I'm DarkShadow. And This is my story.

Delvis · 11 Mar 2016 at 12:57

Awesome job, glad you're keeping (generally) well

I'm booked in to have x-rays and MRI on my back/hips for the 23rd, hoping it at least states something is wrong with me

tom_e · 11 Mar 2016 at 13:16

Sheeeeet son! Nice work mate and great to see that all the set backs haven't led you down the "Why bother" path.

Freefaller · 11 Mar 2016 at 14:31

Amazing speed on those squats. Better than my speed at similar weights

Great to have seen you bounce back

DarkShadow · 14 Mar 2016 at 12:55

Cheers guys.

I had a small strength peak at 195KG deadlift. I ended up throwing in a little more volume as it was a short workout.

Delvis said:
Awesome job, glad you're keeping (generally) well

I'm booked in to have x-rays and MRI on my back/hips for the 23rd, hoping it at least states something is wrong with me

Hope it goes well dude - keep us updated.

Delvis · 14 Mar 2016 at 12:58

Tasty!

Warbie · 14 Mar 2016 at 13:40

Woh, nice deads. You made that look easy!

DarkShadow · 30 Mar 2016 at 11:35

Had a really odd moment a couple of weeks ago at work. I had about 5 days off legs- felt great. I was in a meeting and when I stood up, I lost strength to my leg. I limped around for a couple of days, felt okay and I tried some squats and they feel comfortable :confused:

I've had a little break by taking another week off. I'm getting it checked out just in case.

I've reluctantly started my third cycle, the slightest bit of pain and I'm stopping right away.

Stormed my session yesterday comfortably on a really empty stomach. It turns out I can't count when I'm hungry. This was supposed to be 10 reps which would have been comfortable.

Did a further 12 sets at 3 reps after these.

I'm travelling SE Asia in 4 weeks for about 5 weeks. I've usually trained when I go abroad but I have a lot cities crammed in so the daily walking and hiking will make up for my fitness and I may throw in isometrics/bodyweight holds a few times a week.

DarkShadow · 6 Apr 2016 at 13:57

Mid-third cycle

Squats now up to 150KG 6 reps (3 sets)
Deadlifts are now at 185KG 6 reps (2 sets)

blairw · 7 Apr 2016 at 09:28

Unreal strength considering your issues with injury etc! Greatly motivating

Warbie · 7 Apr 2016 at 10:22

Beast mode.

DarkShadow · 21 Apr 2016 at 10:03

Here's a mini peak for my squat. The last time I touched 170KG was 4.5 years ago :eek:

. I cannot believe it's been that long!

The last week has been awful for sleep and I've been in a calorie deficit planning my SE Asia trip. there should have been no grind but I was really exhausted - glad I still hit my goal. I have a grand total of 12/13 flights and 6 countries. I have an exhaustive itinerary, I'll be walking and hiking a lot but if I'm feeling up to it I'll throw in some Calisthenics works.

Straight after I return, Ramadan will be beginning. I plan to return with doubles and triples working around 80-85%. I'll then be reviewing my annual plan.

Delvis · 21 Apr 2016 at 11:31

Soo juicy

DarkShadow · 22 Apr 2016 at 21:47

This week hasn't improved much with sleep,food and recovery.

Decided to go in and try my best, my schedule is too busy. Managed 210KG for 3. I'd really love to see how it would look on a better day. It should have a been a smoother 210 for 4 but I'm happy. I haven't been above 200 in too long (almost 4 years?) nor have I done enough volume to build up to this. Very interested to see what more effort would yield in.

DarkShadow · 25 Apr 2016 at 08:53

Big news!

I went to do some 90% Squat work, after this I repeated my previous upper body session. Hit a new Bench PR at 115KG

I topped 500KG total this last week on a really off week. Considering I started this year at (what I considered a strong) 350KG, this is truly an achievement for myself!

tom_e · 25 Apr 2016 at 08:56

Inspiring work as always mate.

DarkShadow · 28 Jun 2016 at 13:17

I had just over 5 weeks off. I walked and hiked a lot. I lost about 10lb and was highly active with little sleep.

Here was the plan:

Onto training, I saw a loss of around 25% in all lifts. I really struggled on higher rep work. I've bridged that gap fairly well since I've been back.

It's Ramadan which means I'm fasting for 19 hours without food or water. I've been training 3 days a week around 18 hours into my fast.

Yesterday this happened for the first time ever :eek:

Petelock · 29 Jun 2016 at 12:40

Nowhere near the weight you're squatting, but the advice has been taken on board!

DarkShadow · 13 Jul 2016 at 13:01

My arm is really starting to give in. I have tendonitis (tennis elbow), what seems like carpal tunnel and bicep strain.

I'm mentally driven to make intense progress but this arm keeps flaring up and longing out. I've tried a number of strategies over 6 months to keep it at bay but I think I'm going to have to completely remove deadlifts and upper body work minus bench, it's the only thing I can only really continue.

I can't really switch to calisthenics either. Anyone had similar?

Delvis · 13 Jul 2016 at 13:06

What have you tried? Assuming you've made a soft tissue routine to attack it?

DarkShadow · 13 Jul 2016 at 13:16

Delvis said:
What have you tried? Assuming you've made a soft tissue routine to attack it?

I've been doing using the flexbar and doing Tyler twists (which helped a tremendous amount), soft tissue work across my arm, a number of exercises for all 3 problems and using the floss band.

I removed the biggest culprits, dropped to very light weights but deadlifts require more grip work and even using wraps as a strategy isn't proving useful above 70% work.

I think the juggling act of rehab whilst still lifting just isn't working out. I think that's the only thing left to do now, to completely remove lifting out of the equation and just left it rest. I guess I can use this time to really horn in on mobility and tissue work.