About 18 months ago, I stopped martial arts pretty much for good, and just lifted with lots of dumbbells and single leg exercises and plyometrics that I had migrated towards over the 12 years of martial arts. With a troubled knee and back at 40, I figured I would be 175lb at 6 ft tall and start doing triathlons or something to finish my time on earth.
Nine months later, I felt the need to squat again, and found the 531 workout on T-Nation. I bought a squat rack for my garage, started using 531 on my major exercise and my assistance exercises were dumbbell and kettlebell complexes that exhausted me because I was stupid and didn’t realize it. I couldn’t squat worth shit and I never could deadlift normally in my 20’s - so I bought a trap bar.
I alternated between squats and deadlifts per month because they were both terrible and I kept fucking up my back and knee - so tried harder. I bought a hip belt to squat with…now the pain was either my back OR my knee, but not both
Jim and y’all gave me some advice on full ROM and going to conventional deadlift, so fuck it - I watched Mark Rippetoe on youtube and squatted everyday for two weeks - every time I walked by the garage, I went in and did some squats. It worked, and now the hip belt is shelved. I tried the same with deadlifts, but failed, and then failed again, so I stuck with the trap bar. Jim says to stick with one until you reach your goal.
But last night, I went conventional anyways - fuck Rippetoe’s form guidance, Jim’s is better - so I just reached down and pulled it up - laddered up to my goal weight and back down the ladder. Fuck you deadlift. I shelved the trap bar this morning.
Just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone on this forum and especially Jim. Had I not found your 531 article, I may have never have gathered the momentum and direction to begin my trek out of the land of vag.