hey guys. need some help on an issue i am getting very tired of. to sum it up, i have lower back problems that started from a car accident years ago. basically i was diagnosed as having degenerative disc disease, and since then have lost an incredibly large amount of strength in my legs and back.
i quit doing deadlifts and back squats about 6 months ago because they greatly worsen my condition it seems, and have instead started doing front squats. well earlier tonight, i thought i would try deadlifts one last time with high reps, low weight.
the guy i was lifting with said i had perfect form throughout all my lifts, but on my 2nd set at my 5th rep ( was doing 3x10 ) i felt that lovely pain run from my low back down my leg and dropped the weight. so i am DONE with those
NOW, i read a while back that a good substitute for deadlifts are glute ham raises. my question is… is this pretty accurate? unfortunately for me, my hams are so weak that i cant even complete one rep. i gave it a shot before the dead lifts and it was pretty sad. i would get about half way down to the floor and i would just drop.
can you guys please give me some pointers on this? i am very irritated, mostly because i have worked so hard to better my situation through medicine, stretching, good posture, etc. thanks in advance, and if any more info is needed, just let me know!
I couldn’t do them when I first started, either. I would just do slow negatives until I was able to do reps. I would do these negatives with my back slightly bent at the hip (so I wasn’t a full straight line knee to shoulder). From there, I did a couple reps plus negatives until I was able to do about 12 or so.
If you’re set on doing GHR’s, that path might be the right one to travel.
I don’t know if you have some glute activation issues, either. You might want to try glute bridges as well as ham curls to help acclimate your hammies to the load.
As gay as this might sound, do you have a butt blaster machine in your gym? I scoffed at them, too, until I overheard a powerlifter in my gym talking about how good it hits your hamstrings.
I’ve been throwing it in every now and again as a finisher on leg day and really trying to isolate my glutes and hammies on it.
It won’t hit quite like deads/stiff leg deads, but it’s better than leg curls.
I think thats an indicator you pinched your sciatic nerve.
[quote]skimmy_jimmy wrote:
the guy i was lifting with said i had perfect form throughout all my lifts, but on my 2nd set at my 5th rep ( was doing 3x10 ) i felt that lovely pain run from my low back down my leg and dropped the weight. so i am DONE with those
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anyone can give you an alternative or different exercise but that doesnt mean you should be doing it because they say its good for them, ask youself what is good for you.
RDL and good mornings with a degenerative back…why? change your goals and mindset to get your lower back issues resolved and then re-focus to your back and hamstrings. maybe with a degenerative issue, its might not get all that better but you can work on the supporting areas to then get back to your heavy lifts
why do you think all the authors never give out advice on injuries, first of all the liability factor but more importantly they dont know your true injury in detail. it might wise to track down a qualified coach to see how you can work with your current injury.
just my 2 cents and ill probably get crewed out. good luck
thanks for all the feedback thus far guys. yeah stu you may need to elaborate on the broom stick for me haha, ive never heard that one.
i tried some again today, although i was sore as hell, and was able to do some only going 1/4 way down. i was under the impression you had to go nearly parallel to the floor and back up and that most everyone should be able to (dont know where i got this) so i reckon i will continue doing these until i can do several reps, then gradually go lower.
as for back work, i can do good morning with no issues and really enjoy them, but i am definitely cutting out deadlifts which saddens me greatly
[quote]chillain wrote:
Stu, could you spell out that broom stick tip a little further?
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I like to do my GHRs at the end of my leg session, so my hams are already pretty trashed and the notion of doing a full ROM raise is somewhat laughable, so I will occassionally grab a broom stick handle with one hand, to steady myself at the bottom of the movement, just when you start to reverse the motion.
I don’t suggest holding it with both hands, as the tendency will be to use arm strength to raise yourself, and not focus on your hamstrings. Try it out, as silly as it may sound, it works pretty well.
Ok I think I am confused on what a glute ham raise is. Is it not that machine with the platform behind your ass? You put your foot on it and push back/up?
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Ok I think I am confused on what a glute ham raise is. Is it not that machine with the platform behind your ass? You put your foot on it and push back/up?
Bulgarian squats are great. Start with bodyweight and progress. Do lots of reps, build endurance first. I have similar problems. Tried go go heavy and now have to start from the beginning…
Yeah I agree, specific injury advice is plenty dicey and pretty risky. That being said, I’m just going to go ahead and throw out a few ideas because you can’t find me! mwahahaha…cough…cough…
anyway, feets mentioned your ab strength. I seriously think you should work on ab strength to help out. In addition to natural GHRs (which you should probably only do 1 or 2 times a week at first), try pull-throughs. They hit the hams and glutes and are a good assistance movement.
GHRs
waylanderxx–the fact is, both are correct. A Natural GHR is done w/o the machine, and a GHR in the powerlifting sense is done on the machine you were talking about. Natty GHRs are more akin to leg curls, but are still vastly superior, and can involve the glutes more as well.
I would suggest trying them out. I don’t think I’ll ever do machine leg curls again. There’s just no point for me–I’ve been doing these exclusively for years now and the difference in strength is notable.
OP–YES, natural GHRs are very very demanding and not many people can do a lot of them their first few times trying. I couldn’t do full ROM for a while, but now I can do them without aid for sets of 10
