need some help (long post, sorry)

[Vet]

I need some advice from powerlifters with more experience with meet preparation than what I have. I am an insulin dependant diabetic (21 years with no complications) who was diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism (low LH--I don't have the results, my doctor kept those, low testosterone-- 171, normal 400-1200, Low Free Test 0.2, reference range of 0.7-1.0) the middle of last month by my endocrinologist.  We have been chasing a cause of insulin resistance leading to increased insulin doses for a while now with my doctor originally thinking I might have Cushings disease, then ruling that out and chasing a bunch of zebras before I stumbled into the hypogonadism diagnosis.  As it stands they low test levels seem to be a likely cause of insulin resistance, fatigue, memory loss, inability to focus, and weight gain I've had, but at the same time there are a couple of brain tumors that have similar vague clinical signs.  Bascally my doctor has given me enough information to combine with my medical training to scare the living shit out of me.  For the record, i've never taken anabolic steroids, but I did take quite a few of the "original" prohormones when I was younger, including Andro, DHEA, etc.  I still say none of them work, but what my endocrinologist said about the pathophysiology involved scared me a bit. 

I had an MRI this week  to rule out brain tumor, pituitary structural abnormalities, etc.  I've had two major head traumas with loss of consciousness and a total of 6 concussions since I was 15 years old. According to my endocrinologist, I should be going on HRT starting next week once the final results of the MRI are in, which I’m assuming will stop my being able to compete in “drug free” powerlifting federations from here on out. That’s not that big of a deal as long as I can get myself straight and keep training hard.  I had originally planned last fall on doing a full meet in April or May with the goal of getting very close to totaling elite (squat 750, bench 585, deadlift 585) in single ply gear.   

I started training for this meet the middle of January. Things have not gone as good as I’d have liked them. I’ve been so fatigued, I basically quit with cardio three weeks ago, cutting back from three days a week to one day. As a result I am probably going to have to come in heavier for this meet than I'd like to and use training gear (which is in good shape, just a size bigger) instead of my meet gear.  I’m now 7 weeks out from the meet I wanted to do, with uncertainty on how I should approach things. I train in a traditional westside method with DE Bench on Sunday, ME Squat on Tuesday, ME bench on Thursday and DE squat/dead on Friday.  I’m still putting up PR’s on my ME days, but I’ve had to go to a 10-12 day split instead of the traditional 4 days per week of Westside to recover from my workouts.

My instinct is to buck up and push as hard as I can to get through the meet. It’s another meet and more experience. Logic tells me to back off a bit, take a week or two away from the gym doing only light cardio and stretching to pull myself back together, start HRT as my doctor prescribes, and then try to hit things hard to do a meet sometime later during the summer. 

Can someone help me out with this one? I know there are a couple of guys on HRT who post on this forum.  Thanks….

[thewickedtruth]

HRT i think only means you're getting test..and they're only going to give you enough to put you on the norm with the average dude. if you' have a medical history and aren't talking ridiculous amounts and can prove that i dont' see how it could be a problem..my advice would be to email a fed chairman with this situation.

[Vet]

HRT i think only means you're getting test..and they're only going to give you enough to put you on the norm with the average dude. if you' have a medical history and aren't talking ridiculous amounts and can prove that i dont' see how it could be a problem..my advice would be to email a fed chairman with this situation.

I'm pretty sure the IPF and affiliates look at testosterone/epitestosterone ratios, which will go up with HRT type therapy.  It doesn't really matter, because I'm not competing in the IPF (I just look at things with their drug testing standards) and my endocrinologist has already said he'll provide any documents necessary/fill out any paperwork if that becomes an issue.  We have the complete diagnostic workup, so in all honesty, thats the least of my concerns right now although in my mind, I'm no longer drug free, but thats my warped mind.   

I'd rather just get my shit in the gym back straight and go from there.  I'll be honest, I'm scared shitless waiting for the results of that MRI to come back.   I'm impatient as hell with diagnostic tests on my patients and if it took this long on some of the species I see, they'd have long been dead. 

[nasht5]

Ok, the APA allows HRT folks to compete in the drug tested division as long as your test ratio is not 6:1 or over, yes, bring documentation. In your case expect to pay for your own drug test.

Cardio? fuck cardio - YOUR A POWERLIFTER!

West side may be to demanding for your current condition. Your about 6-7 weeks out from your meet, start benching once every 7 days, deadlifting once every 7 days and squatting once every 7 days.

Mon- deadlift / some back work: one week heavy singles next week heavy triples, back and forth
wed- bench / shoulders / tri's:
frid - squat / some back and bi's

make weight by what you eat, cardio will sapp your strength.

The HRT will help with fatigue and focus, been there done that.

[Vet]

Ok, the APA allows HRT folks to compete in the drug tested division as long as your test ratio is not 6:1 or over, yes, bring documentation. In your case expect to pay for your own drug test.

Cardio? fuck cardio - YOUR A POWERLIFTER!

West side may be to demanding for your current condition. Your about 6-7 weeks out from your meet, start benching once every 7 days, deadlifting once every 7 days and squatting once every 7 days.

Mon- deadlift / some back work: one week heavy singles next week heavy triples, back and forth
wed- bench / shoulders / tri's:
frid - squat / some back and bi's

make weight by what you eat, cardio will sapp your strength.

The HRT will help with fatigue and focus, been there done that.

Thanks Nash, you were one of the people I was hoping would comment on this post. 


Are you talking once a week squat/bench/deadlift ala progressive overload?   

[nasht5]

Yes. I'm 38, started hrt back in august of 07'. training each lift once a week has allowed me more time for recovery and recovery IS the secret to getting stronger. I do the progressive overload with a small twist. When you get to a certain level You really can't go up on every working set every week. What you can do is drop a few lbs off the working sets and add a few reps to it. It is a balance you must play with your cns, you don't want to go maximal effort on all three lifts every week.

When training for a MEET I do this:
sun - dead / or squat; sunday is a heavy day
mon - back
tues - bench; heavy singles one week, heavy doubles/triples the next two weeks then start over again.
thur - squat / or dead; thursday is a speed day

[Vet]

Yes. I'm 38, started hrt back in august of 07'. training each lift once a week has allowed me more time for recovery and recovery IS the secret to getting stronger. I do the progressive overload with a small twist. When you get to a certain level You really can't go up on every working set every week. What you can do is drop a few lbs off the working sets and add a few reps to it. It is a balance you must play with your cns, you don't want to go maximal effort on all three lifts every week.

When training for a MEET I do this:
sun - dead / or squat; sunday is a heavy day
mon - back
tues - bench; heavy singles one week, heavy doubles/triples the next two weeks then start over again.
thur - squat / or dead; thursday is a speed day

Yeah, thats basically  kinda sorta what I'm doing.  I've dropped some of the extra stuff I was doing and revamped things a bit.  One thing I've noticed is severe loss of speed in my lifts.  I think thats a key to moving heavy weight, so I'm trying to get some of that back too. 


This is what I did essentially for the last year and a half before:

Sunday: DE Bench (speed work)
Monday: cardio/stretching
Tuesday:  ME Squat/deadlift
Wednesday: Cardio +/- sled work/truck pushing (for "recovery") + stretching +/- "farm work"/Sandbag work/splitting wood
Thursday: ME Bench
Friday: DE Squat (Speed work)
Saturday: Cardio +/- Sled work + Yoga +/- "Farm work"-----  go move 200 haybales and tell me you aren't getting some sort of a workout.   

I'd start a ~3 week circamax of really heavy band tension ~6 weeks before a meet to make sure I had maximal speed development out of the hole, then drop back to straight weight 3 weeks before a meet and make sure I could hit my openers as I cut back on the volume. 

I've sat down and looked really hard at what I've been doing and in all reality, i've probably been overtraining too.  I've cut back on the total volume of the workouts, dropping back on the accessory work from what I'd done in the past, basically cutting it in half so I can focus on squat, bench and deadlift.  I can't get out of the farm work, because it has to be done, but I'm not going oto go home and hop on a bike for 20 minutes if I spend all morning moving hay or digging out water pipes or cutting grass or something like that.  I grew up doing that sort of work, so you'd think my body would be used to it by now, but its probably something taxing on my recovery.   

I'm also limiting cardio to 20 minutes (or 5 miles) when I do it instead of the 30-35 minutes (I'd bike 8 miles, then quit) I'd been doing.  I really think there is a recovery benefit to cardio, especially in a diabetic like myself who has to be concerned about cardiovascular health.  Plus it warms me up so I can stretch pain free.  Its not like I go all out on the bike either, I'd consider it a "causal" bike ride type pace----interval tension with an average HR around 125 BPM.    If I'm tired that day, I'm going to cut it in half and still stretch.  My flexibility has gone to shit the last 3 years and I need to work to keep what I've got. 


What I'm looking at now:

Sunday:  DE Bench
Monday: rest +/- cardio + stretching
Tueday: ME Squat/deadlift
Wednesday: Rest +/- cardio + stretching
Thursday: ME Bench
Friday: DE Squat/Bench
Saturday: rest  +/- cardio + stretching. 


I'm not going to do any band work prior to this meet, instead stick with straight weight and work with the gear a bit more.