So I previously went over my plan on what I feel needs to be done to reach my goal. Well, guess what happened?!
By: Daniel Salazar
Like I said in the two previous posts, I haven’t trained in a very long time. After laying out the plans to meet my goal, I went to the gym the following day and felt great. I knocked out five rounds (rest as needed) keep track of total finish time.
1a) 300 meters on the Concept 2 rower, Bodyweight
1b) incline push up 20 reps
1c) WG pull-ups 10 reps (strict)
1d) Walking lunges 10 reps (each leg)
1e) Dips 20 reps
1f) Supinated grip inverted row 20 reps
1g) Squats 20 reps
Total time 29 mins 10 secs
That following day I had another training session lined up: Four rounds (rest as needed) to keep track of the total finish time.
1a) Sled drags 20 yards (heavy)
1b) Heavy bag carries 20 yards
1c) Kettle bell swings 20 swings
Total time never completed
Unexpected Pain
I kept adding weight to the bag. For some reason, the weight felt heavier then usual, but I continued to add weight. I got to the 4th set, squatted deep and pulled the bag didn’t even break away from the ground. While pulling I felt a “click” sound in my lower back then immediately felt heat radiate from my right ass cheek all the way down that leg to my calf.
I tried my best to hide the pain and immediately limped my way to the juice bar asked for a bag of ice and laid on it for about 5-10mins.
Note: I iced the injured area to shrink the tissue and the blood vessels so that less fluid can run through. With any injury swelling can occur, it’s the body’s way of sending help in the form of blood and nutrients so the healing process can begin. As an added bonus the more the swelling increases the more pain you’ll experience. Boom!!! Ice slowed down the swelling.
After a few minutes of the ice pack, I didn’t have too much pain. I grabbed a foam roller and laid right on my right quadrates lumborum (QL) and the lower part of my erector spine to roll out for a bit to stop the possible muscle spasms.
Foam-rolling or self myofascial release (SMR), works similar to massage therapy. Instead of a therapist manually applying pressure to the muscles, you use your body weight on the roller.
Note: With specific injuries, the body can trigger a protective reflex. This reflex can occur to prevent further injury, however, in trying to prevent further injury it makes that area hurt like hell!!!
Both the QL and the Erector Spinae muscle run along either side of the spine and is responsible for Lateral flexion (side bending) and Extension of the lumbar spine as well as Rotation.
After rolling out my lower back muscle, I flipped over slowly to get a little rolling action on my Hip Flexors. This would free up some space on my lower back. If the Hip Flexors, Erector Spinae and the QL muscles are all tight they can tilt the pelvis and add a significant amount of pressure and stress on the lower back.
The major players involved in hip flexion are the Rectus Femoris (one of the quads) and the Iliopsoas. The hip flexors are the muscles that pull the knee upward into the chest.
Recovery
HOLY SHIT! After all of that, I felt a little better, so I finished my workout. I repeated the same procedure after my workout. Once I was done I hung out in the office for a while and thought nothing of the damage I did 2 hours before. I still felt some slight discomfort but continued to type away at the computer.
When I was done with my work I tried to get up, but I didn’t budge. I mean, I couldn’t move at all.
The pain came back 100 times worse!!!
I made a phone call from the second-floor office of the gym to the spa and asked one of our massage therapists to come upstairs as fast as possible. He came upstairs only to see me hunched over the desk in tears. I explain what happened in the manliest voice I could muster trying to hide the pain that was written all over my face.
He helped me hobble over to a mat and asked me to wait for him “rite here” as if I was gonna make a getaway. I laid there in the fetal position soaked in a pool of my tears. He quickly returned with a bottle of Biofreeze and went to town on my back.
He worked on me for as long as he could, Rubbing the muscle of the injured area and stretching the surrounding musculature.
He said, “There’s nothing else I can do, you are going to have to let your body heal itself”. I said “thanks for helping me out” but I was still in agony.
He left and I just laid in the corner of the stretch area curled up in a ball for about an hour and a half. I couldn’t move at all. Members of the gym were walking by and looking at me as if I were some sort of animal exhibit.
Finally, I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t stand with my normal posture. I was finally able to hobble my way down to the locker room with the stature of an orangutan.
This was my chance to get home after being stranded at the gym this whole time. Once I got moving I didn’t want to stop.
The Journey Home
I work in jersey city but live in Manhattan so I called for a cab. The cab dispatcher told me the 20 min cab ride from the gym to my house would be $110. I then asked him if the caller id of my number came up as “jerk off”, and he hung up on me.
I then started to walk to the subway. Once in the subway, I walked back and forth on the platform. I didn’t want to take the chance of sitting down and not being able to get back up. I got to the city in about a half-hour but it felt like a week.
As soon as I walked through the door of my apartment I grabbed a bag full of ice and went straight to bed. I was pretty much stuck in bed for about 3 days.
The feeling of the pain is indescribable. It required so much effort just to get to the crapper or even have dinner. This is a pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
There goes my plan… I guess I could have made this update a little shorter but whatever. My original program is gonna have to be put on hold, I’m not even close to ready to start my GPP phase of the program as outlined.
So I planned out some ab bracing exercises, glute activation exercises, foam rolling, stretching as well as other very low-intensity movements. The back still hurts but not too bad. I’ll play it safe for a while and follow this type of program for weeks and see what happens.
