Sorry to hear about your injury. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks POW.

Do not rush into it.

Think about engaging your core so that your pelvis is locked to your rib cage so its tight as you can get it, like there is a block of granite holding them together. Think about that, and feeling your hamstrings and glutes loaded up tight on the setup right before the weight leaves the floor. When you do all that correctly, you shouldnt feel your low back muscles much at all during or after DLs.

Thanks cha. I don't plan on deadlifting until next week. Even then, I plan on going super light.

10/23/13

Bench Press: 175x5x2, 175x6
Skullcrushers: 50x12x2
Pendlay Rows: 85x10x2
Facepulls: 50x15x3
Hyperextensions: 25x15x3
Ab Roller: 10, 7, 6

40-30-20-10:
Double unders
Pushups

9:54

I went to my PT this morning and he said I could workout, but to start with 50% of my typical weight for whatever exercises affect my lower back, and then increase the weight by 10% each week. My lower back is still tight so I skipped deadlifting, but did some pendlay rows to get an idea of what my back can handle. I think I may try to front squat on Friday, but I plan on doing 65#. I haven't done any squatting in over a month so I wanted to start light, but with my back being an issue, I will start even lighter.

And I clearly need to work on pushups. After the first 20, I had split them up into sets of five.

10/25/13

:30 handstand holds x 2
Handstand Pushups w/2 abmats: 5, 5, 6
Weighted Chins: BW+20 x 7, BW+12.5x x 6
Squats: 85x5x2, 85x16

21-15-9:
Wall balls w/10' target and 8# ball
24" box jumps
16 kg KB swings

8:29

I learned a valuable lesson when doing anything overhead: bring your ribs toward your pelvis. I did some mobility drills for my shoulders with this in mind and was able to do scapular wall slides with my upper AND lower back against the wall. I think this will be useful when doing OHPs.

Had major DOMS from the Wednesday workout. I look forward to the leg DOMS tomorrow.

10/28/13

Bench Press: 177.5x5x2, 177.5x6
Dumbbell Skullcrushers: 25x11, 25x8
Pendlay Rows: 105x10x2
Squats: 105x5x2, 105x20

I might try POW's 7 front squats/13 back squats, but scaled way back. It's pretty boring squatting preschool weights.

It's pretty awful if you do decide to try it. I have terrible DOMS today and I suspect it will be worse tomorrow. I would probably be feeling even more sore if I didn't miss 14 back squat reps yesterday.

How's the hip feeling? I'm assuming you've been cleared to squat by your PT?

Yeah, I'll probably chicken out by the time I do it. If I haven't done cardio for the second time this week, I will likely give it a go.

My hip feels fine, but it didn't hurt before until I got up to ~175#. I can feel it tighten up in my hip socket every now and again while squatting, but no pain.

10/29/13

5 min. AMRAP:
10 Front Squats @ 85#
Dumpster Run (~200m)

3 min. rest

repeat 5 min. AMRAP

1st round: 3 rounds
2nd round: 2 round + 1/2 the run

The workout was really 115# thrusters, but I scaled down and did not do presses to not put strain on my lower back.

10/30/13

Handstand holds: :30 x 2
HSPU with 2 abmats: 5, 5, 8
Weighted Chins: BW+20 x 7, BW+15 x 6
Deadlifts: 175x15
Good Mornings: 60x10x2

No pain in my lower back during or after deadlifts. I made sure to do each rep as if it was a lot of weight. After the 15th rep, there didn't seem to be any point in continuing.

11/1/13

Bench Press: 180x5x2, 180x7
Skullcrushers: 60x12, 60x11
Kroc Rows: 55x30
7 front squats/13 HBBS @ 95 x 2, 7 FS/13 HBBS @105 (still painfree!)

PayoffWiz is a squatting machine.

good work!

Thanks cha!

Forgot to put that I did facepulls yesterday: 50x15x3

11/2/13

Rotator cuff stuff
Planks: 1:00 x 3

11/4/13

Hand stand holds: :30 x 2
HSPU w/2 ab mats: 5, 5, 10
Weighted Chins: BW+25 x 6, BW+15 x 6
Front Squats/HBBS: 105 x 7/13, 115 x 7/13 x 2

Afterwards, I did 125 double unders. There were no 20# dumbbells for the chins so I moved up in weight and pleasantly surprised myself.

This will be the last week of FS/HBBS hell since I don't think I could do much more weight. My right hip got tight during the last set of HBBS, but no pain. I will need to think of a way to spice HBBS up the next few weeks until I reach a weight that is challenging.

11/5/13

6 min. AMRAP:
10 KB swings @ 24 kg
20 Wall balls using 20# ball to 10' target

2 rounds + 24

Rest 2 minutes, then 6 min. AMRAP:
10 pullups (used thin blue band)
Dumpster run (~ 100m)

2 rounds + 50m run

Before the workout, I tried doing a couple HSPUs with one ab mat and was successful. That should be fun this Friday. To think, five months ago, I couldn't even get into position to do a HSPU. It's not a brotastic accomplishment, but I'm proud.

Why not just go back to gslp?

The 20 squats really is painful, but you can surprise yourself with how much weight you can do. If your hip is giving you issues though, maybe that much volume isn't the best approach.

Next week I'm going to be doing 5 sets of 4/8 @ 75% of my FS, 180#. Hopefully, that makes it somewhat easier for me.

I'm still doing GSLP, but I am only doing 70% of the weight I would have squat pre-back injury. That back injury is setting me back a month or so from what I wanted to do, which was to start squatting at 170 and see how it goes.

Good luck on the new rep scheme. Didn't you successfully do 5 sets of 7/13 @ 170# over the weekend? It sounds like you have a deload week ahead of you IMO.

Yes, but only 4 sets. They have actually gotten easier in a way, even at higher weights. I'm not deloading just yet.

11/6/13

Bench Press: 182.5x5x2, 182.5x6
Dumbbell Skullcrushers: 25x11, 25x8
Pendlay Rows: 120x10x2
Deadlifts: 200x15
Toes to bar: 9, 7, 6

11/8/13

Handstand holds: :30 x 2
HSPU w/1 ab mat: 3, 3, 2
Weighted Chins: BW+25 x 6, BW+15 x 6
Front Squats: 120x5x2, 120x7
Good Mornings: 70x10x2
Face Pulls: 50x15x3

Today was such a crappy day. All gloomy and overcast outside. For the last set of HSPU, I tried doing them so that my butt and feet were against the wall instead of just my feet. That made it a lot tougher. I'm not sure which way is right, so I think I will keep doing them with only my feet against the wall.

I decided to film myself doing front squats since I have no idea how my back looks while doing them. It was a disaster...my kyphosis is much more pronounced while doing front squats. I think that got in my head, causing me not to care for the AMRAP set. Starting next week, I will go back to doing HBBS.

It's very frustrating that there are so many exercises that put my back in a weak position. Seeing how my back looks in the rack position, I question whether I should even be doing power cleans. Whiny emo rant over.

link to vids? there are plenty of options for improving thorassic mobility, takes time but they're pretty effective.

Here they are:





For the past eight months, I've been using two lacrosse balls taped together to roll up and down my back. I have also been doing exercises from the "Heal that Humpback" article from T-Nation. My thoracic mobility has improved a little, but I think I'm doomed because I am pretty sure my kyphosis is structural, not postural.

11/9/13

Rotator cuff stuff

10 minute AMRAP:
10 KB swings @ 24 kg
10 burpees
20 double unders

4 rounds + 19

Only one round of DUs were unbroken.

11/11/13

Bench Press: 185x5x2, 185x5
Pendlay Rows: 135x10x2
HBBS: 135x10x3

The past couple of weeks, I have been going to the X-fit gym for open gym. I only have an hour to do the workout, so I had to cut out skullcrushers. I hope that is the reason my bench the last two sessions have taken a tumble. I did 180x7 for the AMRAP set two weeks ago and today I almost failed on the fifth rep on the AMRAP set. I really had to grind to get it.

ONE PLATE SQUAWTZ! No pain again, but my right hip got tight after the first set, though not nearly as bad as it was a few months ago. My back feels fine during squats, so I don't see the need to wait until next week to move up to 155. Of course if I feel any discomfort in my back, I will slow down. That being said, I plan on moving up slowly in deadlifts.

Your front squats look like mine feel, with that shift forward nearing the bottom because of mobility issues. Sounds like you've been more diligent than I with mobility to work to correct it, which doesnt bode well for my own improvement!