Took a bit of a back week this week, it was necessary. I have injuries in the low back from doing some stupid stuff several years ago, essentially within a 6 month period I first of all twisted my SI joint, but then very soon after damaged a lumbar disk. Each injury on their own isn’t too bad but the combination has left it’s indelible mark. Basically every now and again, especially when training hard, these injuries may become aggravated. When that happens, this happens:
The right QL tightens up drawing my pelvis up on the right hand side. The left Erector Spinae develops trigger points. The Piriformis on both sides cramp and become a network of trigger points. The hip flexors, particularly on the right tighten. The hamstrings tighten due to the glute dysfunction. I end up a bit of a mess.
This is why I’m not lifting kettles competitively this year, each competitive training phase aggravates the injury, but this year was particularly bad. With some excellent physio I got back to my feet but upon restarting the Kettlebell training, even with lighter weight and lower volume I went down hill pretty quick. Hence the recent bodyweight training phase.
But even with bodyweight only things still happen, especially as I haven’t been keeping up with my maintenance work.
Maintenance work is basically the stretching, foam rolling, good sleep, good food and water. I was stretching intermittently, never even looked at the roller (despite insisting most of guys use it religiously…!) and due to a few celebratory moments wasn’t getting food, water or sleep in the right ratios.
End result: See list of symptoms above.
So to this weeks training log:
Monday (Bank Holiday)
No training today, spent day with family. Basically a long walk in the park and an afternoon building bunk beds in a room that’s too small to build bunk beds in! Got it done with a lot of swearing. A LOT of pain that evening, was in pain all weekend but this is now silly (the bunk bed episode certainly didn’t help things). So spent evening watching Olympics and doing some TV stretching but the trigger points had gotten so embedded, the stretching did little to help.
Tuesday
Joint Mobility work, 30 minutes focusing on the hips. Rumble Roller, 15 minutes on the hips, quads and low back. Bodyweight squats x 350 Rumble Roller, 10 minutes as above.
Wednesday
Mobility work for hips Rumble Roller, Small Medicine ball and Hurley Ball (proper name: Sliotar) for some severe self massage in the hips, focusing on glutes and erector spinae. Ring Dips & Chins at intervals through day (Grease the Groove) Karate class that evening so a lot of THIS and stacks of front kicks for dynamic mobility
Thursday
Mobility for hips – it’s actually returning! Rumble Roller, Med ball and Hurley Ball in hips, low back and attempting to get into QL General Joint mobility BW Squats x 100
1A: Pull Ups x 15, 10, 10, 7 1B: Ring Dips x 12, 10, 7, 5
2A: Deadhang Pull Ups (4 second hang) x 3 x 5 2B: Dead start dips (let the heels rest on the floor, legs locked, between each rep. Do NOT let legs assist when beginning the push) x 3 x 5
Friday
Hip mobility at intervals through day (busy day so couldn’t dedicate and extended period) Rumble roller in Hip & low back – fortunately I had to demo the roller a few times, used it to my advantage!
Ladder sets of: 1A: Parallel Grip chins x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3, (1,2,3) x several (lost count!) 2A: Divebomber Push up (chose for it’s mobility benefits) x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3, (1,2,3) x several (lost count!)
Long walk on beach with the Dog.
TV stretching that evening while enjoying the Olympic Boxing.
Not much achieved in the way of my moving towards my current goals, but the goals fade in importance when I am in too much pain to lift the kids and am too bound up to roll around on the floor with them. Take an important lesson from me here, I fucked up in the past many many times and am paying for it now. I don’t mind, I’ve had an interesting and enjoyable life and a bit of pain won’t ever stop me, but also appreciate that if i did my maintenance more often and if I backed off a little more often I’d suffer a lot less. Take note and learn from my mistakes.
Till next week
Dave