1RM Squat - October 2016 - 140kg

Squats. Testing my max today. 140kg!

Not a massive weight by competitive standards, but for me even the idea of 80kg on my back just 6 months ago felt scary.

Slight grab in my left hip, hence the hesition just before the top. Plenty of work to do on my left glute still, but leaps and bounds better than it was just 6 months ago.

4 years ago I seriously damaged my back and now have bulges at L3/L4, L4/L5 and L5/S1. In fact L5/S1 has lost at least 50% of its disc height.

Part of the reason its taken me 4 years to get here is that 99% of the advice for dealing with severe back pain is complete garbage.
The other part was due to avoiding squats all together due to misplaced fear.

Luckily for me there is the work and knowledge of people like Dr Stuart McGill and Dr Andrew Lock, which removes the garbage and lets you fix your issues long-term.

The key to managing long-term back pain successfully is to get stronger.

How you get there is the tricky part.