7th blast - 3 injuries - wtf

[bicep_grind]

Hey Fellas,

Im at the end of my 7th blast and needing a little help here how i can possibly tweek my blast to stop me from getting hurt so damn much for my next one.

This blast although has been productive progression wise, i have suffered a partial tear on my hamstring, some wrist injury (from the harsh angle on the wrist from super wide smyth presses) and yesterday a severe knee pain from front squats.

I got my hamstring sorted with deep tissue massage and staying away from a particular leg curl machine which puts it at risk for me. Also the wrist is healing up now i failed on the super wide flat smyth press (ass off the bench, incase you was wondering).
But my knee....i usually get pains and aches in them all year round but yesterday was unbarable, i actually diddnt do my work set or widowmaker it felt so bad.
I have been doing low box squats, front squats and hack squats in this blast...my fronts have now nearly got to 6plates per side, which is probably ridiculous haha.
I typically hit 6-10 rep range and follow with a 20 rep widow maker.
but now every set of quads hurts, like even the warm up sets.

Before i did DC training i uses to hit 4 sets of 30 reps on a leg extrention and then go to squats and my knees i dont remember having pains at all.

Possibly the best thing for me to do to try keep some level of knee health will be to do leg extentions 1st before squats or to do hit a higher rep range....something like SS 10-15 and then WM 25-35.

Any Input or experience some of you guys have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Matt

[CJ Hartley]

I would just do high rep ext. before squats or main leg exercise. Avoid any exercises that cause knee pain while doing it. I started using Kono knee sleeves when my knees started giving me problems after I started doing deep squats, ass to heels, and progressed rapidly, to fast I guess. I switched to doing leg press only, for about 6-8 months till the pain was gone then started to slowly go back to squats. I also used Kwan Longg Oil which really helped IMO.

wrap your wrists and/or quit doing the ultra wide press's, dont need to go that wide unless your 6-3+ IMO, need to adjust exercises form to fit your biomechanics.

[Doggcrapp]

a) before leaving to gym get 16% menthol and put this on your knees (flexall, etc)
b) put a pair of long sweats on and put another pair on over them
c) sounds like your IT bands might be incredibly tight and pulling near your kneecaps....make sure thats not the case or your knee problems are IT band problems truly....= ART, = stretching = foam roller

d) raise your rep ranges on legs up to 10-15
e) before any any any quad training do 2 sets of high rep leg presses deep for 20-30 reps each....one with 90-135 on each side and one with 135-180 on each side
f) make sure you are doing proper warmups if you arent allready

hypothetically squats with progressively heavier weights

1) 15 rep set
2) 12 rep set
3) 12 rep set
4) 12 rep set
5) 15 rep set = work set
6) 10 rep set = work set
7) widowmaker on the leg press after one warmup (because of your knees)

[bicep_grind]

a) before leaving to gym get 16% menthol and put this on your knees (flexall, etc)
b) put a pair of long sweats on and put another pair on over them
c) sounds like your IT bands might be incredibly tight and pulling near your kneecaps....make sure thats not the case or your knee problems are IT band problems truly....= ART, = stretching = foam roller

d) raise your rep ranges on legs up to 10-15
e) before any any any quad training do 2 sets of high rep leg presses deep for 20-30 reps each....one with 90-135 on each side and one with 135-180 on each side
f) make sure you are doing proper warmups if you arent allready

hypothetically squats with progressively heavier weights

1) 15 rep set
2) 12 rep set
3) 12 rep set
4) 12 rep set
5) 15 rep set = work set
6) 10 rep set = work set
7) widowmaker on the leg press after one warmup (because of your knees)

Thanks for the reply mate, your advice is much appreciated....

a - i apply kwan Loong oil before my session aqnd just before quad movements which used to give some relief.
b - i wear insilated vulkan knee sleeves and sweats over the top on my leg days....and even wrap my knees on the work set.
c - My physio did say my IT bands were extremely tight and rock solid...i will try a foam roller you mentioned.
d - the warm up increments you mentioned, on warm up 5 and 6, is that one super heavy and one back off set???
the way i was warming up was real low reps, like 5's, 3's, 2's...perhaps this did not give my knees time to release enough senovial fluid????

[DefIguana]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiA0-IatUrY

IDK how the experts like Dante feel about something like this, but it has worked wonders for me over the past year or so. I do it prior to any leg/lower body workout once and it helps with everything from ankle/low back/knee mobility to providing a general warm up. Tight glutes/quads make for tight IT bands

[ironkiwi]

Tight it bands = oh my f$#king god that hurts during ART :-)

[CJ Hartley]

Wow warm up sets with reps in the 5-3 and 2's? I start at 20 and work down to 10 reps except the very last one is 6-8. I do 5-7 warm up stets, but I am 40+ and pounding the weights for 30 years.

[bicep_grind]

Wow warm up sets with reps in the 5-3 and 2's? I start at 20 and work down to 10 reps except the very last one is 6-8. I do 5-7 warm up stets, but I am 40+ and pounding the weights for 30 years.

Im 25, been lifting for 6 years and feel like an 80 yr old haha

[CJ Hartley]

Wow, need to rethink the plan if your already getting pains, I think a good warm up and getting the IT bands worked on will help. Good luck and keep us posted!

[bicep_grind]

Sure will do pal Thanks.

I'll be posting some pics up next week too of some before and after pics. i been doin dc now for a full year and the gains have been awesome...i hope anyway (see what you guys all think)

im competing in October, im hoping to be 8-10 lbs heavier than last year with the same conditioning.

[BigJB]

Couldnt find a video on the stretch cause i dont know the exact name but try this:

Sit indian style, then pull your left leg out to where both feet are pointing same direction and lay your head directly over your right knee. Sit there for 5 minutes then same for other side.

Do this everyday for a week and your I.T. band tightness will be gone

[homonunculus]

d - the warm up increments you mentioned, on warm up 5 and 6, is that one super heavy and one back off set???

BG,

Sets 5 and 6 are WORK sets: the set of 15 is as heavy as possible failing at ~15 reps and working your way up in weight over time. The weight for the set of 10 will be a tad heavier progressing the same. Call 'em super heavy anbd super duper heavy, if you like but the main this is that those are the work sets which are all out and the one you progress on (as well as the widowmaker of course).

-S

[brineal]

do you do any warming up before starting your workout? a quick 5-10 min. dynamic warm up designed to actively stretch and ready those problem areas as well as raise your body temp might help a lot...

[bicep_grind]

BG,

Sets 5 and 6 are WORK sets: the set of 15 is as heavy as possible failing at ~15 reps and working your way up in weight over time. The weight for the set of 10 will be a tad heavier progressing the same. Call 'em super heavy anbd super duper heavy, if you like but the main this is that those are the work sets which are all out and the one you progress on (as well as the widowmaker of course).

-S

Thanks for clearing that up Homon, i tried this new way of quad training and wow....knee pain was almost totally gone and my quads were taxed!!! it was hack squats which dont really kill my knees so much anyway.
i'll let you know how it goes when i hit front squats at the end of this week.

oh and to "brineal" i dont do any warm ups as such like that..just hit biceps, forarms 1st then calves and hams and usually i feel warmed up enough to kill quads...obviously my knees wern't quite ready.