Quik's Workout Log

[Quagmire911]

I'll be sending Mehdi a Pm I guess...

Here is a video by Louie:

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/6608


He quite clearly states that you should push out on the edges of the feet. I can't remember the exact problems, but he said that there were issues caused by pushing from the heels. Obviously the heels should still stay on the ground...

>( )<

( ) :-(
^^


Ps-Not putting stronglifts.com down or anything, fantastic resource for beginners and I go on there a lot. Louie and Westside Barbell have been in this game far longer however and have a lot more experience.

 

[stronglifts]

Quagmire asked me to reply.

Pushing out on the edges of the feet helps pushing the knees out, thus engaging the glutes. I'd have to rewatch simmons video to see why he says pushing from the heels is bad, I don't remember anything about that last time I watched it. Westside is all about posterior chain so I suppose the problem that could arise is not properly engaging the glutes.

From my understanding, Quiksilver's heels tend to come off the floor. Simmons will agree that heels off the floor is bad. Quick fix:
* Curl your toes up; or if that doesn't help
* Lower the weight

 

[wolf116]

Nice info Mehdi, thanks. Another piece of the puzzle is placed.

 

[Quagmire911]

Don't see why Quik asked you to reply, he already posted the above article.

I sent you an email last night with the video anyway like I said I would and talked about the issues at hand...

 

[stronglifts]

Don't see why Quik asked you to reply, he already posted the above article.

I sent you an email last night with the video anyway like I said I would and talked about the issues at hand...

Fixed, I meant Quagmire. Typing too fast.

Another thing I just think about. Power lifters usually squat with a wide stance, sumo stance like. What happens is that the knees tend to buckle in. Pushing from the side off the feet helps - like I wrote earlier - pushing the knees out. This helps engaging the glutes & adductors and avoids knees buckling in.

Things are different for regular stance squats, olympic squats, front squats. Try to push from the side of your feet during front squats, you can't. Pushing from the heels is the way to go.

You'll see a lot of differences in technique coming from people doing powerlifting vs. (how do you call it) raw lifters. Dave Tate/Simmons vs. Rippetoe. Like dave tate says elbow forward on squat or shoulders behind bar on deadlifts. Former gives me wrist/elbow pain, latter only works for sumo deadlifts for me. Rippetoe will tell you the same thing.

So it depends on how you lift. Article Quicksilver quote from is aimed at raw low bar squats with a regular stance, not low bar powerlifting sumo stance squats. From what I understand, wearing a suit makes the technique also different.

 

[Quagmire911]

I thought about that as well, makes sense to me.

I think Quik has a wider stance though, not quite sumo.

 

[Quiksilver]

Power lifters usually squat with a wide stance, sumo stance like. What happens is that the knees tend to buckle in.

Interesting...

Yeah I do have a wide stance, but definitely not sumo. Shoulder with plus the width of two shoes is about what I do.

I have noticed that my knees can start to buckle inwards, and I've thought about changing my stance because of it...I'll try the pushing 0utwards technique to prevent it.

 

[stronglifts]

Interesting...

Yeah I do have a wide stance, but definitely not sumo. Shoulder with plus the width of two shoes is about what I do.

I have noticed that my knees can start to buckle inwards, and I've thought about changing my stance because of it...I'll try the pushing 0utwards technique to prevent it.

Knees buckling in == weak adductors. Just keep pushing knees out, and problem fix itself.

Or if you have a flexbands, loop it around your knees, and do squats like that (lower weight), band will force you to push knees out.

 

[Quiksilver]

Aight, I'm booked in with an olympics sport therapist(family friend) and a chiropractor. This pinched nerve/disc? in my back isn't going away despite resting it for many months now.

It doesn't seem to affect my lifting, but I'm still taking it easy with the barbell.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

A. Squats 2x5

12xbar
6x95
3x135
1x185
1x205
5x225
5x225

Still uneasy about raising the weight until my conditioning is back up there.

B. Squats 1x20

20x185

C. Leg Press 1x10

10x405

D. Stiff-Leg Deadlift 2x10

10x95
10x95

E. Lunges 2x10

10x90
10x90

F. Machine Abs 2x15

15x60
15x75

--

Alright workout, apparently something I did in here tweaked my back again, despite adequate warm up and solid form.

This injury bull**** stops now... I'm going to start building a more long term work out plan, including taking yoga classes, 30 minutes of stretching daily, regular physiotherapy, and generally a far more active lifestyle beyond the barbell and elliptical. I'm also buying some more supplements(taurine, casein, creatine, hydroxy), I can go natural(as few supps as possible) at some point in the future, but right now I have to focus on getting healthy as fast as possible.

cheers

edit: also, im going to start on the anabolic diet this week.

 

[stronglifts]

Where is it in your back Quiksilver? Can you give more info?

 

[stronglifts]

Matt is starting the Anabolic Diet too this week btw, you might find his anabolic diet log helpful.

 

[Quiksilver]

Where is it in your back Quiksilver? Can you give more info?

Lower back. I had a tweak in my mid/upper back that happened in May, but the last time I felt it was october, so that one's gone.

When I got this injury in november, it was doing Sumo deadlifts. I didn't have much leg drive so more pressure was put on my back. It came off the ground about an inch when I felt that something was wrong in my back.

I thought it was a pulled muscle for awhile, and I'm sure that was part of it. The muscular problem has gone away after much rest, stretching and conditioning. however, I still have a twinge in my back, like if I lean forward a little bit and twist to one side or the other, i get a pain in the center of my lower back(only came back today, didn't feel it for two or three weeks). It's most definitely not muscular this time. Could be a mild herniated disc, pinched nerve... I really don't know, but I'll get to the bottom of it before long.

Any ideas?

p.s. i get a back spasm if I lean forward to the right.

 

[stronglifts]

Lower back. I had a tweak in my mid/upper back that happened in May, but the last time I felt it was october, so that one's gone.

When I got this injury in november, it was doing Sumo deadlifts. I didn't have much leg drive so more pressure was put on my back. It came off the ground about an inch when I felt that something was wrong in my back.

I thought it was a pulled muscle for awhile, and I'm sure that was part of it. The muscular problem has gone away after much rest, stretching and conditioning. however, I still have a twinge in my back, like if I lean forward a little bit and twist to one side or the other, i get a pain in the center of my lower back(only came back today, didn't feel it for two or three weeks). It's most definitely not muscular this time. Could be a mild herniated disc, pinched nerve... I really don't know, but I'll get to the bottom of it before long.

Any ideas?

p.s. i get a back spasm if I lean forward to the right.

I'd like to see videos of you doing squats & deadlifts. Usually this is caused by increased stress on your lower back, because your glutes are not firing. Hams/lower back gets all the load. one of the two gets injured. With lifters it's often lower back, with runners (or other sports), it's often the hams.

* Check for lordosis. Start fixing your posture if you have symptoms. I think I remember a pic you posted once of your abs, I thought I already advised you to work on pelvis realignment then.

* Do glute activation exercises (lordosis article has them). Lots of them. Birddogs, supine bridges, one leg bridges, etc. Need to learn to fire your glutes. Do them as warmup, and on recovery days.

* Relearn to lift. If you didn't use the glutes so far, you'll have to lean to use them. Lower weight, and get used to squeeze your glutes.

* spinal decompression. always helps.

* hip mobility. Adductors, hamstrings, piriformis, etc. stretch it all. Exercises like leg swings, squat stretches, etc.

It might not be too late, but I it's always good to have someone look at your back to see what's happening on the inside. But all these exercise won't do any harm, so try them anyway.

 

[Quiksilver]

Alright, I'll have videos for you by Friday. My form on Deadlifts is pretty good imo, its hard to tell on squats but the form I have got me to 315lbs without hassle or injury. I believe it's the sedentary lifestyle that living in the heart of a city promotes... Back at my old place I was doing random exercise every day, but now I'm confined to a small townhouse unless I go to the gym or something. probably lost some core stability(lower back/abs) since summer that I'll have to get back.

And I'll learn how to do those exercises you posted and start on them right away.

 

[Quiksilver]

What are some other exercises I can do to keep me busy while getting past this back issue?

I'm thinking:

chinups
pullups
flat bench press(after a week or so)
chest flys
seated arm work
dips
calf raises
leg press?
ab work?
leg extensions/curls
db lunges?

any others?

I'm really interested in not losing any strength(and potentially gaining some) while getting through this, and want to continue doing movements that wont hinder recovery.

I'm going to start back with light eliptical and bike cardio on tuesday, along with the list of stretches and instructions from the physio girl.

 

[Quagmire911]

That is the problem, lower back is pretty pivotal in many many moves as you know.

Do you have access to a reverse hyperextension??? I've heard a lot about it being therapeutic for the lower back. Another Louie Simmons/Westside Barbell favorite.

 

[EFFORT]

Like i was saying before on page 11, you can't jump back so fast into heavy lifting before you've got your injury together. You have to go slow, do a rehab specific routine which can be modified to still get you some gains.

 

[Quiksilver]

alright... im gonna have to take a step back from heavy lifting for a while.. got stupid thinking that because there wasn't any pain that it might just be gone.

well there's plenty more to focus on but this is going to be frustrating.

--

Quag, no i don't have a reverse hyper at my gym but it looks like a movement that I can improvise a setup on with some other equipment...

and would you recommend glute ham raises after a week or so? glute activation is going to be a big focus for me, and i hear they're good for that.

--

Effort, would that program you sent me that was designed with a back issue in mind, be a good start in a few weeks?

 

[EFFORT]

Effort, would that program you sent me that was designed with a back issue in mind, be a good start in a few weeks?

I'll write you something new if you want that'll rehab your back and get you some size, strength may or may not go up.

 

[Quagmire911]

You could try GHR's, would definitely improve your hamstring/glute strength. They are working wonders for me. I can't even do them unassisted yet.

It would also seem that they are not back intensive, see what EFFORT's thoughts are though, but I reckon they would be a great addition as long as they didn't tweak your back. There definitely wouldn't be anywhere near the same kind of stress as from squats/deads.