Before I continue let me ask one simple question, and ask you to just think about it. If you have a joint that is bone on bone, impinged or has bone spurs tearing away at the tissue; Would you, A. do a zillion reps to create even more wear and tear? or B. Find a way to reduce the wear a tear, maintain bone density, stability, and absolute strength? Not a trick question. Just think about it.
This has been my training life for over a decade now.
Here We Are
It was suggested that rather than troll my own training clips, I should I explain why I’m actually doing what I am.
Before I continue it needs to be understood I have really bad bone degeneration issues that are particularly responsible for two replaced hips, a frozen shoulder and pain is just part of my daily life. Over the past two years other health issues or meds related to those issues have dropped my strength to a point where I was HAPPY to just bench and yoke squat a plate per side. This meant I could just keep adding more. If you have been in a condition where training just to get 135 again is a lot of stress and work you know what I mean. That’s the summary back story.
Here is what I know for a fact; I have restrictions that are not worth pushing. I know them all well. These include some ranges of motion, some impact-related (jumping, heavy carries), and others recovery-related. Some weeks I can train 4 days (rare) most 2 to 3. My training economy must be on point.
I can write more on how I use loaded stretching, iso holds, restricted range, low impact blood work, timed eccentrics, and how hard I work my feet twice a day, but what I was asked about was the heavy yoke squats I make fun of.
Let’s backtrack to training 101. Before you can produce force you need to first be able to stabilize it, then absorb it and at this point produce it. Ever need physical therapy after surgery? What did you do? Ever watch a child learn to walk? What to they do? Want to find your weakness on a main lift? Watch the setup, start, eccentric and concentric.
As I’m watching the word count here is my last squat and pull. I’ll touch on the squat.
SWIPE VIDEO FOR A DEADLIFT KIND OF THING
Bullet Points
Monolift – no walkout. Lower hip force BIG time. Foot doesn’t move when loaded.
Box for multiple reasons. If my knee ever kicks in I won’t go low enough to pop my hip out. Staying at 90 degree hip joint to knee joint or above is far less wear and tear. Yes, it is a prosthetic but that simply means it’s more prone to wear and tear. I know I’ll need it replaced one more time in my life, two more would not be an option at the age I’d be. The box also allows me to keep from beating my knees to hell. They are also worn out and the box is a godsend.
Bands, chains and combos of. With the exception of squatting into bands all the rest is great, as it reduces the load at the weakest point (and most at risk) of the movement. I have tried almost every option there is and have found ones that are too hard to control and others that are too easy. I have also found the heavier the weight lifted the more reverse band needed. Think of it this way – if you squat against 40% band then why reverse band with 10%? The variant is too small for my needs.
So as you see in this clip I have a hard time stabilizing the load and spend the eccentric trying to correct from it. This tells me my breathing is off and my torso strength needs to be better. This is also why it was so hard to get it out. When it’s off this bad I’ll build a three-week dynamic phase with emphasis on fixing the weak points and pull back to lighter ME work or scale back to 2 max effort sessions per month.
Remember I’m not competing so I have zero time frame. Just want to keep my absolute strength as high as I can so if and when my health kicks me in the dick again it won’t be as bad.
If you have not learned this yet, you will, ALL strength is based on your absolute strength. Let’s say an illness takes away 60-70% of your strength. You better damn hope you have enough left to get out of a chair or take a shit.
I do have a reason for the light band and chain - too much chain begins to twist the bar so the chains begin to control the bar more than you can. I could have added more chain and planned to but the day didn’t play out as I thought it would.
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