Mr.CaffeineHead's Battle Log

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest

 

21 July 20

**All exercises done w/ heels up on a 45 lb bumper plate 

Squat: 6 x 5 @ 135 lbs

Box squat: 1 x 5 @ 145 lbs

Front squat: 5 x 5 @ 95 lbs

Good morning: 3 x 5 @ 125 lbs

 

5-rep squat test: 145 lbs

 

Observations: Right knee was sore for the 1st two sets, but after adjusting the heels to be closer towards the edge of the bumper plate, felt much better and had no issues. Definitely felt the pump in the adductors. Getting home, knee felt a little sore, but no different than previous days. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest

 

22 July 20

**All exercises done w/ heels up on a 45 lb bumper plate 

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 165 lbs

Box squat: 2 x 5 @ 155 lbs

Front squat: 6 x 5 @ 105 lbs

Good morning: 2 x 5 @ 145 lbs

 

5-rep squat test: 155 lbs

 

Observations: Other than some aggravation on the first few reps, everything was smooth. Had an intense pump in the adductors and also along the IT bands. Noticing the bloodflow seems to alleviate pressure from the patella area. Actually felt very good. Knee is a little sore this evening, but it's very minimal. Quads are making it clear that they didn't appreciate what was dealt upon them this afternoon. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest

 

24 July 20

**All exercises done w/ heels up on a 45 lb bumper plate

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 175 lbs

Box squat: 1 x 5 @ 165 lbs

Front squat: 1 x 5 @ 135 lbs

Good morning: 2 x 5 @ 155 lbs

 

5-rep squat test: 165 lbs

 

Observations: Low volume for this workout, and ended up doing some upper body exercises (floor JM press, overhead press, and high pull). First week squatting 4x/week down. Other than some soreness, pretty good week overall. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest

 

27 July 20

**All exercises done w/ heels up on a 45 lb bumper plate

Squat: 1 x 5 @ 185 lbs

Box squat: 5 x 5 @ 155 lbs

Front squat: 5 x 5 @ 125 lbs

Good morning: 2 x 5 @ 155 lbs

 

Observations: This workout was an absolute mess. I caught poison ivy over the weekend and had urushiol oil oozing during my entire time in the gym. The knee was getting somewhat aggravated on the 1 x 5, but it wasn't anything substantially out of the norm. I'm anticipating it will start to get more irritated as I pass the 200 lb mark, and if it starts to really act up, I may cycle out the squat with a different exercise altogether or drop the weight down and increase the volume. Had no issues on the box squat, front squat, or good morning. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Eww. Sorry about the poison ivy.

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

All good, Sloth. Learned a valuable lesson this past weekend--don't underestimate roots, vines, and dirt were poison ivy may have presided. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

The poison ivy lesson I learned years ago, was to wash your hands before you go to the bathroom when you’ve been in the woods.

[Eldgee]

Quote

**All exercises done w/ heels up on a 45 lb bumper plate 

 

I've partly fallen off of strength training in the past due to a knee issue, so this is interesting to read. My knee has no serious medical issue, according to my doctor, but I've had a really hard time getting anybody to give me work-around tips for I guess obvious reasons.  Anyway, my current plan is to try pushing out against a band above my knees while squatting, and also to try to remember to push up through my heels, but I've just looked this up and it sounds like elevating my heels might help me, too, so thanks for the idea!

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

@Sloth the Enduring   That is the most valuable lesson anyone could learn about poison ivy. I can endure the rash on most areas of my body, but once it starts migrating into the undergarments zone, that's definitely NO good.

 

@lauragee   That's actually a very good exercise--pushing the knees out against a band. Yeah, I actually tried to mimic the slant board squat, but since I don't really have those at my gym, I had to improvise somewhat. I feel like it's good w/ lighter weights, but I'm starting to get to the point where I'm kinda on the risk-reward border. I'm actually planning to cycle out that 1st exercise (regular squat) with a 3-second tempo squat since the 1st exercise is starting to aggravate my knee more than I'd like. I would definitely recommend starting very light if you plan to do the heels-elevated version. Also, the closer the stance, the more it's gonna target the adductors, and that's where I really found these elevated-heels movements to be very effective--they will work the adductors good. I'm not doing this exercise at the present time, but a Spanish squat is another exercise you may find helpful. Best of luck on navigating the issue--I know I'd like to get back up to the heavy weights again, but not if that's gonna put me closer to the orthopedic surgeon's office.

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest

 

29 July 20

5-second tempo squat: 1 x 5 @ 165 lbs

 

then

 

**Exercises done w/ heels up on a 45-lb bumper plate

Box squat: 1 x 5 @ 185 lbs

Front squat: 1 x 5 @ 155 lbs

Good morning: 2 x 5 @ 165 lbs

 

Observations: Tuesday's afternoon visit to urgent care caused me to cancel Tuesday's session. The rash was oozing too much, and after trying to contain it all day w/ washcloths, I decided to go get medicine from the doc. I dropped the volume today to prevent sweat from triggering the ooze. The exercises today felt pretty good--no issues at all w/ the knee. I cycled out the heels-elevated squat w/ a 5-second tempo squat. The exercise didn't bother my knee at all, but I'm going to shave 2 seconds off the next workout since I wasn't getting the acceleration out of the bottom that I'd like. The plan is to do this exercise for the 5-week challenge. The box squat, while feasible, felt slower than I'd prefer. The front squat felt great, and the good morning felt good as well. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

3 August 20

 

Gonna start recording my numbers in the spreadsheet located at the URL link on my signature. 

 

Observations: Hit all planned numbers for this workout. Knee issues were minimal, nothing that was causing problems during any of the sets. Box squat felt very powerful, especially doing them flat on the ground vs up on a bumper plate. Slowed down the acceleration on the front squat since the weight is starting to get to the point where I'll need to be careful not to overpower this movement (or else I'll wipe out like one of those contestants from that old Spike TV show MXC). After finishing up the lower body stuff, did a couple of power clean singles off pins. Planning to incorporate this exercise on days where the lower body volume is low. 

 

3 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: Yes, and did not have as many bathroom visits as anticipated

3. New guitar song: Average White Band: Pick Up The Pieces

4. Sleep: Tracking a previous day on this goal. Was out by 11:30 (Fri, Sat, & Sun evenings' plan is to turn lights off by 11:30)

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

4 August 20

 

Observations: Low volume today on the lower body movements. I overshot the Good Morning in terms of the weight for this workout, but it was doable and I'll just keep a standard rate of progression off that weight. Did 1 x 2 at 85 lbs on the power clean off pins, and did 1 x 5 on the Klokov Press at 75 lbs. The weight's dropped off quite a bit on those two movements since the late winter, but I haven't trained either lift in the past 5 months, so that's to be expected. As long as the numbers go up...

 

4 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: Yes....but that poor toilet today...

3. New guitar song: Genesis: Land of Confusion

4. Sleep: Lights went out by 11:15

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

5 August 20

 

Observations: The tempo squat, box squat, and good morning were all low volume today. The front squat got 4 x 5 today, and it was a challenging 4 sets. Did 1 x 5 at 80 lbs on the Klokov Press and 2 x 1 on the pin power cleans at 90 lbs. Knee more or less the same as the previous two days.

 

5 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: 1st 32 oz was consumed at work, and the remainder was consumed after dinner

3. New guitar song: Alice Cooper: No More Mr. Nice Guy

4. Sleep: Lights were off by 11:15

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

7 August 20

 

Observations: Switched out the front squat exercise today and had a pretty bad flare up on the gracilis muscle down close to the patellar junction. Backed off a few minutes, and the discomfort diminished. Was able to complete all the sets. Did pin power cleans, Klokov Presses, and high pulls after the lower body stuff. The patellar/sartorius/tibia junction area is a little sore post-workout, but it's relatively minor. 

 

7 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: Yes

3. New guitar song: Elton John: Philadelphia Freedom

4. Sleep: Lights were off by 11:15

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

Reflections on Week of Aug 3-7

 

Overall, my training went well this week in terms of hitting my planned numbers for each of the four workouts. My knee, on seldom occasions, was a little sore post-workout, but this was probably no more than a 1 on a scale of 10. In other words, very minor in terms of aggravation. My legs feel pretty good for squatting 4x/week...though I was “dealt” low volume this week. It could be entirely different come next week. I’ve been reading up on isometric exercises, and I’m going to start incorporating wall sits into my daily regimen before I go to bed. This should target the patellar and quad tendons in a good way.

 

The water goal, while doable, has resulted in a lot more bathroom breaks than I’d like, and I’ll have to rethink my water consumption this upcoming week since I’ll be in meetings all during the week.

The guitar goals have been coming along pretty good. There’s some songs like Philadelphia Freedom that still need some fine tuning on certain parts, but I’m in the correct key. I’m starting to look for songs that are in keys that I’m still rusty on picking up. 
 

The sleep goals could use some more work. While I’m turning the lights off at the desired times, I’ve had several days where I continued reading on my phone for 10-15 min after turning the lights off. I need to get into a better “prep for bed” routine. 
 

Overall, it’s been a good first week on the challenge. Looking forward to week 2. 

 

[HomeLifter]

You’ve got to be the first person in history that is doing a Lower Lower split haha

 

Are you not doing any upper exercises? On phone so might have missed it

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

@HomeLifter Yeah, so far I’m still able to walk doing this Lower Lower split haha. I’m doing some presses and high pulls after the lower body stuff, so I’m not completely neglecting the upper body. But a lot of that depends on how long the lower body stuff takes, especially since I’m working out the last hour before my gym closes. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

10 August 20

 

Observations: Well, volume on the main squat was 6 x 5 compared to 1 x 5 last Monday. Despite that, this workout actually felt really nice. Knees weren't aggravated at all and the movements felt powerful. The 3-second tempo front squat was pretty challenging. Switching out the elevated movements with the tempo movements has seemed to help my knee. Haven't experienced the nagging soreness like I did a week or so ago.

 

7 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: Only did 32 oz at work, going to try and consume the remainder before bed

3. New guitar song: Beck: Loser

4. Sleep: Lights were out 15 min past the lights out goal

[cd667]

Nice one!

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

11 August 20

 

Observations: Quite fatigued this evening, post-workout. None of the lower body stuff was less than 4 x 5, so I got quite a bit of volume today. Both the tempo squat and tempo front squat were 6 x 5 today, and by the time I got to my last exercise, the good morning, I was pretty whipped. Knee didn't bother me much at all. Just realized my last post had the stats dated as 7 Aug when it should've been 10 Aug. Oops.

 

11 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: No, 32 oz and maybe a few more glasses. 

3. New guitar song: Lynyrd Skynyrd: I Know A Little

4. Sleep: I was stuck in a Warzone match w/ my comrade that finished up late. Ended up turning the lights out around 11:30.

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

12 August 20

 

Observations: I got spared on volume today, even though I was mentally prepared for it. All the exercises were relatively low in volume, except the good morning. I've crossed the 225 line on my main movement (3-second tempo squat) and should be in the mid 200s on the 1-2 sets next week. Pretty content so far w/ the progress. Knee is holding up alright even as the weights are starting to increase. 

 

12 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: No, 32 oz and a couple of glasses after the 32 oz was consumed. Likely below 64 oz

3. New guitar song: Van Halen: Jump

4. Sleep: Lights were out by the designated time. I was too dead to participate in Operation: Rapid Sunder last night. 

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest, 1st Time Challenge Raid, & Reflections on Week of Aug 10th - Aug 14th

 

15 August 20

 

Observations: Friday's workout was canned due to a planned event that evening. I decided today to go and test my tempo squat and tempo front squat. Saturdays are normally off days, but it's been raining all day, so outdoor plans were pretty much trashed this weekend. I went in and decided to work up to weights were I could probably add an additional 10-20 lbs on top of those set weights. I just wanted to get a baseline of where my strength stands at the present moment. I got up to 275 lbs on the tempo squat and 225 lbs on the tempo front squat. I'm pretty happy w/ those numbers, especially since I've dropped down from the 170 lb weight group to the 160 lb weight group. The knee felt good on both exercises, so that's definitely a positive. 2x bodyweight on the tempo squat is definitely feasible within the next month. Overall, for a pretty nasty day, it was quite pretty in the gym.

 

This week had more volume than the previous week. Despite that, I managed to recover well and my knee held up pretty good on all days. I didn't meet my goals on the hydration and lights out time goals. But, in all honestly, as long as I'm progressing in the gym, I'm ok having some slack on those two goals. The reality is I couldn't keep going to the bathroom while sitting in meetings all day. Next week I'll try to work back up to 64 oz/day. This upcoming week will have some changes with regards to my sets and reps scheme. But regardless of the scheme, the goal will be to increase the weight each workout.

 

15 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: I'll say yes, even though the schedule was a little off this week

2. Drank 64 oz of water: No, at least it wasn't measured at 64 oz. It was 32 oz and several glasses in the evening

3. New guitar song: Alice In Chains: I Stay Away

4. Sleep: Squad ops in Verdansk--didn't get to bed on time

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

17 August 20

 

Observations: Overall, the volume was split somewhat across the exercises. The left hip felt a little sore warming up, but subsided once I started getting into working sets. Knee didn't have any issues during this workout. I'm quite content with the tempo squats--they seem to be helping the knee out quite a bit. I swapped the Klokov press with an incline floor press. Haven't done this exercise in quite a while, and it should be a good upper body exercise to run the next few weeks. I had 32 oz and several glasses of water today. Even with 32 oz, I'm getting up way too much to use the restroom. I'm going to play it by feel on Goal 2 going forward--between 32 and 64 is a good range. 

 

17 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: No

3. New guitar song: Stevie Ray Vaughan: Cold Shot

4. Sleep: Was out by the designated time

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

18 August 20

 

Observations: Legs felt like cement today during the workout. Nothing painful, but they were definitely feeling heavy. Knee wasn't bothering me during the workout, but coming home and moving around, it does feel a little sore. Dropping the volume down and working with heavier weight the next few weeks. 

 

18 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: No

3. New guitar song: Wynonna Judd: I Saw The Light

4. Sleep: Was not out by the designated time

[Mr.CaffeineHead]

The Patellar Tendonitis Troubleshooting Quest & 1st Time Challenge Raid

 

19 August 20

 

Observations: Lower body was pretty sore during this workout today. The soreness was primarily localized at the trochanter and piriformis on both sides. The right hip started to throb slightly, but that tapered off after a few sets in. Nothing painful to where I couldn't complete the sets and reps. I tried doing a floor incline Z-Press for the upper body exercise--it was definitely a challenging core stability movement. I realized today that 2 16 oz cups of coffee technically contain water, so I would say I had around 64 oz of liquids today. At least my urine has been clear. 

 

19 August Challenge Stats:

 

1. Numbers on Goal 1 Met: Yes

2. Drank 64 oz of water: If 2 16 oz cups of coffee can count towards "hydration intake", then I had 32 oz of water + 32 oz of coffee

3. New guitar song: Bee Gees: Jive Talkin'

4. Sleep: Nope..out too late last night