Rehab

In December 2016, on my last heavy deadlift session before competing in Victoria's Strongest Man in January, I injured my back. Although the damage wasn't too serious, it was enough that I had to pull out of the competition.

At first, the rehab protocol was simply to do 50-100 reps of hyperextensions and reverse hyperextensions as part of my warm-up. During this time I didn't squat or deadlift anything over about 60% of my max. This felt like it was working for a couple of months, and then I hurt my back in the same way again, but this time while doing a speed squat session.

This was frustrating, considering that I thought I was doing the "right thing" this time around.

I changed my rehab protocol to instead focus on a lot of direct ab work - something I've neglected a lot in the past - and regular stretching of the hip region and other areas in close proximity. The ab work work was just some ab wheel work to begin with, and then I started doing 100 reps of light pulldown abs as part of my warm-up protocol along with the ab wheel work.

This time, things have started to get better; I've been able to squat up to ~180kg again and deadlift in the 200-240kg range again, although not for the higher volume I was used to before the injury. There has been some slight discomfort and tightness, but some stretching and mobility work has sorted it out.

I then, more recently, added the lower-back rehab work from earlier in the year back in; 100 reps of hyperextensions in my warm-up protocol on top of the ab work I'm already doing.

This has been working well and I'm back on track to squat and pull some heavier numbers by the end of the year. Just in time for the next Victoria's Strongest Man competition in January 2018.