Kwesadilo finally fixes his squat

[kwesadilo]

The same thing we do every challenge, Pinky. Try to squat correctly!

 

I may made a challenge with this title before. Previously, I attempted to get my bar path over my mid-foot by just sitting back more. I believe these attempts caused me to over-extend my lower back, which may have resulted in my inflamed facet joint, in response to which I am currently seeing a PT. That stopped hurting a few weeks ago, but I also haven't squatted more than the bar in I think over a month. I haven't squatted what I would consider to be heavy in I think the better part of 3 months. I really want to be squatting again, but I don't want to just hurt myself again, so I need to do it right.

 

Goals

• Squat with the bar for 3 sets of 5 with perfect form. My entire spine should be in a neutral position. My knees should track over my feet. The bar should stay over my mid-foot the entire time. My thighs should reach just below parallel. My feet should stay flat on the floor.
• Do mobility work every day. I've been pretty good about this for the past few weeks, but it is important enough to my first goal to make it a goal in its own right.
• Get to bed by 11:30 pm on 5 nights every week. I started setting an alarm to get ready for bed last week, and it seems to be working fairly well.
• Work on SICP on at least 2 days each week for a total of at least an hour and a half.

[Laghail]

[calanthrophy]

18 minutes ago, Laghail said:

 

"Try to take over Brazil!"

 

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

[kwesadilo]

Week 1 update

• Squat: I tried low-bar squatting a few times last week. When I try to keep my lower back neutral, the bar mostly stays over the front of my shoelaces, which is not great.
• Mobility: At least once every day and 2 or 3 times some days.
• Sleep: Got to bed one time Monday through Friday.
• SICP: Worked for 30 minutes on Thursday and a bit over an hour on Saturday.

[Grumble]

Maybe go high bar? It can't hurt to try at this point.

[kwesadilo]

On 2/20/2018 at 11:10 AM, Grumble said:

Maybe go high bar? It can't hurt to try at this point.

I tried that a few weeks ago. I haven't done it in a long time, and it felt awkward. It didn't look any better than my low bar squat.

 

I'll probably try high-bar squats again before too long. I would like to get to the point where I can do all 3 positions correctly. If I had switched to high bar when I first noticed my injury, it might have gotten better more quickly or without completely deloading. I wouldn't have been high-bar squatting correctly, but the change in position might have been helpful anyway. If something like this happens again, I'd at least like to have enough experience with modified versions of the movement to try switching to them.

[kwesadilo]

Week 2 update

• Squat: Since my most recent PT appointment last Tuesday, I've been front squatting 45 or 65 lbs for sets of 10. They don't look good, in my opinion. At the bottom of the reps, my back is about 55 degrees above horizontal, and the bar is over my toes. That's about the same as before PT, although my spine stays more neutral now. I might be more consistent now, but I'm not sure. My front squat form right now would actually be great form for a low-bar back squat, if that's where the bar was. Maybe that's something.
• Mobility: Stretched twice on lifting days and once on other days. I haven't been as good about remembering to do it before going to bed as I was a couple weeks ago.
• Sleep: Got to bed on time on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I missed it by less than 10 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, but I've been occasionally fudging the record when that happens, and I want to get out of that habit.
• SICP: Worked for 30 minutes on Tuesday and an hour on Sunday.

[kwesadilo]

Week 3 update

• Squat: I bumped my front squat up to 75 today. It still looks about the same, but it feels more or less stable, and my back seems to be staying neutral. I noticed some slight knee wobble at the bottom towards the end of the set, so I'll probably stick with 75 on Wednesday.
• Mobility: Stretched twice on lifting days and once on other days.
• Sleep: Got to bed truly by 11:30 on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Two other days, I was in bed before 11:35.
• SICP: Worked for 30 minutes on Saturday and an hour on Sunday.

[kwesadilo]

Week 4 update and summary

• Squat: My front squat seemed pretty consistent, albeit still not upright enough, at 95 lbs today. The bar was pretty consistently over my toes. I also did 95x5x1 of low-bar back squats, which were mostly over the front of my shoelaces. I actually forgot what my goal was for squatting until just now, but there's no way that I would have done 3 sets with proper bar path.
  • Not even close to completing this one. There's been some slight progress, but I've still got a long way to go here.
• Mobility: Stretched twice on lifting days and once on other days.
  • Surprisingly got 100% of these.
• Sleep: Got to bed truly by 11:30 Monday through Friday.
  • 17/20. I think setting an alarm has actually been helpful, as has not counting 11:32 or 11:33 as in bed on time. It seems like I can feel a difference in how rested I am when I wake up after going to bed at 11:25 vs 11:35. That sounds crazy. I haven't made a thorough study of it.
• SICP: Worked for 30 minutes on Thursday.
  • Basically 7 out of 8 days. Not terrible, but I'd still like to ramp this up a bit more.