Lower back is feeling 100% strong at weight less that 135. I switched to front squat today to stay more upright while still getting in some actual squatting. I can tell the very bottom part isn't fully healed, but it feels good to squat. If I push out as hard as I can when squatting, the pain is minimal. I think this whole injury is probably due to core weakness, which I am actively working on correcting.
Front Squats:
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 8
285 x 8
Ab/Ad ducctors:
stack x failure, 3 sets
180 x failure on adductor.
Took nathans advices and did some stretching on these as well.
Front Squats:
The other guys were front squatting, so I jumped back in. MOAR LEGS
185 x 8
205 x 8
225 x 8
Standing cable abs:
These hurt a two weeks ago but felt find today so long as I pushed out. I did a full pause at the top and bottom to increase the contraction. Held the last rep until failure.
90 x failure, 2 sets
100 x failure, 3 sets
6 comments:
Dave, my email is kyleransom@ucla.edu
I need info!
What exactly do you mean by "core weakness?"
*This started short and got super long as I wrote*
Also, do you have any squat videos from the side? By the way you say that pushing out takes away the pain tells me flexibility is the problem. "Pushing out" really means "arch the back and spread the legs" because your abs are the antagonists to your lower back muscles and your groin is the antagonist to your glutes. Your abs are flexible enough (I've never heard of "ab stretches") but your groin and probably hamstrings are not, just like me, Nathan, and everyone else here.
When your lower back rounds at the bottom of a squat it puts intense pressure on it. It stretches the ligaments that hold together your vertebrae and of course the muscles that support the spine as well. Hence the sprain. Of course, this happens when you round your back on a deadlift too. I have a feeling that this will fuck you up after you get back to squatting heavy because you'll still round your back. If you truly sprained it then the healing process will probably be rather slow, because ligaments have a poor blood supply. You need to get flexible enough to arch your back in the hole or in a few years (or less) you'll need to replace a disk. You may also already have a herniated disk(s) in your lower back, which contributes to the sciatica and will only get worse if it's damaged further.
If you only tore a muscle, then great, but the problem is still the same. Instead of damaging the ligament, the stretch reflex just caused a muscle(s) in your back to activate too strongly (to protect the spine) and it tore. This will heal faster and probably will be less likely to re-injure, but if you fix the main problem then you won't have to worry about it. The muscles of the back should not stretch during ANY lift (as they do when the back rounds). They should be flexed.
Finally, the reason your back was tweaking back in late March wasn't because you injured multiple things (although that certainly could be it), it was probably because now the other muscles of the lower back need to compensate for whatever went wrong. This will also throw off your technique as you learn a new, incorrect motor pattern for the lifts, and it will make the problem worse by putting undue stress on muscles which shouldn't be stressed.
Also, do you have any squat videos from the side? These are old:
quarter viewside viewside viewBy the way you say that pushing out takes away the pain tells me flexibility is the problem.I do not see how this follows.
"Pushing out" really means "arch the back and spread the legs" because your abs are the antagonists to your lower back muscles and your groin is the antagonist to your glutes. Your abs are flexible enough (I've never heard of "ab stretches") but your groin and probably hamstrings are not, just like me, Nathan, and everyone else here.I don't think flexibility is the problem. You are right about keeping my back arched. However, I was having problems keeping it arched due to not keeping my core solid. I had gotten quite lax about fully blocking. I think this is the main issue. My abs are not strong enough to keep pace with my lower back.
When your lower back rounds at the bottom of a squat it puts intense pressure on it. It stretches the ligaments that hold together your vertebrae and of course the muscles that support the spine as well. Hence the sprain. Of course, this happens when you round your back on a deadlift too. I have a feeling that this will fuck you up after you get back to squatting heavy because you'll still round your back. If you truly sprained it then the healing process will probably be rather slow, because ligaments have a poor blood supply. You need to get flexible enough to arch your back in the hole or in a few years (or less) you'll need to replace a disk. You may also already have a herniated disk(s) in your lower back, which contributes to the sciatica and will only get worse if it's damaged further.The sciatica has been gone for months. I think a disc is possible irritated, but had I really done something serious to a disc, I would have expected whatever caused the sciatica to come back, which it didn't//
Finally, the reason your back was tweaking back in late March wasn't because you injured multiple things (although that certainly could be it), it was probably because now the other muscles of the lower back need to compensate for whatever went wrong. This will also throw off your technique as you learn a new, incorrect motor pattern for the lifts, and it will make the problem worse by putting undue stress on muscles which shouldn't be stressed.It tweaked because I was doing stiff-legged deadlifts and took a half-breath at the top instead of a full breath. This meant my back wasn't fully arched and it put uneven pressure on the spine. Then I went ahead and did two meets in two weeks, which wasn't ideal for letting the injury heal. Had I practiced correct breathing and kept my core solid, the injury would have been prevented.
Well, you know what you can actually feel and I don't. I guess my opinion is biased by the fact that I have NEVER had a feeling where I thought "if only my abs were stronger I'd be able to do this," but I have definitely had that feeling about flexibility. And back strength in general.
Well, my back feels great, Gary's too. So take that for what it's worth. I'd recommend Dave get some OL shoes and trying that out. I bend over a lot less often in them vs. in Chucks. Something about the elevated heel improving metatarsal stability.
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