[mschatz]

345 x 3 is some good squattin'. take care of that back dude

[enright3060]

Squat day without much squatting:

My lower back is getting better, but it still need another week or two for the muscle pull to completely heal. The good thing is that when I got up this morning I had a lot less stiffness than yesterday. I am still too weak to do much more than a body squat. Deads do not hurt the pulled muscle as much as squatting, so I mostly did some light deads. Hopefully, I can go a bit heaver on Monday.

Chins:
3xbw +1 neg.
3xbw +1 neg.
3xbw +1 neg.
2xbw +1 neg.
2xbw +1 neg.
1xbw +1 neg.
1xbw +1 neg.
1xbw +1 neg.

Improvement on chins this week, but they still suck.

DL

135x5
135x5
135x5
155x5
175x5
225x5
225x5 (3 sumo, 2 conventional)

Deads hurt my lower back a lot less than even a body squat – so I did several sets to get some blood flowing to my injured muscle, but with very light weight.

Front Squat:
45x5
65x5
65x5
65x5

Back Squat:
65x3x3 (back squat hurt my lower back a bit more than the front squat – so I stopped).

GM
65x5x5

Some other machine garbage:
Assisted pull ups: 5 sets of 8, 8, 5, 5, and 5.
Leg press (it puts very little pressure on my lower back, but the machine is worthless.)

[enright3060]

I may have pushed myself a little too hard yesterday. My back is a little more enflamed and stiff than on Thursday. Today, was dynamic push, but with no overhead press (it puts too much pressure on my lower back)

Dynamic Push: Worked on lifting explosively with each rep.

BBBP
135x5
173x3
175x3
175x3
175x3
175x3
175x3
175x3
175x3

CGBBBP
155x5
155x5
155x5

[feezy]

Holy shit! Your legs must be built of thick stone. 340+ ATG squat for reps. I'm jealous.

[enright3060]

Originally Posted by feezy

Holy shit! Your legs must be built of thick stone. 340+ ATG squat for reps. I'm jealous.

Thanks Feezy. Assuming my back works, squatting is by far my best of the big three. I guess I was built to squat.

I did not lift on Monday to let my lower back heal. My workout of Friday aggravated the shit out of it. My back did not bother me when I was benching today, which is good. Overhead Press is still a bit of a problem.

BB Bench Press

135x8
185x5
225x5
250x5
250x5
250x5
225x9 (this pissed me off)

250 went up easy and with good bar speed. I will move the weight up next week.

SOHP:

I lifted very light to avoid further aggravating my lower back.

105x5
115x5
115x5

Close Grip BP:
205x5
205x5
205x5

Not a bad workout today. My back felt a lot better today than last week. Hopefully, I can start OP again with real weight next week.

[enright3060]

double post

[enright3060]

It has been three weeks since I pulled a muscle in my lower back. Today woke up without any pain and minimal stiffness. If feel like my back is about 80%. I decided to try to do some light squatting and told my self I would not try to squat anything more than 70-75% of my 1rm. After an extended warm up, I felt no pain and decided that it would be ok for me to lift at the 70-75% range for 5 reps. My back had only minimal stiffness afterwards, which means if there is no pain tomorrow or on Sunday, I will deadlift on Monday (thank God).

I originally had a slight muscle tear in my lower back about 8 years ago, and my lower back goes out about once every other year. I think this injury was a result of a pre-existing injury (scar tissue in my lower back), a bit of overtraining and poor warm up in a gym that is too fucking cold (apparently the owners don’t want anyone to sweat). Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do avoid this sort of injury again. I bought a foam roller and I am working with it daily. I also broke down and got an Inzer belt for my lifts over 95% of 1rm. Does anyone with similar lower back problems have anything that they could suggest to help avoid this from happening again? Thanks.

Back Squat, Athletic Stance, ATG:
Body Weight x 8
45x5
135x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
275x3 (I was trying to put the bar a little lower on my back and was slightly uncomfortable so I stopped)
275x5
275x5

Form and depth were good and there was no lower back pain.

Front Squat, ATG
135x5
175x5
185x5

Chins:
3xbw
3xbw
3xbw
2xbw
2xbw
2xbw

I finished up with some crappy Assisted Pull-Ups (3 sets of 5) and some 3 sets of curls @ 70 pounds.

[enright3060]

My back feels fine today after yesterdays squatting. I am on the road to recovery.

Today is push 2. I have decided to split my benching and OP. On Saturday, I will do OP and DE bench. I have a contest to win.

SOHP:
115x5
115x5
135x5
135x5
140x5

Push Press:
155x1
185x1
185x1
185x1
205x1 (went up easy)
225x0 (I need to work on my form. I either destroy 225 or miss it completely)
135x5 (worked on synchronizing leg drive and press).

Overall, SOHP and PP felt solid after the missing several weeks. Glad to be pressing again.

DE bench:
135x5
135 + band x5
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3
155 + band x3

Worked on bar speed and lifting explosively off the chest.

[enright3060]

I got my Inzer belt today. Holy shit – it may take a while to break that bitch in. My back is still working about 80%, but I was able to deadlift for the first time in 21 days. I did not try to go too heavy to re-injure myself, but enough that it required some work.

DL:
135x5
225x5
315x3
365x1 – this went up fine, but I felt it a little in my lower back.
385x non-rep. I set this up, but realized when I was over the bar that this was a bit too much for my first day back (I am a pussy – I guess)
335x1
340x1

This was ok, but I was hoping that I could have pulled 405 today – If my back feels better next Monday, I am going to push it.

Light DE Back Squat, ATG
135x5
155x5
185x5
225x5

I was running short on time – so I had to stop a bit early. I may go do more chins tomorrow.

[enright3060]

My workout today was an embarrassment to myself, my family, my friends, all non-trolls on the S&P forum, all S&Ps’ everywhere and the citizens of the world. Last week I put up 250x5 for three working sets without much trouble. Today, I could barely move 255. Maybe this is the result of splitting my push into two days, but maybe not. If so, I should be able to adapt to the new split quickly. Also, I know I have some technique problems. I take the bar down way to slow for the first rep, and I sometimes have trouble lifting explosively off the chest on that first rep (I sometimes have trouble with the first rep, but no trouble on reps 2-5). My technique was definitely a problem today. To make matters worse, a friend of mine who normally spots me was out of town. The person who provided me with a spot today was not very good at it. He touched the bar even after I told him only to touch it when it was stuck on my chest or not moving. To be fair, if the moved the weight faster and more explosively, he would have left the bar alone (It was not his problem that I was lifting like a piece of shit).

In sum – what I did today was a hate crime against S&P.

135x5
185x5
225x5
255x3
255x1 (the spotter decided to put his hands on the bar even though I told him not to)
255x0 (this is a fucking embarrassment – I should have got two, but the spotter instinctively put his hands on the bar when it was moving slowly so no reps counted)
225x9 (no change from last week, which sucks ass)

I need to think about what to do next week. I guess I will just try to forget this S&P hate crime.

CGBBP: I was the only person in the gym (the awesome spotter left) and given my terrible performance on the bench I lowered the weight a bit and did an extra set.
185x5
195x5
195x5
195x5
195x5

Overhead Squats: I have never tried overhead squats before. I understand why everyone says these fuckers are hard.

95x3 (just trying to get the form down)
95x5 (ok, not that bad)
95x5
95x5

Clean, Front Squat and Press Complexes
95x13
95x11
95x10
95x10

God, I am out of shape. I will continue to work complexes into my split. I expect the numbers to get much better.

More Overhead Squats:

115x5
115x5

Bench: One more time – because it I did such a solid job earlier.

225x5

Ok – this was not my best day at the gym. I’ll move on and work my ass of on Friday.