Not Following The Program | Wade Stokes

Two weeks before the world championships masters swim meet this past
January, at 58 years old, I went for a lifetime personal record in
weighted dips of 20kg (44 lb). While coming up on the fifth rep of
the second set, I felt a weird “shift” in my left shoulder. I
climbed down and looked at my shoulder with a vague feeling of nausea
and an increasing revulsion – as if my shoulder was no longer part
of me. The shoulder didn’t hurt per se, but something was
fundamentally wrong. Testing it, I lifted my arm slowly over my head
and to the back – like the first movement in backstroke.

When my arm reached
maybe 70 or 80 degrees out to the side, a sharp pop echoed in my
bones, dropped me to my knees in pain, and caused a passing gym bro
to ask, “What the fuck was that?” Though it took me a while to
get the medical diagnosis, I had just torn the subscapularis tendon
in my left shoulder roughly 90% off the bone and caused a partial,
medial tear of the supraspinatus tendon.

I tore my rotator cuff
tendons because I was not following The Program.

How did I reach this point? After a few years of lifting, I thought I
was experienced and knowledgeable in the Starting Strength program. A
few years back, with the advice of friend who was tired of hearing me
complain about pain in my lower back, I started doing squats and
deadlifts. I found Starting Strength online, and I was captured by
all the articles and videos and materials. Living in Europe, I went
to a Starting Strength squat, deadlift, and press camp in Brussels
led by Steve Ross. To accelerate my development, afterwards I asked
Steve to be my online coach. A year or so later, when I went back to
Texas for a high-school reunion, I managed to attend the full
Starting Strength Seminar at our mecca, the Wichita Falls Athletic
Club. There I met everyone whom I had seen in all the videos and
articles online – it really felt like I was part of the community.  

Back home in Estonia, I was even more of an evangelist for anyone who
would listen about the benefits of strength training, especially for
those middle-aged or older. I felt I was living proof: Starting
Strength had supercharged my masters swimming career to reach the top
of my niche sport of winter swimming (I wrote about it here Winter Swimming and Starting Strength).

 So, what went wrong? I tore my rotator cuff tendons because I was not
following The Program.

In preparation for
January’s championships, everything was going well. After six
months of online coaching, I had gone off on my own and found that a
four-day split (Example 24-20 from The Barbell Prescription)
worked well for me. By the middle of last year, I had never been
stronger in my life. At 183cm (6 feet) and 93kg (205 lb), my squats
had reached a one-rep max of 154kg (339lb), deadlifts 165kg (358lb),
bench 121kg (266lb), and press 73kg (161lb). In my niche sport of
winter swimming, I felt confident that I could win a couple of events
in my age group and even set a record or two.

About two months before the swim meet, I made a couple of fateful
decisions. One of the toughest competitors in the sprint butterfly
was a Scotsman who had set the age-group world record the previous
year. So, on top of my four-day split program, I decided to add
weighted dips as the movement is very similar to how one gets power
at the end of each stroke in butterfly.

Then, after my
progression on dips went very well, I realized that if I pushed the
weight faster than planned, my 58-year-old self could beat the
personal record in weighted dips set by my 21-year-old self who at
the time played Division I collegiate water polo. So, yes, on that
fateful day, I went for an ego lift.

I tore my rotator cuff
tendons, because I was not following The Program.

So, what does one do if
you have blown out your shoulder? Well, you go see an orthopedic
surgeon. Sometimes even they find it hard to figure out what
happened. Manual manipulation and an MRI scan left the surgeon
puzzled. Given my description of the “pop,” though, he ordered a
follow-up MRI with contrast dye injected into the shoulder joint
beforehand. Finally, this test demonstrated clearly that my
subscapularis tendon was hanging by a thread, and my supraspinatus
had a medial tear. Surgery was scheduled, but because of some travel
on both sides, it was postponed for over two months.

I didn’t want to just
atrophy during this period – I needed help. I reached out to Pedro
Pereira, a Starting Strength Coach based in Quarteira, Portugal, whom
I had met earlier at the camp I went to at Brussels Barbell. Pedro
became my savior. To prepare me for surgery, he did some research
within the Starting Strength community, and he then put me back under
the bar immediately.

Please remember that
every case is different, and that you should talk to your orthopedist
first. But, in this two-month-plus period, I was able to keep my
muscles moving. I was able to squat with a safety squat bar. Pedro
had me doing a strict overhead press (no hip bounce), starting at
maybe 25% of my max, and I kept at it even though I finished my reps
well in front of my head to avoid any pain. And I even got the bench
up to 70kg (154lb) until the instability and my unease got us to
drop bench and focus just on the press. In hindsight, moving my
muscles for the months before surgery was the best thing I could have
done for my recovery.

Starting
Strength Coaching Set Me Up Well for Surgery and Rehab

My surgeon reattached
the subscapularis tendon but left the smaller tear in the
supraspinatus alone. Recovery from rotator cuff tendon repair is a
long process. For the first six weeks, you are in a sling that binds
your arm to your body, and you are required to wear it day and night.
Afterwards, with your shoulder feeling like mush and squawking, the
standard protocol is to spend three more months on range-of-motion
exercises, with light lifting added only in months four and five. My
surgeon and physical therapist both warned me against any real
lifting before six months.

Already in the first month, I had started using leg machines while
wearing my sling, and I shifted to light safety-bar squats and
deadlifts after the first six weeks. Since Pedro had prepared me well
for surgery, and my range of motion was improving, we cautiously
started the rest of the Starting Strength lifts in the fourth month.
Light weights only. Squats were with the safety-bar as my shoulder
can’t turn back that far yet. Deadlifts were fine as there is no
external rotation on the shoulder joint in this lift. I am going slow
on strict overhead presses while lifting directly from the pins. And
my bench presses are now done with pauses at the bottom.

We started with light
weights, and any pain is a reason to stop or slow down. My strength
is improving, and I can see myself returning to full strength and
range of motion much faster than if I had just followed the physical
therapist’s standard protocol. In all of this, I am driven by the
understanding that the range of motion I get by the end of six months
post-surgery is probably going to be what I have for the rest of my
life.

The surgeon did leave
the medial tear in my supraspinatus tendon. In the middle of the
tendon, I have about half a centimeter pulled away from the bone.
With the muscles I am rebuilding around the shoulder, it should be
fine for me to return to heavy lifting and swimming.

Following Starting Strength
Post-surgery Will Accelerate My Return to Swimming.

Today, my progress
feels amazing. In the back of my mind, I am even thinking that if
everything holds, then I might be able to compete in a couple of
events at the masters world championships in winter swimming in March
2026 in Oulu, Finland. It would be a testament to strength training
and to my Starting Strength coaching if I can pull this off at
59-years-old and less than nine months post-surgery. I will talk to
my orthopedist before the final decision, and I might swim only
breaststroke and not butterfly events as this stroke puts less stress
on your shoulder.

During this year, boy
have I learned my lesson: Follow The Program. You don’t need more;
you don’t need less. You just need to follow the proven way to
increase your strength.

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