Adjusting volume/intensity for lower back fatigue?

[Nick-H]

I'm now in my second round of the bridge (week 2), and both times I have been battling issues with my lower back not recovering after Friday's deadlifts. I'll come in the following Monday, manage my squats and then rack pulls are a joke. Some days I'll just skip them because my lower back is so gassed and end up doing weighted chins. If I don't skip them I have to do them at a way lower weight of what I pulled on Friday.

If it's really bad I'll sub out my rowe's for chins on Wednesday to give it a little more time to recover and be in better shape for pulls on Friday.

Come Friday my lower back is usually pretty tight during warm ups and typically won't feel 100% when pulling.



I'm curious as to how I can adjust the programming to help my lower back adjust to this amount of volume. Would it be smart to reduce the intensity on Friday's pulls but maintain the volume and then slowly increase the intensity up until I'm back to the normal programming?

I'm 5'9 185lbs and eating 2500 calories with some cheating on the weekends. The volume on press/bench didn't seem to be an issue, so I am tempted to say calorie wise I'm doing okay..

Thanks in advance for your input,
Nick

[Leah Lutz]

There are a couple of things to consider here. 1. your form might be off on your pulls, causing this fatigue. 2. you are overshooting the RPE with the DLs and you need to lower the weight on the bar. So I'd get your form checked and most definitely lower the weight, keep the volume, and then increase the weight to be in line with the prescribed RPE. Also your rack pulls should most likely be less weight than your competition DLs anyway.

[Nick-H]

As far as my form being off, would that be my hips starting to high and turning it into almost a SLDL? If my back was rounding slightly this would cause less stress in the lower back correct?

I’ll take a look at them and asses the bar speed, and get the RPE dialed in. Would this thread be an appropriate spot for a form check?

Thanks Leah

[Nick-H]

As far as my form being off, would that be my hips starting to high and turning it into almost a SLDL? If my back was rounding slightly this would cause less stress in the lower back correct?

I’ll take a look at them and asses the bar speed, and get the RPE dialed in. Would this thread be an appropriate spot for a form check?

Thanks Leah

[Nick-H]

As far as my form being off, would that be my hips starting to high and turning it into almost a SLDL? If my back was rounding slightly this would cause less stress in the lower back correct?

I’ll take a look at them and asses the bar speed, and get the RPE dialed in. Would this thread be an appropriate spot for a form check?

Thanks Leah

[Leah Lutz]

As far as my form being off, would that be my hips starting to high and turning it into almost a SLDL? If my back was rounding slightly this would cause less stress in the lower back correct?

I’ll take a look at them and asses the bar speed, and get the RPE dialed in. Would this thread be an appropriate spot for a form check?

Thanks Leah

Too many variables to say for sure here, Nick. We don't do form checks in the moderated sections of this forum, but you can post in the unmoderated section or over at the starting strength coaches section of that forum.