It's Darius here. I havent posted in a while-actually a long time. After the meet in October where I made some major PR"S life went south pretty quickly. On Dec 19th I was diagnosed with cancer (testicular)which had spread to my abdomen. Had the testicle removed 23rd December and went into chemo 2nd Feb. Finished chemo on 2nd April and I am in remission now. The chemo was body slamming and I'm still recovering.
I actually tested my deadlift and pulled 140kg after 1 cycle of chemo. I also tested after a month and hit the same number again-not a max effort pull just a decent effort. The chemo has weakend my ligaments and tendons but I want to start lifting again.
My plan is to start 2 days a week bench & squat, deadlift once a week. Maybe work upto a 5rep max and take it from there. At the moment I really want to keep it low volume and maybe build it up from there and than see how I go.
I would like your opinion on this. There will be no volume or intenisty weeks-just slow progressive overload and see how I go. I intend to keep doing this for at least the next 4-5 months.
If anyone can offer any input I would appreciate it.
I think your plan sounds solid considering the circumstances you're dealing with. Remember to stay flexible and monitor your recovery as this will be especially important now from both a strength and health perspective. When available, you should look into TRAC (email me if/when you're interested in starting it).
Also, take it easy as far as intensity for a while. As you mentioned, your ligaments and tendons may have been weakened. I would also look into doing some special work for connective tissue in the months ahead.
I think that's awesome testimony that you're beating cancer, man! Let me know if I can be of any more help.
