Hey guys… after 4 years as a lazy powerlifter I had my first strongman training session on Sunday.
I was doing yoke walks with 190kg for about 30 meters and now a week later, after overhead pressing and push presses during the week, my c-spine is absolutely killing me. Pain’s isolated to the left side, around C6-C7. Moving my right arm in certain positions was hurting, but seems to have calmed down now and I can feel a pull around the same area when I try to twist my head over either shoulder.
Anyone ever experienced it??
I’ve squatted 230kg+ raw and 310kg in single ply gear so the weight isn’t extraordinarily heavy for me.
What vertebra was the yoke resting on?
What brand yoke? How thick was the bar on it?
Did you have your hands on the inside or outside of the yoke?
I have never had an issue. I spend a lot of time to get setup (fortunately I had someone show me how)
with a yoke 110kgs more than, all I get its a compression sensation in my lumbar region
Ditto on what Alpha said, good to see you back…was worried you’d taken up figure skating or rhythmic gymnastics. I haven’t come across many cervical spine issues with clients but I’ll let you know if I stumble upon a solution.
Hanley, I’ve experienced this. Never radiating pain, but severe pain localized to a spot the size of a coin, suspiciously close to on of my vertebrae. It was just a muscle pull. Just ice it, get someone to massage it a bit if you can, and otherwise ignore it and wait it out.
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
Yeah, thought you’d been driven off for good.
Hanley, I’ve experienced this. Never radiating pain, but severe pain localized to a spot the size of a coin, suspiciously close to on of my vertebrae. It was just a muscle pull. Just ice it, get someone to massage it a bit if you can, and otherwise ignore it and wait it out.[/quote]
I got SO sick of this place. Logged onto the PL forum earlier in the week, read one thread and just left again.
I’m gonna do a few <90kg/198lb strongman shows next year so I’m starting to train for them. Very excited about it all so expect to see me around here a lot!!
On the yoke, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. And funnily enough, I don’t think it was the yoke that did it to me. The pain came on after one arm dumbbell push presses and was made worse by absorbing the impact of push presses. Tried some one are dumbbell presses on Tuesday and BOOM… same pain. So I think it was that. Ill take it easy again this weekend with events and hit it hard again from the week after. Thanks
Anyone got any tips on how to get used to the yoke other than just do it?! Might take it real light on Sunday, 120kg-ish plus the yoke and try to get used to the balance of it.
I have done chain yokes (bar, chains hanging off with plates at the bottom of the chain) and that helps.
But yoke, there is a lot of technique (you dont just squat it up and walk with it) if you can get someone to show you (I think you said something about Laurence Shahlaei???)that would be better. Finding the right hand position, and either pulling or pushing the yoke makes a massive difference.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
On the yoke, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. And funnily enough, I don’t think it was the yoke that did it to me. The pain came on after one arm dumbbell push presses and was made worse by absorbing the impact of push presses. Tried some one are dumbbell presses on Tuesday and BOOM… same pain. So I think it was that. Ill take it easy again this weekend with events and hit it hard again from the week after. Thanks
Anyone got any tips on how to get used to the yoke other than just do it?! Might take it real light on Sunday, 120kg-ish plus the yoke and try to get used to the balance of it.[/quote]
A few things that may be helpful with the yoke:
Try wearing a soft belt (rehband) and power belt, if you have both.
Use different footwear to see which ones work the best. Avoid anything that has shock absorption or a soft sole.
Change your hand positions to see if you are more comfortable holding the crossbar or the uprights.
A strong squat does not necessarily correlate to the yoke, especially if you are talking about power squats (wide stance) or equipped squats.
Yoke is weird, I used to have the biggest problems whenever I went heavy on the yoke and it really screwed me up. I actually tore my trap and injured my spine doing yoke two years ago. I just over the last month or so figured out what works for ME on the yoke. I really try to engage my traps and let them do the work with the bar resting on my traps and push the hold onto the crossbar pressing up into it. when I walk with a slight forward lean.
This is the opposite of what I was told to do by lots of people but i found it works for me. Only took 3 years to figure it out…
