That’s right, thanks for reminding me. Are you needing the most work on squats or deadlifts? I’ve found squats increase slower for me than OHP or deads. Bench press is its own issue with my shoulders.
Good point. Thanks for reminding don’t me about box squats; I’d actually forgotten they exist. I’ve never done them with weight, so they’re easy for me to overlook.
If back squats work best for your hip 'n shoulder right now, then they’re the way to go 
I can’t say they work best…back squats with the bar still hurt my hip. I’m looking for a minimalist leg program and I think 50 reps a week with my working weight is as good as it gets for now. I also like loading up my whole body with squats and deads.
I’m going to focus of my shoulder for now. I’m not in a hurry to have more surgeries. I still think my Dr is wrong and I’m dealing with a biceps tendon subluxation.
Focusing on your shoulder is a good choice. Like you said, the doctor’s assessment leaves something to be desired. Anyways, going full bore with shoulder rehab won’t hurt you at all, so there’s no reason to abstain from it for now.
Instead of squats (save those hips), is there any leg exercise you can do a little of each day? Reverse lunges, Bulgarian split squats, anything?
The split squats hurt in a different spot during SGSS. It felt like a muscle strain in my groin near the insertion point. That’s a typical symptom of a torn labrum. Oddly enough, I never had that symptom before my surgery.
I’ll stick with squats for a while since it’s light. I don’t think I’m going to make anything worse and I don’t feel like I’m compensating with the light load.
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That sounds like your best bet for the current situation 
Part of this is mental too! I’m tired of avoiding squats due to pain. I’ve definitely reached the mindset of “This is ridiculous and I’m sick of it. I’m going to do what I want. Avoiding things hasn’t improved anything.”
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Wednesday, 11/14/18
Air temperature - a balmy 24* F or -4.4* C. Time to rearrange my garage so I can set up my weights in there 
Goals worked to: front squats, healthy shoulders, stretching my shirt sleeves
Front Squats / shoulders
- bw x 20
- 65 x 10
- 115 x 5
- 140 x 3 / 1-arm DB press 30 x 12
- 165 x 1 / 1-arm DB press 35 x 12
- 165 x 1 / 1-arm DB press 45 x 8
- 165 x 1 / rear delt flye 15 x 12
- 165 x 1 / rear delt flye 15 x 12
- 165 x 1 / rear delt flye 15 x 15
DB swings / BB curls
- 55 x 10 / 60 x 8
- 55 x 10 / 70 x 8
- 55 x 10 / 80 x 8
BB reverse lunges
- 65 x 5/leg
- 65 x 5/leg
- 65 x 5/leg
Full v-ups
- bw x 15
- bw x 15
- bw x 15
DB shoulder presses started pinching, so i can’t do them yet. Like @Frank_C, I’m committing to shoulder rehab for a bit.
After Sunday’s back squats, I was reminded why I don’t do them regularly - they jack up my hips. I have to wear an orthotic in my injured leg’s shoe and, while it’s helpful, it doesn’t completely fix the deficits.
With my anatomical structure, I can get into a much better squat position with front squats. I’ve no idea of I’ll be up for doing them 5 times each week, but I’ll view 3 times per week, plus my other exercising, as a victory. I’ll call them TWFS (thrice-weekly front squats) lol.
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If front squats are your thing then run with it! They’re the devil for me. I think they exacerbated my hip impingement and lead me down the path to surgery. They’re also the movement that instantly brought back my pain in July. I was doing great until I tried them again. I wish I could do them because it’d help my cleans.
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That sucks you had to learn the hard way that front squats don’t work for you. Cleans don’t trouble your hip or shoulder? They screw with something on me, but I’m not sure what. Lol. I do ok with one or two light, high-rep back squat sets each week, but that’s it.
I do power cleans and I have to catch it high in a quarter squat position. Right now I can only do pulls (just the jump and shrug portion of the movement) because the high pull (elbows up) motion causes some movement and noise in my shoulder that’s quite gross.
I’ve used pulls to improve my clean in the past so I know I can still make progress. Here’s some videos to show my awkward version of the power clean.
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Your power cleans look just like mine! That’s encouraging.
Especially at your height, moving nearly 300 pounds from a dead stop on the ground to your shoulders is explosively powerful. Don’t underestimate your strength.
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That’s what I keep telling myself! I think I’ve finally accepted that I’m not going to do what other people do on bench and squat. If I hit a three plate bench someday then I’ll be ecstatic and call it good, but I’m not too worried about it. I’m close. I’d like to squat four plates but I don’t know if it’s in my future. My hip still hurts even after the injection. Eventually I’m going to learn that some things just aren’t worth it. I could stop squatting today but the down side is that I’d have to adopt some single leg work and it takes twice as long!
I’ve accepted that I’m a damn good pull athlete. I’ll just keep thriving with deadlifts and power cleans and hang my hat on that. That video shows how much I’ve let my power slip. I almost had that 320. Nowadays I don’t even move 275 that fast. I can get it back; I just need to get past these injuries and make it a priority.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had your form critiqued, but if yours is close to mine then you’re doing good. CT watched one of my lifts (I think it was the 295 lbs clean) and said my form was pretty good. I’ll call that a win and I don’t worry about making any changes.
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Being able to excel at pulling movements is a great trait to have. The hips are really the power source for the body, so the ability to harness that engine situates you well for nearly all force production needs. I mean, when was the last time you lay down on your back to move a heavy weight that just happened to be perfectly symmetrical? Yeah, me neither. Lol
Again, that’s good to know! I haven’t really done cleans for a decade, and I was only informally assessed by a friend and my brother, both of whom were more proficient with cleans than me. If I get back into them, I’ll post a video here.
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11/17/18
Front squats / single-leg standing calf raise
- bw x 15
- 65 x 10
- 115 x 5
- 140 x 3
- 165 x 1 / 10 x 11
- 165 x 1 / 10 x 11
- 165 x 1 / 10 x 11
- 165 x 1 / 10 x 11
- 165 x 1
Low incline bench press
- 115 x 8
- 135 x 8
- 155 x 6 (ouch)
- 155 x 6 (ouch)
- 55 (db) x 14 (3-second negatives)
Semi-supinated rows / push-ups
- 110 x 6
- 135 x 6
- 145 x 6
- 155 x 6 / bw x 20
- 165 x 8 / bw x 20
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Nice full body workout here TnT.
Got almost everything worked here.
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Just take the 1 off the 155 and I can relate to this!
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@ChickenLittle that made me lol! I learned I need to forwgo all OHP and BB pressing right now; what does incline bench hurt on you?
@mortdk thanks! Instead of doing a true full-body workout, I held back so I can do everything else today. Hopefully limiting myself to around 25 total sets will help me recover and be able to lift daily instead of every other day.
Mostly my pride! If I don’t get the grip width right my right shoulder. I think it’s one of those exercises that if you hate it, you should probably do more of it…lol