The Crow said:I don't want to over-stress my back, because of an old rowing injury that
sometimes gives me a little trouble, so I am thinking about reworking my
squat set/reps count.
You have to be careful with higher reps and back injuries - just as
careful as you would be with lower reps but for a different reason. When
poeple use higher reps, and thus lower weight, they tend not to be so
careful in slowing down before the reach the bottom, and they do the
bottom turnaround too fast. This aggrivates lower back and SI joint
injuries. However, it's hard to do especially when you're huffing and
puffing during a 15-20 rep set.
Quoted message said:Obviously very low reps are hard because of the high weight, and very high
reps are hard because of the endurance factor, but do you reckon that if I
aim for a middle ground, say 12-15 reps, I can reduce the amount of
immediate stress on my back?
I'd aim for the 10-12 range, personally. You reduce the weight but
you're focussed enough throughout the set to not try and speed through
your reps.
Quoted message said:
My thinking is that I will avoid both the extreme pressure of very heavy
weight, and the endurance fatigue of very high reps.
Am I kidding myself? Oh, and before you say it, I'm not trying to avoid
squatting hard, obviously I'll still be going for each set 100%, but I
wonder if there's a balance I can strike that will reduce the potential for
pissing my back off. Thanks.
I used to use only 4-8 reps. My joints, especially my injured ones which
are numerous, didn't like this. I've started cycling my rep ranges so
I'm spending far less time in the sub-8 rep area, and on some exercises
I don't go below 8 reps at all to ease the stress on injured areas.
Cheers,
Ari
