Eccentric Decline Squats - Second Progress Report

Next target was to get to 3x15 squats (still once a day, just before bed) using only one leg. Again, with one exception this has gone well and I have got up to target. I have used the same approach of adding one a day. When I went to one legged I dropped back down to 3-3-3 for my three sets. I went on the assumption that a one legged squat was more than twice as hard as a two leg (due to the balance and adjustments that the leg would have to go through). I still do gentle stretching after the squats and also use my leg roller (although not getting much from that now).

Almost at the end I caused a really big flare up though. I have been gently resting my index fingers on the wall in front of me throughout to balance me. I decided to try and switch to not needing any balance assistance - daft really because I have poor balance at the moment. Instead of following my one by one approach (i.e only take away my fingers for 1 squat then 2 next day and so on) I just went for it and was in a lot of discomfort the next two days. I took a few days off and then eased back in (1 set day 1, 2 sets day 2, 3 sets day 3) and have got myself back on track and up to 3x15 - but still feeling a bit niggle after the flare up - which has slightly taken the shine out of getting to this point because it showed clearly that the really nasty underlying problems are still there, lurking and waiting to get me!

Here are the same two graphs as the last post - expanded to cover this additional period:

Note here how we do see an offset between a week of higher activity and a week of higher pain. E.g Weeks 5/6 and Weeks 8/9. The pain spike in week 13 (without an activity increase in the preceding week) is due to the flare up mentioned above. Also, the generated trendline still shows a decline in pain levels over time (or does it show the fact that I have become more generous in how I have assess my pain over time). If it were indeed a linear progression (probably unlikely) this would predict that I would be 'cured' sometime in Jan 2011 - note the big shift from last post April 2010 prediction. Perhaps it is linear and this is a more realistic projection - or perhaps it is non-linear....

It has been a shame to finish this period with a big flare-up as I had been feeling pretty positive before that and was feeling improved. Ah well....onwards and upwards....Next target is to stick at 3x15 one leg for a week and then start to add weight VERY slowly....