im starting to realize that my lower back can not take anymore of whatever it is I’m doing. idk if its the squats,deadlift, or press but by now my back feels terrible. probably 2 inches above my butt crack is where it hurts the worst, i just can’t tell what exercise its from, so for a week or 2 I’m going to completely stop doing squats and deadlifts for 2 weeks and switch to some leg presses i guess 
i guess this will give me time to work on my bench press? ill prob start doing that every 3 days. has anyone seen better results training bench press more often than once/twice a week?
Leg presses might do the trick, but don’t be surprised if those put too much pressure on your back. If it is a problem just some stuff to throw out there are goblet squats, belt squats (you can do these with a cable in from of you and strap up to the cable to your wrist, technically not a belt squat but similarish, also with a t-bar row set up using a dip belt), and of course leg curls and leg extensions. Even front squats kill you? I mean if they do they do, but I’ve seen that as one of the progressions from back injuries and did them myself when working back up from an SI injury after a few weeks of more rehabilitatory exercises. I like 1 leg stiff legged deadlifts as pre/re-hab a lot.
I’d definitely figure out why the hell you got messed up in the first place. Maybe it’s your from on something, maybe it’s too much volume and/or intensity without working up to it. It might be time to take regular deloads from the spinal loading exercises like maybe go half weight on them just to stay in the groove or use underload exercises like SSB squats, front squats, and KB swings instead of pulls and work on non spinal loading exercises and not go balls to the walls during those deloads. I’ve found that and some sort of periodization important to keep my SI, shoulders, elbows, and wrists from flaring up. Just throwing out some ideas to ponder, ultimately you’ll have to find out what’s right for you.
It would suck to get everything healed up, then go back and screw it up again maybe worse because you never figured out the culprit.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Leg presses might do the trick, but don’t be surprised if those put too much pressure on your back. If it is a problem just some stuff to throw out there are goblet squats, belt squats (you can do these with a cable in from of you and strap up to the cable to your wrist, technically not a belt squat but similarish, also with a t-bar row set up using a dip belt), and of course leg curls and leg extensions. Even front squats kill you? I mean if they do they do, but I’ve seen that as one of the progressions from back injuries and did them myself when working back up from an SI injury after a few weeks of more rehabilitatory exercises. I like 1 leg stiff legged deadlifts as pre/re-hab a lot.
I’d definitely figure out why the hell you got messed up in the first place. Maybe it’s your from on something, maybe it’s too much volume and/or intensity without working up to it. It might be time to take regular deloads from the spinal loading exercises like maybe go half weight on them just to stay in the groove or use underload exercises like SSB squats, front squats, and KB swings instead of pulls and work on non spinal loading exercises and not go balls to the walls during those deloads. I’ve found that and some sort of periodization important to keep my SI, shoulders, elbows, and wrists from flaring up. Just throwing out some ideas to ponder, ultimately you’ll have to find out what’s right for you.
It would suck to get everything healed up, then go back and screw it up again maybe worse because you never figured out the culprit. [/quote]
thanks man great advice and yeah i can almost guarantee its my form. I’m gonna have to take that alllll the way back to square one. my lower back has always been out of line and this has just made it worse. i hope to god leg presses don’t hurt much. I’ve been doing strong lifts so squatting 3 times a week prob isn’t to good on me right now. i think 2 weeks off will be good
[quote]AbsuM- wrote:
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
Leg presses might do the trick, but don’t be surprised if those put too much pressure on your back. If it is a problem just some stuff to throw out there are goblet squats, belt squats (you can do these with a cable in from of you and strap up to the cable to your wrist, technically not a belt squat but similarish, also with a t-bar row set up using a dip belt), and of course leg curls and leg extensions. Even front squats kill you? I mean if they do they do, but I’ve seen that as one of the progressions from back injuries and did them myself when working back up from an SI injury after a few weeks of more rehabilitatory exercises. I like 1 leg stiff legged deadlifts as pre/re-hab a lot.
I’d definitely figure out why the hell you got messed up in the first place. Maybe it’s your from on something, maybe it’s too much volume and/or intensity without working up to it. It might be time to take regular deloads from the spinal loading exercises like maybe go half weight on them just to stay in the groove or use underload exercises like SSB squats, front squats, and KB swings instead of pulls and work on non spinal loading exercises and not go balls to the walls during those deloads. I’ve found that and some sort of periodization important to keep my SI, shoulders, elbows, and wrists from flaring up. Just throwing out some ideas to ponder, ultimately you’ll have to find out what’s right for you.
It would suck to get everything healed up, then go back and screw it up again maybe worse because you never figured out the culprit. [/quote]
thanks man great advice and yeah i can almost guarantee its my form. I’m gonna have to take that alllll the way back to square one. my lower back has always been out of line and this has just made it worse. i hope to god leg presses don’t hurt much. I’ve been doing strong lifts so squatting 3 times a week prob isn’t to good on me right now. i think 2 weeks off will be good[/quote]
Tape your squat and you will get many tips to concerning the form
Look at anterior tilt/glute amnesia - fix that & your back will love you.
[quote]derf wrote:
Look at anterior tilt/glute amnesia - fix that & your back will love you.
[/quote]
When my back starts to feel beat up, I do a planks and glute bridges x infinity and it always feels better afterwards.
leg presses tend to bother my lower back more than squats. You should post vids of your squat, deadlift, and press. Or at least your squat.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
leg presses tend to bother my lower back more than squats.[/quote]
X2. Very hard to stop lumber flexion at the bottom of the movement.
Give your back a rest. It’s just 2 weeks.
Try the limber 11 twice a day. It will be awful but it will help you out. Last time I stuffed my back (stepped out of the car in a funny way) I did lots of glute work (roller, lacrosse ball) and although it was hell on earth, it fixed things up pretty quickly.
Then see someone about your back and post a video here.
I can squat and deadlift all day but OHP jacked my back up(Mainly from leaning back to far I think) What helped me was doing abs and when OHP wearing a belt and thinking about trying to pull my ribs down.
thanks for the advice guys. do any of you think front squats on a smith machine would be good? ill try tomorrow and see if its feels funny
thanks for the advice guys. do any of you think front squats on a smith machine would be good? ill try tomorrow and see if its feels funny
I’m not fond of the smith machine for back problems period because it locks me in and gives me no wiggle room but I seem to be the exception on that one. If it’s truly your back, unilateral work would be a good work around. If it’s a hip problem it could make it worse. Front squat position lunges would probably be very very back friendly. If you’re worried about losing the squat groove, the best you can probably do for now would be goblet squats if you wanna play it safe. 2 weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
[quote]AbsuM- wrote:
thanks for the advice guys. do any of you think front squats on a smith machine would be good? ill try tomorrow and see if its feels funny[/quote]
no,NO,NO! and FUCK NO!!! If you think your back is done for now, it’ll really be fucked up if you squat in a Smith machine. DON’T DO IT! Those things have wrecked many a persons backs.
Look man, I’m running on 3 hours of sleep today and this is going to sound turse, but I think you need a bit of “tough love” here. You say your back is “done for” If that is true, pull your head out of your ass and get it looked at by a medical professional NOW. You are trying shit and experimenting for no reason. Training now should take a back seat until you can get healthy or at least a baseline for what you can do safely.
Take some time off and get your shit fixed. Don’t mess with your back man. I’m sure this isn’t the validation you seek on this board but I’m pretty sure these are the words you need to hear. You’ll thank me in 6 months when you’re crushing weights in the gym because you got fixed. / rant.
fyi: this gentleman is a troll.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
[quote]AbsuM- wrote:
thanks for the advice guys. do any of you think front squats on a smith machine would be good? ill try tomorrow and see if its feels funny[/quote]
no,NO,NO! and FUCK NO!!! If you think your back is done for now, it’ll really be fucked up if you squat in a Smith machine. DON’T DO IT! Those things have wrecked many a persons backs.
Look man, I’m running on 3 hours of sleep today and this is going to sound turse, but I think you need a bit of “tough love” here. You say your back is “done for” If that is true, pull your head out of your ass and get it looked at by a medical professional NOW. You are trying shit and experimenting for no reason. Training now should take a back seat until you can get healthy or at least a baseline for what you can do safely. Take some time off and get your shit fixed. Don’t mess with your back man. I’m sure this isn’t the validation you seek on this board but I’m pretty sure these are the words you need to hear. You’ll thank me in 6 months when you’re crushing weights in the gym because you got fixed. / rant.
[/quote]
I agree here. You know when something isn’t right. Either take the time off or go seek a doctor. DO NOT continue aggravating something that is not right.
When it comes down to it, it’s just powerlifting. You have your whole life to live. Do you wanna live it w/ a body that doesn’t allow you to do the normal things in life?
Looking for permission to spend all your time doing bench, and culrs, because the hard stuff bother’s your back, by all means go ahead. Lots of great lifter’s take this path. Good luck !
[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Looking for permission to spend all your time doing bench, and culrs, because the hard stuff bother’s your back, by all means go ahead. Lots of great lifter’s take this path. Good luck ![/quote]
BOOM
[quote]AbsuM- wrote:
im starting to realize that my lower back can not take anymore of whatever it is I’m doing. idk if its the squats,deadlift, or press but by now my back feels terrible. probably 2 inches above my butt crack is where it hurts the worst, i just can’t tell what exercise its from, so for a week or 2 I’m going to completely stop doing squats and deadlifts for 2 weeks and switch to some leg presses i guess i guess this will give me time to work on my bench press? ill prob start doing that every 3 days. has anyone seen better results training bench press more often than once/twice a week? [/quote]
I’m 35 y.o and my lower back has been a source of trouble for the past 2 years, lot of injury etc.
The cause was the regular heavy deadlift. I do snatch grip dl with a perfect form e.w, and regular dl once a month. Everything is ok now.