He lads,
Been a while since I last updated. I saw the chiro a couple more times and the C6 nerve feels free now. I haven't got any radiating pain down the left arm anymore, so I'm happy about that. I still have some muscular problem in the trap/neck area and it's not healing on its own.
Chrio gave me the name of a good physio in the next town over. I've had the chance to see him once and he worked me pretty good. It hurt, but it was a "useful hurt," if you know what I mean. The guy is a 130 KG fighter who used to PL as well. When I told him my problems he said, "Yup, I've had all of them before myself. I know exactly what the problems are." That was nice to hear. Anyways, my right brachioradialis is starting to feel better and the RC is slightly better already. We haven't made it to the trap/neck area yet. He said I should see obvious improvements by session 3 or 4, so I'm glad to notice something small already. I see him again this Thursday.
Another note; I've been using a supplement called Cissus Quadrangularis. It sells under the name "Medi-Stim" here in Holland. It's gotten great reviews and lots of athletes apparently swear it's great for healing bones, tendons and ligaments. I thought it might help my brachio and RC, and perhaps that annoying ligament in my lower back, but I haven't notice anything yet and I'm half way through the therapy cycle. I'll finish this cycle then leave it and see what happens. I may or may not try another later on.
I've been testing the water a bit the last couple of weeks. I am able to Squat heavy again without feeling any pull in my trap area, which is bloody awsome. I squatted 150 KG last week, a lousy 2 KG under my PR, and I actually felt like I had about 5-10 KG to spare. I also tried DLing again, for the first time in about 6 months, and it actually felt pretty good. No problem in the lower back and my form, believe it or not, felt really tight. I only went up to 150 KG and felt I had a good amount to spare. I didn't want to push myself, for obvious reasons. The only trouble I had was grip. I'd like to train double over from now on, insted of over-under, so that will take some time to get used to. I don't want to jump back in and start pulling max weights, so we'll take 'er slow there.
I've been exercising regularly, so I'm in decent shape but weak and out of practice on the big lifts. I'll be running a Sheiko program over the next four weeks. Here's a link to it:
http://www.joeskopec.com/borisp.xls
I know you're supposed to actually test maxes before beginning, but I'm not that far along anyways so a good estimate will be just fine. I'll use the following:
Squat 160 KG
Bench 110 KG
Deadlift 170 KG
Anywhere you see Dips, I'll be doing something else of my choice that day. Deadlift day will look different. I'll begin the workout with Power Cleans, then the press work, then some kind of DL work at the end. I won't always stick to the plan for DLs, for obvious reasons. If I start to have trouble with the workload, I'll adjust maxes.
I'll be eating slightly above maintenance. I'm 197 lbs at the moment and I don't want to be too far over 200 after the deload and test. It's a 4 week program, then I'll probably deload and test at the end of week 6. After that, if physio has gone well and I feel good, I'll rev up again and run something more hypertrophy friendly before trying to lose some weight for summer. We're going to Spain this year
Cheers lads,
Jeff