404 Squats Not Found

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Wednesday

Bench 105kgx2 (80%), 110kgx1x2 (85%)
Deadlift 160kgx1 (80%), 170kgx1 (85%)
Rows 95kg 3x5
Press 65kg 3x5
Hammer Curls 4x5
Side Raises 3x8

First attempt at squats was with some fairly standard low bar. Felt okay on the knee, but elbows immediately hated it. Tried high bar, same deal. Front squats were fine on the elbows, but the knee didn't like them. Very wide stance low bar felt the best on the knee, but the elbow pain (probably Golfer's Elbow) is making itself clear that laying off it isn't going to help.

The best way to replicate the pain is by grabbing the bar and rotating it the hooks, especially the wrist extension phase of the rotation. Been watching Eric Bugenhagen recently and he swears by a little twisty thing called a Sidewinder Pro Extreme for elbow pain, which works both flexion and extension with adjustable resistance. Looks like it's US only but there's a similar product in the UK called a Wringer. There was one on eBay for £40 so I snapped it up.

[augeleven]

I used the theraband tyler twist (looks similar to that), I think it ended up hurting my carpal tunnel issues more than it helped.
How long have you not been squatting? I ended up taking 10 weeks off last summer due to golfer's elbow, and then started light with high bar. Narrow grip with bent wrists and hands barely closed over the bar. Elbows aren't perfect but I'm progressing without more pain. I still can't really throw anything yet...
My next stop on my Golfer's elbow quest is expand your hands anti grip stuff.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

I used the theraband tyler twist (looks similar to that), I think it ended up hurting my carpal tunnel issues more than it helped.
How long have you not been squatting? I ended up taking 10 weeks off last summer due to golfer's elbow, and then started light with high bar. Narrow grip with bent wrists and hands barely closed over the bar. Elbows aren't perfect but I'm progressing without more pain. I still can't really throw anything yet...
My next stop on my Golfer's elbow quest is expand your hands anti grip stuff.

This was my first time squatting since December. The Wringer does look like a variable resistance version of those theraband twisters. You say they irritated your carpal tunnel, but did they do anything for your golfer's elbow?

Hadn't thought about grip stuff, and those finger grip expanders are pretty cheap so might be worth a go. Other things I've tried are elbow sleeves, wrist wraps, every combination of grip width and degree of wrist flexion/extension, arms relaxed vs tensed and thumbs around vs not around. No luck.

[augeleven]

I don't think I stuck with them enough, or maybe my technique was fubar, but the carpal tunnel stuff sends red flags due to being a guitarist/music teacher. I tried all those too, as well as the chinup pin-firing protocol, high volume curls and tempo curls. Also, I found like there was a window of stress my elbows will tolerate, and when I get past that, everything make them hurt. A set of low bar will make high bar squats hurt. A couple of days of chinup sets near failure and my elbows are cranky.
Also, squats are stupid

[OverheadDeadlifts]

I don't think I stuck with them enough, or maybe my technique was fubar, but the carpal tunnel stuff sends red flags due to being a guitarist/music teacher. I tried all those too, as well as the chinup pin-firing protocol, high volume curls and tempo curls. Also, I found like there was a window of stress my elbows will tolerate, and when I get past that, everything make them hurt. A set of low bar will make high bar squats hurt. A couple of days of chinup sets near failure and my elbows are cranky.
Also, squats are stupid

All pretty consistent with my experience. Chin ups did nothing and hammer curls don't help but I still do them for fun. Interesting point on the set of low bar making high bar hurt, since I probably always do a set of low bar before feeling the pain and trying high bar. Maybe I'll try it first next time.

And yeah, squats are stupid. I think every problem I've ever had that's required a major layoff has involved squats. Hip pain on two occasions, knee pain, elbow pain. If it wasn't for the fact that I kind of want to do a meet in October, squatting wouldn't even be crossing my mind right now.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Friday

Deadlift 180kg x1@7.5, 187.5x 1@8.5, 162.5kg 4x3
Bench 117.5kg x1@7, 105kg 5x3
Zercher GM 45kg 5x5
LTE 44kg 4x8
Hammer Curls 3x8
Side Raises 3x8

No deadlift progress this week but my quads are still exquisitely sore from Wednesday so that might have messed with the RPE today.

Not sure if I like LTE's, too hard to be consistent with regards to elbow flare, ROM and ratio of how much of the movement is a pullover vs a triceps extension. I liked triceps cable pushdowns but I've maxed out the stack. Trying to think of another good heavy triceps assistance exercise.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Monday

Bench 92.5kg 8x5 (70%)
Deadlift 142.5kg 7x5 (70%)
DB Fly 4x8
Hamstring Curl 4x8
Hammer Curl 3x8
Side Raises 3x8

Wringer arrived today and holy fuck does my right wrist click a lot whilst using it. Might have played around with it too much, my forearms are probably going to be smoked for a couple days.

My pecs have felt very tight whilst benching and doing flys recently, hope this isn't the start of something bad.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Wednesday

Deadlift 172.5kg 1x1 (85%)
Bench 112.5kg 2x1 (85%)
Row 97.5kg 3x5
Press 65kg 5x3
Squat 80kg 1x5
1000m c2
Hammer Curls 3x12
Side Raises 3x5

Elbows were screaming from the squats. Had to power clean my presses since there were no racks available. Surprisingly the weight felt light compared to the last couple weeks at 65kg. Also feels cool as fuck to clean before you press.

[augeleven]

Wringer arrived today and holy fuck does my right wrist click a lot whilst using it.

yeah, the theraband did that too. It freaked me out, but I get weird about my wrists du to the carpal tunnel.
Keep us updated on the wringer progress please

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Friday

Bench 120kg x1@7.5 105kg 4x3
Deadlift 182.5kg x1@7ish, 205kg x0
LTE 5x8
Zercher GM 5x5
Neutral grip chins 5x3
2000m c2 row
Hammer curl 3x8
Side Raises 3x8

Just felt in the mood to test my deadlift max today, partly to see how reliable my e1rms based on RPE are. I got it to the middle of my knee but heels came off the ground and I lost it forward. Very close though and 202.5kg would have gone up for sure. If I'd thrown on a belt I'd probably have got it but I haven't deadlifting with a belt in a very long time so decided not to.

I think I've taken weekly progress as far as it can go. I'm already doing a tonne of sets so I don't think throwing even more into a single week is the answer. I'm not feeling recovered going into subsequent weeks and this is the second time things have slowed down around these numbers. Need to plan out 2 weeks of programming instead of 1.

Wringer arrived today and holy fuck does my right wrist click a lot whilst using it.

yeah, the theraband did that too. It freaked me out, but I get weird about my wrists du to the carpal tunnel.
Keep us updated on the wringer progress please

Will do. Was actually doing some more googling and found a novel thing to try:

Essentially when he used to set up he was doing it without rotating the bar with his hands, and I do the same thing. Then he started rotating the bar as he ducked under it and it took a lot of strain off the elbows. I tried this today (only with 60kg though) and it definitely seemed to help. Or maybe the wringer is doing its job. Too early to tell.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Monday

Deadlift 142.5kg 7x5 (70%)
Bench 92.5kg 7x5 (70%)
Leg Press 4x8
Pec Fly 4x8
10 min c2 row
Hammer Curls 3x8
Side Raises 3x8

This felt harder than last week despite the weights being the same, and I'm waiting for more creatine after running out a few days ago. Coincidence? Probably.

Think I've figured out the bones of a 2 weeks cycle. For bench it'll probably go 5's > easy doubles > 4's on week 1. Week 2 will be 3's > easy singles > new PR single test with some back offs. Deadlifts will be much the same but I'm thinking of dropping to 2 pulling sessions a week and making Wednesday more dedicated to getting some squat/leg volume. Since Wednesday was a low volume "power day" I think it'll be fine since it's not a big reduction in tonnage.

Also gonna give leg pressing and dumbbell benching a try for assistance. Maybe play around with overhead press volume too.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Wednesday

Squat 90kg 3x5
Bench 105kg 3x2 (80%) 112.5kg 1x1 (85%)
Zercher GM 5x5
Press 67.5kg 5x3
DB Bench 20's 4x8
Hammer Curl 4x8
Side Raises 3x8

I've been making some really good progress on my press (might actually be a PR when considering RPE) without emphasizing it at all, and in lieu of any significant bench progress in the last 2-3 weeks. I think the 3x a week full ROM side raises have made a substantial difference. When I started doing them I was holding 2.5kg plates in each hand and that was pretty difficult, bordering on RPE 10 on the third set. Now I can do 3x8 with 10kg. Although it's such a light assistance movement, that's a fairly large percentage increase for my shoulder strength in that plane.

Elbows weren't too bad today on squats. I could feel a little tightness, but nothing like what I was feeling a couple weeks ago at just 60kg. Next time I do them I'm going to revert back to my old set up to determine whether it's the form change or the Wringer use that's making the difference.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

Friday

Deadlift 6x4 152.5kg (75%)
Bench 7x4 100kg (75%)
Rows 100kg 4x5
Triceps pushdowns 4x8
Leg Press 5x5
Hammer Curls 5x5
Side Raises 3x8
15 minute elliptical

Sometimes I forget that a 45 degree angle from the back is a weird angle to judge spinal extension for deadlifts. Been annoyed at what looked like spinal flexion for the past few deadlift sessions, but shimmying some equipment around and getting a video from the side revealed that, ah, my back is totally straight.

Usually I hate cardio but a mental strategy I came up with has made the past few sessions more tolerable: counting my breaths backwards. Last time I counted backwards from 100, this time 200. Seems to be a nice middle ground between something too difficult to think about whilst doing cardio and not thinking about much at all, feeling bored and watching the clock slowly tick.

[Wilhelm]

Friday

Deadlift 6x4 152.5kg (75%)
Bench 7x4 100kg (75%)
Rows 100kg 4x5
Triceps pushdowns 4x8
Leg Press 5x5
Hammer Curls 5x5
Side Raises 3x8
15 minute elliptical

Sometimes I forget that a 45 degree angle from the back is a weird angle to judge spinal extension for deadlifts. Been annoyed at what looked like spinal flexion for the past few deadlift sessions, but shimmying some equipment around and getting a video from the side revealed that, ah, my back is totally straight.

Usually I hate cardio but a mental strategy I came up with has made the past few sessions more tolerable: counting my breaths backwards. Last time I counted backwards from 100, this time 200. Seems to be a nice middle ground between something too difficult to think about whilst doing cardio and not thinking about much at all, feeling bored and watching the clock slowly tick.

The only time i listen to music while working out, is when i do cardio indoors.

I can't remember the last time i listened to music while working out.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

The only time i listen to music while working out, is when i do cardio indoors.

I can't remember the last time i listened to music while working out.

Yeah indoor cardio sucks. 30 minutes of brisk walking outside flies past, but 10 minutes of brisk walking on a treadmill feels like 30 minutes.

The problem I find with listening to music is that I know roughly how long a song is, which means I have pretty good idea of how long I've been doing cardio and how long I have left based on how many songs have played. Breath counting zones me out though, no more thinking about time completed or time left.

[augeleven]

I love podcasts for cardio. Especially food for thought type podcasts.

Highly recommend against comedy podcasts for lifting though. I’ve lost my valsalva laughing at the bottom of a squat.

[Dan]

Your elbows sound like mine. The most consistent relief came from slow controlled eccentrics. Whether that was with a dumbbell, or Theraband Flex Bar or an elastic band. I completely eliminated loading on the concentric, so maybe used the other hand to hold the dumbbell while I got my wrist and elbow in position, handed off the dumbbell to the working hand and slowly let gravity take over. Hand the dumbbell back and repeat. Once I got it under control that way, traditional gripper training helped keep everything healthy, even though starting with a gripper made everything worse at the time.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

I love podcasts for cardio. Especially food for thought type podcasts.

Highly recommend against comedy podcasts for lifting though. I’ve lost my valsalva laughing at the bottom of a squat.

You listen to podcasts whilst squatting? I lose concentration and rewind podcasts when I have to make a difficult maneuver in the car, nevermind under a barbell.

I've tried watching stuff whilst doing cardio before but couldn't really focus on it, maybe podcasts would work better.

Your elbows sound like mine. The most consistent relief came from slow controlled eccentrics. Whether that was with a dumbbell, or Theraband Flex Bar or an elastic band. I completely eliminated loading on the concentric, so maybe used the other hand to hold the dumbbell while I got my wrist and elbow in position, handed off the dumbbell to the working hand and slowly let gravity take over. Hand the dumbbell back and repeat. Once I got it under control that way, traditional gripper training helped keep everything healthy, even though starting with a gripper made everything worse at the time.

What exercises were you doing the slow controlled eccentrics on?

[Dan]

What exercises were you doing the slow controlled eccentrics on?

Dumbbell wrist curls. Since it was the outside of my elbow flaring up, I guess it would be the eccentric of a reverse wrist curl (back of hand facing up). I started with a 5lb dumbbell and did 15 reps twice a day 4 or 5 days a week. I added reps more often than adding weight, pretty sure I never got above 15lbs. I also did the Tyler twist with a theraband flexbar. It seems goofy, but you can load the wrist without a concentric. I started with the blue bar, which is the highest resistance, and it was too much and set me back a few days. The next one down, which is green, worked much better. I guess what I'm saying is to err on the side of lighter if you go that route. Here are the required gyrations to setup for each rep:
The affected arm would be the model's right arm.

[OverheadDeadlifts]

What exercises were you doing the slow controlled eccentrics on?

(Quote)

Interesting, I'll give that a try if what I'm doing currently is a dead end. Thanks!

Monday

Bench 8x3 105kg (80%)
Deadlift 6x3 162.5kg (80%)
Pec Fly 4x8
Leg Press 5x5
Triceps 4x10
Hammer Curls 4x6
Side Raises 3x8
15 minute elliptical

Deadlifts felt really smooth today, might be something to do with moving my gaze closer. Bench felt heavy though. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I test singles on Friday. Bench will probably feel amazing and deadlifts will probably feel like shit, because nothing ever makes sense.