The last few weeks I have had an injury, I am not sure what exactly happened to cause it or if it was a few things that lead up to it. My hips and back have been tight and painful, but nothing horrible for a few weeks. After a barbell class, when I went into a back squat my left groin area just started shooting pain, like something snapped. Then on the next squat it wasn’t as terrible, then the pain wasn’t present for the rest of the lifting session. Then after the squats we did a power clean pull + hang clean pull + power clean + Hang clean. I did the entire set and increased my weight but at the end of the session, I felt a weak pain in my right lower back, and thought what the hell. But the pain was very dull, so I just cooled down and went home. Then the next morning when I woke up I could barely move. I took a few days off from doing these Olympic lifts and worked on body weight movements and upper body lifting. However, the pain was getting worse and more uncomfortable.
I decided to go see a chiropractor that uses ART, and the back pain was mostly because of how tight my hips were. Then I started to feel a little better and did a barbell class last Saturday. I felt fine through the lifting part, again the slight dull pain in my right lower back at the end of the lifting.
The workout was:
A. EMOM x 10 3 Front Rack Speed Squats @ 65% Focus on Speed
B. Squat Clean + Hang Squat Clean + Front Squat + Split Jerk Every 90 Seconds x 7 Sets
4 Sets
C1. Russian Twists x 30 Total
C2. Superman’s x 15
During the superman’s the pain was getting worse, but like a determined jerk I continued. After the workout I went through all the movements and stretching the that Chiropractor gave me to do. Then I used the foam roller and lacrosse ball to do a little mobility work and prevent the stiffness I might get from the movements.
I drove home and when I was walking up the stairs to get to the second floor the pain become unbearable. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a ten. I spent the afternoon icing and heating, then doing some stretching on the floor. I am not sure what happened, but it was bad. I never want to feel that way again.
On Wednesday I went to the Chiropractor and explained the pain and the workout, he worked his magic. He asked me what type of workouts I plan on doing the next week. I responded with “I don’t know if I want to lift until my back feels better, and focus on my mobility, strengthening exercises for the area and stretching. Because I never want to feel like this again.” He told me to focus on my upper body, and doing body weight squats and lunges. He also suggested that I quit trying to go heavier with every workout, and concentrate on gradually increasing and slowing down how often I work out. He mentioned that I will actually get stronger doing a percentage of my one rep max for a few reps times a couple sets. Then every 2 weeks going at 100%, less likely for injury, overuse of the muscles, and I will get stronger overall. He also talked to me about what my goals are: Strength, losing weight, toning up my body, putting on bulk?
I told him to have better mobility and be a healthy human. I do not think I have been focusing on what my main goals lately. My mind is all over the place and never focusing long on one thing. There are so many things I want to do and I am constantly distracted. However, the last few days I have been spending lots of time on mobility and stretching, to get my back to just not hurt. That is my goal right now is to get my body back to normal, then I really need to focus on mobility even after I am feeling better, so I never have this much pain again.
I like that my chiropractor said not to stop moving, if I stop it is going to take longer to heal. We have a follow up appointment next Thursday morning. Last night I went to the box’s open gym. I did
10 sets of 2 reps strict press, EMOM @ 55 pounds
3 sets of 10 box step ups, 15 sit ups, and 10 dumb bell curls @ 15 pounds
3 sets of 10 dips on the box and 10 ring rows
My upper body was spent and in a good way. I didn’t have any lower back pain after or during the workout. So my plan is to attend the open gym on Tuesdays and Thursday, and hopefully on Sunday afternoons and work on my upper body and mobility. I do hope to get back to deadlifts, cleans and squats, I really enjoy the movements. For now, shoulder, arm and chest work.