BB to PL. It hurts

ferrolent · 11:18 PM

I'll start off with a little history about myself. I'm a former highschool wrestler and have been lifting weights on and off for years in true BB style. I've decided to take lifting more seriously and after reading this forum I thought to mix it up a little and try PL, so here goes.

My goals: rebuild confidence, squat three plates a side, bench two plates a side. Deadlift? Fuck knows, they're not an exercise I've ever done.

24 years old, 5'9, 170 lbs.

In an effort to show just how serious I am to myself, I spent like 100 bucks on supplements. The creatine monohydrate I bought bloated me up like a rock cod, so that didn't last long. Today I took no-xplode for the first time, listened to "Do the evolution" and felt totally psyched to start lifting heavy. When I say I took no-xplode, I mean it literally. I shoved that powder shit into my mouth because I didn't want it to go to waste stickin to the glass. It tasted real good, like candy. I barely managed to suppress a huge sneeze and quickly washed it all down with a glass of water.

Nobody does squats at the lame college gym I go to. I got there today and a guy was doing squats with two plates on each side, the most I've ever seen squatted at my gym. His form was decent, he didn't go to parallel, but he was very close which is better than 95% of the retards I've seen. After he finished I started lifting

225*8
no problem, this is what I usually lift. I was trying a narrower stance for this workout because I read somewhere that it works your quads harder.

The guy that was squatting before me was off doing lunges with just a bar. I gave him a meaningful look that he probably didn't see and added weight. This was my first attempt at doing lower than 8 reps for squats
255*6
feeling pretty good, it wasn't very hard. I was going to go heavier, but worried about my form which has been perfect thus far despite having never lifted such a heavy weight before
255*6
strained to complete the last rep, felt a twinge in my lower back.
255*3
Fuck! And I'm injured. So much for deadlifts. I was going to go very light and get used to the proper form, but that'll have to wait for another day. My goal for squats might be a little low, I can probably already do three plates.

Standing calf raises
225*8
315*6
315*4
315*5

Uneventful, I shot the shit with some guy about training for the military and lasik surgery. Taking a time out while under fire to put in eyedrops? That's hilarious! Successfully didn't let on that my back was screaming in agony.

Hanging leg raises
8, 8, 8, 6
First and last time. I hate these things. They sure looked cool on bodybuilding.com

Well that's it. My reps are still high but I'm trying to ease into it. I drove downtown to buy dogfood and could barely get out of my car. My back is proper fucked.

ferrolent · 03-07-2006, 08:53 PM

Forced marching through the snow for an hour in my backyard today. Back feels a little better, but it still takes effort to stand up straight. I might be able to do benchpress on Thursday

CelebritySexist · 03-09-2006, 04:07 PM

That's so rubbish, getting injured on your first day of training. I did that a couple of years ago, resolved to train everyday, MT, weights, the lot; then, two rounds into heavy bag at the flat I fell during a high kick and fractured my radius. As Kurt Vonnegut would no doubt say, "So it goes."

Hope you get it sorted soon, best of luck!

ferrolent · 03-09-2006, 05:02 PM

Did the same thing with squats five years ago. Should've learned my lesson. When ya feel that little weirdness in your back just stop. I was too pumped to start lifting hard and ignored the obvious warning signs.

ferrolent · 03-09-2006, 10:24 PM

More walking around my backyard today.. Should be able to bench on Tuesday hopefully.

Here's a tip: If you get a back injury, avoid eating All-Bran cereal at any cost. I spent fifteen minutes trying to wipe my arse.

Lard-ass · 03-10-2006, 10:08 AM

I have a bad back (long story, getting treatment for that) but the thing is that my back often cramp up after squating, gm or bor, every exercise which the lower back are suppose to hold the body in static position.
At first I thought it was an injury, but Ive come to learned that its just the small muscles along the spine which cramps up and giving me a stiff back, having pains when sitting down, taking a shit at the toilet and so forth. So the cramping itself arent that dangerous, although you cant excersise because of the pain.

So, my 2 cents, If you keep getting "hurt" meaning your back cramps up in certain exercises you may well have some sort of problem in your back which is "triggered" by certain exercises despite good form. If your form sucks, well then its more easy to fix...

ferrolent · 03-10-2006, 10:26 AM

I appreciate the advice. My form isn't just good, it's beautiful, so that's not the problem. Like I said, the last time this happened was five years ago so I'm not too worried.

The previous week I did squats, five sets of 225 for 8 reps with no problems. My right hamstring was a bit sore going into my back injury workout though, so I'm thinking that perhaps it didn't generate enough force and I compensated with my back, leading to some sort of twisting.. That's my theory anyways.

Ian Coe · 03-10-2006, 04:36 PM

Don't fuck with the back, its got to support you for a long time.

Maybe start doing some GM's/ supplement your squats, but start off with pussy weights and build in time.

I mean pussy weights in the nicest possible way

ferrolent · 03-13-2006, 09:04 PM

With my back at around 80% I decided it was time to hit the gym and go light. My roommate disapproved. Here is my recovery workout

2 scoops no-xplode. I love this shit. Kabuki said it tastes awful, but I heartily disagree. Maybe he mixes too much water with it?

Below parallel squats
Bar x 20
95 x 8
145 x 4 x 8 reps

Way too easy. I wanted to go heavier, but better judgement prevailed. My back felt okay. I tried explosive and the bar was flying off my back so I did super slow squats instead.

Standing calf raises with barbell
225 x 8
315 x 8
315 x 7
315 x 8
315 x 6
Took off my shoes
225 x 8
Couldn't get much traction, my feet kept slipping, but I liked it without shoes. My feet smelled pretty bad. I felt sorry for the guy working out beside me.

After trying hanging leg raises and hating them, I decided to go back to the old school

Incline crunches x 20
Crunches x didn't count

I'm going to stick with regular crunches. They're awesome

I experimented with overhead squats using just a bar. They felt weird, but I think my form was good. I almost fell over at first, but after getting the motion I was going below parallel without much difficulty.

Thinking about eating raw eggs again, but worried about salmonela. I'll prob just stick with a protein shake.

ferrolent · 03-17-2006, 08:59 PM

I keep forgetting to bring my damn logbook with me. Anyways my workout on Tuesday

Bench 55 lb dumbells x 8
65 x 6
70 x 6
75 x 4, 3, 2, 2

Skull crushers
40 x 8
50 x 7, 6, 5, 5.

I'm thinking about trying close grip bench instead of crushers. In any case, my arms are weak

Curls x who cares?

experiment with bent over barbell rows.. with the machine for support because my back still wasn't feelin great
90 x 5
90 x 4