For the first time in almost 15 months, I had to step back and not train a muscle group due to pain and the possibility that I had an injury that could sidetrack my progress and plans for 2020.
Thank God (for lack of a better statement -- I'm going for impact here) that it seems that it is a minor situation and that simply not training my quads for a few weeks will remedy the situation.
After what I consider to be one of my best off seasons in years -- probably decades -- I scared the shit out of myself, thinking I was quite possibly had really messed up my knee and that it might sidetrack me, only a couple of months before starting an aggressive cutting phase for 2020.
In short, I had very sore and irritated quad tendons from doing heavy hack squats a few weeks ago. I knew that after hitting not one but two PR sets on hacks, I was really pushing my luck because the pain was telling me to stop and I didn't. It may sound stupid but I justified it by rationalizing that the discomfort was in both knees (this is not usually indicative of an injury but more from inflammation) and that I could bang out one more set as there was only mild inflammation. After that second set, I knew damn well that I had pushed it about as far as I could have without injuring myself.
Fast-forward to the next leg day and I warm up very well and no pain, no discomfort, etc.. I actually feel better starting this leg session than I did the last week and felt that because I wasn't doing hacks, I was probably going to have a great workout with no residual issues from the last flirt with injury. After starting my first working set, though, I had pain but only in my right knee. I immediately shut it down and knew that I would need to not train quads for a few weeks to see if this worked or helped.
During the next week, I received a diagnosis that I had PFPS or Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome and I considered this good news relative to what it could have been. The tightness in my IT band, I was told, was making the patella track incorrectly, causing the irritation/pain.
So, the plan is to foam roll the shit out of my IT bands (I would never only roll one side even with pain only on one side) and also have active release done, as well. I have considered cupping because of the increase in blood flow to an area that doesn't typically get a lot of blood flow but I also understand that cupping is controversial so if you have an opinion on cupping, keep it to yourself. My position is that it certainly can't hurt and in THEORY, increased blood flow to an area with poor blood flow cannot be a bad thing.
I am still training hamstrings but not quads. I hope to return to at least training quads very lightly (like just warm-up weights) in just a couple of weeks as that caused no irritation, even when the heavier weights did irritate it.
Other than this minor hurdle -- and make no mistake, I am not excited about not training quads -- things are going very well. I would like to think that not training quads would increase recovery for everything else right now so I always try to find a positive in situations like these. Obviously, it could be MUCH worse but I was smart enough to listen to my body and knew that I had no choice but to back off or risk something really bad happening.
Weight is holding steady as I figured it would, at around 232-ish. Strength is still progressing in all other areas and condition is holding. It isn't as good as it was 4 months ago but I can't expect that it would be with my weight finally being pushed over 230. Still, with the exception of distention from all of the food I am forced to eat to maintain my weight right now, my condition is still very good and I'm happy with where I am.
I will only be blasting for another month and then I will be TRT again for 2 months before starting my cutting phase in February.
I am very excited about 2020 because I think when I get lean again, I am going to show obvious progress (I feel there has already been obvious progress) over years past and that is even more exciting when you consider that I will turn 50 in early March.
Yeah, fucking 50. SMH *sigh*
I did PT and they also worked on the IT band; stretching/ foam roller. My suggestion to work the quads without irritating the joint: use of heavy ankle weights, backward sled dragging. This avoids the deep knee flexion. Just a suggestion to help!