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99.999% convinced my hip problem is caused by my back. I can pretty much fix it when it occurs by adjusting and stretching the back. Will try make my back happier from now on and continue working hard on mobility and then I can resume normal training including backsquats & paused front squats.

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Sick postworkout doms in the PC chain, glutes, hams and lower back. Good mornings have delivered. It's like doing RDLs without the CNS stress of squeezing the bar. Win! While doing GMs I had a good burn going in my abs as well. Signs are this exercise was the missing link in my training.

Mobility Session #1

Started with the squat specific stretching ..

Experimenting with improving my bottom position on the squat. Using the california strength video as a guide (starts approx 3:48)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYMqN6vveB0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYMqN6vveB0</a>

I am doing that stretch as per video trying to get my spine vertical and upright.

Progress !! PR!!!!!!! - I can get my spine both deep, upright and flat How you ask? By adding a 3/4 heel (maybe 1/2" because i used rubber which compresses.). I think if I had a pair of oly shoes with a ~1" heel, my squat would be perfect. I am blown away by this discovery. Time to go shopping for shoes I guess.. lol.

Finished the mobility session. That was harder than my workout. lol. I'll keep working on it. It's taught me a lot of things already. The reason I SqMorn out of the bottom of certain squats is because of back rounding. If the back is straight you move up and down in the vertical plane. When back rounding occurs though, the movement is forwards, then up. I need to work hard on fixing this. I wonder what the reason is. Could be anything, ankle flexibility, calves, hamstrings, hips, etc. My spine is perfectly flat at parallel and just below. But to go ATG it causes that famous buttwink. I am not convinced even new shoes will remove that. I'll keep working on mobility and see where that takes me. It's possible that eventually i'll be able to go ATG with or without the new weightlifting shoes.

Training
FS 4Fx115, 1x125 (PR), 5Fx111 , 4x107.5
BSS 5x20
OHP 4Fx62, 3Fx65, 3x64.5, 5Fx61.5
GM 5x20, 5x60, 2x8x80 (PR)
 
Stimulants: 200mg caffeine + 1/4 can of coke

FS notes:
It was eerie how light and easy (my own fat loss commercial) the first 3 reps of 115kg felt that I got distracted to the point where I lost focus on finishing the set!

Added 2kg to my heavy single PR from last wk. I am confident I can march up to 130kg or so while taking 2kg jumps yet.

I was one rep short on all the sets (except ofcourse the single which I got). I am ok with it though. I trained well this week but everythign else outside the gym was rather suboptimal. All hings considering i'll take it. I expect things to improve next week.

OHP notes:
Have to be careful with this exercise. I am starting to think it is to blame for my hip problem.. see post below.

Assitance notes:
Started doing Gooood mornings! Exciting stuff. Lets see where it leads.

Training
FS 1x102.5, 1x110, 1x115, 5x105, 5x102.5, 5x100, 5x97.5
OHP 1x59.5, 1x61, 5x61, 2x65, 2x64.5

Stimulants: None

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FS notes:
The first scheduled session w/o stimulants was challenging. In hindsight i shuda had something to eat before hand because i went some 2 hours since the last meal. I couldn't believe how heavy the warmups felt, even 90kg. Guess my body isn't used to lifting without caffeine. But I forged ahead anyway, my plan was to triple 115kg - that wasn't going to happen but the next stage was to do 5s with a weight around 105kg, which went ok. I mean it was hard, like RPE 10, but i managed all the same. If my goal was to avoid CNS stress on this workout, maybe doing RPE 10 wasn't the right choice, but i'm hoping that eventually i'll adapt and then it will be easier than it was today.

total volume: 21 reps

OHP notes:
The 5x61 set came out of nowhere. I'll take it. I couldn't triple 65kg though, but next time i prob will be able to. So i'm back on track for pressing. I need more volume for upper body but the presses were quite tasking so I could do backoffs sets. I may do some chinups later though. And maybe curls and what not.

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Duration: 12 weeks, 3x weekly,  MWF
Training Goals: FS 5x120-125kg/135-140kg max @ BW of 75kg
                         BP 6x90kg / 105kg max
                         OHP 5x65kg.

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Front squats
120kg for 5 at the minimum. My best fiver is 110kg but i've done 4x116kg. So that's a big ask but may be doable with smarter training. Perhaps it's possible to go as far as 5x125kg. Very ambitious yes but there are a few differences from what i've done in the past. I've usually split up squatting half-half FS:BS training whereas now i'm FS only, at least until my right hip flexor is fully healed. The other thing is i'm not training for basketball this time. So that frees up recovery that will go towards progressing front squat. I have to believe that when I had a 6x117.5kg/140kg max HBBS that I was much stronger than I am now that i'm not backsquatting. Still. Specialising on FS might make up for that. It remains to be seen how far I can go with just FS alone though.

The problem i've had in the past is when I did a lot of volume with FS, my knees didn't enjoy that too much. With mediumish volume my knees are happy and never complain. So i'll have to watch that the volume isn't too much but I can't progress without sufficient volume either so i'll have to get the balance just right.

While not backsquatting, i might try doing GMs for assistance. Not saying I need them. But it's worth a shot, if it doesn't help then i'll drop them. Also thinking I should give RDLs another shot, if for no other reason than to keep a pull in my training so when I eventually incorporate Olympic lifting for athleticism i wont be too weak at pulling.

I'll freestyle and experiment the first 2 weeks. And then based on the feedback I receive from my body and performance i'll go with that for the remaining 10wks. I have a good idea how i'll structure it though.

I want to rep 115kg for 5 first w/ stimulants and also without. So i'll rep it for 4 first. Which i've done already in the past w/ stimulants but I need to get back there again. So i'll only do it say Mondays or fridays. But I need regular  PRs too and they're all sweet, whether 1-5 reps. So on fridays I will probably attempt a 2nd one for 1-4 reps after attempting the 5.   And then wednesdays workouts, I haven't decided what I need to do there. I think in the past I have erred there thinking more when I should have been thinking less is better. That will be an important change.

That's the rough plan for now, will make it concrete after seeing how it goes after the first 2 wks.

Summary
Mondays: No stimulants, at most 1 heavy PR set w/o stimulants (w/ milestone weight 3-5x115kg/120kg/125kg etc), followed by mid-high volume (25-30 reps @ 80-85%)
Weds: No stimulants, low-mid volume (15-20 reps), low intensity (80%), no heavy PRs.
Fridays: Stimulants, upto 2 sets heavy PRs (1-5 reps per set, 90+%) and then mid volume (total of 15-20 reps @ 80-85%)

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BP & OHP
6x90kg /105kg max would be amazing. I think if I keep up the pressing i'll def get there, esp with recent technique improvements. Really excited about this more than anything else. Bench PRs are so sparse for me, i can't even remember the last time I got one.

OHP was going really well before pec injury. I had reached 3x65kg and 5x60.5kg. Not sure where I am at right now. But will rebuild back and strive for 5x65kg. That should put be awfully close to having a BW press which will be sick.

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Other areas
I feel as though I should be sprinting at least 1x a week. Not too crazy but just enough to keep my body familar with the movement. Same with jumping and basketball. I have often neglected maintaining skills while focusing on strength training, this time around i'll avoid that. Maybe 1-2x go down to shoot hoops and practice moves. Even if it's only 10 mins or so.

Assistance exercises:
As much as I can without intefering with BP progrss, i should look to add back chinups for some ab work. Also try the wheel. It's a shit exercise i know but better than nothing. Maybe crunches as well. Wednesday might be a good day for these exotic exercises.Assistance exercises for arms, legs, back and core go on wednesday and fridays. Basketball drills (pick 3 good ones and get practice them hard) + and skill work 1-2x a week, after workouts.

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Also read this post of gary's recently.

2013-04-16
You're probably doing it wrong.

That's the impression I'm left with after each corrective session. There are so many things that I've done wrong over the years that have led to weaknesses, compensation and injury that I can't imagine that anyone consistently gets it right.

I've said before that the best athletes are those whose bodies have a knack for doing things more right than the rest of us do. So they survive the longest and can go the furthest in terms of strength, speed and skill. The rest of us...I wonder if we should ever do anything physically challenging (barbells, running, jumping, etc) without the close eye of an expert staff.

This may seem extreme, but blame modern life. Seems that it makes us extremely dysfunctional. Shoes too early in childhood can lead to weak feet that will lead to ankle, knee and back problems later if one runs or lifts hard. Never squatting beyond early childhood, not even to defecate, will lead to weaknesses and compensations and injury should one decide to squat later. If I'd spent my entire life from early childhood running and jumping and climbing, I wouldn't have to be doing this corrective treatment now.

But how many of us decide to become badasses only later in life, after a childhood and adolescence and early adulthood getting weaker in crucial areas? And then start to load aggressively and get stronger in the faulty patterns established by a lifetime of letting key muscles get weaker? Then we start to compensate and continue to load so that we get very, very strong in the wrong pattern. Then we get plateau and keep getting injured.

My knees just keep on getting better rapidly. The treatment is erasing the old contraction patterns so that my joints aren't getting beat up by everything I do. So they can finally heal. And they are healing very rapidly. I have a range of motion and ease of movement in my knees that I haven't seen in years. All that persistent inflammation is being flushed out.

The sessions, however, are getting brutally hard...and not a little demoralizing. Basically I do a few sets of five sits with increasing amounts of current. And in each session the last set or two pushes me to new heights. The idea is that when I'm "fixed", I'll have no problem doing the movement properly even under the highest current. But I'm not "fixed" yet. I get able to handle more current with each session, but that is only because Chad takes me to my limits each session. This is way harder and more intimidating than going for new maxes in the squat.

Higher levels bring pain in the "hot spots", especially as one approaches key joint angles. I get to the point where just standing still causes a lot of discomfort and bending the knees feels like I'm bending them while they are being crushed by cars while someone is trying to hammer an icepick through my kneecaps. Yes, it really hurts that much. I have to approach new levels by bending just an inch or two at first. It does get easier immediately because the body immediately starts to adapt because of the current causing so many hundreds of contractions with the new recruitment patterns. The hot spots literally start to melt away with the first rep or two. But overcoming the initial pain of the first rep at higher levels takes a lot of psyching up for me. Over time, levels of current that used to be painful become a breeze to move through. That's a sign that progress is occurring.

It's very interesting. As I get better at moving correctly under the load of the current, my muscles act on my joint better and allow the healing to occur, like I mentioned above. So to get through the pain, I tell myself that I am resolving all the pain and frustration my knee problems have been causing me for years. I have to go to my "happy place" because relaxation is vital. Breath-holding and tension are also compensations that mask a lack of strength in the proper places.

So, progress continues. But there is so much to fix and so much to keep in mind to prevent relapse that the thought of squatting or jumping or running or lifting seems pointless. The current is just a tool to enhance the speed of recovery caused by engaging the right patterns. Other movements include wall sits, iso lunges and one-legged deadlifts and squats...but these have to be done precisely, engaging the proper muscles at the proper times. It is very frustrating and very exhausting. Like I mentioned before, the owner of my gym is a very buff, athletic looking guy who is spending all his time just correcting stuff with this protocol, so much that he doesn't even lift anymore. I think I'm getting to that point too.

Some of us just weren't meant to be athletes, especially those of us who spent crucial years not keeping the body free of dysfunction.
http://www.pendlayforum.com/showthread.php?p=76291#post76291

This is so me. But right now i can't put all my goals aside to focus on corrective training. I should eventually. I promise to start at least though. I started with a 22" standing vertical and i've come a long way since then pushing it into the 30"s.  I want to believe I will push that up over 36" for no reason other than thinking my best is yet to come and i've only scratched the surface of my potential.

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Injury status
Interestingly since ceasing backsquatting, paused squatting, aconsciously avoiding failure and front squatting out of the rack instead of into it, my R hip flexor is now magically fine. As in 99.99% good. Amazing how quickly that's happened.  My pec is also now fully healed, I benched heavy friday painfree and im fine today on sunday. So i'm very close to full recovery. Awesome!!

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So i've taken all the feedback into consideration. Only using stimulants + heavy weights 1x a week. Only. The rest of the time i'm going to live on a diet of volume with 80-85% without significant CNS stress.

Thanks AlexV, lovely detailed post. I think you are right that it would work for (front) squats well because it doesn't call for high reps. It reminds me of something I read last year on charles poliquin site:

Q. What are the best sets and reps to increase the front squat?
A. This is one of my favorite questions to ask my most successful colleagues, as there are many training protocols that will improve your front squat. Whereas higher rep ranges are preferred in the back squat, most experts prefer to train the front squat in a lower rep range, and frequently endorse doing singles in that lift. Every expert agrees that doing more than 6 reps in that lift is a complete waste of time, as the scapulae retractors cannot hold the proper position isometrically when the duration of the set is too long.

The following are set-rep protocols recommended by weightlifting coaches of multiple Olympic medalists. (To avoid confusion, recognize that sets always come before reps, so that 2 x 5 means 2 sets of 5 reps, not 5 sets of 2 reps.)

Wave-Like Pattern 1
With this protocol, the trainee should be able to use more weight during each successive “wave” as the nervous system adapts to the workout. For example, a lifter might squat 150 kilos for 3 on the first wave, 160 kilos for 3 on the second, and 170 kilos for 3 on the third.
 
1 x 7, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 7 , 1 x 5, 1 x 3
 
Wave-Like Pattern 2
This is simply a variation of the previous workout, but it’s designed for a more advanced athlete who is striving for maximal strength, especially relative strength.
 
1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 2

Wave-Like Pattern 3
Among all the loading parameters patterns recommended, this is the one recommended most often by elite weightlifting coaches. It does require you to do 12 sets of work.

1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1
 
Patient System 1
Choose a weight that is very challenging (but possible) to lift for 8 sets of 2. In every workout try to get to 8 sets of 3. Once you can do 8 sets of 3, increase the weight.
 
East German Stair-Step System
5 x 2 followed by a decrease in load of 7 percent, then 5 sets of 3 at the new step load.

Modified Hepburn Method I
8 sets of singles followed by 5 x 3-5

In this approach, I advise performing the first 8 sets of singles with a regular stance, then the 5 x 3-5 with the heels elevated by 2-2.5 cm.

Modified Hepburn Method II
8 sets of singles @ 50X0 tempo, followed 5 x 3-5 @ 32X0 tempo
 
To learn more about this system, check out the following article, Training Heavy Comes First.

In this approach, I advise performing the first 8 sets of singles with a regular stance, then the 5 x 3-5 with the heels elevated by 2-2.5 cm.
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/677/My_Best_Tips_for_Increasing_the_Front_Squat.aspx

I think eventually i'll have to use something like these advanced programs but while i'm a ~130kg front squatter wanting to be a ~140kg squatter they're probably overkill. You're pulling 250kg for a double, that's amazing. My goals currently are modest in comparison. I'm looking to add 7.5-15kg to my front squat in the next 12 weeks, albeit without gaining weight. I could probably do with the discipline of a written out program though. I dunno. I tend to prefer freestyle my workouts but then fall into the trap of wanting too much every workout.

Much has been said above and I'm not going to try reply to all of it, no one would care to read it and I'll save myself the trouble. A lot of what Lance has written has resonated deeply with me though. I was going into the gym every session and busting out a new 3RM or 4RM or 5RM. And i could even do that every workout, even adding 2kg at a time for a while. Not even talking about when I started but as recently as 3-4 weeks ago. But then you hit the wall and it's not working and you're dreading walking up to the bar knowing exactly what you are demanding from your body and mind to get that new PR which you want so bad. And yes PRs are important even to guys like us - not just for powerlifters, a bigger max is more strength and more strength helps with athleticism even if the chain of causation is quite long and the carryover isn't 1 to 1.

I stand by comments that if i'm using 4s a lot and find my 4RM has gone down then i'm weaker. That doesn't mean I can't switch to using 5s and using a lighter weight than what I was using with the 4s while pushing that up. I do that all the time. My point was if I do what raptor suggested (taking weight off, eg 7RM but only doing 5 reps and keeping the same rep range) i'll def get weak. And i'm not even going to debate that because to me that's the most trivial truth I know from my experience in the gym.

Having said that. I am leaning towards minimisng CNS intensive workouts. Maybe only 1x a week where I use stimulants and heavy weights to set a 1-5RM or whatever and the rest of the time i'll not use abuse heavy weights or stimulants and let my CNS get back to normal. What lance described is something I was familiar with - my test levels were evidently lowered when I was training hard for months at a time  going heavy every workout. I can't keep that up, nor do I want to. I want to progress but not at the cost of being fucked up. And there is probably a better way to structure workouts around volume instead of intensity. But intensity is so sexy and i've fallen in the trap of focusing on it too much. I also found when I was trying to keep basketball in the mix, I couldn't do too much volume so intensity become more attractive.

Also paused squats were fine for the purpose of progressing another lift. The problem I found was in that deep stretched position at the bottom it bothers my hip flexors (?) and that's why i'm avoiding them right now since my right hip flexor still hasn't healed.

If I take weight off the bar and do more reps I'll get weaker. Yup. I believe that completely. If I want to maintain or improve my strength I have to maintain or add weight to the bar. I can't see a way to circumvent this :/