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Updated September 5th, 2002
The Year of Pain

What a tough year this has been for training! After last year's challenging return to competition from having surgery to reattach a ruptured bicep tendon, I naively thought the worst was over and this year would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.

Injuries, of course, are sometimes part of the whole training process when getting ready for a competition. This year, however, I had (have) two injuries to contend with. First, I experienced a rotator cuff strain to my left shoulder last May. Then, only about three weeks later, I strained the ligaments in my lower back while doing heavy deadlifts.

The first injury to the rotator cuff came about slowly. I started feeling it while training at USA Gym in Bridgeview, Illinois. I noticed a slight discomfort in my shoulder doing bench presses and incline presses during my chest workouts. I was routinely doing rotator cuff exercises before my chest and shoulder workouts and had actually never experienced any severe shoulder problems in all my years of training. However, after a few more weeks of discomfort, I knew I had a problem.

I took a week off from training and when I returned to the gym on June 3rd, the rotator cuff was actually worse. I initially stayed away from barbell bench presses and just concentrated on dumbbell bench presses. I was able to do barbell incline presses at first but only if I lowered it halfway. Dumbbell incline presses, however, were out. By the end of June, I could no longer do barbell bench presses, barbell incline presses or dumbbell incline presses. My chest workouts were limited to dumbbell bench presses and flyes.

My shoulder workouts were also limited by my rotator cuff problem. Any type of pressing movement was out of the question. I was able to get away with side lateral raises but I had to go very light. It actually took me 3-4 weeks to find the right exercises to use in order to have a decent shoulder workout.

In the last few weeks, my rotator cuff has finally started to get better. I learned first-hand that this is an injury that definitely takes time to go away. I have worked diligently on the rotator cuff exercises that were suggested to me by my chiropractor, Dr. Timothy Radcliffe. I have also included extra exercises that I do at home with the use of exercise bands. Over time, with the use of these rehab exercises and avoiding doing anything at the gym that would hurt the rotator cuff, this injury has improved.

I am now able to do barbell bench presses and, just this week, I was finally able to do barbell incline presses. I have to use lighter weights than I used previously but at least I am able to perform these exercises again. I am also doing military presses on a machine at the gym made by Panatta. At first, I had to position my hands in front of my body but I am now able to use the standard grip for my presses. Things are looking up for my previously strained rotator cuff!

My lower back, however, is another matter. After I strained the ligaments doing deadlifts on June 15th, I have had nothing but problems with this injury. Ligaments, just like tendons, can seemingly take forever to heal.
I have learned through several painful experiences that I have to lay off regular barbell squats and deadlifts until this injury goes away. Time and again, after I thought my lower back was finally better, I would try to do one of these two exercises and end up throwing my back out. The lower back muscles would spasm and go into shock and I would end up with a strained lower back for at least a week.

To get around the injury, I have substituted safety squats for regular barbell squats. For those not familar with this exercise, it involves using a special barbell that balances itself on your shoulders allowing your hands to remain free to hold onto hand supports in front of your body. This allows you to maintain perfect form during the squat movement and not use your back at all. It's the closest exercise that there is to the barbell squat. Everytime I would try to do regular squats, even with a light weight, my back would go out.

As for my favorite exercise of all, deadlifts, I have had to temporarily say good-bye to this exercise also, at least until my back is better. I am lucky that I can still do exercises such as barbell rows, T-bar rows and seated cable rows for my back workouts. For the lower back, I have been doing weighted hyper-extensions along with stiff-leg deadlifts. Incredibly, I can do stiff-leg deadlifts with almost 300 pounds but if I try to do regular deadlifts with 225 pounds, my back goes out. Oh well, at least the stiff-leg deads will add more size to my hamstrings and I could always use more development to that area of my physique.

Regardless of my injuries, I am determined to see things through and compete in November. I guess the easy thing to do would be to layoff this year until everything heals up but I really don't want to take another year off. I feel that I am still making up for lost time after that bicep tendon rupture two years ago. Another year off would not be the best move for me now while I am in the middle of my "comeback".

One positive note is that I have started my diet earlier than normal this year so I should have plenty of time to get properly ripped and ready for my competitions. I wanted to begin losing fat sooner than normal so I could be in top shape for my video with Wayne Gallasch in Las Vegas on October 20th.


John Hansen posing 10 weeks out from his contest.

My plan is to be in competition shape for the video and then use the remaining three weeks to gradually fill out and get even harder. I used this approach when I won the Natural Mr. Universe in 1992 because I entered several competitions that year that were spaced 3-4 weeks apart. The result was that I reached peak condition for the last contest I entered (the Natural Universe) because I slowly allowed my skin to get tighter while the muscles filled themselves out in the last two weeks before the show.

One thing I am certain of is that no matter how much pain I have to endure or what I have to do to get through this, I will not give up! After 25 years of training, I know how much the mind can push you through the toughest of circumstances and I am determined to come out a winner this year despite my numerous setbacks and injuries.
I hope to come away with a win or two this year in the competitions I am entering and then continue with my comeback next year. I have a plan in mind for 2003 already and I'm looking forward to getting back to some hard, heavy (and pain free) training to build the type of physique I know I am capable of. But, I've still got this year to take care of first.

If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure you read through the Members Only preview section located on the home page of this website. Starting September 15th, I will be providing numerous articles on training, nutrition, mental muscle and exercise analysis as well as contest reports, photo albums, video reviews and interviews with the top bodybuilders in the world. You won't want to miss out on all this action. There will new articles every 5-7 days so you will definitely be getting your money's worth. Check it out, you won't be sorry!