As I was sitting on my couch eating breakfast this morning, I noticed that the distal tendon of my tibialis anterior on my left leg (leg with injured knee) looked very taunt and elevated and was also pulling my foot causing it to supinate. I realized that this tight muscle was the underlying culprit to my knee issues. Because my foot was slightly supinated due to the tight tibialis anterior, it caused me to place added stress on my knee during squats and deadlifts.
It makes sense that using the Voodoo Floss Bands relived some tension on my knee because when I wrapped the bands below my knee I was compressing the tight tibialis anterior. So before I went to the gym, I rolled out my tibialis anterior quite a bit. I also decided I was going to try squatting in flat shoes instead of my elevated-heel squat shoes since my foot is slightly supinated (I feel the flat shoe will put less stress on my knee).
Weekly Schedule
Monday = Squats + Bench Press
Tuesday = Deadlifts + Back/Biceps
Wednesday = OFF
Thursday = Squats + Bench Press
Friday = Deadlifts + Back/Biceps
Saturday = OFF
Sunday = OFF
Monday 8-14-17: Squat + Bench Press Focus
Squats 3 X 4 @ 80%
385 X 4, 4
Squatting in the flat shoes felt surprisingly good; I honestly felt stronger than I have felt in a while. I ended up only doing two sets of 4 reps because I didn’t want to push things too much given that my knee WASN’T hurting (didn’t want to irritate it).
Bench Press 3 X 4 @ 80%
285 X 4, 4, 4
Bench has been feeling great! I kind of feel like squatting before bench press is making my body more warmed up and ready to bench. Not sure, just a theory.
DB Goblet Squat (with Hip Circle) 3 X 10
130 X 10, 10, 10
Due to the size of the dumbbell, getting into position wasn’t ideal. In the past, I have worked up to the 150 lb dumbbell but then opted to switch exercises since the dumbbells start getting awkwardly large at that weight.
Flat DB Bench Press (Feet on Bench) 3 X 10
95 X 10, 10, 10
Flat DB press felt SUPER easy today. I cruised through these three sets.
Tuesday 8-15-17: Deadlift + Back/Biceps
Conventional Deadlift 3 X 5
475 X 5, 5, 5
Since sumo deadlifts irritated my knee last week, I am switching to conventional deadlifts for the time being to decrease the stress placed on my knee. I don’t mind conventional deadlifts at all, they are simply a different movement than sumo deadlifts.
Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 X 10
325 X 10, 10, 10
Hip Thrusts 3 X 10
195 X 10, 10, 10
My goal on stiff leg deadlifts and hip thrusts simply to go 10 lbs heavier each week as I decrease the rep range.
Lat-Pulldown
100 X 10, 10, 10
Seated Cable Row
100 X 10, 10, 10
Barbell Curl 3 X 10
75 X 10, 10, 10
Since conventional deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, and hip thrusts are taxing on the lower back, I opted for some easy cable work for back today.
Wednesday 8-16-17: Rest Day
Rest day! Rest is good for you!
Thursday 8-17-17: Squats + Bench Press
Squats 3 X 8 @ 70% + 10 lbs
355 X 8, 8, 8
This was workout #2 using flat shoes and I must say squats are feeling very stable. My knee continues to feel ok, some slight irritation after squats but not much at all.
Bench Press 3 X 8 @ 70% + 10 lbs
255 X 8, 8, 8
Bench press continues to move well without any issues. The only “issue” I faced was tight hip flexors after squatting, but they loosened up by my third warm-up set.
Close Grip Bench Press 3 X 5-8
235 X 8, 8, 8
My goal on all assistance/accessory exercises is to simply go 5-10 lbs heavier than the previous week.
Standing Military Press 3 X 5-8
105 X 8, 8, 8
As I mentioned last week, my goal on standing military press is not to lift as heavy as possible but rather to lift with the best form possible. The goal is to add 5-10 lbs each week while maintaining proper form throughout every rep.
Friday 8-18-17: Deadlift + Back/Biceps
Sumo Deadlift 3 X 5
505 X 5, 5, 5
I decided to try out sumo deads today and see how my knee felt. My knee felt fine so I rolled with sumo deads. As I mentioned in my journal entry last week, I typical perform submaximal singles on deadlifts and don’t do a lot of rep training. I decided to keep the weight lighter and perform reps to decrease the stress on my knee but still allow me to overload deads.
“Block” Conventional Pulls 3 X 5
455 X 5, 5, 5
I went quite a bit heavier this week (90 lbs) because this movement was feeling good. I’m using this movement to strengthen the muscles of the back and am not concerned with going overly heavy.
Bent Over Row 3 X 5-8
205 X 8, 8, 8
Glute-Ham Raise/GHR Sit-Up
BW X 12, 12, 12
DB Walking Lunges
35’s X 12, 12 (12 reps each leg)
This is the 4th time I’ve done lunges in the last month and I honestly don’t mind them now. I have always hated lunges and hated them when I did them a month ago. I am including them in my program to work each leg unilaterally as this is something I often overlooked in the past.
Saturday 8/18/17 & Sunday 8/19/17
I am traveling out of town this weekend but ended up getting a quick upper body workout in with some friends. I just did a bunch of random stuff, nothing specific.
WEEKLY RECAP VIDEO
