theblackkeys' "Starting Strength" log

[theblackkeys]

Well I finally got to the doctor today. I had to wait to get covered through my wife's employer (HS teacher).

He said I have patellar femoral pain (AKA chondromalacia), and it's not related to my prior knee injury (10 yrs ago). I will schedule an appointment with physical therapy because I want to be active.

Anyways, he said that the kneecap isn't moving the right way, so it rubs the knee cartilage the wrong way. I guess it has something to do with some quad muscles being more dominant than others.

I asked him whether I could continue working out, and he said if I am squatting I shouldn't be going heavy. He specifically said I should find a weight where I can do 20 reps without being wrecked, and do a higher rep workout. I'm not sure if he thinks this is correct in healthy individuals, or just for people with this injury. Anyways, I'm not going to workout until I see the physical therapy place, and I will follow their recommendations.

He also warned me about "bulking up" and adding muscle mass. He said it increases blood pressure, and that is dangerous. I'm really confused. I'd like some thoughts on this. I specifically mentioned I'm not trying to become a bodybuilder or anything, he still said adding muscle mass will increase bp. Whatever, I'm pretty sure he's wrong. He's just the primary care guy, not a specialist or anything.

I might even search medical journals to find the answer to this myself. If I find he's wrong, I'm going to show him the evidence.

[theblackkeys]

SO I guess I should have asked a few questions because I'm looking for some input.

Anybody have experience with chondromalacia? How long of a physical therapy stint am I looking at?

Can anyone refute the doctors claims about muscle mass and high blood pressure?

[theblackkeys]

Here's the exercises I have been doing (not as often as I should) at the request of my physical therapist.

Laying on left side and lifting my right leg up, foot pointing parallel to ground.
Laying on left side and lifting my left leg up, foot pointing parallel to ground. Switching sides, obviously.
Laying on stomach and lifting one leg up, while keeping the knee straight. Recruits hammies and back/glutes.
Laying on stomach and bending knee starting at about a 90 degree angle. (Like trying to kick yer butt). Works the hammies.
Sit on a stool, and pull myself forward with the heels of my feet. This works the hammies hard as well.

They have me doing 2x10 for the above exercises, but I'm sure it doesn't matter much due to the light loads.

They also want me to do about 5-10 wall sits per day for about 30 seconds, trying to increase the time gradually.

When I extend my leg, it sometimes clicks/cracks and feels slightly uncomfortable.

So basically I should not be doing deep knee bend movements as it might aggravate the cartilage under the kneecap. I'm thinking that a squat-free program is something I would like to get on after I am cleared for weightlifting. I suspect that a deadlift focused program would be pretty good as it doesn't require a lot of knee movement, although I could be wrong. I am in the process of scouring t-nation for some program without squats, but I know it's going to take forever.

Does anyone know of a good squat-free, deadlift focused programs? If I wanted to alter the rippetoe program, what would I change?

[theblackkeys]

Alright, time to resurrect this mofo.

Goals: Avoid squats until cleared by physical therapists. Deadlift 300lbs. Do 8 pullups in a row. Powerclean good.

My new program is as follows:
Workout A
Wall Sits - a few
Bench Press - 3x5
Deadlift - 1x5
Pullups (varying grips) - I'm working my way up. For now I'll do them in sets of two, until I can't do 1.

Workout B
Wall sits
Standing Military Press - 3x5
Power Cleans - 5x3
Pullups and dips supersetted - same pullups rep/set scheme as above, dips as 2x8

Monday = A
Wednesday = B
Friday = A
Monday = B
Wednesday = A
Friday = B

repeat ad infinitum [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[theblackkeys]

9/21
Wall sits
Bench Press - 3x5x135
Deadlift - 1x5x135
Pullups - 2 in a row! Then a couple more or something

Bench was comfortable, probably a good starting point.
Deadlift was way easy, I was showing my friend the program so I just kept the weight the same as his.

9/22 (yeah I know one day rest, it's ok went easy yesterday)
Wall sits
Military Press - 3x5x85
Powercleans - 5x3x95
Pullups - 1, 2, 2, POINT FIVE
dips - 2x7, my titties were sore from bench

[theblackkeys]

the last update workouts were done on 9/20 and 9/21 (thursday and friday).

9/24
5 min warm up on bike
4 or 5 wall sits
Bench Press: 3x5x140 (I can do more but if you read the first part of my log back in feb, you'll notice I did too much too quick)
Deadlift: warmup sets @ 135, 155 & 175
1x5x185. Easy
Chinups: 1.75, 1.75, 1.75
I can do the first rep from a dead hang, but have trouble finishing the second. Maybe wednesday I can do two.

[theblackkeys]

9/26
wall sits: 4
Press: 3x5x90
Power Cleans: 5x3x95
stayed at the same weight to work on form
Pullups and dips supersetted
Pullups: 2, 1.75
Dips: 2x8
1x10 dumbell side raises and front raises with 8 lbs.

[cbloom]

Why are you doing 2 pullups ? Wouldn't it be better to use that machine that gives you a little weight assistance so you can do 5-8 pullups ?

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
Why are you doing 2 pullups ? Wouldn't it be better to use that machine that gives you a little weight assistance so you can do 5-8 pullups ?

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know honestly. I was using something like 130 lbs of assistance before, and now I can do at least 1 pullup and there was no training in between those two events. I sure could use some help in this department.

Should I be doing regular pullups, and then when I can't do that do negatives?

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why are you doing 2 pullups ? Wouldn't it be better to use that machine that gives you a little weight assistance so you can do 5-8 pullups ?

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know honestly. I was using something like 130 lbs of assistance before, and now I can do at least 1 pullup and there was no training in between those two events. I sure could use some help in this department.

Should I be doing regular pullups, and then when I can't do that do negatives?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I mean that's one option, do like 2 regular pullups then 4 negatives. My understanding/feeling is that doing 1-2 reps is not a good way to go, you need to make it a little bit easier so you can get more reps. Doing the super low rep hard workout is good once in a while but not as your standard set.

Why not try it with like 20 lbs of assistance and shoot for 6 reps or something?

The thing I always do/did with pullups is just swing my legs to cheat when I can't get enough reps in without help.