Yeah I would probably recommend to work your way back up as strong as you can without it. If you plateau you can always consider using it. However if you have any issues with your back from squatting or deadlifting start using one immediately, because your form isn't as tight as it should be. We are in this for longevity right?
How are the squats coming? I did a conditioning workout the other day with a family member and I was crushed, I'm thinking about adding in a day or two of conditioning a week, with a rower or body weight stuff. I am nervous though that it may be too much? What do you guys think?
Yah, I'm taking it slow, with longevity in mind. I'm still a bit nervous about the MCL injury, so I've been keeping the squats at low weight, the two times I did them, last week, the first time, and yesterday--just 75 lbs at 8-10 reps, three sets. Next week when I do them again I'll try adding 10 pounds to both sides, to bring it up to 95 lbs, or maybe try 25 on a side for 125 total. I'll keep building up slow like that until I reach a reasonable weight and then see how to proceed from there. I did add 50 more pounds to the dead lifts yesterday, bringing it up to 225 lbs, and my knees seemed fine with that, so next week I'll probably try 275 and see how that feels. The last thing I want to do is re-injury my knee again, and I have no real investment in improving on the weights, so I'm taking it all very slow. My focus remains on becoming a better runner above all else.
As for conditioning, my current thinking, which may change tomorrow, is to go back to my program of doing aerobic conditioning 5-6 times a week. I had dropped the rowing late last summer once I could run for an hour or more, and expanded the strength-training days, as seen in that list I uploaded a month or so ago. However, I read (skimmed) the book,
Run Less, Run Faster, which recommends a running program similar to the one I put together: run 3x per week--one day intervals, one day tempo run, one day long and steady run, and the authors did stress the importance of doing some kind of aerobic work at least two times a week on the non-running days. So I'm thinking of getting back to the rower some, although I find rowing extremely boring, so maybe I'll do slightly higher intensity rowing for 15-20 minutes instead of less intense for 30, which is what I had been doing for most of winter, spring, and summer.
What kind of body weight conditioning did you have in mind?
Also, if I were to get a belt, which make or model would you recommend?
If use the same BW standards for squats as we do for deadweights (2 x BW) and Bench press (1.5 x BW), what would you recommend as a good BW goal to shoot for?
Edit: Oh I see you gave these ratios on an earlier page.
"Bench = 1.5 x BW
Press = 1 x BW
Squat = 1.75 x BW
DL = 2 x BW"
Hmmn, I think I'll just try getting up to a 1 x BW squat for the time being.