My lower back and knee hurts at 225 highbar squat (I don’t have video).
Sounds like a form issue, right? Well, as I continually adjust that, I’ve had several folks at my gym (a real gym) give me a form check w/ the OK; I even had one unsolicited compliment. My former 5RM was 310 before a knee injury, so I do know basic form. Truthfully, I hope that is the problem.
Nutritionally, I’m gaining (trying not to), so I’m definitely eating enough and eat clean. I am 30 lbs lighter than when I was pushing 310, so there is a degree of relearning what my body is capable of at the lower weight and after the layoff.
Injury-wise, I SHOULD have it checked out by a professional. And I fully intend to do that, it’s just not in the cards right now. I rehabbed a knee (PT, all that, for a quad tendon), but it may/may not have manifested itself elsewhere: had a pulled hamstring (not dealt with professionally), some piriformis pain (short lived), hip pain from out of nowhere (coming off 2 days rest), back pain, and now more back pain. Specifically, my entire lower back doesn’t hurt, just my right side towards the spine and it kind of works its way almost to the mid-back; and some slight pain in the knee on the same side. Oddly, it seems to bother me the most AFTER the set, when I’m just standing up straight in more of a good morning fashion.
To deal w/ it all… I took time off squatting and DLing, hammered posterior stuff, and then started back w/ bw stuff and slowly worked my way up on goblet squats and now back squats.
Currently, my program is (not including upperbody stuff):
M Sq - 2x5, 1xAMRAP, DL 3x3
W FSq - 2x5, 1xAMRAP, DL 1x5, RDL 4x10
F Sq - 2x5, 1xAMRAP, DL 3x3 (Next week, I keep alternating DL)
Progression is 5 lb/workout. I know DLing daily seems like a lot, but my DL is only up to 185 right now, so it hasn’t been a problem… but I intend on tapering it off as the weight gets up.
The pain probably started around 175. I switched from flat shoes to raised and got up to 205. I was back squatting every time, but it was too much for the back, so I began front squatting on W.
My progression on the AMRAP sets looked like this:
155 x 15 (back fine up to this point)
160 x 15 (first time back acting up and around the weight I got bothered w/ my last back injury)
165 x 15
170 x 14
175 x 14
180 x 14
185 x 14
190 x 14
195 x 12
200 x 13 (back felt decent until last rep)
205 x 8
FS
210 x 8
215 x 8
220 x 8
FS
225 x 9… legs felt like they had another 3-4, but my back wasn’t having it.
So, my question is (after all that), how should I progress? I obviously have a lot more to add linearly, but I’m not sure my back can handle it. Should I switch to a weekly progression, try some new lifts, cut down on the DLs, alternate DLs and squats, or just tough it out until I need to deload, a 2nd deload, 3rd?
Cheers