Wednesday 10/7
Warmups a few sets of box squats at 135, 165, 195, 225
Box Squat
8 x 2 x 235
Felt real good today. Planning to spend the next few weeks with 235 as the working weight for box squats, then nudge upwards again if all goes well.
1 Like
Wow 40+ pounds is no joke. Good job!
Thursday 10/8
Front Squat
2x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x235
2x245 (comeback PR)
Back Squat
5x245
Pull-ups
1x8
1 Like
Friday 10/9
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
2x225
2x255
Kettlebell Snatch
20x44
Pull-ups
1x8
1 Like
Saturday 10/10
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
5x225
2x255
2x255
2x255
Sunday 10/11
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
5x225
2x255
2x275
2x275 (comeback PR)
3 Likes
Monday 10/12
Pull-ups
10 x 4
Tuesday 10/13
Front Squat
5x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x255 (comeback PR)
Felt pretty good today. A pair of easy(ish) doubles at 255 to finish up. Still not quite at the old maxes but weights are getting heavy enough to feel like it’s an actual workout again.
2 Likes
It’s raining PR’s hallelujah it’s raining PR’s !!
1 Like
Wednesday 10/14
Warmups: a few sets of box squats at 135, 165, 195, 225
Box Squat
8 x 2 x 235
1 Like
Thursday 10/15
Front Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
2x225
Back Squat
2x255
2x255
2x275
Quick and easy, banged out between Zoom meetings today…
Friday 10/16
Sumo Deadlift
10 x 1 x 225
6 x 1 x 315
This was a bit of a test run. I’ve had a mind to try pulling sumo and see if it agrees with my cranky lower back more than pulling conventional (though tbh I don’t like sumo that much, maybe I just need to give it a chance). The real test will be how my back feels tonight and tomorrow…a few times during my ‘comeback’ I’ve tried pulling and felt sorta-okay during the workout and it’s gotten worse into the night and the next morning.
1 Like
Saturday 10/17
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
2x225
2x255
2x275
2x285
2x290 (comeback PR)
1 Like
Sunday 10/18
Warmups: a few stretches and sumo deadlifts at 225
Sumo Deadlift
10 x 1 x 315
Let’s give this a shot for a cycle and see how it works out…back felt okay today, anyway.
1 Like
I’ll tag some other sumo pullers in here, but that looks “semi sumo” to me, looks quite conventional in terms of back position, just hands are inside legs. That might not give you the same relief from lower back pain that “full” sumo would (wider stance more upright position), but I’ll defer to the more knowledgeable sumo pullers around here @guineapig & @Vincepac1500 (I’m sure there are others but those two come to mind first).
I pull sumo for back reasons (never felt comfortable pulling conventional) so I think if you can get it feeling right you’ll do good things.
2 Likes
Yeah, I had the same thought about this looking more “semi sumo” after recording myself (this is why people should always try to take video, you often look different than you think!)
I’ll give this a shot as-is for a few weeks I think…
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I’ll say a few things. This is semi sumo. That’s actually how I started out. Conventional hurt my back and would force me to put off heavy squats until it felt better and then id have to pull again. I switched to semi sumo for a few months then full sumo. Kind of eased into it. Did a ton of reps on the beginning to work on balance. Definitely keeps my back in better shape. And my conventional ( when I decide to train it at the end) has progressed without any actual Specific work on it. Try semi sumo for a bit then try get to the plates. It will take time to learn. One major thing I see though in that video is during your setup you look like your pushing down on the bar. You want to have tension on it locking shoulders into position/ upper back. Not so much semi sumo but true sumo your start position shouldn’t be able to be done with without a couple hundred lbs on the bar cause you’ll fall back.
3 Likes
Sumo can spare your lower back a lot especially coming from a lower back heavy conventional style while still working other deadlifting muscles hard. Transitioning from semi sumo to moderate sumo will emphasise this effect but it’ll do for now.
So I like to break down sumo into two aspects: positioning and tensioning.
Positioning would be using an appropriate stance width (if new to sumo I recommend a stance that let’s u have vertical shins in the start position). In addition to your stance width you need to open at the hips (see vid below). Much of sumo comes down to this and is really what differentiates sumo from conventional because u can stand a bit wide but have knees tracking pretty much forward the dreaded wide stance conventional where u don’t get many of the benefits of sumo.
Positioning is also about getting in efficient start positions namely how low or high your hips are. If you start too low then you’ll waste energy shooting hips up into a position of greater mechanically advantage. Hips should start in that higher position. Forcing an upright position that you are going to be jarringly pulled out of is more stressful on structures on your back compared to an efficient position, appropriate muscles taking the brunt of the load and whatever angle u end up with.
So we want to get in these good positions and maintain them through the lift as we apply tension. This brings us to the second part: applying tension into the bar and getting your whole body tight which is relatively easy once you’ve put yourself in good positions.
So torso needs to be braced, back needs to be tight/lats activated and posterior chain and legs should be tensioned. See vids below for various cues to make that happen.
Practice, stay consistent and you’ll find your positioning will get better with time as your hips loosen up and more aspects of the lift become automatic.
2 Likes
Monday 10/19
Kettlebell Snatch
10 x 10 x 44
Tuesday 10/20
Warmups: a few stretches and sumo deadlifts at 225
Sumo Deadlift
10 x 1 x 315