Another Useless Darkness Update...

[Darkness]

So as some of you might remember, I have a reoccuring back injury that I have been nursing for a long time and training around it for years. Training around it screwed me up more than ever and I was out of the game earlier in the year, could not do shit.

I was lucky enough to get in with a good doc and he had me do things completely different than others had done in the past. He really knws what he is doing and I am grateful. He actually fixed it in the gym.

So starting back, I made a decision to have a friend of mine help me who is an accomplished PLer (he has a 2225lb total at 242) and, unlike most "trainers" really knows what he is doing. Rather than me running into the gym and fucking everything up again, I had him train me on back and leg day for the last month, watching me very carefully and picking everything apart on my form and making sure it was perfect. ALso he designed the best training sessions for this Phase 2 of my rehab.

It is going really really well. I am so happy. I had not DLed in over a year and had not squatted in over 2 years. I was surprised at how weak the lifts were, but we started literally at 135 for rack pulls and deads on week 1 without going up. Then 225 at week 2. Then 315. Now 365. Same on squats. The first day with 135 of my back felt like 500lbs on my lower back and hips. I worked my way up each week and on sunday I repped 290 on squats and it felt like everything is, for the first time in years, working correctly. Ha! there has never been a grown man prouder of a 290lb squat than I !

My left hamstring still gets alittle tight and wants to fail to support my rack pulls, but it is coming along too. My lower back is probably no more sore than anyone elses after intense training, but it is obvious my hamstrings have some additional training necessary to get them back 100%. I have gained 10 lbs and my jeans are tight again in the thighs.

I have a long way to go. I was thinking....given my history, to maintain size and physique, I would be happy to do sets of 10 on DL with 365 and same on squats with 315 for the rest of my life. I can add a little as time goes on. I dont want to fuck this up this time. I am really grateful to the people who have helped me this time around. My doc, his staff, the trainer, and a friend of mine who talked some sense into me . I need to delete the vid of my 625lb DL with bands from my phone.

Thank you for allowing me to share.

 

[Number-LL]

I would like to find someone that knows his shit to make sure my form is right and get back to squats again. For now split squats kicks my ass with little dumbbells in hands so I'm pretty happy.

Congrats!

 

[Dawgpound_Hank]

Good to hear bro! I can totally relate having my share of back issues over the years, being out of work in 2000 for 18 months due to fucked up lumbar, etc. The one piece of advice I could give you from my experience to help is to stretch your hams always. Sooo many guys in this game have super-tight hams and don't even know it. Tight hams = easy to injure lumbar. I stretch my hams between every set of any type of rows or dead, and it has helped me not incur injury again for the past 10 years. I also stretch them every workout, even if they are not being used much, ie, chest day, delt day, etc.

Concerning weights, one doesn't need to be using powerlifter-type weights to get big/stay big. You can build elite legs using moderate weights (not light) and busting ass. Shit Haney rarely went over 315 in squats. Dorian only did squats early in his career. Just be careful, bcoz nothing is more of a mind-fuck than to over do it and BOOM, fuck it up again and back to square one recovering. Been there, done that haha. Good luck dude.

 

[willi]

Yes!

Yes!

Sounds like Darkness has seen the Light. Good for you, man. Your lifts are impressive. It will be cool to see the new house you build.

 

[Darkness]

Good to hear bro! I can totally relate having my share of back issues over the years, being out of work in 2000 for 18 months due to fucked up lumbar, etc. The one piece of advice I could give you from my experience to help is to stretch your hams always. Sooo many guys in this game have super-tight hams and don't even know it. Tight hams = easy to injure lumbar. I stretch my hams between every set of any type of rows or dead, and it has helped me not incur injury again for the past 10 years. I also stretch them every workout, even if they are not being used much, ie, chest day, delt day, etc.

Concerning weights, one doesn't need to be using powerlifter-type weights to get big/stay big. You can build elite legs using moderate weights (not light) and busting ass. Shit Haney rarely went over 315 in squats. Dorian only did squats early in his career. Just be careful, bcoz nothing is more of a mind-fuck than to over do it and BOOM, fuck it up again and back to square one recovering. Been there, done that haha. Good luck dude.

Thanks DPH. The hamstring thing is real. Funny how if now my back feels stiff, I stop and stretch hams and then I'm like new in 2 minutes. I will keep working on this.

 

[Dawgpound_Hank]

Thanks DPH. The hamstring thing is real. Funny how if now my back feels stiff, I stop and stretch hams and then I'm like new in 2 minutes. I will keep working on this.

Yeah the relief is fast. Funny thing I've been over here almost 2 years now, and you see many of the regular Filipinos at the gym always hanging static from a chin bar and stetching hams haha - wonder where they got that from? Be cool bcoz your weight increase has gone up VERY fast. Tren makes us lift stupid weights, stupidly fast. Only time I ever tore a muscle (pec & calf) was on tren.

 

[millenium girl]

Great job Darkness!

 

[ozzy69]

Good to hear you are bouncing back nicely

 

[Darkness]

Yeah the relief is fast. Funny thing I've been over here almost 2 years now, and you see many of the regular Filipinos at the gym always hanging static from a chin bar and stetching hams haha - wonder where they got that from? Be cool bcoz your weight increase has gone up VERY fast. Tren makes us lift stupid weights, stupidly fast. Only time I ever tore a muscle (pec & calf) was on tren.

If I actually knew what I was doing, I would be pinning the decca right now not tren. I am going to start the decca in 4 weeks.

 

[Darkness]

Thanks everyone. I am gonna hang upside down a few times today too

 

[DADAWG]

upper level powerlifters study form harder than anyone ,trying to squeeze every last ounce into their total. remember , slow and steady wins the race .

 

[Number-LL]

What do you guys do to stretch your hamstrings? The one where you elevate your leg in front of you and bend toward your foot?

 

[mrhtbd]

Rehabbing a lumbar injury takes years.
You are lucky to have a trainer who knows what he is doing.
When I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle, my hip went through the side window and my lumbar was hit by the crossbar between the two side windows and shot me about 12 feet away where I landed on my tailbone.
Six months later I was able to squat 65 for 1x10 3x per week.
Three and a half years later, I was squatting 465 for 7.
One thing that helped me was learning to lfex my abs while doing any lumbar or squat movement.
I used to deadlift with my back tight and pulled it more than I care to remember, then I started flexing my abs and fully curling my lumbar shoulders-to-knees.
Surprisingly this felt good and helped me aviod injuries in my lumbar for the past 5 years or so.
Also, to stretsh the hamstrings, my favorite thing to do is straight-leg deadlifts between sets of squats, or before.
Still, I think sqautting from 135 to 290 in a few weeks is impressive. Shaows some guts at least!

 

[mrhtbd]

Rehabbing a lumbar injury takes years.
You are lucky to have a trainer who knows what he is doing.
When I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle, my hip went through the side window and my lumbar was hit by the crossbar between the two side windows and shot me about 12 feet away where I landed on my tailbone.
Six months later I was able to squat 65 for 1x10 3x per week.
Three and a half years later, I was squatting 465 for 7.
One thing that helped me was learning to flex my abs while doing any lumbar or squat movement.
I used to deadlift with my back tight and pulled it more than I care to remember, then I started flexing my abs and fully curling my lumbar shoulders-to-knees.
Surprisingly this felt good and helped me avoid injuries in my lumbar for the past 5 years or so.
Also, to stretch the hamstrings, my favorite thing to do is straight-leg deadlifts between sets of squats, or before.
Still, I think squatting from 135 to 290 in a few weeks is impressive.
Shows some guts at least, on or off!

 

[Darkness]

upper level powerlifters study form harder than anyone ,trying to squeeze every last ounce into their total. remember , slow and steady wins the race .

That's what I have noticed my friend. This guy is in the top 50 in his weight class and I have never seen him injured since I have known him, and he's old like us He has really helped me alot. I thought I knew alot more than it turned out that I did.

 

[Darkness]

What do you guys do to stretch your hamstrings? The one where you elevate your leg in front of you and bend toward your foot?

That will work, but you know what seems to be the most effective? Stretching the hams while applying contracting pressure with them too. Sit against a wall with your ass as close to the wall as possible and your legs out straight in front of you. Hold one leg a few inches off the floor and drive the opposite heel down into the floor for 15 seconds using the hamstring to do the work. Alternate legs and do 4 on each side for 15 seconds each.

The nice thing about this is that in addition to stretching the hams, it seems to strengthen the alignments between them and the lower back muscles and make everything stronger.

 

[Number-LL]

That will work, but you know what seems to be the most effective? Stretching the hams while applying contracting pressure with them too. Sit against a wall with your ass as close to the wall as possible and your legs out straight in front of you. Hold one leg a few inches off the floor and drive the opposite heel down into the floor for 15 seconds using the hamstring to do the work. Alternate legs and do 4 on each side for 15 seconds each.

The nice thing about this is that in addition to stretching the hams, it seems to strengthen the alignments between them and the lower back muscles and make everything stronger.

Will have to give that a try. Thanks!

 

[John Benz]

That will work, but you know what seems to be the most effective? Stretching the hams while applying contracting pressure with them too. Sit against a wall with your ass as close to the wall as possible and your legs out straight in front of you. Hold one leg a few inches off the floor and drive the opposite heel down into the floor for 15 seconds using the hamstring to do the work. Alternate legs and do 4 on each side for 15 seconds each.

The nice thing about this is that in addition to stretching the hams, it seems to strengthen the alignments between them and the lower back muscles and make everything stronger.

I've done that on and off for several years.

I'm glad to hear you're making improvements and that you were fortunate enough to find a powerlifter with that level of knowledge to guide you through the recovery process. Good luck my friend.

BTW...this update was far from useless!