Cha, a little late, but very nice meet!

Thanks DT!!

%@!%#@%^*

6/11

russian back squat day 1 (also last day back squatting for a while)
up to 302 x 2 x 6

1 leg reverse hypers
90 x 12 x 3

bench press (ME)
55x10x2, 105x8x2, 145x5,
added reverse bands
226x3, 276x2, 306x1,
336x4 - all paused, failed 5th rep, which was fine because of the pausing - 5 would have been no problem with bouncing.

low band pulls from elbow
15x4
This is about the only pulling exercise I could come up with that I can do right now

My brachioradialis muscles (both right and left) are killing me.

From back squatting. yeah, they're ****ing arm muscles. WTF.

These damn things have been bugging me for a while now. I've had to reduce weights when I pull anything with my arms bent (basically everything other than DLs). Now I cant do anything at all.

Yugo - remember when you were here last week & I threw the medicine ball down one time and complained about pain in my arms? It was those muscles.

They bothered me one time on Saturday at the meet - when I failed the 400 lb squat. They did not bother me after that. Until tonight. ****

Every back squat I did over 200 lbs tonight made them scream at me. I put elbow sleeves on - that helped minimally. I put gobs of Biofreeze on - that helped slightly more, but nowhere near enough. I played around with hand position - nothing helped much. The least painful way to squat was doing high bar and trying hard to keep the weight all on my shoulders and minimize what my hands/arms were doing. That was still painful. I managed to get all six sets done at least, but I'm done back squatting for a while now. The squatting part was easy. The arm pain was awful.

I guess I'll be substituting ssb squats for the back squats for a while. Does anyone know what percent of a back squat is ~ to a ssb squat?? I'm guessing ~80 - 85% but I dont know for sure.

I read some stuff about Konstantinovs today. It looks like he does some ssb stuff, box squats and uses bands & chains regularly, but probably does most stuff as straight weight. Dude is a beast. In an interview, he laughed when asked about possibly competing vs Andy Bolton - he said something along the lines of he would love to if Andy would lift in his lower weight class & raw, then said some stuff about wishing everyone lifted without gear. This guy DLs in the low to mid 900s raw without even wearing a belt!

How often do you roll your forearms?

Seems like SSB squats would really move your LBBS so it may not be a huge problem. I agree it seems pretty weird you're feeling them on a back squat and not on benching...

Man, you gotta be the unluckiest sonomabitch ever with regards to injuries. Way to lose the genetic lottery (on that front at least)

I spend a lot of time with the DMS on my forearms. That helped my bowling tremendously. This is a weird thing though - most of the pain and tightness this time is in the upper part of that muscle, above the elbow, kind of on the side of the upper arm. The lower part of the muscle is soft - that part was jacked up for a while during the past couple months, but not as bad as this got last night. It feels a lot better this morning, so I'm going to try DMS-ing that today. Last night it hurt too much to do that. I think the Biofreeze helped.

yeah, I think age has something to do with it, but even when I was younger I had a lot of muscle issues. At least I got good enough genes to get as strong as I am, and I can get stronger. This doesn't feel like an injury - it just feels sore. I hope its not related to a nerve in my neck or upper back.

As long as I'm talking about hurting - I went to Dr K yesterday and didnt even mention the brachioradialis thing because it hadnt been an issue except for the little flare up during that last squat at the meet. I thought that was over. He did a lot of stuff to my right foot, calf, both hips, back, neck and shoulders though. The neck feels ~75% better than it did before going.

What's the biofreeze?

When you DMS a bunch, do you also do some lacrosse ball work? Obv I don't have DMS but I'd imagine that in conjunction it might work even better since the lacrosse ball allows you to do mini-ART.

on your neck progressing...but yeah, if it's not one thing it's something else, lol.

http://www.biofreeze.com/

I do some ball work too, and some Gua Sha (poor man's Graston) work once in a while (that might be appropriate this time), and some manual work with my hands.... I'll use whatever I think might work to loosen stuff up.

Does biofreeze help with swelling or anything except pain?

Man, seems your forearms are getting the royal treatment. I think there's a good chance it clears up in a week or two and you may be able to consistently LBBS for the rest of your program.

I dont know exactly what Biofreeze does - I think some of it is just pain relief and there's something in there that's supposed to help healing or circulation or something.

The more I think about this, the more I think its associated with my neck - probably the C6 nerve. http://www.painneck.com/cervical-nerves

The sixth cervical nerve shares a common branch from C5 and can, like any nerve become dysfunctional due to trauma, tumors, and degradation causing problems with muscle atrophy and tendinitis. C6 is involved in the innervation of a number of muscles in the rotator cuff and distal arm including the :

Subclavius
Supraspinatus
Infraspinatus
Biceps Brachii
Brachialis
Deltoid
Teres Minor
Brachioradialis
Serratus Anterior
Subscapularis
Pectoralis Major
Coracobrachialis
Teres Major
Supinator
Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis
Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus
Latissimus Dorsi



That would not be good.

Right, but that's because those guys choose special exercises specifically because they are equipped. if you are raw, you are gonna box squat way less often, and use bands/chains way less often. It's all about figuring out the exercises that are most beneficial for you and knowing what your weaknesses are. Due to leverages, a raw squat is going to be heaviest at the bottom, so it's going to be pretty rare that squatting with a bunch of bands is going to be that useful.
Hopefully that makes some sense

What you say would seem to make sense, but a couple things dont add up.

- As I mentioned in a previous post, I looked at what Konstantinovs is doing. He does a lot of work with bands, chains and box squats. Maybe not as much as Westside geared type guys, but it does appear to be a significant part of his training.

- If the hardest part of a squat is getting out of the hole, please explain this to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5fjh...0&feature=plcp

I got halfway up and stopped. It sure seems like chain and/or band squatting would help with getting stuck there.

The place I used to get stuck on DLs was just below the knees. Since I've been doing lots of chain work, I don't get stuck when I get the weight off the floor - it flies up. Because of the lower stress chain DLing puts on my low back, I will never stop doing that as long as I DL - it wont be 100% of my DLing work sets, but 75% seems good for me, regardless of whether I ever lift geared or not, because of my low back issue.

I've been looking at one federation that is having a meet here next month - they do benching & DLing only, and they do not have a raw division. I'm considering trying their single ply division (you can do that raw or 1 ply equipment, but it all counts as 1 ply), but being only a month out, I think there's little chance I'll do that meet. The appeal of that to me is there's a good chance back squats could be messing with my neck, so eliminating them might be wise. DLing seems to make my neck feel good. I'm going to try ssb squats tonight & see what happens.

Where a lift "should" be heaviest and where it actually IS heaviest is obviously different for everyone.

If your sticking points are relative to the effect of bands/chains you use them regardless of raw V equipped or whatever.

In addition to that, equipped or not, bands and chains teach you to drive from the hole with enough force to make the lift as the weight increases on the way up. Good carry over regardless.

Also watching the video, is a perfect example of where chains & bands will help.

Thanks KRS

6/13

ssb squats
80x8x2, 140x5, 180x3, 230x3, 260x3x6

DL
145x5, 235x5, 310x3,
added 4 chains
310x1x6
very ez

Arms (brachioradialis - both L & R) were getting a little sore at that point, but not nearly as bad as Monday.

reverse hypers - single leg
90x12x2

band pulls from elbow
15x4

walked with 45 lbs of ankle weights
3.0 mph, 10:00

6/15

I can feel the affects of doing the treadmill walking with 22.5 lbs of ankle weights on each leg the other day - my outer, lower hamstring muscles have some DOMS, & its definitely from that. Its not bad though.

Weighed my ssb - its 80.8 lbs, 0.8 lbs more than my estimate. Close enough.

smr & mobility

ssb squats
up to 260x2x6
ez - this squatting 3 times a week for less than hard reps & sets looks like a good idea for me. I know its going to get harder, but I think I'm ready for it. I hope I can start working in some back squatting at some point, but I'm definitely not ready yet.

reverse hypers - two legs (harder than one at a time)
90x12x2
I was able to get back to normal on these without wrecking my brachioradialises.

standing 1 arm cable rows (very light to protect arms)
55x12, 20, 20 (almost swole)

standing chin tucks
10
(neck stretch)

DE bench
up to 170 + 4 chains x 5 x 5

trap bar DL
260x5, 350x5, 400x5x2

Arms not 100%, but they're getting better. Neck not 100% either, but its not killing me or anything.

6/18

ssb squats
up to 260x4x6
Note: The back/outside part of my right knee was feeling kind of tight & sore at the bottom of my first several warm sets. My calf and hamstring on that side have some adhesions, so I worked on those and got them loose, but the knee issue didnt go away completely. Then I did some heavy work on my right butt cheek - I found a huge knot deep inside there. I got that broken up pretty well and my knee didnt bother me for any of the heavier sets.

reverse band bench press (paused)
up to 345x4 (wanted at least 3, so 4 is good)
275x5 - ez
I wore my squat shoes today because I just didnt think about changing them. I think I like them for benching.

reverse hypers
90x12x2

1 arm cable rows
55x15, 75x15, 95x15, 115x10, 125x10x3
Both arms felt pretty good. This is still a long ways from what I can do (I've done 200 for 6 or so reps before), but it felt good to pull something that I could actually feel in my back without making my brachioradialis muscles scream.

one arm cable rows sound fun.. gotta try em

Do them standing and dont let your torso move - its a great core exercise in addition to being good for your back.

Everyone seems to come to Don Cha, when they face an injury or have questions regarding one. I figured I might as well, too.
Hope you don't mind.

I have a herniated disc (central prolapse is the fancy medical term I suppose) at L4-5 causing sciatic nerve pain on my left leg/hip/glute and rare tingling on my left foot. On a scale of 1-10 the pain is 1-3 in the mornings, 0-2 in daytime and 3-5 in the evenings. Nighttime/sleeping is fine.
Usually it's very hard to straighten my back when getting up after sitting on a chair / slouching on a sofa in the evenings, so in the evenings I walk around hunched over like an old man. (Backpack-walks mentioned later def help with this)

I have been seeing a physiotherapist for a few weeks but I'm coming to a conclusion that I'm wasting my time and money there.

I read your rehabbing-log both here at 2+2 and Cressey's forum - inspirational stuff!

I've read (well, almost) McGill's LBD and I'm thinking on putting together a rehabbing program for myself.
So far I've been taking short walks on uneven ground w a plate-loaded-backpack and that really helps getting back straight in the evenings.
My theory is that my back extensors lack strength and endurance and therefore after a long day they don't participate as much in the evenings and my low back gets more of the load. Backpack-walks seem to re-activate the extensors and reduce the pressure on the low back -> pain relief and being able to stand straight. My theory can very well be wrong, I dunno.

I've also occasionally been doing something that seems to be very close to McKenzie1&2, w/o ever hearing about them prior to reading your log.

Okay, this is getting in the tl;dr -territory so:

1.) Inversion table. I'm considering buying one, any suggestions on what to get or where to buy?

2.) With that very limited information I gave, do you have any suggestions on a rehabbing program? I'm thinking McKenzie's, inversion table / traction and backbagwalks.

Thanks.

Sounds like you're doing good things so far. I didnt do any of the backpack walking, but I do remember reading that is a good thing.

1 - This is what I have: http://www.amazon.com/Ironman-Gravit...0227840&sr=1-5

Its nothing special, but it worked well for what I needed it to do. I have no suggestions, other than to read reviews of whatever ones you're thinking about buying.

2 - What you said is good. I'd add in stuff like diaphragmatic breathing, planks (front & side) and bird dogs. You want all the core muscles to be strong and have endurance. Follow what McGill says. If you want more exercise/programming ideas from McGill for when you get farther along, read his other book - Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance.

In case you missed this link that was posted earlier in my log here, I made a log at Mike Robertson's site. There's a little redundancy with this log, but its more brief and has some great advice from some experts. http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/...herniated-disc

Good luck!

6/20

ssb squats
up to 260x2x6
ez

DL
up to 335 + 4 chains x 1
335 + 6 chains x 1
335 + 8 chains x 1 x 4 (this is ~380 at the bottom and ~480 at the top)

reverse hypers
90x12x3

standing 2 arm cable rows
125x15, 200x15x3
these are ridiculously easy compared to the 1 arm style.

PNF D2 flexion
20x15x2
This is the first thing I've done with my upper arms over my shoulders in a long time. I kept it very light & it felt good.

All right, I need to do some research on those, see what's available here in Finland or Amazon DE or UK.

Great. I'm currently doing weighted frontplanks (up to 39lbx30sx3 now) and ab-wheel rollouts as a part of my gym routine 3x/week. I also did side-planks earlier. I'll keep doing those and check out DB and that book.

Yes. I read it all already - great stuff.
I accidentally typed Cressey's forum instead of Robertson's forum in my earlier post.

Thanks, a lot.