I think my lower back might have finally told me no more, I might need to see a doc..

[emptywallet]

This is really depressing. Its weighed heavily enough that I catch myself many times during the day just feeling horrible about it, staring off into space. I hate sittingh here, longing to do something, wanting to grunt, groan, spit and lift, while a part of me just says no. Everything else is absolutely wonderful and I've never looked better in my life. I think my lower back has finally given up and I'm going to lay off of the deadlifts and squats for a bit. I've gone from not squatting in 6 years, from lifting only 185 for 3 sets of 10, to 265 for 3 sets of 10 and the final set being 355 for 4. All since January. I've gone from never deadlifting in my life (only ever tried sets with 135) to doing 3 sets of 10 with 295, and a final set of 365 for 4. Deadlifts everyweek, squats everyweek. This is probably the single greatest thing I'm proud of in my entire life. Seriously. Something I thought I would never be able to do, never thought I'd be outlifting some people in it, I've finally done and I've never been more happy about it in my entire life. I think finally its caught up with me or I really just wasnt paying attention to pain, thinking it was just a struggle with the weight I had to accomplish. I'm 5 foot 7, about 195-96 or so and I've looked this good in my whole life. It just seems everything is gonna go down the drain if I can't keep deadlifting and squatting. Lately, if I stay in one position for to long, such as laying on my stomach, my lower back becomes very very stiff. In the morning its really bad. As the day goes on however, I become more and more flexible with it going away completely in the evening, only to return in the moring. I hate it. I hate my lower back. I just want to scream at it to get better and stop being so damn inconsiderate to the rest of my body. I've thought about this for awhile, and have decided to stop doing squats and deadlifts for a period of time. This really bothers me as I feel the rest of me is going to suffer for it. However I know it will never get better unless I try and let it heal, or whatever it needs to do. OR, should I just keep doing them, but go extremely light?

 

[satchboogie]

your form probably sucks and instead of your legs taking the punishment during squats, your lower back took much of the stress.

i see many bonehead squatting way too much weight then the correct form would allow for their size, but hey..... fuck em.

FORM FORM FORM

 

[he-man]

take some time off. it sounds like you may have strained it. see a doc and have him take a look. it sound like you have made some great progress in a short time - but your body is definitely letting you know it's time for a break. when you push your body to the limits you walk on that fine line and sometimes you go over. rest, recoup and then get back under the bar

 

[emptywallet]

your form probably sucks and instead of your legs taking the punishment during squats, your lower back took much of the stress.

i see many bonehead squatting way too much weight then the correct form would allow for their size, but hey..... fuck em.

FORM FORM FORM

I actually have pretty good form on both. Very good on deadlifts and pretty good on squats. I can understand you saying what you said based on thats the same question I get asked by anyone who I don't lift with. As anyone who I do, knows I never go up in weight unless I can hit a specific amount of reps with absolutely perfect form. I can relate as there are many guys who lift ALOT more than I do, however if they lifted correctly they would be lucky to get a fourth of what they are currently lifting. Its actually quite infuriating to see someone do this and then swagger past me when I'm lifting. But hey, I'm always going up, and they tend to stay the same year after year. Eh,....rambling...sorry.

 

[b fold the truth]

I really am curious what the correlation between people who do high rep deadlifts and those who have back problems...

B True

 

[emptywallet]

I really am curious what the correlation between people who do high rep deadlifts and those who have back problems...

B True

Its probably on a one to one ratio. Which is why I'm going to stop doing them like that. What would you consider high rep range for dead? Anything under 4? 6? 2?

 

[b fold the truth]

I like to deadlift but I realize that for me to build a strong deadlift it takes me doing several other exercises which happen to be much easier on my body.

I do speed deadlifts...singles with 40-60% of my 1RM.

B True

 

[Thaibox]

Your dilemma is exactly mine man.
What you need to do regardless is get an MRI done to see exactly what you're dealing with. It may be something minor and you'll be pulling 700 in a couple months totally asymptomatic, or you could have something that needs to be taken care of or can ruin you lifting future. I just had my first in a series of sugeries to my lumbar region. I still have a couple to go, so I'll be out of the squat/deadlift scene for quite some time. I fully understand what you're saying about it being tough to be a real lifter and not be able to do these.

I feel like I took the supercharger off my car, disconnected two sparkplugs, and I'm still trying roll with the fast cars.

Trust me bro. I know it sucks. It's actually made me so depressed that I just zone out completely. A couple of times I've had to leave the gym I was so upset. I've lived for deadlifting for quite a while now, and I was very proud of my numbers. To have that taken away is fucking brutal. However, I'm still in the gym, making PRs on some upper body things, and my weight is nearing that of pre-surgery. I consider it one more obstacle that will simply motivate me more and drive me harder. Fuck my back...I will dominate the gym with or without its cooperation.

Good luck with it bro, and seriously get it checked out soon. Its probably not anything that will halt your progress. Maybe its simply telling you to take a little break. Keep us posted

Also, Zyg promotes an option that you may be interested in. You may want to pm him about it, or maybe he'll chime in here.

 

[bignate73]

gains like that in just a few months?, take a week or 2 off from the low back intensive stuff. i know you love the lifts, but the body has to have time to catch up. if you were regularly squatting AND deadlifting weekly or so, you could have some cumulative microtrauma that is now talking to you. your body can recover pretty quickly but sometimes the little bits add up to one big thing. take some time off before the little things add up to something that stops you for a long time. dont worry, you did great up til this point, you'll continue to progress given a small setback.

im feeling your pain on this as well. i had a pretty hard run for the past 6 weeks, really pushing my weights up. finally at week 7, i had to throw the towel in for a week off of rest. im not hating it, but im really looking forward to monday! hehe. rest up, do some light work for those areas or none at all. focus on some ab work for a week or so, to reinforce that lower back. you'll be fine.

if the pain is really bad, get it looked at. if its tight/sore a bit, stretch it, rest it and lay off it for a week.

sorry to sound repetitive. good luck bro.

 

[gmanlax7]

i just recently started going for higher reps on deads, 8, while before the highest i was going was 5.

this is making me want to stick to low numbers

Bfold - what are the other exercises that have strengthened your deadlift , but are easier on your body ? i want to do those