But I already look like that lol
While I got you here what do you reckon about farmers walks or other weighted carry variations?
For back rehab I think light weight for obnoxiously long distances. In the past I have taken an empty trap bar or a very very lightly loaded one and did 10+ lap rounds to get blood moving around down there. Also Suitcase carries if you can handle it are a great way to build up the quadratus lumborum (QL) which is a common source of back pain. Which ever sides QL you want to train, put the weight in the opposite hand. With these focus on maintaining a neutral torso angle.
Grip will almost always be the limiting factor for Farmers unless you have a grip strength that exceeds your static strength. You can always use a kettlebell and front rack it too.
I would just pick a distance and stick to it. So that you can measure progressive overload it also stops you from overshooting with weight too. I have mostly competed on 40ft (12 meter) courses but probably have half that to train on so I just do laps.
To make it more interesting and challenging I would frame it as conditioning. Low rest paired with something else that will make it suck more and stay moving. That said I wouldn’t have any specific suggestions as I don’t know what would piss off your back. Dan John has a bit in one of his books where he talks about pairing Kettlebell Front Squats for reps and then immediately drop them to your side and Farmers Walk with them.
Some general ideas would be Single-Double-Single carries, ie do a lap of whatever course length with a suitcase carry. Pick up other implement so you are holding both do another lap no rest. Then do a final lap with the opposite side of the first lap.
Light-“Heavy”-Light
Have two pairs of dumbbells or kettlebells or whatver. One lighter and the other just a little heavier than other set in this case. Do a lap with the light ones, then the heavy ones, then the light ones again. No break inbetween laps.
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Ok interesting.
I was gonna do light unilateral stuff as part of my back rehab.
It seems I can take compressive forces on the spine but less tolerant to shear forces in deep squat/deadlift positions so I’m hoping to achieve some training effect with loaded carries.
How about speed. Should I be trying to go faster or nah. I’m flying around the place at this rate but I think it’s called farmers walk not run.
I got space but when I go fast it doesn’t get much time under tension.
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I sore in a lot of places. Not my back though which is good. Last sesh finally got my balance right on the split squats so can start loading em a bit and make some wicked lower body gains without putting too much weight on my back. At this rate it looks like I’ll be losing very little lower body mass
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Lower Back Injury Things
So I’ve been slowly putting together a list of the things I wanna do for my lower back rehab specifically while I continue lifting as I can.
It’s a long list so I may take a 5 min break every now and then and do two or three of these things and over the week I will have gone through the lot several times over.
Abdominal Breathing/Bracing
Planks + Side Planks
Bird Dogs
Dead Bugs
McGill Curl Ups
Nerve Flossing
Glute/Hip Activations
Hip Hinge Movement Pattern
Squat Movement w Pause
Decompression or 90/90
Single Arm/Elevated/Overhead Carry
Walking/Changing Positions (often)
Trigger point/myofascial release/massage: hip flexors, QL, lower back, glutes, hammies
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Looks like a solid plan pig. You and I are on the same path currently. I’ll keep track to see what is working for you
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Brisk quick movement but not sprinting/running. No need to go full speed, your objective isnt to get better at an event, like it would be for me.
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Thanks for the help brother
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As predicted yesterday I wake up with sore glutes and back is feeling good.
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Glad to hear it man keep it up!
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7/5/19
Glutes the sorest part of me today probably from dem deep split squats.
Upper body push day on the menu. Volume and pumps galore. Incline bench feeling harder than last sesh. That long range of motion is a lot of work especially with the slightly closer grip I use on em.
Pause Bench 4 Sets @ 80kg
Incline Bench 4 Sets @ 60kg
Chest Flyes 1 Set @ 47
Front Raises 3 Sets @ 6kg
Triceps 2 Sets
Side Delts 3 Sets @ 10kg
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BackPig
2x short walks today. Held my arm up in various positions one side at a time during the walk to get some stability challenge going. I was gonna do it with weight but I guess my massive arms are enough to start with lol. I guess I’ve single strapped my bag on my right side loads throughout my life so maybe that’s gonna make some imbalances.
Planks and bird dogs too. There’s variations and progressions too but I think starting off and being consistent is my goal for now
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This. Lol. Glad I didn’t care about looking cool back then and jumped on to double strapped back packs early cause of all the books we have to carry. Lol.
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Now I’m paranoid as. My body… it’s imbalanced reeeeee
Shouldn’t be that hard to fix and rebalance. Down side with a lot of sports is that they’re mostly dominant hand dependent like tennis. Now THAT’S an imbalance lol
I’m just kidding. There’s lot of guys who come on these forums and they get stuck thinking in themselves in circles and being paranoid about imbalances from head to toe but really I think there’s barely any truly balanced humans. Just hand dominance usually is enough to imbalance your shoulders. To function pain free and not look too funky is enough.
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8/5/19
Not really feeling up to going beast mode today but got in some good work nonetheless.
Forgot chalk but grip held today aside from at the end of farmers walks. I’ll just let Grip be a limiting factor or at least force slow steady progression. Can do short distances before grip fails so I’ll do more sets. My left hand is opening up first.
Got to try out a seal row set up for the first time today. Works pretty well. Minimal strain on back. Started a bit too light but at least I know the set up is solid and can start loading it up now.
Easier than the last back sesh which was a similar structure (aside from lower body work). Getting in the groove of training I think.
Weighted Chin Ups 2 Sets @ BW+15kg
DB Seal Row 3 Sets @ 20kg
Hammers 3 Sets @ 12.5kg
DB Shrugs 3 Sets @ 27.5kg
Farmers Walk 4 Sets @ 32.5kg
Rear Delts 2 Sets @ 18
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Me glutes have been sore for a the past few days this week and my quads not so much so I’m wondering if alongside the split squats I’ll need some more quad work to go along with it. Split squats are quad work I thought but I felt it all in my glutes after.
I can get access to a belt squat on Fridays but it’s still a bit out of the way. Last time I put some plates on it the belt bit that went around my waist was too uncomfy to lift with but I’ll wear some thicker clothes tomorrow and try it. Quad extensions too a bit but they are more a supplement to other quad work than anything.
Front squats?
Nah not yet. Not confident in weights on my torso and/or bottoming out for now