Long time lurker, first time poster here.
Not new to lifting by any stretch (no pun intended) but due to injuries sustained many years ago I really haven't been able to squat worth a damn since. I was in a rappelling accident way, way back, shattering and crushing my heels and ankles as well as crushing my L4 and L5 vertebrae/destroying those discs among other things. Because of that I don't have a good lower curve to my spine giving me constant low level lower back pain as well as preeeeetty much having no mobility in my ankles. I'm lucky if I have one degree, maybe two, of dorsiflexion in my left and five degrees or so in my right. Plantarflexion on the left is maybe 3-4 degrees and close to 10 for the right. As you can imagine, there's not much there before my left heel is lifting off the ground when squatting forward, and the right heel comes up pretty shortly after.
All that being said, I've been squatting with regular shoes (for the extra heel height) AND have been using ten pound plates on the ground to bump up my heels even more. With the back problems and the heel problems I really can't do a no-shit squat (parallel to the deck) but do the best I can with what I got. I'm about 46, 6' 2" tall, 225 pounds and on my fourth or fifth week of Stronglifts 5x5 (for something different) which puts me at 280# squats today. I use a belt to help with the back but otherwise can get it done - but I can tell it's just not the same.
I guess my question is, do I/should I continue to be hard headed and keep doing my version of squats? Or am I just going to be adding to my woes in another five or ten years (if I'm lucky) by hosing up my knees? (I really don't think I need more woes) Should I drop way back down and attempt to really get ass-to-grass and just call it as good as it's gonna get? I'm already feeling it pretty good in my knees (and by 'good' I mean 'bad' ) so that right there is telling me something, but damn, in this rickety body pretty much everything is telling me something at this point.
Not to belabor the point but my ankles and heels are one big lump of busted up and healed over pieces of bone and the motion I DO have is simply the end of my leg bones grinding over those lumps (thanks Doc for the descriptive terminology). I suppose I should consider myself lucky as I'm fairly mobile and no one looking at me would ever guess how jacked up my body is, AND having once been told I would prrooooobably never walk again without some sort of aid... still... In my heart (I hate that phrase); that little voice in my head is telling me I'm letting pride and ego get the better of me and I'm going to cause even more issues for myself down the road, but damn, it's hard to let that go.
Am I asking too much? Am I being stupid? Sorry for the long first post, I appreciate thoughts and advice.
Steve
Not new to lifting by any stretch (no pun intended) but due to injuries sustained many years ago I really haven't been able to squat worth a damn since. I was in a rappelling accident way, way back, shattering and crushing my heels and ankles as well as crushing my L4 and L5 vertebrae/destroying those discs among other things. Because of that I don't have a good lower curve to my spine giving me constant low level lower back pain as well as preeeeetty much having no mobility in my ankles. I'm lucky if I have one degree, maybe two, of dorsiflexion in my left and five degrees or so in my right. Plantarflexion on the left is maybe 3-4 degrees and close to 10 for the right. As you can imagine, there's not much there before my left heel is lifting off the ground when squatting forward, and the right heel comes up pretty shortly after.
All that being said, I've been squatting with regular shoes (for the extra heel height) AND have been using ten pound plates on the ground to bump up my heels even more. With the back problems and the heel problems I really can't do a no-shit squat (parallel to the deck) but do the best I can with what I got. I'm about 46, 6' 2" tall, 225 pounds and on my fourth or fifth week of Stronglifts 5x5 (for something different) which puts me at 280# squats today. I use a belt to help with the back but otherwise can get it done - but I can tell it's just not the same.
I guess my question is, do I/should I continue to be hard headed and keep doing my version of squats? Or am I just going to be adding to my woes in another five or ten years (if I'm lucky) by hosing up my knees? (I really don't think I need more woes) Should I drop way back down and attempt to really get ass-to-grass and just call it as good as it's gonna get? I'm already feeling it pretty good in my knees (and by 'good' I mean 'bad' ) so that right there is telling me something, but damn, in this rickety body pretty much everything is telling me something at this point.
Not to belabor the point but my ankles and heels are one big lump of busted up and healed over pieces of bone and the motion I DO have is simply the end of my leg bones grinding over those lumps (thanks Doc for the descriptive terminology). I suppose I should consider myself lucky as I'm fairly mobile and no one looking at me would ever guess how jacked up my body is, AND having once been told I would prrooooobably never walk again without some sort of aid... still...
Am I asking too much? Am I being stupid? Sorry for the long first post, I appreciate thoughts and advice.
Steve