It was a week ago today that I blew my back out hittiong 3×5 squats. Not really blowing my back out so much as jamming my sacrum due to lack of glute/ham activation. Needles to say it was a pretty painful experience and I’ll do anything I can to avoid it in the future.
I was lucky enough to have Rosko from B32CrossFit come over on Thursday and have a look at some basic postural issues. Using a Poliquin/OPT/Boyle/FMS like system he was able to determine a couple of things: I have significant anterior pelvic tilt and almost total lack of pelvic stability (and unloaded to) eg. take one foot off the ground and watch all sorts of funky things happen to my pelvis. Sure give me a heavy back squat and I’ll dominate the lift with my quads and lower back. Get me turn on my glutes in the movement and I’ll be like “Say what?… What the hell does that feel like?”
So it’s back to basics for me. Over the next few weeks I’ll be spending a significant amount of time on strengthening my glute meds with some lateral/tapioca sleds drags and banded pull-aparts. I’ll also be hitting some hip extensions and HE isometric holds (sorenson holds?) on the GHD. I’ve decided to lay off heavy squats for a while until I can get my glutes and hammies firing properly – so heaps more posterior chain work with shitloads of lateral sled work.
In this squat down time I want to start drilling some upper body body weight movementrs in the form of push-ups, pull-ups, chins and HSPUs. I’ve been meaning to dial in my free standing handstands and I still haven’t got walking on my hands sorted yet – so there’ll be lots of that. Going heavy for the upper body I’ll start hitting s-press and bench variations and with lots of upper back sled work too.
Yesterday’s session looked like this.
3 rounds (untimed):
- GHRs x 6 – trying to build capacity on these hence the low number
- ab wheel roll-outs x 10
- lateral sled tapioca (w/ rubber tyre and 10kg baby seal) x 4 @ 25m (2 each way)
It’s not much to look at but I’m in full rehab mode now and because I want to be able to train long term – I’m more than happy to dial everything back. So much for getting really excited about Sean’s new cycle – Pretty bummed actually. But I’m in it for the long haul…
Also cam across this via DieselCrew…
Weak glute muscles lead to a lack of leg stability and also increase the probability of knee injuries. I always tell my clients, “it is all about the glutes,” because it truly is. Glutes are the largest muscle in the human body. Our large glutes keep us walking upright, which and is one of the biggest anatomical differences between us and apes. Strong glutes protect not only the knees but the lower back. The glutes are the major player of the core and surround the body’s center of gravity.
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