Get it done son! Identify the problem and go to work no complaints will get it done for you!
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Single leg work will help with both of your goals. Join me and start doing rear foot elevated split squats. My glutes are always sore - even the glute medius. Do them with a barbell, DBs, or holding a DB like goblet squats. No Smith Machine because it takes the balance part out of the movement.
Barbell hip thrusts might also be a good choice. The good news is that these aren’t the Instagram glute girls’ worthless exercises. You can grow from these!
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KB swings heavy’ish for low reps.
And can you identify a problem attack it and solve it, then you get a real thumps up from me.
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For inspiration!
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@Voxel @losthog @Frank_C @mortdk I appreciate the kind/helpful responses. I was super pissed off all night last night and I had to blow off the steam somehow. Thanks for dealing with that lol.
Good news is that my ass is very DOMS-sy today from the single leg squats yesterday. I had my rear foot elevated about 12-16 inches. I’ll definitely be incorporating KB swings, rear elevated split squats/single leg squats, and barbell hip thrusts. I did some of those yesterday but forgot to put it down on the sheet. 135x20 was a struggle for me which is further proof that my ass is weak–not that I needed further evidence, but yeah haha.
@Voxel – that’s good to hear. I was completely blinded by my progress in the squat and bench to the point that I became disillusioned enough to think that extra core and glute work was for girls and bodybuilders. A painful mistake, literally and figuratively. I squat with Chucks, which I believe had something to do with my hip pain. I used to exclusively squat in Olympic lifting shoes which had a 2.5 or 3.5cm heel lift. Made it much easier to hip depth and my stance was able to be much narrower with no issue. I think yet another one of my mistakes was switching to the Converse; I read something about it being better for low bar, although I think the “benefits” are absolutely minimal. I think the additional weight that I can squat in Chucks is non existent, and I’m not sure why I switched away from my Oly shoes. I’ve squatted 405+ probably 5-8 times in my Oly shoes, and only once in my Chucks. And that was a grinder and felt terrible. So I’m really not sure what I was thinking… I guess I just didn’t want my Oly shoes to become a crutch for my lack of glute strength and/or hip mobility.
Amen brother. Although I do enjoy bitching about my problems, I also like working to solve them, so it evens out in the end.
Which way do you do it? I used to hold plates in a sort of Zercher-style, then I switched to holding 2 DBs by my sides. That seems to be the toughest to balance, oddly enough. I’ll probably start with goblet-style for the next few weeks, and when that’s not enough weight, I’ll start doing 2 DBs. At this point, I really doubt that there’s anything wrong with my spine. I very, very highly doubt that I seriously hurt my back or herniated a disc or anything. My lower back itself has never been weak and rarely gets sore, I think the only reason it tweaked is because my glutes failed to do their job. Which I will now be working tirelessly to fix.
Thanks man. I feel like (at least in America) that we’ve built, or at least propagated, a society of pussies and quitters. Especially people born in the mid to late 90s (I was born in '97) and after. Any time someone is able to put their head down and grind through anything, whether it’s work, school, or the weights, they earn my respect. That’s something I don’t see a whole lot of–or something I feel like I should be seeing more of–from my peers. I’ve never been a quitter and I never will be, those goals of 445/335/495/205 are still my goals. But I think this log title is a lot funnier and a lot more relevant 
So right now I’m on a mission to do 1,000 lat pulldowns in 30 days. I’ve done 128 so far in 3 days. The goal is to bring my back up a little bit and just see how @SOUL_FIGHTER’s 8x8 with 30 seconds of rest between sets will work for one of my most lagging muscle groups. A big back improves every lift, and it also sets you apart from the average gym bro who leg presses and benches 4x/week. I might post my first ever pictures on this log if the results are noteworthy; if not, then I’ll just carry on with the satisfaction that I did an 8x8 with 30s of rest every other day for a month. Maybe it’ll help my conditioning level or something. Lol.
Tomorrow is OHP 6x5 155. I’ll probably try to do some more seated DB press, because that was a lot of fun last week. I got the 80s for 8-9 reps, so I’d like to get them for 10 this time. We’ll see. Shoulders, 8x8 lat pulldowns, and glutes + core. Not a bad Saturday. Take care all
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I use a barbell. I tried the goblet squat approach and I hate it. I don’t enjoy holding the weight like that. That’s probably a sign that I should do it but nope.
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We’ve all been there. And you’ve been dealing with a lot lately. Don’t worry about it.
I had to do bodyweight squats with resistance bands above and below my knees and really focus on pushing my knees out in the bottom position (which at the time was parallel for me). If you have any such bands available to you I recommend it whole-heartedly. 15s pause, 5-10 reps. 2-3 times per day. Is a pretty nice addition to any warm-up.
I guess you low-bar squat? If you have the same problem I have/had, high-bar squats (front squats even more so) might be a nice change of pace. By keeping your torso more vertical the hip flexor will get put under less stress. If you’ve been doing back squats to parallel, go with that depth.
I used Frankenstein front squats from pins exclusively for a month or two, and the pain eventually subsided.
See A Powerful New Way to Squat for more information.
Go back to the Oly shoes for a while, but here’s my tip. Change footwear often. I’m using oly shoes right now to target my quads more, but I’m more than happy to squat occasionally in flats. By doing this I’m hoping to not expose my tendons to the same exact stress every time I squat.
For single leg stuff, I like this article: Is Your Leg Strength Up to Snuff?
I’ll repeat myself, as I can’t recall if you’ve got it sorted yet, but you’ll want to get a decent physio. The sooner, the better. You are injured now, you’ll be injured again. Maybe you feel as if you don’t need a competent physio this time, but you will eventually, and finding him/her now will save you a lot of recovery time down the road.
Also, by establishing a connection now he/she will be familiar with your past injuries and might be able to piece together how they relate to one another.
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This Lava, if you want to keep training and training hard be it lifting weights or doing other sports.
It’s going to cost a few extra bucks.
Go to your dad, he was doing sports… He might support you here my friend.
You’re the same age as my oldest son 
You keep taking care of that back you hear. You’ve got a heck of a long life ahead of you, you don’t want to have a bad back.
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Hey, @lava2007, listen to @Voxel in regards to the physio/doc thing. I’ve found that having a chiropractor (or two in my case) on hand is great. You’re young so I understand if you don’t have your own insurance, but if you have coverage then a chiropractor visit should only cost $25 or $50 a visit depending on your co-pays.
Chiropractors are expanding their skill sets to increase their business and service. I was able to sneak into one of mine yesterday and it does wonders for my body. My SI joint doesn’t hurt today. I’m sure I’ll feel it if I move around and stretch but it doesn’t ache with normal movements. That’s pretty awesome considering I shifted my pelvis and the joint was misaligned Thursday night.
My chiro does ART (active release therapy or technique–I can never remember the T). The easiest explanation is that he does massage type work. He’ll also do some stretching stuff if necessary. It works wonders. When I was able I was going every other week. I didn’t even have a major complaint. I just kept scheduling the appointments. I always had something that was tight or hurt so the treatments were beneficial. I wish I was a pro athlete so I could get that stuff every couple days as part of my job.
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Thanks mate.
I did these for a while after my hip flexors flared up in January and it helped. It made squatting a lot less painful–I actually kept the bands on for every working set which greatly reduced the pain and made me feel stronger. I guess I just really suck at engaging my glutes with my mind.
Yup. Been low bar squatting pretty exclusively for 10-11 months. Occasionally I’d do some high bar as assistance, but it’s never been my main squat variation since I’ve started strength training seriously.
Generally what I’ve been doing is changing every few months or after a cycle ends. I always feel more stable/stronger/pain-free when I’m in my Oly shoes. Chucks make me feel like a powerlifter, but that doesn’t mean shit. I’m not one. It doesn’t matter what type of shoe I wear, in that regard.
I haven’t, and that’s true. Life is very busy right now with school all week and work on the weekends, which is why I’m doing my own rudimentary rehab stuff in the gym. I want to be taking steps in what I know is the correct general direction until I’m able to sit down with my dad and talk about it and figure out a plan of action. He manages a lot of people at work, so he’s very task and plan-oriented. Plus he’s a big sports guy so I know he’ll be happy to help me set something up.
Yes sir. I want to be healthy forever lol. How old is your boy? I turn 21 in ~2 weeks
I’ve heard about that and I’ve wanted to try it for a while. Although I know whatever the chiro/PT has me do should help, even if it’s not ART.
Dude I think about this ALL THE TIME. Free ice baths, massages, AND personal trainers who know what they’re doing??? Sign me up. For real
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1 September 2018 - OHP Bodyweight: 214.6lbs
Soft tissue glute work + arm circles + 2 min of band knee clams each side
OHP 6x5 155lbs
Pause Bench 3x2 225 (wasn’t feeling stable or strong today)
Seated DB OHP 55x6, 65x6, 75x6, 85x8 (PR), 90x4 (PR)
Lat Pulldown 4x10 115, 2x8 115, 2x8 100 (30 seconds of rest)
Tricep Pushdown 1x20 47.5lb, 1x15 57.5lb, 1x10 67.5lb
Notes
Not a bad day. I rested about 2 minutes between each set of OHP with no problem. For some reason, I’m able to work at these high percentages with little rest (for me anyways). Although I’m really not expecting much of an increase in my max if I’m being completely honest. I don’t think my OHP works that way.
Went hard on the seated DB OHP, got 2 PRs. I think I could’ve gotten 9-10 with the 85s but I was drooling looking at the 90s, so I cut it short and then only got 4 reps with those. Still technically a PR because I’ve never OHP’d the 90s before. Standing I might be able to get the 75s or 80s for 6-7 reps. I’m not sure. All I know is that seated is a lot easier for me.
Like I said, I felt unstable and uncoordinated and plain weak on the bench today. I took that as a sign that today was not a day for horizontal presses, so I did 2 more sets and then moved on.
The lat pulldowns today were feeling good. I started by doing my first 4 sets with 10 reps instead of 8. Then I did 2x8 with the same weight, and then I dropped the weight to get my last 2 sets. Still, even with lowering the weight, I was able to hit an overall poundage PR. I’m happy with that. And that completes Day 4 of my lat pulldown challenge, bringing me to a nice, even 200 reps in a total of about 17 minutes.
Tricep Pushdowns are a staple for me. Close grip bench would be my first choice since there’s more carryover to regular bench, but in a gym with 4 people in it, I don’t feel like asking one of them to be my spotter. No worries. I felt my triceps burning after that.
No back pain or nerve pain for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row. I’ll be doing some more band clams later this evening as a study break, as well as a few side planks, which I did not do at the gym. But I’m also not an idiot and I know that I need to be consistent if I want to see improvements.
That’s all for today; leg day tomorrow with my primary lift being single leg squats. Probably 4 or 5 sets of 8 with a moderate amount of an iso hold after each rep. I’ll need the weight to be pretty low to be able to do that many reps with iso holds. I also woke up this morning and rolled over in bed, and I felt soreness in my glute maxes. It was incredible. Not one of those “oh shit this hurts,” but one of those borderline orgasmic sorenesses that legitimately feels good at first. Maybe I’m weird. And borderline orgasmic is an exaggeration…or is it
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I hate seeing publicity about athletes’ “impressive” workouts.
“Check out so and so’s impressive (Insert exercise here)!”
Bitch, check out my 545 lb Deadlift in the midst of working full time, being a faithful husband, and loving and involved father of two.
I do part of a pro athlete’s job as a hobby.
(Had to fix that. The beer is starting to talk.)
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@Frank_C Hahahaha. The world is missing out on you, that’s for sure.
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Nice
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That’s a good job Lava, double PR.
OHP is a bitch for me as well. I can work in pretty high percentages as well with very little recovery. But setting a new 1RM is hard.
He turned 21 3 weeks ago The young one turns 18 in two weeks.
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I just don’t get it. It’s so weird to look at people who can OHP a crap ton of weight. I follow one random guy, late 30s or early 40s on instagram. He routinely will do 265x5, 275x3, 225x8 for OHP. It’s just incredible to me. I can’t strict press 225x1, and I probably won’t be able to for years at this rate. Oh well, we all have our strengths.
Nice! I’ll be 21 on the 19th. My little sister is just over 18.5 years old. Similarities
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2 September 2018 - Legs Bodyweight: 214.8lbs
Soft tissue glute work, 1 min band clams each side, 1 min front & side planks (feel amazing)
Single Leg Goblet Squat 30x10, 50x10, 70x10, 85x10,10
Banded Knee Back Squats 45x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5 (beltless and sleeveless)
Leg Press 2 plates (1 each side) x10,10,10,20,20,30 (quads on fire)
Lat Pulldown 7x8 100lbs (sort of an off day, did these yesterday too)
KB Swings 30x10, 35x10, 45x10,10
Notes
Every lift today felt really good except for banded barbell squats. My left hip flexor began to pinch up pretty badly with 225 for the first few reps. 275 didn’t cause me any pain, but the reps were sloooow. I think that is because instead of allowing my hips to get into a bad position and rely on the form that I’d been using for the last year, I forced my glutes to be a main mover. Since they’re so weak, the reps were slow. BUT, very little discomfort on those reps. In the future, for those banded squats, I’m going to bring my Oly shoes and belt. I don’t want to throw my knee sleeves on yet, because I think the elasticity of them became a crutch for me. I don’t bounce out of the hole as badly as I could, but there is a noticeable difference when I squat without them. Most importantly of all: NO BACK OR NERVE PAIN. Not even any discomfort. I feel great.
SL Goblets were much easier than just holding 2 DBs. Unfortunately, I got up to 2 easy-ish sets with 85lbs, so I think I’ll be at the 100lb one soon. After that is no longer able to challenge me, I’m either going to have to hold plates, or hold dumbbells by my side. Getting set up for SL barbell squats is a real challenge for me so I don’t think that’s an option lol
The leg press started out as a single leg leg press, but I quickly realized that with my lack of mobility/the inability of the machine to be manipulated in space (aka it’s on a fixed path), I wasn’t getting anywhere near the amount of depth that I needed to hit my glutes. So I went to town frying my quads. I did 100 reps in about 2 minutes; I didn’t put the safeties up until after the first 50 reps, and then not again after that until after the second 50. I realized that I was probably annoying people with the constant brushing sound of the leg press going nonstop, but I don’t care. I needed a quad pump.
Lat pulldown Day 5 comes to an end. 256 total reps. Today took only a few seconds over 5 minutes. At this rate, I’ll be able to do nearly 1500 lat pulldowns this month. Although, instead of going for as many reps as possible this month, I may take 3-5 days off from it halfway through and then resume the challenge with a slightly higher intensity. I think that would be beneficial for growth.
Thanks for the KB suggestion @mortdk. Unfortunately, 45lbs/20.4kg is the highest weight KB that my gym has. I experienced an incredible glute and upper hamstring pump from doing these, and they’re actually kind of fun. These will absolutely become a staple in my leg days from here on out. Although, I do need to find a way to add weight. KBs are a little too chunky for me to be swinging two of them between my legs (I do want kids some day), but maybe I’d be able to mimic a KB swing movement with some cable somehow. Regardless, I’ll probably keep doing KB swings for high reps each time–they were pretty decent cardio for me, and grabbing the heaviest weight and whipping it around like a toy made me feel big. Hahaha.
I’ll probably do some more band clams tonight, and possibly some more side planks or bird dogs. The gym is closed tomorrow, so I’ll most likely end up doing that fun stuff for a study break or when I get tired of sitting on the couch.
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A thought I just had which deserves its own separate post:
I think I’m clear to deadlift. Deadlifting has never caused me nerve pain or hip flexor pain, and it’s a very effective way to keep my legs strong. Especially now that I’ve switched to squat stance deadlifts, I think it would be a good way to strengthen my legs and glutes simultaneously. That way, as I add in extra glute and core work, my legs won’t lose what they have, and my glutes will be getting even more work in addition to what I do during my regular workouts.
That’s kind of a jumbled mess, but let me know what you guys think.
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4 September 2018 - Bench Bodyweight: 218.4lbs (wtf)
30 second planks, 1 min knee clams, arm circles
Barbell Bench 5x6, 1x5 255lbs (missed the very last rep dammit)
DB Bench 75x17, 65x17, 55x15
Tricep Pushdowns & Extensions until I could barely move my arms lol
Lat Pulldowns 7x8 115, 1x8 100, 30sec rest
Notes
Somehow I’m 218 now. Definitely time to start eating healthier and cleaner.
Almost got all my bench reps. So. Dang. Close.
DB bench was a mess, I just picked a weight and hit an amrap with it, 3 times. It was fun and I prefer doing assistance when it isn’t scheduled. I like doing whatever feels right.
Triceps are arm work, therefore triceps are boring
Lat pulldowns are going well. I felt very strong today for the first 5-6 sets which is more than usual. That means my conditioning is getting better. took 6 minutes on the dot today for my 8 sets. I believe that means at the end of Day 7, I have 310 reps. Making good progress.
I’ve had a killer stomachache since the moment I stepped out of the gym. Gone to the bathroom twice to no avail, I’ve tried eating and drinking, nothing affects it. I’ll hit the bathroom again and hope that it gets better, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to fall asleep with this…
EDIT: meant to post this last night but it didn’t go through for some reason. Stomach is better. Going to throw together my diet today and start preparing my food. I kind of wanted to start on a Sunday but, as they say, there is no better time than now.
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What are you eating?
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