- Press: 67/148 x 5/5/6
- Weighted Pull Up: 20/44 x 5/5/5 & BW x 10
- Sumo Deadlift: 140/308 x 6
- Core work between lifts
- Conditioning: “13 Down” Kettlebell (53lb) Swing/ Burpee Ladder in 8:14.
- Neck Harness 16/35x35x4
I have some decisions to make. The tendonitis/patellofemoral pain syndrome in my left knee is reaching a point where it is painful to walk up and down stairs in the days following a squat session. I am quite happy to work through it, but it’s pretty obvious that this will only lead to long term damage and potentially prevent me from doing a lot more than just squatting.
I then need to decide if I simply want to lay off squats until the inflammation in my knee goes away and return to squatting as normal, or if I should either learn to squat with more vertical shins or start box squatting. Then once my knee is better I can throw in some front squats (I figure the significantly lighter load will not aggravate my knee) along with the box squats. Or should I continue squatting with my current form and just reduce the frequency to once a week?
I am also considering switching to 5/3/1 for all of my lifts. I have run 5/3/1 before with very little success, but I believe this was due to following the 3 day template (not enough frequency) as opposed to the 4 day template. 5/3/1 would allow me to incorporate more swollertophy work and hopefully allow me to continue getting stronger, albeit slower. I just don’t know how much more strength I can gain on a linear progression without packing on a bunch of fat. In any case it would only be maybe another 10-20 lbs for all of my lifts (except for my weak deadlift which should follow an LP for a while to come) which would necessitate several resets anyway. So why not 5/3/1? I figure Texas Method isn’t really a viable option if I’m not squatting normally or if I am squatting with reduced loads.
Don't worry about your knee, just get to 200lbs, then you'll be free.
ReplyDeleteI would do whatever squat variation you can without pissing your knees off. Learning to squat with more vertical shins is a breeze. I think of it like this: there are two ways to descend in a squat. 1) Shove your knees out and lower your ass between them and 2) shove your ass out and squat like a stripper. Option 1 creates more knee angle and a more vertical back. Option 2 creates more vertical shins and a more horizontal back. I usually cue "knees out" to get my friends to do option 1 and I'll either tell them "ass out" or "more stripper" for option 2.
ReplyDeleteI should say though that you have a damn solid squat as far as I can tell. I just wrote this to address your post on rips forum.
Cheers
Thanks for that Cross. I will keep those cues in mind when I look at modifying my technique.
ReplyDelete