Pain, cholesterol, genreral advice

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Sorry this is so long winded,
A little about me:

39yr – Male
6’0 tall
220lbs
38.5" waist (most of my fat is in my belly, can get in 34" jeans, but 36" is more comfortable)
20% BF or so (according to InBody Analyzer @ local supplement shop)

Been lifting on and off for 20 years. All body building style programs. Never trained for strength.

Medical History:
Current High cholesterol - about 220 total with about 160 LDL and 40 HDL (somewhere in there. I do not have my latest blood work with me. I know my bad cholesterol is way higher than it should be)
Blood pressure is close to high - mostly 120-125/ 75-80
Currently taking 40MG of Atorvastatin daily
Had a Laminectomy in 2010 between L5-S1. Horrible sciatic pain down right leg prior to surgery. Problems on and off since, but seems to be getting better since actually lifting heavy. Not much disc material left from what I can see on last MRI (2 years ago). Very dark compared to other discs.

Feels like I am about to end NLP in the next week or so.

Current lifts
3x5 numbers:
Squats - 290lb (got up to 310 but failed @315, currently resetting)
DL - 295lb (1x5) (got to 305 but failed @310, resetted to 275)
Bench - 270lbs
OHP - 167.5lbs

Current MAcros:
175 to 200 protein
300 to 400 Carbs
70 to 90 Fat
Havent been too diligent lately since starting NLP

Considering the Bridge as my first Intermediate Program

Goals moving forward:
No current plans to compete. Want to get stronger for general health and look as good as I can for a man soon to be 40.

Questions:

1 - Would dropping to 200 and hopefully cutting a few inches off my gut be recommended while on the bridge and trying to improve my lifts? Would this help the Cholesterol issue or am I just out of luck and having to stick with meds from now on? Or would it be better to only lose 10lbs?
2- I currently have at max 1.5 hours to train (early morning) M - F and the occasional Sat or Sunday depending on Kids activities - What program would be recommended?
3 - -Recently on squats and DL, there has been what seems to be muscle spasms (i think) on the right side of my spine (lower back), that has prevented me from hitting reps. I think I am strong enough to hit the reps, but severe sharp pains hit. BEst way to describe it is, on the DL, when I set the weight down, let go of the bar, and stand up, I get caught half way to standing up and have to inch my way up before I can stand up all of the way. Once I can stand up completely, after a few seconds, I can move around again and the pain stops. very weird. Happened before 6 weeks ago, but went away when I had a reset. Just started happening again 2 weeks ago. Luckily at a higher weight than before. Any Idea on what could be causing this?

Thank you for your patience and time! If there is anything else you need to know, please let me know!

2

  1. Given that the Bridge is an 8 week program, I would not recommend aggressively dropping 20 lbs in 8 weeks. With that said, reducing your waist measurement and excess bodyfat will likely produce favorable changes in your lipid profile, and increasing your training volume combined with a bit tighter macro targets (note that “300 to 400 g carbs”, for example, is a pretty huge range)

  2. Any of our programs can be done in that timeframe, as you can adjust the weights as needed based on RPE to get the appropriate stress in a given amount of time.

  3. How hard are you grinding these deadlift sets?

3

Thank you for your quick response!

1 - Yes, I did not clarify that one too good. I was planning to drop .5 to 1lb per week. Nothing that aggressive. Maybe start with 200P 300C 70F and see how that goes. Without the meds I am taking, what kind of results would you expect on cholesterol with a 10 to 15lb drop in weight?

2 - Thank you! Looks like the bridge will be soon!

3 - It feels like I am grinding pretty good, but I think most of that is from the pain. Not that it would be an easy set of 5 without the pain, but I believe it would be a whole lot smoother. Also, when I do pull ups, I can do about 3 before my right hamstring locks up and I have to let go. Could that be the culprit in my lower back as well? Any recommendations for getting that fixed?

4

1- No way to predict, far too much individual variation in response here to be honest.

2- Sounds good!

3- Your hamstring locks up when doing pull ups? I don’t understand.

5

Yes it’s weird. Like a bad Charlie horse. Not when I hang, but when I pull myself up. Sometimes it will lock up when for example I get on my knees to hug my daughter. Up until I started the NLP, I could not stretch my right leg out ( sitting in chair, could not bring my right leg to a 90degree angle with out feeling it in lower back and all of my hamstring) Since NLP, I can go past parallel now, but it still locks up doing pull ups for sure and randomly while I kneel.

I will I’ll just try the weight loss and see what happens. Worse case I get weaker for a short time until I can bring calories up!