The Syla5 Files

Had another review of my back issue, it feels like i have a load of small ball bearing sized lumps within the muscle and these need to be worked on. Deep tissue massage is planned, apart from this it is feeling better then it has been for the last two weeks.

Strength routine cycle 2 (cycle 1 reboot really with slightly less weight so as not to over do it)

Bit of foam rolling before squats, and ankle mob/stretching and hip flossing between warmup sets.
Squats
Barx10/10
40x10
60x5
80x3
100x6/6/6
really focusing on keeping my whole back straight on these
1st set
3rd set

Inclined DB Bench forgot a warmup set and first set felt heavy!
32x7/6/6

RDL's
bar x10
40x5
70x10/10/10
3rd set and i know OMG WTF am i doing with my head, serious issue there!!
Pull ups
bw x10/10 pushed for time so left it at that

DB Rows (light)
20x10/10/10

Landmines
10x20/20
 
Slight adjustments to my routine after the first cycle, couple of things added in and order change to optimise.

Day 1
Squat
Inclined DB bench
Pull ups
RDL'S
DB row (light)
Landmines

Day 2
Bench
DB row (heavy)
OHP
Front squat
Face Pulls
Reverse Crunch

Day 3
Deadlifts
Dips
Standing cable row
Goblet squat (w/pulse)
Seated DB press, super set with front raise
Landmines

Weight targets
Week/sets/reps squat Deadlift bench OHP
1. 3x6 100/115/80/45
2. 3x5 110/125/85/47.5
3. 4x4 115/135/87.5/50
4. 4x3 120/145/90/52.5

I am cautious of how to deal with my deadlifts as I don't want to risk my back again.

If everything goes well with back rehab then week 5 is hopefully going to be as follows

Reps/sets. squat/Deadlift/bench/OHP
1x3 130/150/90/55
1x3 135/160/95/57.5
1x3 140/165/100/60
 
Deception said:
Looks like I need to get my ass in to gear :D

Still doing CBL too?
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Yes mate still dipping CBL, and still going well, Saturday marked then end of week 5, on week 4 I increased my back loads to 4 per 4 and last week I weighed in at my lowest since the end of my cut last September, at 11st 3.75lb. I have increased daily protein to 180g and im going to backload 5 times per week as my real aim is get stronger, add muscle mass. Because of my back I can't really tell how my strength is, but I feel my workout this morning looked good :)


Captain Planet said:
Heya mate, on your HST routine did you ever fail a set and if so what did you do? Drop the weight and complete the set? Carry on at that weight but drop reps for the session? Waaa?
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If it wasn't one of the big 4 lifts I wasn't majorly worried about it to much. I did as much as I could on the day and if it was a really low amount of reps I would drop the weight. I can't remember failing one of the big 4, but there were some tough days. Take longer rest periods if ou need to :)
 
If your supposed to be hitting reps on the 25's then do as many as you can with them. If you are really falling short then go back to the 22's. Depends how many reps your missing, but I wouldn't be to worried at missing ne or two.
 
icecold said:
Ball baring sized lumps? Sounds perfect for a graston attack...
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Haha gonna ease myself in with a deep tissue massage! Having never had any kind of physio treatment or massage for that matter I want to ease my self in to it.

Out of interest how much does a grastson session cost?
 
Hmm that would be a mission for me to get to, plus driving back for 1.5 hours after grastson on my lower back doesn't sound tasty. I shall see what tomorrow brings then maybe look for someone local, and reputable.
 
Delvis said:
It looks like a frickin torture session :(

Do I really need THAT? :p
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Chill winston, you need to have things checked out before you go jumping to conclusions. I didnt just poke around and decide that i had ball bearing sized lumps etc. I had a trained sports therapist check me out, as i was in two minds anyway about getting a deep tissue or sports massage, her advice was that the deep tissue would most likely go a long way to fixing any issues, and along with my soft tissue work then this should help continue to improve the tissue quality.
 
Delvis said:
I've had the fatty tissue or whatever it is for months, if not years, I've not just gone 'ooooh look I have these lumps too' :p

The last physio I saw was telling to suck in my stomach every time I sit down and sit up, which is apparently a no no....That was CMK in milton keynes
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Its not fatty tissue, its small nodules/knots in the muscle fibre. I am not saying you dont have the same, i am saying you dont need to jump right in to graston, and you might also benefit from a second opinion. It would appear i have had two good experiences and both advisors have given me similar feed back and advice on a good course of action.

You may just need a sports or deep tissue massage, you may need graston. Dont assume you must have graston straight away was my point.
 
Deep tissue massage done. Feedback, my muscles appear nice and balance, especially at the top of my back, there is over development of my left hand side but it's not significant and with continued balanced training and improved posture this should be corrected over time.

The ball bearing type lumps have been significantly reduced already, and hopefully will continue to dissipate as the muscles recover over the next couple of days. The muscle of my lower back didn't show any signs of strains or tears which again is good however I do appear to have a band of weakness at the base of my back say about a 4inch tall band going from the top of my glutes and across from one hip to the other.

Advise is to work on improving my core strength, specifically where possible the strength of my obliques and any exercises that will focus on the lower portion of my lats as they come in to the base of the spine as well.
 
Back feels good even after only 6 hours of broken sleep. Little weight update, the morning after 3 days of backloading my weight was 11st 8.25lb so a 4.5lb gain after 3 days of mass carbs is pretty reasonable to me :) lets see where i settle back down to tomorrow after todays ULC day :)

Hip flossing mobility work between warmup sets
Bench
Bar x20 WGx20
40x12
60x5 couple of paused
70x1 paused
80x6/5+1(spot)/5+1 grrr whyz mu chest se weak brahs :(

DB Row (heavy)
30x8 32x8 34x8

Ankle mobility work between warmup sets
OHP
Bar x 5
30x5
45x6/6/6 easy mode :)

Front squat kept the weight down and focused on form and keeping the core and back tight
Bar x 10
40x10/10/10
after this i tried a couple of reps with some fractional plates under my heels, they make a hell of a difference, something to aim for without needing the plates.
2nd set of front squats
Face Pulls, different cable machine = different weight (same brand of machine, fail on consistency!)
32x10/10/10

Done
 
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mrthingyx said:
Well, there is a reason I wear Olympic training shoes - got 3/4" lift at the back. :D

However, my ankle mobility is - mercifully - pretty good, but the lift does make a very comfy difference in front squatting. :)
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For me, i have no interest what so ever in oly lifting, at least not for the forseable. Would it be best that I stick to what i am doing and not use the plates under my heels?
 
mrthingyx said:
IT hurts me to hear you say that. ;)
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Dont get me wrong i have muchos admiration for people who Oly Lift, i just dont have access to the equipment/area/expertise of a coach to train such lifts. Also they make me cringe at the possibility of snapping myself :(
I think the closest i would get to oly lifting is maybe overhead squats, and possibly some power cleans. Otherwise i will leave it to you, injuries hurt less when you watch someone else get them :p:D (/notsrs really hope you dont get injured at all !!)

Delvis said:
For extra oblique work get on the pallof presses in the cable machine, or just use a band for the time being.

you could also try landmines but in a squat position :p
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I might need to be shown the pallof press as from the vids i have seen and tried to replicate it doesnt make sense, but i am probably doing it wrong so yeah, friday? :D

Deception said:
Body Saw's and Rollouts really helped when I had my lower back issue. Now it's pretty much none existent :). Might not be the same issue as you've got, but I just I'd throw them out there as they're good exercises.
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Rollouts with an ab wheel?? got one of them if so :) bodysaws look fun as well.
 
Ah, I put that together myself! it's actually really straight forward to do.

Get an idea of the exercises you want to do and what your 15,10,5 rm's and I am happy for you to trust them over or put them in your log and I will throw an ss together for you that you can then adjust for each cycle :)
 
Well i did the A/B split to make sure i was getting enough variation in to the routine, nothing wrong with doing just one full body routine, but i knew i would get bored of that very quickly. Also squatting every day gets very very tiring as i am sure you appreciate, so i had squat varaitions to work on different areas of weakness. Different leg exercises so that i wasnt just hammering the legs with one big movement each week etc.

Nothing wrong with the basic routine thought, but i think something a little more advanced would suit you better.
 
Hmm i like the scales at the gym! provided me with suprisingly lighter weight then i was expecting, same as the ones in oxford :)
156lb (70.8kg, 11st 2lb! CBL sucks hard /haters :p)

Welcome back deadlifts, i have missed you. Keeping things light compared to cycle one
Mobility
50x8
70x5
90x3
110x2
115x6/6/6 (cycle 1 snap lane started at 130x6)
3rd set of DL's, not belting up to help improve core stability + strength

Dips
Bw x7
20x10
30x8
40x5 straight drop no rest 30x3
Heavy dips :D

Standing Cable Row (per arm)
18x10
23x10/10

Goblet squat w/pulse
10x10/10/10
2nd set, opps at the first rep pulsing at the top /tired!
A definite improvement over last week.

DB Shoulder Press
18x10/10 (standing)
18x10 (seated)

Pallof Press
14x10+10 (rep per side)
14x5+5

I threw in a plank for 30 sec between the Pallof Press sets, core is super fried, lower back feels good, no crazy pump, glute is a little tight but not uncomfortable. Hoping my new roller arrives today for some friday night pain.
 
Strength cycle 2 5's week

Squats
bar x some
40x10
60x5
80x3
100x2
110x5/5/6 this was the weight i did in week 1 cycle 1 with a belt. This time no belt and felt good.
3rd set side on view, much much less lumbar movement, also lost count due to hitting the catchers and threw out an extra rep
Inclined DB Press
20x8
32x7/6/6
Pull-ups
+10x6/6/6
RDL
50x5
70x10/10/10

DB Row
20x10/10/10

Landmines
10x20/20

Pallof Press
14x7/10

Overall pleased with my lower back recovery and pleased with how my squats felt.

Also tried a couple of 50kg clean to push press, based on how they felt, i feel i could probably knock out a quick 10 @ 60kg, but 30 reps would be a serious mission
 
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this is how this cycle is looking:

Weight targets
Week/sets/reps squat Deadlift bench OHP
1. 3x6 100/115/80/45 (squat and DL roughly 66% rm)
2. 3x5 110/125/85/47.5 (squat and dl roughly 73%)
3. 4x4 115/135/87.5/50 (squat 76% dl 79%)
4. 4x3 120/145/90/52.5 (squat 80% dl 85%)

I am cautious of how to deal with my deadlifts as I don't want to risk my back again.

If everything goes well with back rehab then week 5 is hopefully going to be testing as follows

Reps/sets. squat/Deadlift
1x3 130/150 (squat 86% dl 88%)
1x3 135/160 (squat 90% dl 94%)
1x3 140/165 (squat 93% dl 97%)

next cycle i plan on doing roughly
week 1 60-70% rm
week 2 70-80% rm
week 3 80-90% rm
week 4 90%+ rm
 
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