Sometimes, High Effort Means Doing Less.

I’ve been very woe is me lately.  I injured my hip and low back, and while I have dealt with issues like this before, this time it feels different, both physically and mentally.  If I am being honest with myself, the main acute injury was the product of ignoring a few different chronic issues that had been nagging me. 

I started experiencing lateral hip pain and glute weakness on my left while squatting sometime in October/November.  I consciously started trying to externally rotate less while executing squat and deadlift movement patterns.  This worked to avoid some pain in the short term, but I think it led to a poor movement compensation that relied on more pelvic tilt or lumbar flexion at the bottom of the squat to achieve depth.  The main acute injury was a pop in my back while doing a set of Snatch Grip RDLs with 425.  I was immediately unable to hinge my hips or bend over.  At the time I thought it was an SI joint issue, again something I have dealt with on and off for most of my powerlifting career.  So, I went through my normal process of doing what movements and motions I can do, hoping to continue to be able to train as soon as possible. 

The pain subsided quickly in my day-to-day life, and I was optimistic that I would be able to resume regular training.  It only took some front squatting and a deadlift single at 615lbs to experience the same pop again, this time with more acute pain.  So, I told myself “Okay, only single leg movements and machines for two weeks, then we reevaluate again and ease back intro training the squat and pull.”   Two weeks later I tried to ease back into things with some lighter tempo squats and deadlifts, but the same thing happened again, although this time it was with 225lbs.  So, I backed off even more, only machines, no squatting or deadlifting until you can do your whole warmup without pain.  Unfortunately, I had already got myself to the point where I couldn’t even do leg extensions without the pressure of the movement bothering my back and hip. 

Then the real issues started.  The tweaks became more and more frequent, they began happening in daily life and required less and less loading or range of motion.  It didn’t help that Sam, and I are hoping to move and needed to list our house.  The worst my injury felt might have been the weekend I cleared all my gym gear and a bunch of our storage out of the basement.  I have always joked that moving is more destructive than powerlifting, and I confirmed my case that weekend.  Yes, it is my fault for carrying horse stall mats, weights, and a squat rack up stairs to load it all into a U-Haul and unloaded it the next day, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  At this point I couldn’t bend over to put my socks on in the morning, I was getting flare ups and jolts up my spine doing simple things like reaching for toilet paper, and I felt like I couldn’t even execute my nightly stretching routine.  I have had a nightly stretching routine for many years now, it always makes my body feel good, helps me relax, reduces perception of pain, and has kept me healthy.  I was getting some of the same symptoms when I was releasing stretches, so now something that had kept me healthy and moving well was having the opposite effect. 

Sam convinced me to finally consult a medical professional.  I have not seen a chiropractor, physiotherapist, or anything like that for many years.  There was a time in my career where I was consulting with a physio weekly or bi-weekly to be the best athlete I could.  This relationship was very productive for a couple years, but my trust in this individual was eroded over time.  Without getting into too much detail, at some point I just felt like they were taking my money, they weren’t helping me to address my needs, and I wasn’t feeling any better or yielding improved performance.  In fairness, some of my main prehab strategies, philosophies, and favourite stretches were learned from or inspired by this person.  It was bad enough that after I had inguinal hernia surgery, I decided to handle all my post-surgery rehab myself.  That was in 2019, and up until now I have remained relatively injury free, have been able to train hard, hit a couple lifetime PRs, along with all the post injury PRs.  Long story short, I didn’t trust anyone to help me with my body, my rehab, my training, none of it.  I wanted to figure everything out on my own.  If you asked me, I would tell you it was because I have too much experimentation to do so that I can continue to learn and apply things to my clients.  I think I just don’t trust anyone with my body when it comes to training and performance.  I say all of this to note that my visit to the chiropractor last week shows that I had reached a point that was bad enough that I needed to reach out to someone.  That and Sam told me she wasn’t going to listen to me complain about the issues I was having if I wasn’t going to consult someone.  Totally fair. 

While it is tough to truly confirm what exactly is going on, and there are a lot of factors that are probably contributing to the issue, at least I took steps to find a starting point to rebuild from.  It was an interesting appointment, because I think the Chiropractor thought I was looking to get under a bar as soon as possible and get back into training.  Buddy, I just want to put my socks on or wipe my ass without having a back spasm that leaves me unable to take a deep breath.  Training will come later.  Diagnosis sounds like it is  probably a bulging disc, potentially small ruptures to the annulus, complete rupture would mean more constant pain and less movement.  I was sent for an x-ray and get results from that today along with our next steps.  The whole injury is confounded by the fact that there was pain in the lateral part of my hip first, along with a worn-out adductor and hip flexor.  I know what I did wrong. 

At Nats 2024 in September I hit an all-time deadlift PR and hit my biggest total since 2018.  With the odd scheduling and Nats 25 being right around the corner, not only did I dive right back into training, but I also increased my training dose.  I was motivated to be the best I have ever been, I still am.  I made the mistake of comparing 2024 Taylor to 2017 Taylor.  I thought I needed to handle higher workloads, anchoring on things I could do when I was still in my 20’s haha.  We all fall into this trap from time to time.  Not only did I increase the average intensity and volume of my squat and deadlift, I also spammed in some accessory work that I saw as low hanging fruit. 

It can really be difficult to navigate training dose post injury and adjust performance expectations as we age in the sport.  Brother, you hit some of your biggest lifts ever, run the same program again.  Shit man you could probably do a little bit less and increase the quality of your work.   Get some extra sleep or buy a CPAP off the black market.  Nope, let’s increase the dose a bit and force this total to move some more.  Hip starting to hurt? Too bad, Nats is coming up again.  Your lifts don’t feel good? Hmm, maybe I’ll reduce reps to lower RPE but add sets to try to build up to the workloads that I want to handle. 

I don’t think there was any one thing I did wrong with my technique, my exercise selection or execution, or anything like that.  My main mistake, that I made repeatedly, was ignoring hip pain, training through hip pain, assuming it would go away, or that I would make it to Nationals and then I would take a break.  At times I couldn’t even walk up or down stairs without my hip hurting.  I did have a break planned.  We are getting married at the end of May, and I knew we were going to have to do a lot of work to get the house ready to sell.  I was just hoping to get a competition in before we did all of that. 

When the most valuable cards in your hand have always been effort and hard work, it can be difficult to know how or when you need to hold back and do less.  Anything valuable that I have achieved in my life has required lots of hard work.  I know that anyone reading this is probably in the same boat.  Less work in the gym seems like less effort.  But for these types of individuals, doing less work requires more effort.  Sometimes high effort might mean doing less, or it might seem like you are doing less.  For me in at this time it should have meant doing less squatting and deadlifting.  Maybe less intensity, less volume, less frequency, whatever.  My problem is not from that single session where my back popped while I was doing RDLs.  My injury is a product of chronic overuse.  One small nagging issue leading to another.  I instituted a rule for myself after my hernia surgery in 2019, if I cannot complete this warmup without pain, then I will either not train that day, or I will adjust training.  Most of the time I finish my warmup with my body feeling better, ready to send it and lift some heavy shit.  This was not the case leading up to this injury.  SLDL and reverse lunge movements both created the lateral hip pain I mentioned previously, and it wasn’t going away.  It’s the oldest mistake in powerlifting.  Everyone knows someone who has done this, is currently doing this, or they do it themselves. 

Any sport or activity taken to the extreme will have its bumps and bruises along the way.  Part of the honour in powerlifting participation is pushing through the pain of a hard training session, week, block, or even a hard training year.  We are trying to find out who can lift the biggest rock after all.  It is important to have systems or rules in place that help you navigate whether it is a time to push through, or it is a time to back off.  More importantly, once you do have these rules in place, don’t ignore them!  Sometimes high effort means knowing when to cut things a set short or choose a movement more favourable to your current abilities or knowing when a little less will help you recover and adapt to the stimulus you are presenting to your body, rather than just digging a deeper hole, or training just to train.  If doing less meant that I could push hard without pain, I probably would have been able to lift heavier weights later, or get more reps, or both. Quality training always trumps the quantity of training.  You are only as strong as your weakest link, and unfortunately weak links seem to become more fragile to workload as time goes on in this sport. High effort might mean doing less of the powerlifts, and more of the little things you don’t want to do.  Prehab work, unilateral work, trunk work, mobility, stretching, rest, sleep.  I know you love to train; I know that training hard and heavy is was scratches the itch for you. I know you want to enter that place in the back of your mind where the demons exist, when the weight on your back is crushing you, you can’t breathe, and all you can think about is standing up.  I also know that when you ignore warning signs, it leads to not being able to do the thing you love the most. 

So here I am, in my bench only arc.  I still need to bench 405 anyways.  I have a plan in place and am taking things day by day.  I did two sets of GHR on Monday, and 1 set of reverse lunges yesterday.  Sometimes, high effort means doing less.