My recent (last 7 years) experience with running is that it sucks initially but gets easier quickly if you make it a priority. To get to a point where I could zone out and enjoy a long run took a few months of running 3-5 times a week. If you are just using it for conditioning and running isnt your main goal then you will never do enough to reach this point without being counterproductive to your weight lifting goals. I would Stick to shorter faster stuff, choose something a little easier like stationary bike or just expect that it won’t be nice and get it done.
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I agree with you here. It takes a bit of running before you miss the running. And I’ve found the distances matter. Usually it takes more than 3 Miles to get loosened up enough to enjoy just striding out. Just building a base for running where 3-5 mile sessions 3 times a week take months to develop.
I ran three times a week when preparing for my first police academy. I hated it but got to the point where I could tolerate it. I was still slow. My best 1. 5 mile run time was 10:53.
No thanks!
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6.8.18
Woke at 238.6 lbs.
Work was busy today and I got off a bit late. My motivation to train was a 0.25 out of 10. The only reason I did is because I’m working a baseball game again tomorrow night after work. If I didn’t train legs then next week would be off.
That being said, I kind of regret training.
GSS&S W11 D3
Squat (85 sec rest)
185 x 5
235 x 3 x 2
275 x 5
295 x 4
315 x 3
335 x 1
Somehow I rocked way back on my heels and nearly fell over in the hole. I saved it but my mid-low back had a twinge. I either strained a muscle or herniated a thoracic disc. Yes, it feels that bad.
The thing about discs is that they don’t hurt. I continued training but that was it for squats.
CLEAN PULL
275 x 2
305 x 2 x 3 sets
DEADLIFT
375 x 5
395 x 4
415 x 3
435 x 2 Dead stop instead of TNG. Much harder.
455 x 1
No pain during the rest of the workout but I feel constant pain in my back. It doesn’t get better or worse. It’s very dull but it’s there. It almost feels like pressure/swelling. Time will tell what I’ve done to myself. Stupid Friday leg sessions. I freaking hate Friday workouts.
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I am keeping everything crossed for you man, hoping it’s a minor twinge.!
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Damn dude that sucks. Here’s to a fast and full recovery.
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Thanks! I’m always paranoid about back twinges. The one in 2014 was a doozy and it took 6 weeks to rear its ugly head. I thought I was fine but the disc kept swelling until it pinched the nerve. It was a sneaky little devil.
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I’ll give an update in the morning. It’s kind of a funny concept when the twinge could turn out to be absolutely nothing or I could be crippled 
Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum!
This sure does make the auto regulation concept appealing.
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Prevention makes a big difference man.
FIRST - you need some spinal decompression. Hang from the pull-up bar that you have. Let your legs graze the ground and feel your hips release until you can actually feel your spine pulling apart. Hold for 10-20 seconds and VERY GENTLY put your weight back on your feet. Give a minute of rest and then repeat again, 2-3 more times.
ICE ICE ICE, do not put heat on it no matter how good it feels, you are trying to draw blood away from the area and reduce inflammation, heat will draw blood to the area and swell it up further. Bags of frozen veggies > bags of ice.
ANTI INFLAMMATORIES - advil, not tylenol. If you have 200mg capsules, take 4 of them every 6 hours - that will equal one of those 800mg horse pills that the doctor gives you when you’re hurt.
Keep your legs elevated. DO NOT REPEATEDLY STRETCH YOUR LOWER BACK - if you imagine your back as an ice tray, and the discs as the cubes, flexing the tray will only pop the cubes out - same with your discs. If it is a disc injury, you want to keep the back stable, not stretched. The muscles around the area are only tight because of the body’s response to keep the area safe and secure.
Finally, compression - do not foam roll, you’ll be using tons of back and ab muscles to stabilize yourself, further aggravating the injury. You need to lie on your stomach and have your wife sit on your back, or have your kid walk gently on it.
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Sorry for the novel, as you know, disc injuries have been a big part of my life for a long time now and i’ve spent years figuring out how to prevent them and how to reduce the pain when they do happen.
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Hope the backs alright
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Thanks for the tips! I’ll do what I can. It’ll be more like lifting my knees off the ground when I hang from the pull up bar 
I’m guessing that putting on 20 lbs of gear and sitting in a police Tahoe all day is not the ideal approach. The good news is that I feel like my spine is in alignment. Every time my L3/L4 disc gets aggravated I can tell I’m out of alignment. I’m taking it as a good sign that I feel like everything is where it’s supposed to be.
6.9.18
Woke at 240.0 lbs.
I’m supposed to train my upper body today but I want to rest my back a bit more so I’ll do it tomorrow if I feel up to it. I’m afraid the arching of bench and the pendlay rows might aggravate it and it’s not worth it.
My back still aches and feels stiff. I still can’t tell if it’s muscle or not. It’s not the erector spinae muscles, but it could be deeper. The odd thing is that I don’t feel any increased pain with movement…and that’s why I’m worried it’s disc related.
Here’s what happened:
I was descending into my squat and all of my weight went to my heels. I guess to keep from falling over backwards my body automatically did what it had to do to regain balance. Since my ass was moving backwards, something had to move forwards. I fear that my torso flexed a bit to correct the imbalance. This moved the bar forward, saved me from falling, but obviously didn’t do my back any favors. I actually had this happen about a week ago on another set. I don’t know what the hell my problem is on squats. I’ve never had an issue with balance or stability.
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Maybe you need to slow down your descent a bit? I gotta rewatch your squat videos. Was previously just impressed with the power and height/ROM factor hah
Get back under the bar. Don’t worry about hitting any specific weight, reps, or numbers. Go in get some work done and don’t aggravate it. Sitting out is not getting blood flow back into the area…
Ice post workout.
I think my speed is fine. It’s kind of deliberate. Hell, some days I try to speed up the descent on purpose so I can get a little stretch reflex help out of the hole. I think it’s my narrow stance. It’s still kind of new. I might try to work my feet out a bit wider. My squat movement used to be initiated at the hips. Now my knees start the movement. I think the screwed up reps have come from starting at the knees but then letting my hips go too far back (like when I had a wider stance). This sends my weight onto my heels—like my toes aren’t even touching the ground. And that is followed by a moment of panic
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Fuckkkk close stance squatting, my hips and SI joints do not like it. I go wide. But when I’m close stance, I do find I have to make my upper body lean forward far more than wide stance. You may be keeping your upper body too upright. Not gonna lie though, you’re squatting some really nice weight so I dunno if I’d change your stance too much. It suits you.
I might be more comfortable if I can spread my feet apart a couple inches. I won’t be making any drastic changes. Work has sucked today but I haven’t noticed my back much. Hopefully I don’t notice it at all tomorrow and I can knock out my upper body workout.
By the way, thank you for this! I’m glad I’m not the only one who notices!
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Of course dude. Short people really just don’t get it. Like with my pull-ups I have to explain to shorter people - “Listen, I weigh 40 more pounds than you and I’m pulling for 6 further inches. Count the concentric and eccentric and that’s a foot. So every rep I pull 40 more pounds for 1 more foot. After a set of ten, I have pulled an extra 400 pounds for an extra ten feet.”
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Give this article a read:
It touches on a lot of what I learned - I thought I needed spinal flexibility when I needed spinal stability. And also the last point about ankle flexibility is huge.
Back when I was stationed in Guantanamo bay, the company brought some of the Green Bay Packers out to Gitmo immediately after they won a Super Bowl to do a workout with us. On anything endurance or bodyweight related we absolutely smoked them, but obviously with power, they destroyed us. We had a squat event as part of the 2-hour workout and I remember watching a backup RB for the packers squat ass to grass, but his knees tracked at least a couple inches in front of his toes. I had heard up until that point that knees over toes is a no-no, but it turns out that is a complete myth, and it makes sense. If knees going past the toes automatically caused pain or injury, there would be no Olympic lifters.
The most profound squat advice I received from that guy was, “it’s not IF they go over your toes, it’s WHEN.” Meaning, if you lead with the knees, you’re in for trouble. Ideally you would want knees and hips breaking simultaneously, but with a heavy weight you tend to break one first, and it should be hips before knees, given a choice. Our fear of knees tracking over toes leads to an excessive “sit-back”, which is the most popular squat cue but leads to a situation where you are not properly utilizing your center of gravity. As your legs come in further and your stance closes up, you will have to drop your upper body further in the hole.
As a wide stance squatter, I’m used to my torso being fairly upright- but leaning forward in a squat is not taboo, it’s necessary. That’s probably why westside has you look up with a wide stance and Rippetoe has you look slightly down with a shoulder width stance. It may sound counterintuitive when we’re talking about saving your spine, but I think you need to lean forward more, and use your hips more, which your body may be subconsciously avoiding due to past injuries.
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