Jimmie's Training Log

[Shox]

I think i have lordosis. I thought my back pain was due to squatting, but i only feel it at work (when im standing for 4+ hours). it's not as bad as yours but its still annoying. Could you tell me the warm up stretches you do? Anyone know how long it takes to fix this?

[Jimmie]

I think i have lordosis. I thought my back pain was due to squatting, but i only feel it at work (when im standing for 4+ hours). it's not as bad as yours but its still annoying. Could you tell me the warm up stretches you do? Anyone know how long it takes to fix this?

Heres the link with all the info on lordosis including exercises -
http://stronglifts.com/lordosis-why-it-causes-lower-back-pain-how-to-fix-it/

And heres the links regarding warmups and stretches etc -
http://stronglifts.com/10-tips-to-stop-your-knees-from-popping-and-cracking/
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-a-proper-warm-up/
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-improve-your-ankle-mobility/

From what I have read regarding Lordosis, there is no quick fix, it can takes mouths, years to get a good posture back if possible, but I have also read that a lot of people do have minor Lordosis, and this should not cause any issues long term. To me if you only have it a little, I woulden't worry about it, but I would suggest you read up on how to prevent it from getting worse.

[Shox]

cheers

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

Warmups and stretches -
Bridges - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Birddogs - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Hip Flexor Stetcher - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Hamstring Stretches - 3 sets of 10 reps each side
Side-to-Side Leg Swings 1 set 10 reps


Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 1x5 47kg 1x5 67kg) 77kg 3/-/-/-/-
Benchpress (Warmup 1x6 57kg 1x6 67kg 1x5 77kg) 82kg 5/5/5/5/5
Barbell Row 49.5kg 5/5/5/5/5
Weighted Dips (Warmup 2x6) 28.5kg 5/5/5

Squats - I hate them, I really really really do hate them , after failing 77kg, I decided to go back to basics. I have already posted a vid of my form, one comment was my lower back rounding, I found out I'm struggling to eliminate this problem even with no weight.

Benchpress - Went really well, must of been due to the frustation of failing the squats.

Weighted dips- no problems.

Summary, Squats has turned out to be a big disaster, got to go back to the basics and get my form correct as this is causing problems with not just squats but dealift and bent over row. Im not quiting I will resolve my back issue.

[Jimmie]

well, I have spent some time today looking into the reasons for my lower back arching when squatting, and the answer is my hamstrings are tight, and require loosening. For years I have always put my lower back pain down to bad form when lifting etc, also which I do not like saying as I dont really believe in this crap, family genes.
Just general lifting things off the floor, putting socks on etc, anything that requires me to bend causes me to arch my back. After all of these years,I know its down to my hamstrings.
To solve yet another issue, but to me is part of the stronglift workout and strength training, I plan on deloading squats to 57 kilo's and spend a lot of time at the moment to strengthen my lower back, and stretching my hamstrings. I'm sure after a couple of weeks, I should be in a good position to up my squats and hopefully alimante my rounded lower back. Time will tell.

[maroon]

Flexibility was/is a major issue for me on the squats too. It's good that you are identifying the problem now and committing to solving it. It feels like such a bump in the road and progress looks bleak for a while because of all the formwork, but it's worth it. Getting the technique right on the squat alone is a lot of progress after all. It means you can bump the numbers back up later with correct and safe technique!

[Jimmie]

Flexibility was/is a major issue for me on the squats too. It's good that you are identifying the problem now and committing to solving it. It feels like such a bump in the road and progress looks bleak for a while because of all the formwork, but it's worth it. Getting the technique right on the squat alone is a lot of progress after all. It means you can bump the numbers back up later with correct and safe technique!

Thanks for the comment, it does feel like its going to slow my progress, but like you say, at least I know my technique will be correct and safe, at the moment 77kg squats really does feel like my limit due to the back pain, but this is already slowly going, hopefully I will not hardly suffer from back pain ones I have strengthend my lower back, and stretched my hamstrings, then return to the squats and excel.

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

Warmups and stretches -
Goodmorning - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Superman - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Bridges - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Birddogs - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Hip Flexor Stetcher - 3 sets of 10 secs each leg.
Hamstring Stretches - 3 sets of 10 reps each side.
Stomach Crunches - 3 Sets of 30 reps.


Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 2x5 47kg 1x5 57kg) 67kg 5/5/5/5/5
Overhead Press (Warmup 2x6 20kg) 54kg 5/5/5/5/5
Deadlift (Warmup 3x1 57kg 2x1 87kg 2x1 117kg) 127kg 1/1/1/1/1
Pullups (Warmup 1x5) 13.5kg 5/5/5

Squats - Weight felt pretty heavy considering I have deloaded, possible due to the warmups and stretches. Will keep at the weight until my lower back stops rounding.

Overhead Press - These felt great, really surprised how well these are going.

Deadlift - Same as squats, taking it steady at the moment until my back problem sorted.

Pullups - These was tuff, really tuff, will go up by 0.5kg next time.

Summary - Some up some down, I'm expecting this to be like this until by back problem is sorted.

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

15 Mins warmups and stretches -

Box Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 1x5 47kg 1x5 67kg) 67kg 5/5/5/5/5
Benchpress (Warmup 1x6 47kg 1x6 57kg 1x5 67kg) 84.5kg 5/5/5/5/5
Barbell Row 49.5kg 5/5/5/5/5
Weighted Dips (Warmup 2x6) 30kg 5/5/5

Box squats - These feel a lot more comfortable than squats, gives me more of an idea how low I should be going, also helped me hold my posture and stick my butt out more which helped preventing the lower back from rounding.

Benchpress - Felt good, but really difficult the last 2 sets, will go up by 1kg in future.

Barbell row- My lower back felt great for the first time since doing these, finally managing to prevent my back from arching from doing the stretches, will go up next time.

Weighted dips - No problems, felt really good again.

[Jimmie]

Just been reading up on pull-ups and chin-ups, I have been writing in my log pull-ups but Im actually doing the chin-ups.

[Shox]

Try squeezing your core when u do squats, it helps stabilize your lower back

[Jimmie]

Try squeezing your core when u do squats, it helps stabilize your lower back

Will do, now that Im finally starting to fill my muscles in my lower back this should become easier to do.

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

Warmups and stretches -
Goodmorning - 3 sets of 10 reps (Bar, 10, 20).
Superman - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Squat Stretch - 3 sets 20 secs.
Hamstring Stretches - 3 sets of 10 reps each side.



Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 2x5 47kg, 1x5 67kg) 77kg 5/5/5/5/5
Overhead Press (Warmup 2x6 20kg) 55.5kg 5/5/5/5/5
Deadlift (Warmup 1x1 87kg, 1x1 107kg, 1x1 117kg, 1x1 127kg) 137kg 1/1/1/1/1
Chinups (Warmup 1x5) 14kg 5/5/5

Squats - Spent the morning moving bags of broken tiles, when I got home I had a really bad lower back pain again. Was sure at the time that I'm not going to being doing squats. Anyway started the warmups with a belt, did the first set of 5 with 77kg, felt pretty good, decided to loose the belt on the rest, no lower pain at all during squats. I could really feel my glutes and hamstrings lifting the weight backup. Felt really good at that weight for the first time since doing squats.

Overhead Press - These were difficult, the hardest yet, really struggling with breathing at this weight, but I managed them.

Deadlift - Not sure if it was a good idea to go up to 137kg, felt like my form went a little on the 2nd and 3rd set lower back, especially as I could feel the pain I had done this morning, but managed to get it back together on the 4th and 5th.

Chinups - No problem

Summary - Squats was great, really surpised myself what with my lower back injury, mind you, tomorrow morning could be a differnet story.

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

15 Mins warmups and stretches -

Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 1x5 47kg 1x5 67kg) 79.5kg 5/5/5/5/5
Benchpress (Warmup 1x6 47kg 1x6 57kg 1x5 67kg 2x5 84.5kg) 87.5kg 5/5/5/4/0
Barbell Row 52kg 5/5/5/5/5
Weighted Dips (Warmup 2x6) 32.5kg 5/5/5

Squats - Ive done it, finally beat last years best, it was bloody hard tho, really hard, completely exhausted me, the longest rests between sets I have ever had.

Benchpress - I completely screwed these up, as you can see in the warmups (84.5kg) , I thought I had put the weight up to 87.5kg, well at this point it was all screwed up, bogger.

Barbell row- Finally learn't the correct way to do these, had no problems.

Weighted dips - These was really hard, the hardest yet.

Summary - Todays workout was the hardest and toughest I have done so far. Squats felt fantastic, can finally feal my glutes and hamstrings working hard as the weight gets heavier. Benchpress was disappointing, not sure if this was down to squats being so difficult, or the complete balls up with the weight, will find out next week.

[Jimmie]

Todays workout -

Warmups and stretches -
Goodmorning - 3 sets of 10 reps (Bar, 10, 20).
Superman - 3 sets of 10 reps.
Squat Stretch - 3 sets 20 secs.
Hamstring Stretches - 3 sets of 10 reps each side.



Squats (Warmup 2x5 bar, 2x5 47kg, 1x5 67kg) 79.5kg 5/5/5/4/3
Overhead Press (Warmup 2x6 20kg) 47kg 5/5/5/5/5 (Deloaded, I was doing shoulder press before)
Deadlift (Warmup 1x1 87kg, 1x1 107kg, 1x1 117kg, 1x1 127kg) 137kg 1/0/0/0/0
Chinups (Warmup 1x5) 15kg 5/5/5

Squats - Today I felt tired and exhausted, still aching from Tuesdays workout, I tried the best I could, just lost all steam. Pretty sure I could of managed the full set, but its to much of a risk as I can not off load the bar.

Overhead Press - As the comment says above, was doing shoulder press until I looked up overhead press, surprised how much I had to deload, at 47kg this felt pretty tough.

Deadlift - Crap, first set felt terrible, really bad form, lost all power and strength, deloaded to 107kg just to check form was good. Will try same weight next time.

Chinups - These felt great, no problems at all, really enjoyed these after the poor effort on the other exercises.

Summary - Really struggled to get myself motivated today, just felt like crap, tired, weak and exhausted. Glad Im resting for the next couple of days. Hopfully will be full of energy for Sundays workout.