Here’s my question, and maybe some of you have the answers, b/c very little has worked for me yet. I’ll be turning 36 in November and in the last year or so, my recovery rate for my lower back has changed drastically, going from approx 6-8 days between heavy dead workouts to 10 days or more at times. I have sustained no injuries to the area. Has anyone else had this happen to them yet? I should also mention that I normally follow a Westside Style templete with some alterations for competing in Strongman. I’ve been training regularly for close to 20 years and have never had something this drastic happen before as far as low back recovery goes. Any answers or similar experiences???
[quote]kroc30 wrote:
Here’s my question, and maybe some of you have the answers, b/c very little has worked for me yet. I’ll be turning 36 in November and in the last year or so, my recovery rate for my lower back has changed drastically, going from approx 6-8 days between heavy dead workouts to 10 days or more at times. I have sustained no injuries to the area. Has anyone else had this happen to them yet? I should also mention that I normally follow a Westside Style templete with some alterations for competing in Strongman. I’ve been training regularly for close to 20 years and have never had something this drastic happen before as far as low back recovery goes. Any answers or similar experiences???[/quote]
Aging has it’s downside…my wife used to tease me about it. Now she has the same problem. 
Two things…
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If you have been training for twenty years or so…you need to adjust how you train, the body can only take so much abuse and as we get older, we cannot train that area at the young age of 35 the way we did at 20 because of the simple dynamics of the aging process. Allow for more recovery time and add some variation to the exercises of the lower back. Consider lightening the load and concentrating on form more than weight. When I turned 35, I could lift/push/pull more weight than I could at 25. But I had to allow more time to recover from “MAX” days. Now that I am 44, I can handle more weight than when I was 35…but, I train more for correct form than weight. I can still Max-out, but I don’t do it nearly as much.
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Don’t believe in the “after 35 everything goes down hill” myth. Things change, yes, but if you change your approach accordingly, you will still get the results you want. I added Yoga to my workouts to help with flexablity after seeing my 84 year old grandfather stretch in ways that made me cringe to think of if I were to do it. However you choose to stretch…add it in to your workouts, you’ll thank me when your are 44.
Above all else, listen to your body…if something is hurting, there is a reason for it…it may be aging or it may be the beginnings of a strain. either way, let your Dr. know…ifyou don;t have one, get one…they can be your best training partner. It took me a while to find a good one, but it was worth the effort.
I’m a just a couple years older than you and have been training about the same amount of time. A lot of my time has been training for powerlifting and I have done a strongman too. I also feel I can’t train the same as I did 10 or 15 years ago. In my 20?s most of the time every workout would be giving it just about all I had.
I have found that as I get older I do better with greater fluctuations in volume and intensity. I’m also working on higher frequency training than ever. My current plan is on 4 week cycles where the first 3 weeks are increasing in intensity while keeping volume steady and having a 4th deload week we I do more unilateral work and lower volume and low intensity.
On my last two cycles I have squatted and deadlifted 3 times a week plus had two other lifting days where I did cleans and snatches. Week 1 is not too hard, week 2 is a good push and week three I’m going for PR’s. By the end of week 3 I’m tired. After a week of unilateral work with low volume and intensity I can’t wait to hit it hard again.
I have several suggestions based on things that have worked for me in the past (I’m only 30 yrs old, but I’m 6’4" so my low back takes a beating).
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Do some serious stretching for a month. Glutes, glute medius, hamstrings, adductors, quadriceps, hip flexors…even if you don’t think that your flexibility has decreased or is the source of the problem, give it a try. It worked wonders for alleviating my back pain several months ago. I felt like a teenager again.
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Only pull singles on deadlifts (rep work mutilates my lower back on dl’s), and on another day do lots of volume on either back ext, 45 degree hypers or reverse hypers to build up stamina and recovery ability.
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Decrease your volume on pulls and add in front squats, full squats and single leg exercises if you haven’t been doing them already. When my low back is feeling iffy, I might do front squats, speed sumo deads for 5 sets of 1, and walking lunges or something like that. A couple days later, my back’s good to go.
Do you have access to a reverse hyper? If there is anything that has made a difference in my training its that piece of equipment. I hit it 2X a week, one heavy and one light. I have had zero lower back issues and just hit my mid 40’s. Good luck…
Thirty five is a classic age to start having back problems. Flexibility starts taking a nose dive in the thirties and 35 is when many get caught by suprise. There are articles and flexibility graphs out there somewhere. I am 48 and had major back problems when I hit 35, but now I have none.
If I could go back in time and do it over I would first listen to my back; if it is sore I would rest it. Second, I would start some serious flexibility training for the hamstrings (all stretches done on your back), calves, and glutes. And third, I would worry about hamstring and glute strength.