One of the best RMPs in a long time.
What did you do for your legs?
Do you know your current maxes?
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
What did you do for your legs?
Do you know your current maxes?[/quote]
Well as I’ve mentioned before in some posts, I had a nasty lower back injury several years ago squatting. I’ve tried several times to include squats into my routine but each time when the weight got to a certain point resulted in re-injury. So I’ve pretty much decided that they have no place in my leg workouts. The risk is simply too high. I also used to really love hack squats but they eventually gave me a touch of patellar tendonitis so I had to give those up too.
So now all I do for legs are Hammer Strength V Squats which I quite like. They do a good job of isolating the quads while pretty much keeping my back out of the movement. I do not know my current max. I go heavy enough to keep my reps under 10. When I do manage to reach 10 reps with a certain weight, it’s time to increase.
Then I do single leg leg presses. These really tear my quads up. I like single leg because I can go heavy without again involving my back too much. I keep the rep range the same with these - no more than 10. Then I just throw in some leg extensions and leg curls and that’s it. As with my entire training philosophy, I keep things simple yet intense.
Out of curiosity what was it that specifically caused the lower back injury? Sometimes I get some discomfort squatting because it feels like it’s really compressing my spine and I would definitely like any info I could get to avoid injury.
I don’t know exactly. Maybe I’m just not build for squatting. When I get fatigued, my form slips and my lower back kicks in to compensate. I tend to lean forward a bit. I see soooo many people squatting this way and it makes me cringe. I was coming up from a full squat and I felt a little twinge in my lower back.
I should have stopped. But I went for another rep and POP! It’s didn’t really hurt but it made me kind of nauseous. I felt weak and broke out in a cold sweat and felt like I needed to lie down. I made it home but by that evening, I was practically crippled. Any movement was excruciating.
My re-injuries happened pretty much the same way. I was fine with my light weight build up but as soon as I got some respectable poundages going…replay…POP!
1morerep. Awesome. You’re an inspiration for us over 35 year olds.
For the squats, did you ever try front squatting? I’m finding that it’s much better on my lower back and I can squat pain free, although at a much lighter weight than back squats. I also had lower back pain / injury from deads and squats. I’m trying to rehab myself with front squats, good mornings and all the PT stretches and activation exercises I can do.
[quote]ds1973 wrote:
1morerep. Awesome. You’re an inspiration for us over 35 year olds.
For the squats, did you ever try front squatting? I’m finding that it’s much better on my lower back and I can squat pain free, although at a much lighter weight than back squats. I also had lower back pain / injury from deads and squats. I’m trying to rehab myself with front squats, good mornings and all the PT stretches and activation exercises I can do.[/quote]
Thanks ds! I have tried front squatting but wasn’t getting the hang or feel of them. I can tell pretty quickly which exercises will work for me and produce an effective mind/muscle connection. The HS V Squat really lets me go heavy with very little lower back involvement. Same with single leg leg presses.
I’ve found that injuries have led to a lot of my training knowledge, and even gains over the years. Obviously you made the most of the circumstances dealt you, and it shows.
You already had one of the best (IMO) builds on here, and aside from your 'fat’ness, I think you only got better bro. Definitely a lesson here for a lot of people.
S
Sounds like sciatica.
[quote]1morerep wrote:
I don’t know exactly. Maybe I’m just not build for squatting. When I get fatigued, my form slips and my lower back kicks in to compensate. I tend to lean forward a bit. I see soooo many people squatting this way and it makes me cringe. I was coming up from a full squat and I felt a little twinge in my lower back.
I should have stopped. But I went for another rep and POP! It’s didn’t really hurt but it made me kind of nauseous. I felt weak and broke out in a cold sweat and felt like I needed to lie down. I made it home but by that evening, I was practically crippled. Any movement was excruciating.
My re-injuries happened pretty much the same way. I was fine with my light weight build up but as soon as I got some respectable poundages going…replay…POP! [/quote]
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I’ve found that injuries have led to a lot of my training knowledge, and even gains over the years. Obviously you made the most of the circumstances dealt you, and it shows.
You already had one of the best (IMO) builds on here, and aside from your 'fat’ness, I think you only got better bro. Definitely a lesson here for a lot of people.
S
[/quote]
Thanks Stu. And yes I agree! Working around injuries forces you to try new stuff that you wouldn’t normally have tried and sometimes you discover something that actually produces gains.
I saw this in Alpha and just wanted to reiterate all the comments there like great job and what a “come back” from your set backs. Keep up the good work and looking great, not fat at all! Wishing you a good year to come.