My return to the platform

[walker11]

History
I’ve been out of powerlifting since December 2009 due to injuries. Started off with a torn right trap (from cheerleading) November 2009 but still did a bench meet that December, followed by a torn left hip flexor January 2010 (from cheerleading). Then once I finally got healthy and started getting my numbers up I blew out my left shoulder in May 2010, not really sure how it went out, could have been from lifting, cheerleading, or an old basketball injury, but the injury was a small tear in my infra and supraspinatus and a 9-3 labrum slap tear. So I now have 3 screws and wire in my left shoulder and have been rehabbing ever since my surgery June 29, 2010. After the surgery my body weight dropped from 210 lbs. down to 175 lbs. And most recently I have torn my right hamstring in January 2011, don’t know how I did this either, just stood up from a chair one night, it popped, and the next day my hamstring was bruised and I could barely walk on it. I also have tendonitis with both my bicep tendons, so I have some shoulder discomfort.
Now my body weight is back up to 200 lbs., I have been injury free since my hamstring incident, shoulder is feeling great (except for the bicep tendons), and I have got most of my training back on track with the exception of squatting (due to range of motion) and heavy benching. I will not be doing any heavy benching anytime soon because I have no real reason to, I will not be competing in bench for at least another year and because of cheerleading I do not want to put any extra stress on my shoulders. So I will be focusing my training on deadlifting and getting back in shape for cheerleading.
Training
I will be training for a deadlift meet in August, where I plan to open at 500 (pulled this easy 2 weeks ago) and will cut down to the 198 lb. weight class. I will be competing AM equipped, and will employ Westside training methods. I am a firm believer in using bands for dynamic/speed training so there will be a lot of this in my training cycle. Also, I do not like to pull full range of motion a lot on my heavy days, so most of the heavy work will be done from blocks or pins, but there will also be some full range of motion reverse band pulling since I need to work on my lock out I believe this will help me with that. And I will be training at Metal Militia in Winchester, VA, where we have a few different types of bars, bands, and chains. You will also notice that I will not have any back squatting, that is because I still cannot get a bar on my back, so I will do all of my squat work with a Safety Squat Bar, Zercher Harness, and a Manta Ray.
As stated before, I am a cheerleader, so I will also log the hours I spend stunting and some of the lifting I do for that (db snatch mainly). I will also put a brief description of the fliers I work with that day (height and weight), about how many tosses I do, and what stunts we land (and maybe some pictures).
Lifting gear
Some work will be done in 2 ply briefs (Inzer), but most speed work will be done in 1 ply briefs (Inzer). Max effort work will be done in a 2 ply Metal King deadlifter (sumo) with 1 ply briefs, I got the suit for free from my gym owner so it was not made for me but fits me very well.
More about me:
Training for 7 years, competing for 4.
Age- 22
AAS- none
Height- 6’3-4
Weight- 200. I plan to get up around 210-215, then will drop to 198 for the competition.
Body fat- under 10%
Goals for this meet- pull 550+ for a PR at that weight class, and I would love to avoid another injury.

I will start logging my training next week because i have cheerleading tryouts this weekend so i have used this week as a deload week.

 

[walker11]

Friday 4/29
Didnt lift any but had open gym/tryouts. Stunted with 2 girls, my flier from last year and a new girl, both about 110-115 lbs. Got about 20 tosses in with both of them, just did hands and extension with my current flier. The new girl had never stunted before so we just worked on tossing and did a chair.
Saturday 4/30
Didnt lift again because of tryouts and work. All i did at tryouts was toss hands and extenion with my flier. Then had work from 4:30 p.m.-1 a.m.
Sunday 5/1
Bench workout-
Pendulums with a 5 lb. weight and passive stretching to warm up my shoulders.
Flat bench- 45x15, 95x15, 115x15, 135x15, 165x15, 185x10
Reverse grip board press (3 board)- 135x15, 135x15, 165x12, 165x12
Straight bar skull crusher- 65x12, 85x12, 90x12, 90x12
V-Grip cable press down- 10 sets of 6 50 lbs. and 30 seconds rest (this weight will change when i get home from school because of a different cable set up)
Tabata crunches- 8x20 with 15 seconds rest
Ice shoulders for 20 minutes

 

[walker11]

Tuesday 5/3
Squat (manta ray, RAW)- 45x10, 45x10, 135x10, 145x10, 185x8, 225x5, 235x5, 255x5, 275x5, 285x5
Deadlift (orange EFS short bands, 70 lbs.)- 5x1 w/145, 5x1 w/195, 5x1 w/235, 3x1 w/255
Shrugs- 225x10, 315x10, 315x10
Glute Ham Raises (GHR)- 3x10
Barbell Rows (keeping these light for now because of my shoulder)- 115x10, 135x8, 155x8
Box jumps (about 47 inches)- 3x5

Note- my left shoulder started feeling tight when i got to 8th set of squats (255), but felt good when doing rows.

Also, i have not mentioned yet what supplements i am currently using.
-Cissus
-Fish oil
-Joint Support (TP)
-Whey protein (TP)
-Casein protein (TP)
-Aleve (2 in the morning and 2 at night as instructed by the ATs here at school)
I plan on adding creatine, beta alanine, and BCAAs in a few weeks.

 

[walker11]

Wednesday 5/4 (rehab day)
Pendulums
Passive stretching
Internal and External rotation- 2x15 w/ black tubing
I,T,Y- 2x15 w/ 2.5 lbs.
Shoulder Press- 45x12, 45x12, 50x12, 50x12
Hanging leg raises- 3x15
Standing bar grips- 2x30 seconds 95 lbs.

 

[triathloncoach]

Cool thread. I love that you are natural. Especially at your age. I've read there are as many injuries in cheerleading as any sport. Although I thought it was mostly from the girls landing wrong. But I guess tossing around 100plus lbs could be traumatic on the body.

My only other comment is aren't you at least 6 inches too tall for the 198lb class? Nice job. Respect.

 

[walker11]

thanks bud i appeciate it. you would think the little ones that fall from the top of stunts get hurt the most, but they're tough as nails and rarely get hurt (mainly because i lay out and bust my ass to keep them from hittng the ground).
and yea i know im too tall for 198 but i would rather cut down and be at the top of my weight class than be 10 lbs. lighter than everyone else at 220. but you can look out for me to be at 220 in the next year or so.

 

[walker11]

another update for today (5/4). Had a meeting with the strength and conditioning coach here at school because we had to go over some stuff that i will be instructing next year and him and i like ot bounce training ideas off each other. And while we were talking we got on the subject of my shoulder mobility problems, long story short i ended up getting some deeo tissue work on my traps, rotators, and pecs, then being put through another rehab session. And by the end of this session i was able to get a bar on my back to squat with NO PAIN.
So from now on i will be starting every workout with what i'm calling the "broom stick warm-up", and my rehab days will have some added rotator work. The broom stick warm-up will consist of standing with a broom stick and starting off by doing 20 chest presses, 20 incline press, and 20 behind the head shoulder press, followed by using a wide grip and doing a swimming type motion rotating my arms behind my head for 10 reps each direction, after this is a few over head squats really focusing on opening up my shoulders, then fiishing off with 3 wide grip wirth elbows locked rotating my shoulders over and behind me as far as possible then moving each hand in a few inches and doing 3 mroe reps.Some other stretching that will be added is stretching for external rotators (since thats the motion i have trouble with). Some of this is kind of hard to explain so i will try to get a video in the ext week or two of this warm-up and stretching to show you all what im trying to describe.

 

[walker11]

Thursday 5/5
Broom stick warm-up
Bench- 45x15, 95x15, 115x15, 135x10, 135x10
Floor press- 135x8, 155x8, 175x8, 185x8
Bench dips- body weight 4x12
Medicine ball pop-overs- 6x10, 8x10, 8x10
Lying flicks (medicine ball)- 6x15, 6x15, 6x15

Note- my chest was still kind of sore soi didnt want to lift very heavy or with much volume. And the medicine ball work was done for cheerleading to work on shoulder and wrist stability and coordination. Also, my shoulder felt great today, i thought it would be sore after all the rehab work and the deep tissue done yesterday, but i had no pain all day.

 

[walker11]

Friday 5/6
didnt have much time to lift today because i had 2 exams, finishing my research proposal, then meeting with a study group for an exam tomorow.
Broom stick warm-up
Hex bar deadlift (first time using this bar)- 135x8, 225x8, 315x5, 325x5, 335x5, 345x5, 355x5.
Standing leg curls- 45x8, 55x8, 55x8
i also did some box squats just with the bar to see how my shoulder flelt with the bar on it. Felt pretty good but due to time i was not able to do any squatting.

 

[walker11]

Sunday 5/8
Broom stick warm-up
Bench- 45x15, 95x15, 135x12, 155x12, 185x10, 190x10
3 Board (w/ fat grips)- 225x10, 225x10, 225x10
Press downs (EFS orange bands)- 4x15
Medicine ball pop overs- 8x10, 8x10, 8x10
Standing abb pull downs (jump stretch green band)- 4x15

 

[walker11]

Tuesday 5/10
Broom stick warm-up
Squat- 45x10, 45x10, 135x10, 135x10
Extra wide deadlift (2-ply briefs, doubled mini bands)- 1x1 135, 5x1 185, 5x1 225, 5x1 275
Barbell rows- 135x10, 145x10, 155x10
Seated SSB Goodmornings- 95x10, 95x10, 95x10
Reverse hyper- 90x15, 90x15, 90x15

Note- i squatted today with no manta ray and the bar ow on my back where i used to have it fr squatting. I used squatting as a warm-up and also to text my shoulder, 135 felt a little uncomfortable so i didn't go any heavier.

 

[walker11]

Wednesday 5/11- rehab and recovery workout
Broom stick warm-up
Pendulums
Internal and External rotation- 3x15 2.5 lbs.
I,T,Y- 2x15 2.5 lbs.
Shoulder press- 45x12, 55x12, 65x12
Upright rows- 45x12, 45x12, 45x12 (first time doing these)
GHR crunches- 3x20
Sled drags- 90 lbs. for 3 laps around the parking lot
Full body stretching

 

[walker11]

Thursday 5/12
Broom stick warm-up
Bench- 45x15, 95x15, 135x12, 165x12, 165x12
Floor press- 135x10, 145x10, 165x10, 185x10
Tricep extension sled drags- 45x20, 70x20, 70x20
Hanging leg raises- 3x20
Shoulder stretches

 

[walker11]

Friday 5/13
had to lift in the morning because i had to drive back to school that night for graduation weekend.
Broom stick warm-up
SSB squat (box 3 in. below parallel)- 45x10, 135x10, 225x3, 275x2, 275x3, 295x2, 135x15 (i had a hard time getting comfortable with this bar, dont know why but i just couldnt get used to it).
GHR- 3x12
Savana pulls (kind of like snatch grip high pulls)- 45x10, 65x10, 85x10, 105x10
Lat pulls- 50x10, 75x10, 75x10
Reverse hyper- 90x12, 90x12, 90x12


Monday 5/16
i usualy bench on sunday, but becuase i was at school all day i missed sundayand made it up on my off day (monday)
Broom stick warm-up
Bench- 45x15, 95x15, 135x15, 165x10, 200x10, 135x15, 135x15
Elevated push ups- 4x15 (done very slow)
Barbell skull crushers- 65x12, 70x12, 75x12, 75x12
I,T,Y- 2.5x15, 2.5x15
Shoulder press- 45x12, 55x12, 65x12, 75x12
Stretches
Note- i have moved my shoulder/rehab work back to my bench days and split it into 2 seperate workouts instead of doing it all on the same day. I did this because im now partner stunting every wednesday, so i wont have time to make it into the gym and after an hour of tossing 100-110 lb. girls around, i'm going to need ice and not more shoulder work.

 

[walker11]

Tuesday 5/17
Broom stick warm-up
Block pulls (3)- 135x10, 225x8, 275x5, 315x2, 405x1 (1 ply briefs), 500x1 (full gear, straps loose), 520x1 (full gear, straps tight), 540x1 (full gear, straps tight) felt like i might of had 550 in me, but i have not been feeling good lately and have a long stunt session tomorow so i didnt want to push my luck too much.
Full ROM deadlift- 405x1, 405x1, 405x1 (did these becuase i'm still getting used to the suit)
SLDL- 135x10, 155x10, 175x10
Cable rows- 50x12, 100x8, 125x8, 125x8
Standing abb crunches (green band)- 3x15
Reverse hyper- 90x12, 90x12, 90x12

Note- for the past few days i have had a pain about 2 inches about my belly button and covers most of my abb area, i will be fine for a few minutes then a pain will it me for about 20 seconds and has me doubled over in pain. I feel fine after i eat (for about an hour or two) and when lifting, but laying in bed and sitting around is when it hurts the most. I don't know if i strained something while squatting friday, bruised something when my belt dug into me on my last set last friday, or if it is becuase all this past weekend my diet was shit and i wasnt eating enough. but hopefuly this pain/situation will go away soon.

 

[walker11]

Thursday 5/19
Broom stick warm-up
Bench (fat grips)- 45x15, 95x15, 135x15, 145x15, 145x15
Sled drag tri extensions- 70x20, 75x20, 75x20
Front raises- 2.5x15 x3
Lateral raises- 2.5x15 x3
Internal and external rotation- 2.5x15 x3
Sled drag- 3 laps around the parking lot with 90 lbs.
Hanging leg raises- 3x15
Stretches

Note- this is the first time i have done lateral and front raises since june last year, next week i will try to move up to 5 lbs., then 10, then 15 by the end of june.

 

[walker11]

Friday 5/20
missed due to ortho. visit and road trip.
I had to go see my ortho because both my shoulders have been sore lately (bicep tendons) and i wanted to get a note to go to PT for ultrasound and e-stim, which i got. However, during the visit my doc changed his mind about 4 times as to how my shoulder has progressed, what surgery he did, and what he put in my shoulder. He said a few times that i will never recover fully and be strong again so i should just give up, then would say that i am 100% and can do whatever i want. The doc also changed his mind twice as to what i had repaired and what hardware he put in my shoulder. I honestly believe this guy is on drugs and should not be "fixing" peoples shoulders.

Sunday 5/22
Warm-up
Bench- 45x15, 95x15, 135x15, 165x12, 185x10, 205x10
Floor press (pause at the bottom)- 135x10, 185x10, 185x10
Lying DB tri extensions- 8x8 w/ 35 lbs.
Shoulder press- 55x12, 65x12, 75x12, 85x12
I,T,Y- 3x15 w/ 2.5 lbs.
GHR crunches- 3x20

 

[matt1164]

hey

I just found out that I have a possible torn labrum in left shoulder as well as a torn rotator in rt shoulder.

do you think a torn labrum can heal itself without surgery?

also if there is surgery, how long is the rehab period?

thanks man

 

[walker11]

i was told by 2 orthos that labrums will not heal on there own, so surgery is neccessary. im close to 11 months post-surgery now (stopped PT about 3 months ago and started doing my own protocol) and am feeling close to 100% but still do not have all my strength and range of motion back. i've been told if i would of have PRP injections and had some deep tissue done earlier, then my range of motion would be 100% and all that would be lacking is strength.

 

[matt1164]

thanks, appreciate the feedback. my ortho said that alot of weightlifters have torn labrums but he said flat, incline and shoulder presses should be avoided.

I'm probably going to have the surgery at some point.