February 18, 2011 - DE LB

Dynamic Warm-ups

18" Box Squats
45x10
95x5
135x5
182x5
227x5
272x5

Safety Squat Bar Split Squats
81x3/3
101x3/3
121x3/3
141x3/3

45-degree Safety Squat Bar Hyperextensions
105x8
105x8
105x8
105x8

Single Leg Seated Leg Curls
35x12/12
35x12/12
35x12/12

45 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: I know I've mentioned the past few days that my hips have been achy at times and I think a lot of it has to do with the increased work load I've put on them with my extra/rehab workouts as well as finally getting back to walking normally. So today was my second test for my hamstring. My abs had taken a beating during my upper body day from the beltless seated presses and heavy pullups. The first few exercises in my dynamic warm-ups felt great and I was momentarily elated that I might have gotten over the injury completely as I felt no twinges. But moving on to other exercises smothered that enthusiasm as the twinge was still very much there. Now the first exercise of the day was parallel box squats. I recently found out that 18" is parallel for me. Hamstrings are used a lot more in box squats so this would be much more of a test than regular squats. Well, the weight felt light but the twinge was there and I was worried the whole time. I'm taking the advice of the Ortho to heart in using "pain as a guide" in allowing my hamstring to come back to 100%. Moved on to split squats. These didn't bother my hamstring at all but I felt pathetic using such light weight and had no enthusiasm, especially with the low reps. Back extensions again reminded me of the twinge in the leg, though its presence seemed to diminish as the sets went on, perhaps from increased blood flow? Finally, seated leg curls. At 50% of my PR (haven't done these in years) it was like doing the ankle weight leg curls, so I just did one leg, then the other, back and forth with no rest. Need to use a higher max to base this lift off of for the next few weeks. I also spent time doing form work on strict, arched back, sumo stifflegged deadlifts (aka Louie Deadlifts) after it was all said and done. I want to do these as a supplementary lift on my heavy days after box squats. Anyways, my assessment is that my muscles are still strong but the tendon needs time to readapt to the stress so I will be taking the longer, slower progression. Did a ton of stretching as my hips, glutes and hamstrings were extremely tight. Need to stretch them aggressively on my extra workout days as well.