ZipZapZop's Strength & Conditioning Log

[zop]

Zop, I have two persistent pains I want to ask you about.

1. Just below the kneecap of my left knee, there is a slight pressure that doesn't seem to bother me during lifting, but annoys me on off days. It seems to be in the inch of space of tissue between the kneecap and the shin. It hurts most when I pull my lower leg toward me so that the calf meets the hamstring.

Pain during flexion is indicative of the ACL, but the location is obviously the patellar tendon. My guess is patellar tendonitis or the beginnings of it or whatever. Does it hurt when you put pressure on the patellar tendon (the inch of space between the kneecap and the shin)? Do you jump a lot? Or perhaps run/walk stairs a lot?

The patellar tendon is an extension of the quadriceps femoris tendon. So if you do have patellar tendonitis then my advice would be to rest to make sure the pain doesn't become chronic. Once the pain is chronic then you have a serious problem on your hand. Also, take anti-inflammatories via food or drugs, like fish oil for example or a baby aspirin.

2. My left thumb has been sore for a few weeks, probably from doing Hook grip deadlifts. Specifically, the pain is just above the joint on the part that faces the palms. I have switched to mixed grip, but the pain seems persistent if I put pressure on that part of the thumb. I tried icing it a bit, but it is still there preventing me from doing hook grip.

Nice work on 531. Thanks.

What kind of pain is it? Is it a tingling pain? Or does it hurt only when you put pressure on it?

I'm not very familiar with this but I have a few theories. Personally, I always use a DOH hook grip when I deadlift and it seems as though I always have tingling at the very tip of my thumb which is always persistent if I put pressure on it. There is a nerve and artery that run right through the location you talk of and I'm just guessing that it's just being pinched or something.

I don't know how one would treat this. I've just gotten used to it overtime and now it's not that big of a deal to me.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[thethirddiaz]

Do you jump a lot? Or perhaps run/walk stairs a lot?

What kind of pain is it? Is it a tingling pain? Or does it hurt only when you put pressure on it?

I'm not very familiar with this but I have a few theories. Personally, I always use a DOH hook grip when I deadlift and it seems as though I always have tingling at the very tip of my thumb which is always persistent if I put pressure on it. There is a nerve and artery that run right through the location you talk of and I'm just guessing that it's just being pinched or something.

I don't know how one would treat this. I've just gotten used to it overtime and now it's not that big of a deal to me.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I was playing volleyball yesterday, so I did a lot of jumping. After this and talking to Chase, it is definitely PT.

I was having no problems with my thumb and hook grip for quite a while, but the pain now seems only to be when I put pressure on it and I just started noticing it recently being a bit worse. I'm going to DL tomorrow and try Hook grip again and see how it goes. Thanks.

 

[Chaos Mitten**]

Patellar tendinitis is also referred to as jumper's knee.

 

[zop]

06/22/09 Monday - 5/3/1 Week 1 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing x 8 min
Powercleans - 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Deadlift-
135 x 5
225 x 5
300 x 5
320 x 5
340 x 10 (+5 lb, +2 rep PR)

-45 Degree Reverse Hyperextensions-
x 5
+10 x 5 x 4

-Hanging Leg Raises-
x 4 x 5

-Barbell Shrugs-
some

*Wooohooo. Before going into the gym today I said to myself that I'm not gonna let go of the bar until I get 10 reps at 340 for the deadlift. This was surprisingly easy. None but the last rep was a grinder, I probably still had another 3 reps in me. I am very surprised it was that easy. It's definitely a reminder to myself that i need to push myself harder and go closer to failure. I even skipped lunch and was still able to do that!

 

[thethirddiaz]

Nice work. High rep DLs are tough.

 

[modena1983]

Nice work. Haven't visited here in a while. How is school going?

 

[thethirddiaz]

I DLed with a hook today and the pain was fine. I just had to man up. I'm working on the knee. Thanks.

 

[Chaos Mitten**]

Update.

 

[zop]

Alright so quick update.

My cousins from Pakistan came over about 3 weeks ago. I had to move out of my room to make space for their whole family. My computer was displaced and my laptops were almost always occupied by my cousins. I rarely had access to a computer, but that didn't really bother me since it's still summer and I only use it for Sherdog and reading lifting articles.

It was their first time coming to America so we took them around to do all the things to do in So Cal. They came during the start of my first week of the cycle. At first my training got behind a day, then 2 days, then 3, etc. My training kept getting delayed so I decided to enjoy the time with my cousins. For a good 2 weeks I didn't hit the gym at all. Well they're gone now and I've started going back to the gym again.

I'm gonna take this week to get back into the swing of things and restart the cycle next week.

Some time in the past:
-Squat-
225 x 11

-SOHP-
145 x 6

7/19/09 Sunday
-Deadlift-
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 5

-45 Degree Hyperextensions-
x 10 x 5

-Hanging Leg Raises-
x 5 x 5

7/20/09 Monday
-Bench Press-
135 x 5
155 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 3

-Dips-
x 5 x 5

-Pullups-
x 5 x 5

 

[zop]

I worked out Wednesday and Thursday doing squats on Wednesday and SOHP on Thursday. This will go unrecorded because I was just doing enough weights to get back into the swing of things.

07/27/09 Sunday - 5/3/1 Week 1 (Again) Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Treadmil x 9 min
Powercleans: 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Deadlift-
135 x 5
225 x 5
300 x 5
320 x 5
340 x 11 - PR (+1 Rep)

-45 Degree Hyperextensions-
x 5
+10 x 5 x 4

-Hanging Leg Raises-
x 5 x 5

*Okay so I weird day today. While I was starting my hanging leg raises this guy approached me. He asked me if I was having a tough day. I was like yeah I did deadlifts today. I guess I went too far with my faith in my humanity, but I should've realized he did not know what deadlifts we're. Earlier during my workout I went all out and set a PR of 340 x 11, which is an all time rep pr for me. I was killed afterward, my ribs we're tight I had a hard time breathing and I kept getting vertigo. I guess he thought my day was bad because of some other contributing factor or maybe he just wanted to tell me why his day sucks. It ended up being the latter, he sat down next to me and told me about how his girlfriend wanted some "time alone" and the rest of his life story. I now know way to much about him and it disturbs me. He wasted a lot of my time, I was planning on doing some curls and calf raises but instead I just left after I finished my hanging leg raises.

 

[gza]

since when is Zop resident person-to-ask-questions-to?

go to fucking ascendants thread.

 

[zop]

07/27/09 Monday - 5/3/1 Week 1 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing

-Bench Press-
135 x 5
155 x 5
190 x 5
205 x 5
215 x 6

-Dips-
x 5
35 x 5 x 4

-Pullups-
x 5
15 x 5 x 2
15 x 4 x 2

07/29/09 Wednesday - 5/3/1 Week 1 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing
PCs: 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Squat-
135 x 5
200 x 5
210 x 5
225 x 12 - PR (+1 rep)

-GMs-
135 x 5 x 5

-Weighted Decline Situps w/ Cadence Control (5 sec.)-
x 5
25 x 5
25 x 4
25 x 3 x 2

*Squats we're tough as hell. My form degraded quite a bit, from the hole my hips were first to rise then I did a slight GM, but I'm still happy to get 12 reps. I think I'm getting passed my mental barrier when it comes to squatting.

 

[zop]

07/30/09 Thursday - 5/3/1 Week 1 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing x 8 min

-SOHP-
95 x 5
125 x 5
135 x 5
140 x 5

-Push Press-
95 x 10 x 3

-Kroc Rows-
40 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 12

08/02/09 Sunday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing x 8 min
Powercleans: 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Deadlift-
135 x 5
225 x 5
320 x 3
340 x 3
360 x 7 - PR (+10 lbs.)

-45 Degree Hyperextensions-
x 10 x 5

-Hanging Leg Raises-
x 6 x 3
x 5 x 2

08/03/09 Monday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Rowing x 8 min

-Bench Press-
135 x 5
155 x 5
195 x 5
210 x 5
230 x 5

-Wide Grip Bench Press-
135 x 10 x 2
135 x 6
136 x 4

-Kroc Rows-
40 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 13

*Today when benching I was supposed to do only 3 reps going up to 230, but I had left my training log at home so I had to do it by memory and I ended up being careless with the reps. Decided to switch all my horizontal press assistance exercises to today instead of SOHP day.

 

[Chaos Mitten**]

Nice lifting. Don't be such a stranger.

 

[zop]

08/05/09 Wednesday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Treadmill x 10 min
Powercleans: 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Squat-
135 x 5
210 x 3
225 x 3
240 x 10 - PR (+5 lbs.)

-GMs-
135 x 5
175 x 5 x 4

-Weighted Decline Situps w/ Cadence Control-
x 5
25 x 5 x 4

*Wooohoo, I'm making some progress with my squat. My hips felt tight and the last few reps we're real grinders but I'm glad I was able to do 10 reps with 240, definitely a PR for me.

 

[zop]

08/09/09 Wednesday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-Squat-
240 x 10 - PR (+5 lbs.)

09/09/09 Thursday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-SOHP-
150 x 4

*I did other stuff on those days but I don't remember now. So classes started today and I'm going to do my best to keep up with the log. I'm moving my schedule to 3 days a week lifting where I will SOHP and deadlift on the same day in that order. I'll squeeze in hill sprinting where I can. Healthy eating looks like it's definitely on the horizon. I'm learning to cook and stuff.

 

[Ted-P]

08/05/09 Wednesday - 5/3/1 Week 2 Cycle 4
-Warmup-
Treadmill x 10 min
Powercleans: 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5

-Squat-
135 x 5
210 x 3
225 x 3
240 x 10 - PR (+5 lbs.)

-GMs-
135 x 5
175 x 5 x 4

-Weighted Decline Situps w/ Cadence Control-
x 5
25 x 5 x 4

*Wooohoo, I'm making some progress with my squat. My hips felt tight and the last few reps we're real grinders but I'm glad I was able to do 10 reps with 240, definitely a PR for me.

High reps with Squats is very very underrated. Its been helping me getting over my fear of squats and upped my strength and Vert at the same time.

 

[zop]

High reps with Squats is very very underrated. Its been helping me getting over my fear of squats and upped my strength and Vert at the same time.

Yeah, my jumping abilities have gone through the roof. I can dunk with 2 hands easily now, but since I haven't been practicing the running vertical consistently for a while and I've not been playing basketball consistently my jumping technique is horrible.

Videos of Ascendant lifting are always able to inspire me to see how far I can go with squats. I've always had some kind of mental barrier with the squats, but not anymore.

 

[Ted-P]

Yeah, my jumping abilities have gone through the roof. I can dunk with 2 hands easily now, but since I haven't been practicing the running vertical consistently for a while and I've not been playing basketball consistently my jumping technique is horrible.

Videos of Ascendant lifting are always able to inspire me to see how far I can go with squats. I've always had some kind of mental barrier with the squats, but not anymore.

What? How tall are you?

Fucking two handed?

Im trying to do that but its fucking hard......

 

[WhiteLightning**]

What's your weight and height, zoppy?