12 Dec Brian Carroll | Day 1 & 2 | with VIDEO and a STUPID decision

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I had a few bumps in the road as explained here Last training update. They have been ever present, unfortunately. But, nothing is linear and it’s certainly not perfect.

Here was the plan for the next 3 weeks after a decided reboot dealing with a few different things:

Week 1 – squat triples with SSB, block pulls for deads (throughout), second-week doubles, and the final week of the 3-week wave will be singles. I have been (and will be) starting with floor press on bench day, then going to equipped bench in my SDP (following the same rep scheme as above squat/dl day) as I really work on dialing in the details I’ve missed over the years. All RPE will be 6-7 and no higher than 8 on week 3. *I will be adding in elbow and knee sleeves along with wrist wraps for this cycle.

Saturday was one of the first days in a while I’ve felt good. It was week 1, so Clint and I stuck with the plan.

It was cold in the gym, so I made sure to warm-up well. It was 30’s all weekend. Not the norm for Florida but we do get a few cool-cold weekends a year. Some parts of NW FL got some snow actually.

Normal warm-up
a. Band fly
b. McGill Big 3
c. KB work
d. Empty bar

SSB – top set of 3 RPE 6:
435x3x2

Deadlift 2″ block pull RPE 6:
500x3x2

Belt squat: 4×10 (paused)
Plank Variation: few
Standing on one leg: 2 sets of 20sec per side

Great training session and it felt like I was shaking whatever it was that I had. Everything felt explosive and quick. Good sign. I had a rest of the weekend overall.

Monday, the plan as stated above is floor press.
Normal warm-up
a. band fly
b. McGill 3
c. Band press-down
d. Empty bar

I noticed that my left pec (my overhand side) was very sore from pulling Saturday after missing a week. I take note of this warming up and gave it a little extra band fly attention.

Clint and I moved up the latter on the floor press and even went an extra set with 275 between 225 and 315 since it was cold in the gym. One my third rep with 365 as I exploded, so did my upper pec/anterior deltoid. But, not a tendon rupture, thankfully. Just a nice few pops that the spotters heard. The rep was already locked out before I could even stop pushing. Maybe I shoved it a little too hard for where I am strength-wise.

Straining (tearing) a muscle is a very odd feeling. I’ve done it a lot, thankfully no tendons though. I put all of my efforts into destroying my spine. Anyway, the sensation is one of hearing/feeling it tear almost from the inside out.

Both of my pecs have big holes in them and I’ve ‘popped’ them multiple times over the years first one in 2002. They are misshapen from the tears and don’t always work that well, part of the game.

But, with that said, this only happens every 3 years or so. What’s odd is my right one has felt like it’s wanted to go for a while and is hanging on by a piano wire-sized piece of tendon. I’m actually very fortunate I’ve had so few soft-tissue injuries.

This tweak will set me back a few weeks but it happens. I was just talking with Paul Oneid just YESTERDAY about when I pop or pull something, it’s my pecs. What are the chances? Anyway, I started some therapy on it last night and have continued through today.

Oh, and here’s the best part. The ‘stupid’ derm doctor told me not to lift for a month to let my side/chest heal up and it’s only been about 13 days. I’m guessing this could have had to do with this issue since it’s within 6″ of the trauma.

The bottom line, I made a very stupid, non-leadership decision. Simply put, I didn’t want to take a month off from lifting since I was getting so close to getting back on ‘track.’ With the surgeries, getting sick and now this, I think I’m going to listen to my body (better) and deload the rest of the year, work on getting this tweak healthy and keep dialing in my bodyweight. I have no meets planned at this time, all of my training is for me and me only at this point.

I’ll be fine.

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.

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