Recent content by anotherbutters

Wow, I hurt my back around 17th April (page 29 of this log) and it's now August. That sucks. :( The good news is that the physio I've been seeing at the gym gave me a load of ab work on the swiss ball (single-leg bridging type work, with your foot/heel on the ball) about 10 days ago and all of...

I've just been to the physio in the gym and he said that when I stand up straight and start to lean to my left, running my hand down the side of my leg, the bottom part of my spine stays rigid and I flex above it. Leaning over to the right, the spine curves normally. He said the tissue in...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Kabeetz, great links. I'm already doing 4 or 5 of those, but none for the erectors. I suspect I'm suffering from a combination of flexibility and core work, so I'll add a few more of the stretches. Al, I think I'll get myself a foam roller. Any suggestions...

Wow, a month since my last post and I'm still not completely fixed. It seems whenever I squat heavy, I hurt my back on one side or the other. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong so I can fix it, otherwise it's just going to happen again and again, but progress has been painfully slow. One...

How has your weight changed on the first and second runs? 163lb isn't that heavy, so I'd increase your calories and support some more muscle growth to help with the strength gains. If you're going to stick to your current weight, I'd try to add a smaller amount to the bar than 2.5kg per week.

Wow, I have DOMS in my abs after doing front squats yesterday. And that's after doing direct ab work on Mon and Tues. Front squats rock for abs :)

You've been working out for roughly 10 years and you've just added 25lb to your bench and 20lb to both your squat and deadlift in 8 weeks of the 5x5? As Biggt said, where are you now? height/weight and bench/row/squat

Today's workout: Front squats: worked up to 90kg x 5 Overhead press: 3 sets of 40kg x 5 Deads: worked up to 120kg x 5 My back feels about 90% fixed now, although heavy squats might just hurt it again. I think I'll start to ramp up the weights again from next week, following my original...

Today's workout: Abs: Cable wood chops: 15 reps with 6 plates on the stack, then 7, then 8 30 mins cardio on the stationary bike, level 13 (easy) Stretching. I feel good. I think I'm nearly ready to come back again! My back feels no worse after yesterday's squatting. Again, I think the ab...

Yeah, it seems to come round once in a while. I don't really notice :)

Today: Bodyweight: 188lb Back Squat: slowly worked up to 100kg x 5 Bench: 72.5kg x 3x5 Row: 62.5kg x 3x5 Abs: weighted situps: 4kg x 15, 8kg x 15, 10kg x 13, 10kg x 8 I thought I'd try squatting today. My back's not completely right, but it's a lot better and I'm getting impatient. Today...

Today: 20 mins on the bike at a moderate level, then a fair amount of leg and hip stretching (a fair amount for me anyway). My legs are fairly beat up after the leg press on Mon and Wed, but that's only because I haven't squatted for a week or two.

What are your goals? Why all the running?

Thanks for the suggestion, but again, it involves using my core to stabilise me, which is what I need to avoid doing for a while. Any twisting around the core hurts on one side. That said, my back/side has gotten a lot better very quickly this week. I guess it's a combination of things, but...

Another damage-limitation workout whilst my back heals. Today's workout: bench: 70kg x 5 x 5 rows: 60kg x 5 x 5 abs: BW x 15, 6kg x 15/15/10 45' leg press: 5 plates each side for 5 x 5 The leg press is a joke compared with squatting. It's essentially a quad isolation exercise with no...