27 Jan LCS general update
Myself, I’m pretty much in the clear from the hernia.
Quick rundown of how my hernia recovery went. I feel good to be 10 weeks post op. I’ve basically taken an 8 week deload. I feel weak and deconditioned but eager to resume training full bore.
I pretty much stuck 100% to the plan. The goal was not to have to go back and have to redo the whole damn thing. I was super cautious but I feel like was the best decision.
You can read more about how I planned it out here:
So here’s how it really went. I did stick pretty damn close to my original plan. Kind of nice when a plan comes together.
1 week post op: Ha! I didn’t do a damn thing. Maybe I’m a baby, but the first couple days were rough. I actually needed my wife to help me up on a couple occasions. The roughest was not being able to pick up my little daughter. She was very understanding and so brought her toys to me and climbed on me while I laid on the couch.
2 weeks post op: I went back to work here. I limited to myself to less than 25lbs. So no bars, and even light dumbells were avoided. This was to minimize ab movement and continue to let it heal. I started “cardio” or really just getting back to my morning walks.
3 weeks post op: I started moving up to 45lbs again, so I felt comfortable moving bars and plates for clients. I actually started training again here. No loaded movements but body weight stuff. Normal bodyweight squats, elevated pushups (being careful about ab engagement), as well as some inverted body rows (fatman pull ups). I did some easy fluff and buff stuff with light dumbbells. Nothing exceeded 20lbs on the dumbbells or if I added any resistance to anything I was doing.
4 weeks post op: I started getting back under an empty bar here. Spent lots of time doing 5 reps and working up to several sets of 10 reps. Got to doing lots more bodyweight stuff and full range of motion stuff. Slowly implemented some pushup plank holds but still holding off on any contractual ab movements.
5 weeks post op: Felt comfortable enough to work up 95-115lbs on most lifts. Still working in the 8-12 rep range but everything, even volume, was kept to an RPE of 5. I also added in farmer’s walks and Paloff Presses to start working on more static ab endurance.
6 weeks post op: Took the whole week off. This was the week between Christmas and New Year’s. This was a little bit of a deload. While everything was and had been very light, this was a little bit of a reset before starting to work up again.
7 weeks post op: Working everything beltless, the idea here was to work up to 50% on most lifts for a single and then push the volume if everything felt good. I did start to notice that my abs fatigued quickly, making my lower back ache. Ended up working up to 8 reps of 50% for squat, bench, and dead. Along with fatigue, I noticed that my abs were tight. Arching on the bench and trying to breathe into my belly for squatting and deadlifting definitely gave me that stretching feeling through the affected area.
8 weeks post op: Continued to push through the volume while raising intensity up to 60-65%. Even with the volume(-ish) work prior to this, now I can start to feel the fatigue setting in. Definitely having been on a constant deload. Everything was still beltless and I was feeling good.
9 weeks post op: Deload again. This was just to reset and get on the same page as the rest of the crew. As we start a proper training cycle leading into a little a little in-house training day, I want to train with them as we progress up to it. This was a great chance to deload and prepare to actually having to start working again.
10 weeks post op: All but the top 2 working sets are done without a belt. I’ll add a belt for the top 1-2 sets and on one back off set just to relearn how to use the belt again. I can definitely tell I’m hesitant in pushing into the belt. Using a combo day a la Brian Carroll’s 10/20/Life, squats and deads felt good. No pain or soreness the next day. Well, no soreness in the abs. Lots of soreness in the legs. Ha!
It would seem that I’m on track. I’ve got a ways to go but grateful to have this hernia behind me. It wasn’t going to resolve itself and it was a great time to get it done. Time to get back to work and after the break, I’m finally feeling some of the aggression and desire to train return with a vengeance. I’m happy.
Moving forward, we’re set to have an in-house mock meet/training day at LCS on May 6th. All are invited. Keep up with the Lowcountry Strength facebook page. My plans for the team:
My plan is to be close to 250 by May 6th. Shh, don’t tell my wife. She doesn’t like that idea. The grand plan is to get to 250, and cut to 235 and that’ll be where I maintain for a while. I want to be as lean at 235 as I was at 215 when I made my cut to 198. I’m not done powerlifting yet. I’ve still got some fight left in me and I want to make a true run at being on that platform at the Arnold. Can I do it, with 2 little girls and a family? I hope so. Quite a few guys on the team have and I want to be among them. It won’t be easy but nothing worth while ever is. The time off to heal from the surgery, felt good. It was a good mental and physical break. Time to put my head down and get some serious work done.
Low Country Strength
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