Chris_ottawa's Training Log

Training Training Logs
853

It varies. I often fall asleep in one position and wake up in another. I rotate between side (either side), my back, or sort of between face down and on my side if you know what I mean.

I don’t think that the sleeping position is an issue (although I could be wrong) because I never had anything like this before my back/hips started acting up. And also since this began if I lay down on the couch for about half an hour or more it doesn’t feel good when I get up, but not as much as if I was sleeping which I assume has to do with the length of time laying down.

And today I feel about 95% normal, a little bit of stiffness but nothing hurts. It looks like I’m on the right track so far.

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855

That position (with the pillow between legs) is supposed to reduce compressive forces on the spine. I tried that too but I just can’t fall asleep with a pillow between my legs, feels awkward. When my back was really feeling bad that was the only way I could comfortable lay on my side for any length of time so I’m sure there is something to it, it would just take some getting used to.

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856

Thursday, July 25 - Bench assistance day

Close grip bench
325x4 - I wanted 5 but this is alright.

Close grip 2 board
355x4, 2

High incline
235x6, 6

JM press
165x8, 9 - The second set felt better than the first. I should have done a couple more warm ups but I was expecting this weight to be one too, I only did a few reps with 135 before these sets. I haven’t done this in a while and it feels awkward.

Band pull apart
super mini band x24, 16, 12

Barbell curl - extra strict
65x18, 12, 9

857

Friday, July 26 - A bit of squat/deadlift

SSB squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest - These felt good and moved fast. Only thing is that 315 doesn’t feel as light as it used to, likely due to the fact that I haven’t squatted more than this in almost a month. I think I can start pushing the squats again next week, not anything crazy but heavier than this.

Deadlift - this was weird.
So I went to pull 135 for my first warmup with my usual sumo stance, something about the setup and also pushing my hips through at lockout just didn’t feel right. It didn’t hurt, but something felt a bit off. And like I was saying, it seems to be those banded sumo RDLs that caused my “issues”. So I got the idea to try conventional, since I had no problem bending over (unlike in weeks past) and I had been working on hamstring flexibility. So I went like this:
135x3 - one set conventional, one set sumo
225x3 - same
275x3 - same, but conventional felt much better than sumo. I also recorded these sets and I am able to set up for conventional with a neutral spine, plus my back angle is only about 5 degrees lower than for sumo.
315x5 -conventional
365x5 - conventional - this was really easy too, like I could do another 10 reps if I tried but I didn’t want to push it since I’m just recovering now.

This has me wondering if there is even anything wrong with my back at all, seems more like maybe my hip is the problem, just like I said at the beginning of all this. It could be that my back was hurting because of something else pulling on it. I’m not sure how far I will get with conventional but it’s worth a shot for now. I was thinking a while back that I could pull more conventional if I could do it with a neutral back, since I have done RDLs with over 500 for reps after a hard squat workout. Who knows, we will see.

Inverted row
bw x17, 14, 11, 10

Band hip flexor march
mini x15x3 - these feel better, not so sloppy anymore and full reps. I still hate it.
Superset with:
Band bad girl
mini x25x3

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858

Haha! At least you can do one or the other without something hurting. We’ll know tomorrow too once the DOMS kick in. Hopefully it’s really just all DOMS. Any videos? I don’t think I’ve seen you pull conventional

859

Maybe I will post a video next week. Honestly, if I didn’t tell you it was conventional you wouldn’t even know since I’m recording from the side, my sumo is basically a wide stance conventional. The only difference here is me wiggling my hips around trying to find the right position.

This here is what I need to do:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMAwVNAuAb/

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860

Monday, July 29 - Squat day

I’m trying a different approach with a bit less volume, bench once a week, no light squat session. Right now taking it easy on squat and deadlift is probably a good idea since I’m getting over a hip/back issue, but I’m wondering if maybe my bench will do better with less frequency. If not then at least going back to twice a week will feel like something new.

Squat - low bar
385x3 - Pretty weak, but I haven’t squatted over 315 in a month and haven’t even squatted with a barbell since April so at least it’s something. I could have done a couple more reps but I don’t want to pop something on my first day back. At least nothing hurts, and depth looks about right too

Pause squat
315x5x2 sets - trying to feel out the bottom position since it’s pretty different from SSB squats. I was doing light squats with the transformer bar in a position that sort of feels like a low bar squat so that it doesn’t feel weird when I get back to actual low bar squatting but I dropped that after I started having hip/back issues since it seemed like the extra forward lean and hip flexion wasn’t going to work in my favor.

Lunges
20lb dumbbells x10x2 - I figure some single leg work is probably a good idea since I have some sort of imbalance between left/right hips/legs, nothing major but seems like something still. I’m not really a fan of these. They feel harder than I expected though, I haven’t done a lunge in years.

Band leg curl - prone
super mini band x20, 14, 11

Band hip flexor march
min band x23, 20, 17
Superset with:
Band bad girl
super mini band x20, 16, 14

My warmup takes almost as long as the workout now, pretty tedious. This is the stuff I’m doing:

-Hip flexor stretch
-Hip external rotation stretch
-Band hamstring stretch
-Cat/camel
-Leg raise hold, opposite leg bent
-Leg raise hold, opposite leg straight
-McGill curl up
-Side plank - transition with front plank
-Bird dog
-Clamshell
-Glute bridge
-Band terminal knee extension
-Band hip adduction
-Goblet squat stretch

I feel like a fucking handicap.

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861

Not sure how I’m gonna push the hamstrings back in that cue but I guess the main point is to pre tension the hamstrings. Good stuff! Thanks

862

After re-watching that video and the video of me deadlifting the other day I’m wondering the same thing. I pull hook grip, which sort of complicates things further in that regard because you can’t just get down to the bar, grab it, and pull, you need to set your grip first. Although the way I pull sumo I do that hip pumping thing before I pull so I basically am setting my hip position after grabbing the bar, seems like as long as you know what a neutral spine feels like and your hips aren’t too high it takes care of itself.

With conventional I’m not sure, I’m going to stick with it at least for a few weeks until my hip/back feels totally normal and if it still looks like I really suck then I will just go back to sumo. I’m not really partial to one over the other, whatever allows me to lift more without blowing out my back or messing up my hip is the way to go.

863

Same dilemma! I know the feeling of pre-tensioning the hamstrings with pushing the butt back as you descend to reach the bar, but as soon as I focus on setting the hook grip right, some tension has been lost. I definitely need more practice. My hands seem big enough to set the hook grip quick so I guess I could try practicing setting it quick enough.

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864

Well at least we know you aren’t wasting your time. Don’t take it from me, take it from the strongest female powerlifter who so happened to be a PT as well lol

Wow that length tension relationship thing is interesting

865

What do you mean by that? That it’s worth training conventional? I didn’t have time to watch the whole video.

I was skimming through Gift of Injury and it says that some of the best lifters cant even get into proper position for deadlift without enough weight on the bar that they can use it to pull themselves into position. Maybe I’m onto something.

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866

At the very start of the video they were doing some boring core stuff as pre activation for the muscles that need to work in the DL

867

OK, I saw that part. I think I’m probably doing more than them but this is partly a rehab protocol, not just a warmup. Once I’m totally better then I can cut back on some stuff.

Just to give you an update on my back situation, the only time it bothers me at all is first thing in the morning when I get out of bed. It doesn’t hurt anymore like before, I just have a bit of stiffness and a tight feeling on the left side of my lower back but it goes away after a few minutes. Aside from that, I have been avoiding spinal flexion and anything that could aggravate it, if I sit there and think about it I can feel something in my back but it’s just a vague feeling, not even discomfort.

Based on what I read so far in Back Mechanic I most likely have a bulging disc. The way it started with pain in the glutes and then later in the front of my left thigh (it seemed like the pain was moving from one spot to the next) is a common sign of a bulging disc in the lumbar spine. Also pain/discomfort with flexion and a few other things I can’t remember off the top of my head he says are indications of a bulging disc. However, McGill also says that figuring out the title of your exact condition is not particularly important, the main thing is to avoid pain triggers and stabilize and strengthen the core muscles.

As for the SI joint thing, my guess is that it had to do with other muscles cramping up and pulling on it after I tried to deadlift that one day. I didn’t round my back and it was only 315 on the bar but with a bulging disc already pushing on nerves that could easily aggravate it further. Fortunately I can still squat and pull conventional without problems, it actually makes it feel better.

Another thing, the book mentions that stiff hips can lead to back injury, and more so if one side is stiffer. Right now my hips feel pretty good, probably due to all the stretching, but my left hip was definitely a bit stiff at the time this all started. I’m quite certain it is due to those sumo RDLs with a band around my waist, that was when my glutes started feeling funny and I was kind of struggling to do the exercise with good form. I keep going over it in my head, the point of the band is to force you to push your hips forward but once your glutes start to fatigue it becomes difficult to do that properly although you can still kind of hinge backwards using more hamstrings. But combine that with a hip imbalance and you can easily get some spinal flexion, do 3 sets of 15 like that and something can happen. In any case, at least I’m feeling better and it’s nothing too serious.

868

Wednesday, July 31 - Bench day

Bench press
335x5 - This is 5lbs short of my best set of 5 with a wider grip. It seems like I’m better at doing more reps with a wider grip but not heavier work, that’s something I have noticed over the years. Anyway, I don’t think I would have gotten a 6th rep but this is also my 2nd time benching with this grip since the meet so we will see how it goes. Lockout is definitely still the weak point, although getting stronger in the rest of the lift would help too.

Down set: 305x7

Slingshot bench
385x5x2 sets - Right now I’m thinking that this might be the best thing for my bench, if I can get stronger in the top third of the movement then I should be able to bench significantly more.

High incline
225x7x2 sets - I’m painfully weak on this so hopefully getting better at it will improve my bench, plus it’s some shoulder work at the same time.

JM press
175x12, 10, 8 - This felt way better than last week.

That’s it, no upper back work or anything like that, I will do that on Friday after deadlifting. I will see how it goes with this lower frequency approach for a bit, I’m not sold on this being better but it’s worth taking a break from beating myself up all the time. When I think about it, it’s almost like peaking for the next workout, if that can work then it would be a good way to train plus I’m not really in need of adding more mass either. We will see.

And I did the McGill big 3 before training using the sets/reps he recommends (a set of 5 on each side, set of 3, set of 1) and altogether it takes close to 20 minutes, plus I’m supposed to build up to 6-4-2 reps. I think I’m going to have to minimize other mobility work or I won’t have much time left to train.

869

Yeah you can cut some out once you feel better. Don’t think it would be good to completely cut everything off just because you feel better by then though.

Glad it’s steadily improving. That’s a win!

Glad I wasn’t talking shit out of my ass lol!

When you say stiff hips, where exactly? Like front or back? Just so we’re on the same page

Guess there’s no going back to that for you then

@guineapig it’s post number 819 i think. Link

Here’s Bryce Lewis talking about the bio-psycho-social framework on pain. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s all in your head, but it may be something worth exploring for both of you. At least Lewis is talking in the context of powerlifters, so that’s pretty specific. I know Barbell Medicine guys Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum have tackled this topic too in their YouTube. Don’t know what you think about them, but if it’s gonna help, might as well, right? Video linked at specific time

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870

I’m not going to cut everything out, just certain things that aren’t totally necessary. The hip mobility and McGill big 3 are the main things.

Not sure if you mean me or McGill, in the book he just says “stiff hips” which I imagine means any sort of stiffness. In my case, my left adductors are a bit tight (facilitated?) as well as hip flexors (psoas I believe is the main one) but in the last couple weeks it all seems to have calmed down and doesn’t feel any tighter than the right side. I think as long as I keep doing the stretches I’m doing I should be fine.

Doesn’t seem to be worth it, so probably not. I did them before with a conventional stance and it felt hard on my back when I went heavy with them, now that I think about it I can see why. I imagine the bands pulling against your waist/hip bones would increase shear load in the spine too.

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871

Bryce Lewis uses straps for chin ups? What the hell?

I get what he’s saying about pain, but that’s definitely not the issue with me.

I’m not really a big fan of them, Feigenbaum has a way of misconstruing things and presenting them in a negative light, presumably to make himself look better. Like he had an article criticizing 5/3/1 (which I’m not a huge fan of anyway) and saying that the volume and frequency were too low. But he’s only looking at one template out of many, and for some people low volume and frequency might be just fine.

872

Friday, August 2 - Deadlift day

Deadlift (conventional)
415x3 - I was planning to do 5 reps but the bar rolled away when I put it down after the 3rd and it felt like I was out of position, I went to pull it but it felt like my back wasn’t set right so I stopped right there. The 3 reps were easy, I just don’t want to risk re-injuring myself and I’m not 100% recovered yet.

@whang - I will post the video for you later since you asked, I just don’t have time to upload it right now.

RDL
275x10x2 - Trying to go as low as possible without letting my back round, I can almost touch the floor with my knees just slightly bent. I usually do these with a snatch grip, it feels different for sure. I have done over 500 for reps, right now I’m weak and cautious so not pushing this too hard.

Chin ups - close neutral grip
10, 9, 8

Inverted row
12, 11, 10 - I did chin-ups first since these are kind of easy but there isn’t a convenient way to load them so I figured I would fatigue my pulling muscles first

Barbell row
65x17, 12, 10

My back feels almost totally healed, a little stiff when I first get out of bed but that’s about it. I feel a bit skeptical about stuff like deadlifts and squats with any significant weight but nothing hurts. I’m just going to gradually work back up to more challenging weights, trying to do too much too soon is not a wise idea.

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873

Good thing when I read that article I didn’t understand shit yet. I read that first before reading 5/3/1 so I didn’t really make out much of it. I kinda just cherry pick stuff from them. I like watching their form on the big lifts and watching their instructional videos but that’s about it.

Sure man, I’ll wait for the video, no problem

About easing into it, what’s your plan? Are you gonna reduce frequency of the main lifts per week or something and go with this low volume approach for a while?