Question/Suggestion(s) on injured programming

[Matt DeVoe]

Hey everyone,

So I've recently re-started a SS regimen. Unfortunately I'm recovering from patellar tendonitis and jumped the gun on squats, my tendons just aren't ready. I'm a stubborn bastard and have done this before, but my knees are reacting much better this time. The pain isn't debilitating, but working through pain is generally a bad idea.
According to my sports med doc, the inflammation was gone, however the tendon is weak and needs to be restrengthened. As of this morning, the inflammation is minor, but still a signal of possible coming problems.

My plan is to cut my losses and back off lower body weighted exercises, get rid of the inflammation and continue restrengthening the tendons. I'm going to continue icing my knees, taking fish oil, stretching, foam rolling, massage and doing plenty of TKEs and the other PT exercises that I was given.
I've cut out inflammatory foods in my diet, no gluten (I'm a celiac), no dairy, no legumes and no nightshades.

The real meat of this post is regarding programming.

If my understanding of novice programming and adaptation is correct, I should still be able to progress linearly w/ BP and Press.
I won't get maximal gains due to the full body movements like Squat and DL being axed out of my program for now, but adaptation should still occur to the Press and BP.

I was doing the standard Squat/Press/Dead - Squat/BP/Chins workout.

I'm thinking of replacing DLs with weighted Chins/PUs and adding upper body assistance exercises/simple gymnastic work (handstand work, L-Sits and planche progression if I start feeling manly).


Suggestions, critiques and off color jokes would be much appreciated.


Thanks.

[Steven Low]

Sure, go for it.

If you want to post up a more concrete routine I'll critique if you wish.

[Derek Weaver]

Single leg work on the healthy side is an idea you may want to implement.

[Blair Lowe]

Hmm, I could possibly understand the notion of not squatting but I wouldn't throw out the DL.

Of course, you could start working more on lower extremity mobility. Single-Leg DL or ee gads, Split Squats (ya know, Bulgarian style or whatever Boyle calls them). Ramp up slowly, hell start with BW or bar only. There is a need to rehab them not see how fast you can destroy them.

However, if even the single leg lower extremity stuff causes pain, don't hesistate to just toss them out. It may be frustrating to taper and scale them back so much it seems pointless.

I still believe a little bit of poison can be a good cure, it's just finding the right amount and not dying in the process.

[Kevin Shaughnessy]

I found bodyweight squats, box jumps and hill sprints to be very usefull in rehabing my pateller tendonitis problem.

[Chris Butler]

I wouldn't remove squats all together. This would be a good time to learn overhead squat with a broomstick. Snatch grip DL's would be a good introduction due to lighter load and increased ROM.

[Rafe Kelley]

Yeah I am not sure why PFS would prevent deadlifting, especially if you play with stiff leg and pulling from pins.

I seconds lots of single leg work

and I would also advocate doing some controlled full range of motion eccentrics I have found these to be very helpfull with getting rid tendon problems.

[Steven Low]

Slow eccentrics are #1 exercise for helping any type of tendonitis.

If strength imbalance then hit up hammies/glutes some.

[Matt DeVoe]

Everyone, thanks for the help/tips, much appreciated.

I performed the A workout (listed below) and kept the DLs, my knee didn't flair up at all, so +1 for that (I love my DLs :D ). I'll start including slow eccentric squats and eventually move to bw squats. Overhead squats with a broomstick also sounds solid. I'll experiment with single leg work and see how my body reacts.

Unfortunately box jumps and hill sprints aren't on the map yet, running and jumping seems to flair up the left knee.

That being said, I'm sticking to SS program w/ little change:

A workout
L-Sit Progression
Press
Dead

B workout
Handstand work
Bench
Chins/PUs
(eventually using ring dips as assistance)

I'd like to eventually incorporate an assistance exercise in the "A" workout, however I'm unsure due to the nature of heavy DLs. If assistance work should be incorporated, I'm thinking push press.

Once I'm confident my tendon is ready for squatting, I'll toss it in to the program and continue business as usual.

Again, any tips or critiques are more than welcome.

Thanks again, guys.