I have been doing leg press as the supplemental deadlift method 2 on the 12 Week Strength strength template because I’m more susceptible to “good morning-ing” my squats than “leg pressing” them. I’m currently experiencing some lower back pain and have been trying to be more cognizant of movements that cause this pain to flare up. It turns out that leg press is one of these movements - I think I tend to lift my butt up slightly off the seat when I get to the bottom of the movement, throwing my lumbar spine into slight flexion. I realize that I could probably just cut my ROM short and basically “half press,” but I’d rather just do something else entirely.
My gym has both a belt squat and a hack squat machine. I can always do stuff like lunges as well. Which alternative would you recommend?
My recommendation is the belt squat, but I simply have a bias for this movement over the hack squat - try both and opt for whichever you prefer, since they are both fine alternatives.
However, you can modify your leg press programming if you wish to work with this pain you’re experiencing and progress to this movement being pain-free or with reduced pain (eventually). Obviously, follow the first step of keeping calm and keeping yourself from getting lost in the biomechanical weeds when you experience pain. It might not be due to some slight flexion in your lumbar segment, and I’m inclined to believe this isn’t the issue since you may enter more flexion on your deadlifts and squats - neither of which you’ve mentioned in this post as being painful - than may be apparent to you. Second, you should try modifying the exercise intensity to find a load that allows you to complete this movement without pain. The third step is to find a slight ROM modification of this original movement that allows you to complete the movement without pain, which would be a partial leg press in your case. This option is off the table since you mentioned that you do not wish to perform this half press, indicating that your next step would be to experiment with the belt squat or hack squat machines.
Thanks for your response, Alex! It seems like you’re saying there’s no significant advantage/disadvantage to doing one or the other. I’m leaning belt squat as well, but I’ll give them both a try and see which one feels better.
I apologize for not giving sufficient information in my original post. My back pain has been present for about 5-6 weeks now, and recently started to get worse. I’ve been trying to stay calm and find ways to train around the pain for the time being (after initially trying to train through the pain, which probably made things worse). The pain is very much present during deadlifts - I currently can’t pull 135 from the floor without feeling a pinch - and during other pulls as well, such as mid shin rack pulls. Squats, on the other hand, don’t cause it to flare up, so long as I maintain tightness and don’t go excessively deep. I recognize that no exercise in the BBM templates is inherently dangerous, but unless it’s a competition movement, I’d rather try something else than do something that hurts. I have a Skype consult scheduled with Dr. Ray tomorrow morning, so hopefully I’ll have a better understanding of my pain by then, as well as a plan to get back to being relatively pain free.
i have not read Alex’s reply (sorry Alex ;)) but when i read what you wrote i was like: Wait a minute, i just spent an hr of reading/watching/thinking about pain,…
Anyway,… your wrote (i comment after “<.—” ):
Disclaimer: I might use wording which might not be good/best/perfect,… maybe even not helping. If you read this and find such a thing, please do me the favous and post a reply - thx.
currently experiencing some lower back pain
← i am sorry, been there about 4 weeks ago
and have been trying to be more cognizant of movements that cause,…
<— You shouldnt. If you think you have more pain when you sneeze, YOU WILL LIKELY have more pain when you sneeze. Or to put it differently: You being overly aware of whats going on, makes you more susceptible to judge something wrong
I think I tend to lift my butt up slightly off the seat when I get to the bottom of the movement, throwing my lumbar spine into slight flexion
<— You are over aware i guess, probably even under laboratory conditions it would be hard to say: Your “feelings” are correct. Think about your wording, you used words like: think, tend, slightly, slight,… if they were percentages, what is 1/4 * 1/4 * 1/4 * 1/4 ,… when we talk about probability? I am not saying that you dont feel like that. I am sure you do. But that doesnt tell us anything. Our feelings are sometimes not in line with “what is actually true and causing our pain”. It seems unlikely that your movement is the cause of the pain - is what i am trying to say
I realize that I could probably just cut my ROM short
<— Why would you do that? Well, BBM suggests lowering weight first and when you are at bodyweight and still feel pain, then we look for a similar but different variation of the exercise.
There is tons of material on pain out there, Austin, Lorimer Moseley and others. Maybe you want to read up on it? If you dont know where to look for it, just tell me and i will give you a few links. Heres one, that might be off interest for you:
