No Crust Racing

This is now sold.

Mixed bag last night and the last few days. This hammy/whatever will not go away so this weekend I took it much easier than normal, only mowed lawns. Yesterday I was super ginger on the leg to the point of not bending if the hammy was going to twinge and when getting low for something letting my other (the bad side) leg do all the weight bearing, it seemed to have an affect as yesterday is the best it's felt in ages, not right but better. Last night I warmed up as usual but only did a few sets of 3-5 squats and only at 55kg and that was enough, I did not DL or bent row. I walked after gym as the dog hadn't been, but kep the steps shorter as not to stretch out the leg. Same thing again this morning on the walk. I will continue to baby it until it goes away and if that means zero squatting for 2 weeks then so be it, I've been through this sort of thing before with my elbow which was quite bad and took me making it 100% my focus in everthing I did I for me to get it right and now it's golden so I know this method works for me. As for gym I mixed it up a little and moved the final set weight to the second set and then added some for the final set, surprised myself a little. Amazing what you can do when you aren't burning up so much powerz squatting and DL'ing. Bench - 93 109 116 (5) Got the 109 sets out without issue which shows endurance is more an issue than outright power. WAs happy to get 5 reps at 116 too, the bar is full though, I will need more high weight plates to go higher than that, but really my goal was 120 and I'd say I could do that now, maybe even 130-135 which isn't bad in my mind for a self trained bencher. Chins - 7.5 17.5 22.5 (7 failed 8) Got the 17.5s out easy enough and almost got the 22.5 as well Dips - 10 30 35 (6 failed 7) The dip bars are startung to look a little stressed so I may have to sit on this weight or here abouts and start adding volume, still 30+kg doesn't seem too bad. Oh my compression sock turned up too, much tighter fit on these ones but will be wasted for a bit while I avoid leg work.

My cages have been sent, whether that's because I was fairly persistent in my nagging or because Brad has sorted things out and is clearing up a back log of work is not known to me, I'll be glad to get my hands on it though, put it in the car, and get my ass track side.

Possibly, but I'd like to think I'm one of the more active stretchers/foam rollers here but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm being effective with the time spent or that there's not some other underlying issue that stretching doesn't fix. I've found in the past that I usually have to "reset" which is normally take a week or two off aggravating motions, then begin specific work for the problem areas, it took me a good few years to get my elbow right after it was hammered from all the bro curls but now it's as good as it's ever been, it just takes time (hopefully not that long though as I've learned a lot about how to recovery from these sorts of things). I'll get there.

Cheers will keep in mind.

Is there any big ticket form failure that leads to sore lower back?

I have been Physio and Myo

Still here, make an offer, you might be surprised.

And if it was what things could I be trying?

It's not doms if it's during the exercise though?

I dunno, looking from the back. It's the just above the back of the knee towards the outside. Where you feel the tendon raise up when flexed.

I have with the Physio and initially I struggled but got better. Thin 'g is I'm doing all the piriformis, sij, and hip flexor stretches and foam rolling already. Pretty much the whole area actually I stretch and foam roll the whole thing from calves to upper back daily.

I should add that doing a sciatic nerve stretch (sitting with legs out in front and tilting head down) also twinges in the same spot making me wonder if its the hammy at all.

Solid effort.

Also, if you're getting quite tight to the point of notable discomfort in the lower back when squatting (low bar) what does that imply about the form? leaning too far forward? core not tight enough? weak posterior chain?

Ugh that sucks man, hope it heals up quick. I've also got an injury question. This hammy of mine doesn't want to get better and was quite tender last night. Everything I read says rest it, but I took a week off at one point and it made no difference. I also read that repeated hammy strains are indicative of hip flexor issues, or weakness in the glutes or adductors. I also noticed quite a bit of lower back tightness/discomfort when squatting recently. Any ideas on what it might be/what I could do to sort it?

Thanks all. I think I've got it. Just gotta sort out what's going on in my hammy/pelvies etc. Slowly but surely

Then you have missed the point of my question. It's was not about what program to use it was about where best to apply that extra effort you are taking about. Sets, reps, more weight? Those are all examples of MORE effort which you say is needed, so all I'm asking is where best is that effort focused. I have no problem putting in more of any of those, simply checking with others more knowledgable than myself where the effor is best utilised because I checked my ego long ago, as you point out is essential. It's not like people here don't listen and try to apply what you talk about, but that doesn't mean there won't be questions.

Some different ideas then. What do you say Markos?

At what point do you up the weight on the lower sets if you wanna stick to 3 sets?

Bit of a soul crushing session in terms of squats. Could only manage 15reps at 73kg then another 12 at 54kg after a 2 min break I did another 8 reps at 54kg at the end of the session. My lower back did not like this either. I just have no squat ability at all so have some hard work to do to build up a foundation as Markos says. I'm will drop it back to 54kg next time, which should see me get 20 on the first set and who knows how many on the second. Only got 6 reps on the final bench set, took a 10sec pause and pushed another 1.5. After advice on the main thread I'll look to add another break and add a 4th set, though my goal of a 120 1Rm is probs doable now. Got all my DL reps out. Dropped final row set to 88 and am happier with form at that point so will build slowly from there but only as DL allows. Went for 17.5 on the final chins set and almost squeezed out 7 which I thought was OK Got all reps on dips but had a slightly longer break before final set as I posted in the main thread. Got me some squat work to do

I meant markos

If you're repeatedly geting stuck at say 6 to 7 reps on your final set of 3x8s, whats the best way to get past it? Brief pause and do the missing reps? normal break then extra set? Just add more weight to that set next time? Or add weight to the previous sets? Or maybe longer break before final set?

You mean Leigh.

Hammy still pretty tender today, see how it goes tonight, Elbow is sore today too for some reason, like it's strained, weird. Compression socks turned up, seem a bit large, returning those and ordering smaller size. Markos is being weird about my questions around my squat issues, I assume he just wants to tell me my routine/approach/form is all shit, though he said my squat technique was fine, but for whatever reason he wont comment. I've PMd me asking if he's trying to spare my feelings, not needed, or doesn't want to keep giving away free info, fair enough. I'll just stick to my plan of going back to squat basics and going 2x 20s, I am expecting to have to drop the weight to like 60-70kg to come even close to a set of 20 =\ If so, then so be it.