 1x405
bent rows 3x8 235
face pulls 12x90, 10x100, 10x110

Nice east session. Everything moved well.
 
5/2

paused close grip bench 5x135, 5x185, 3x235, 2x275, 1x315, 1x340
double overhand sumo pulls 5x225, 5x275, 3x325, 1x375, 1x405
bent rows 3x8 235
face pulls 12x90, 10x100, 10x110

Nice east session. Everything moved well.
Close grip paused 340 is fucking beast man. I got 225 for 15 reps and felt tough... im gonna start pushing my close grip - the answer lies in the arms when you have shitty leg drive like me.
 
Close grip paused 340 is fucking beast man. I got 225 for 15 reps and felt tough... im gonna start pushing my close grip - the answer lies in the arms when you have shitty leg drive like me.

225 for 15 reps close grip is real solid, doubt if I could get any more than that.

Funny you mention leg drive. I use a lot of leg drive on regular bench. Didn't think I used that much close gripping until today when I was lazy and left my deadlifting mat in place when I was close gripping which had half my right foot on the mat and half of if off. Foot slipped when I was driving 340 off my chest and it was very clear I was using a good deal of leg drive.
 
5/3
paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 2x235, 1x285, 1x335, 1x370, 2x2 330
ab pulldowns 2x15 120, 13x130

benching went well today. 370 wasn't fast but went up steadily and both back off doubles were solid.
 
5/4

paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 2x235, 1x285, 1x335, 1x371, 2x330
dips 3x20
tricep pushdowns 10x100
BB curls 10x 95, 105, 115

Another foot slide on 371 but it went up smoothly. Unfortunately, I think there is trouble in River City. When I was doing my last set of ab pulldowns yesterday I felt a slight pull in my upper abs. Didn't really think anything of it but yesterday afternoon some swelling developed and it was sore to the touch.

Today the distinctive bulge of a hernia showed up as well as some bruising and it being very sore to the touch. I have had two previous hernia surgeries on "low" hernias.

During my last one which was several years ago the doctor showed me where I had a high hernia and said that unless it caused me discomfort it wasn't worth doing surgery on.

I have competed in several meets since then and it has never given me a problem deadlifting in training or during a meet. Every once in a while I will feel it when doing squats which is why I don't squat during meets.

I'm going to skip pulling tomorrow which was week 5 of the Coan program, which is essentially a deload week anyway. I will also skip squatting on Thursday and will do my regular programmed upper body work. This should allow the swelling to go down. If the pain doesn't get any worse I will try to pull next Tuesday and decide at that point if I have any chance of making to the meet before getting surgery.
 
5/5
power shrugs 3x5 330
stiff leg deads 3x5 245
bent rows 3x5 245
lat pulldowns 3x5 245

Swelling was down and bruising virtually gone around the hernia area and it wasn't nearly as sore to the touch as it had been on Sunday and Monday so I did the Coan program assistance work without the deads . Everything went well with minimal pain although the program calls for underhand lat pulldowns. As soon as I started to pull on the bar I felt it in the hernia area so I stopped and went with a conventional grip without any issue.

5/6
paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 2x235, 1x285, 1x335, 1x372, 2x2 335
side laterals 3x10 30
rear delt raises 3x10 60
barbell front raises 2x12 85, 10x105

Moved my feet in quite a bit and benched with my heels down and toes off the ground. Doesn't allow for quite as much leg drive but greatly minimizes the hernia pain. I think with the daily benching, getting comfortable with these adjustments won't take long with an added benefit being my butt will not come off the bench with this form which is what got me red lighted on 400+ at my last meet.
 
5/7
paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 2x235, 1x285, 1x335, 1x375, 2x2 335
squats 5x12-6
leg curls 3x10 100

Going to take some time to figure out what I can and can't do because of the new hernia. Both of my surgically repaired hernias were in the groin area and made it impossible to squat. The new one is a little bit below midway between my belly button and my sternum.

Did some BW squats and didn't feel anything in the hernia spot so went ahead and did some squatting yesterday. Kept it light with the top set being 6 at 255 without any discomfort at all. All good with this, the flip side is the previous hernias caused no issues with any upper body work whereas this one causes some pain while benching and I gave up on OHP the other day because it really stressed the area using only 45 pound dumbbells for a warm up set. Ab work is also out of the question for the time being.

Acid test will be next Tuesday when I will see if I can pull with a tolerable level of pain.
 
5/8
paused bench 5x135, 5x185, 3x235, 3x285, 3x315, 3x340
pull throughs 4x12 140
hip flexion 3x10 30

Worked up to a max paused triple today. 340 was solid and I could have gotten at least 5 pds. more.
 
5/9
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x340, 1x377, 2x2 340
sumo pulls 5x245, 3x275, 2x315
bent rows 3x8 245
face pulls 10x90,100, 110

Pulls were just to test hernia issue, not bad but 315 is a long way from 600.

5/10
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x340, 1x380, 2x2 345

Two weeks into the Bulgarian method has always been the start of the sweet spot and today was exactly two weeks in. 380 was solid with a bit longer pause than needed and both doubles with 345 were good. Only downside is some hernia pain on all reps above 200 going from moderate to more than moderate as the weights go up. Had tears in my eyes after 380 but it only lasts for about 30 seconds after racking it.
 
5/11
paused close grip bench 5x135, 5x195, 3x255, 2x295, 1x325,1x355 PR
weighted dips 2x15 +45, 2x12 +90
pushdowns 3x12 100
bb curls 12x95, 105, 10x115, 125
 
5/12
Week 6 Coan Deadlift
deads 3x315, 2x375, 1x435, 2x490
speed deads 3x3 405
power shrugs 3x5 360
stiff leg deadlifts 3x5 255
bent rows 3x5 255
lat pulldowns 3x5 240
good mornings 3x5 155

Passed the hernia deadlift test today. Didn't cause any pain in the area. I am going to have to do some experimenting with my belt though. Added it for the top set and when I put it on where I normally do the top of the belt drove right into the bottom of the hernia which was not going to work. Ended up moving belt up a couple of inches to sit directly on top of the hernia. It served it's purpose but wasn't real comfortable.

Other injury news is all good. I'm past the bicep issue as I haven't felt it at all for over a week. Knee issue is still there but seems to be getting a little better each day.
 
5/13
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x340, 1x382, 2x2 340
dumbbell OHP 3x10 50
side laterals 3x10 30
front raises 4x10 105

5/14
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x345, 1x385, 2x2 345
squats 15x135, 12x185, 10x225, 8x255, 6x285
leg curls 12x90, 2x10 100

Hernia still looks ugly but is less painful everyday and thankfully powerlifting isn't a beauty contest. Strength is solid and increasing with just over 5 weeks left before the meet. Need to get my bench form dialed in as I have been forced to compensate because of the injury which has me not as steady benching as I should be. With the pain getting much more manageable it is time to correct form.
 
5/13
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x340, 1x382, 2x2 340
dumbbell OHP 3x10 50
side laterals 3x10 30
front raises 4x10 105

5/14
paused bench 5x145, 5x195, 2x245, 1x295, 1x345, 1x385, 2x2 345
squats 15x135, 12x185, 10x225, 8x255, 6x285
leg curls 12x90, 2x10 100

Hernia still looks ugly but is less painful everyday and thankfully powerlifting isn't a beauty contest. Strength is solid and increasing with just over 5 weeks left before the meet. Need to get my bench form dialed in as I have been forced to compensate because of the injury which has me not as steady benching as I should be. With the pain getting much more manageable it is time to correct form.
382 on a pause is beast!
 
382 on a pause is beast!

I think it is all what you are used to. I could probably only get an additional 10 to 15 pounds touch and go because I'm used to pausing all of my max reps where as a guy who does them all touch and go its probably more like somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds difference.
 
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