Need advice in altering my training, RE hamstring pull

[Enigma76]

So to preface, I've been dieting for the past few months...dropped from a fat 260lbs to a slightly more svelt 230lbs (but still am easily double digit bodyfat). During this time, I dropped strength slightly, but not by much.

Being a college football player (and trying to make a position switch) I have recently for the past two weeks decided to clean "bulk" per se, note that I am not trying to gain mass but rather just purely strength.

I feel that I have endomorphic tendencies...freshman year when I really started lifting, I put on a good 40lbs, about half of it good weight. Then again my diet was ****, and I drank like a fish, but I still feel that I have an easy time putting on muscle, its just that the fat comes along with it.

So, the past two weeks I've been trying to put the strength back to where it was pre-30lb loss. I started up a 5x5 routine, and was making great progress...today however, doing lightish deadlifts (probbaly 75% of my 1RM)...(btw I've got currently a 340 1rm bench, 440ish 1rm squat and 460ish 1rm dead).

So I warmup, 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, then I start my working sets of 350. First two sets, down no problem, I mean I havent feel this good in awhile, I'm just exploding the weight up. Third 350 set, the second rep on the way up I feel and hear a giant pop, and my leg gives out.

Trainer says its a moderate-bad hamstring pull, and its gonna take a couple weeks (he said 4-6) to get back to being able to handle weight again. He cautioned me that hamstrings are very easy to reaggrivate if you dont fully heal the first time, and can be a total pain in the ass for a lifetime if you dont take the proper precautions.


So...


I've never not lifted legs before. I found that the 5x5 full body **** worked wonders for me, and dont know what to do.

I've decided to continue cutting, because if I was to just try putting mass on my upper body I feel that I would get fat quick.

What kind of a routine, or what modifications to my current one, could I do, just looking for possible strength but mostly as a substitute for cardio?


My current split:
All sets done 5x5

Monday: Squat all same weight, flat bench working up to a 5rm including warmup sets as my 5 sets, bent over row working up to 5rm, weighted abs for 4 sets

Wed: Deadlift all same weight, incline barbell bench same weight, pullups BWx5 (I can juuust get all 5 sets right now), cleans same weight

Friday: Squat work up to 5rm including warmups as sets, flat bench same weight, bent over row same weight, 3 sets of curls and skull crushers/dips.

Same weight stuff means that it doesnt include warmup sets...and I dont do any other assistance work besides whats written...I figure if I want to squat/bench/dead big, what better way than to do them alot without screwing around with isolation assistance work.


This is what I did last summer, and it works well for me. I kind of want to stick to the benching at least 2x per week. With a reduction in cals, I know that doing 3x per week benching will be unproductive if not downright detrimental.

Any ideas? Up the reps? I'm using CNW's Thunder/Nitro Evolution stack currently, but I think I'm going to go off the creatine for awhile.

Thank you.

 

[ivydude]

So to preface, I've been dieting for the past few months...dropped from a fat 260lbs to a slightly more svelt 230lbs (but still am easily double digit bodyfat). During this time, I dropped strength slightly, but not by much.

Being a college football player (and trying to make a position switch) I have recently for the past two weeks decided to clean "bulk" per se, note that I am not trying to gain mass but rather just purely strength.

I feel that I have endomorphic tendencies...freshman year when I really started lifting, I put on a good 40lbs, about half of it good weight. Then again my diet was ****, and I drank like a fish, but I still feel that I have an easy time putting on muscle, its just that the fat comes along with it.

So, the past two weeks I've been trying to put the strength back to where it was pre-30lb loss. I started up a 5x5 routine, and was making great progress...today however, doing lightish deadlifts (probbaly 75% of my 1RM)...(btw I've got currently a 340 1rm bench, 440ish 1rm squat and 460ish 1rm dead).

So I warmup, 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, then I start my working sets of 350. First two sets, down no problem, I mean I havent feel this good in awhile, I'm just exploding the weight up. Third 350 set, the second rep on the way up I feel and hear a giant pop, and my leg gives out.

Trainer says its a moderate-bad hamstring pull, and its gonna take a couple weeks (he said 4-6) to get back to being able to handle weight again. He cautioned me that hamstrings are very easy to reaggrivate if you dont fully heal the first time, and can be a total pain in the ass for a lifetime if you dont take the proper precautions.


So...


I've never not lifted legs before. I found that the 5x5 full body **** worked wonders for me, and dont know what to do.

I've decided to continue cutting, because if I was to just try putting mass on my upper body I feel that I would get fat quick.

What kind of a routine, or what modifications to my current one, could I do, just looking for possible strength but mostly as a substitute for cardio?


My current split:
All sets done 5x5

Monday: Squat all same weight, flat bench working up to a 5rm including warmup sets as my 5 sets, bent over row working up to 5rm, weighted abs for 4 sets

Wed: Deadlift all same weight, incline barbell bench same weight, pullups BWx5 (I can juuust get all 5 sets right now), cleans same weight

Friday: Squat work up to 5rm including warmups as sets, flat bench same weight, bent over row same weight, 3 sets of curls and skull crushers/dips.

Same weight stuff means that it doesnt include warmup sets...and I dont do any other assistance work besides whats written...I figure if I want to squat/bench/dead big, what better way than to do them alot without screwing around with isolation assistance work.


This is what I did last summer, and it works well for me. I kind of want to stick to the benching at least 2x per week. With a reduction in cals, I know that doing 3x per week benching will be unproductive if not downright detrimental.

Any ideas? Up the reps? I'm using CNW's Thunder/Nitro Evolution stack currently, but I think I'm going to go off the creatine for awhile.

Thank you.

I don't have a very specific plan in mind, but here's a few general thoughts:

1) Focus on rehab right now and don't worry about weights. They'll come back quick. You just need to get yourself healthy first and foremost.

2) Get a good hamstring rehab AND stretching program from your trainer. You need to be stretching the hams constantly on days you work them to make sure they don't tighten up or even worse you pull something.

3) If this just happened, don't even think about leg work (other than rehab) until you feel better and get clearance.

4) Adding in an extra bench session is not a good idea, especially since you're cutting.

5) Your program seems to indicate you're still DLing. If this is the case you should stop until your hamsting gets better.

6) Assistance work is important when you want to squat, dead, and bench big. Overlooking the assisting muscles is a mistake. The tri's are almost important (if not more) important than the chest in the bench press. Consider more variation in your program that still focuses on the core: i.e. t-bar rows, Pendlay rows, close grip bench, incline skulls, weighted dips.

7) Maybe focus on upper body areas that are lacking while you're rehabing. I.e. build up the rotator cuffs, strengthen your grip for DLing, etc. You can do this on the days you would have done lower body. Maybe even do some light work on the bike (I don't know if that would hurt your hammy).

8) Look back to #1 and make sure that is happening so you come back 100%. Best of luck man.