Alternative to Paused DL on Strength I?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I’m working my way through Strength I and have really been enjoying the template and making good progress. I recently started the phase with Paused DL and have had some back pain (and back pain phobia) that is slowing me down.

I had what I believe is an L4/5 herniation last August, which has healed up well and I was able to return to training after a layoff. The paused DL has aggravated my back in some way that is reminiscent of this. Specifically, it is causing pain and spasm down my right leg. This is very reminiscent of my symptoms last year, which also coincided with the worst pain I have ever experienced. I want to train through this, but the leg symptoms loom large in my mind and are holding me back. I think my pause DL technique could be better (I tend to “bounce” a little in the pause), but I am thinking that I’d prefer to use an alternative supplementary lift and not deal with it at all. My worries are not that my back will explode, but that I will have to take another layoff at a time when I am making good progress.

I think Jordan’s answer when asked about substitutions or additional exercises tends to be “that’s fine,” and I doubt there is a single right answer here.

I liked doing banded DL, and could continue doing those, but I see that deficit DL is also coming up, and maybe I should go ahead and start those now. Or maybe RDLs as an interim lift? Looking for suggestions/experience…

Any thoughts?

2

Glad to hear you’re doing well now and are training normally. A few thoughts:

  1. I’d probably cycle through something like mid shin block/rack pulls, pulls + bands, and deficit pulls in different blocks if you’re amenable to those. I’d save the RDL for a GPP block as a main lift or a secondary exercise in a strength focused block.

  2. I think the narrative about the injury last August may be limiting and should probably be addressed by a professional.

  3. I don’t think your technique has anything to do with this, though I would suspect you could tolerate a much lighter load if you had to stick with this exercise.

-Jordan

3

Thanks, Jordan, for the quick response!

  1. This is very helpful. I will try the rack pulls, then move on to Deficits as programmed for next phase.
  2. I agree, it’s definitely the narrative that’s more limiting than any objective signs/symptoms. My strategy for addressing this is to train through it, and to do heavy DLs to teach my back that heavy DLs are just fine.
  3. I think you may be right, at least in that I don’t think that paused DL are an exercise I “can’t” or shouldn’t do. I’m just too impatient at the moment to spend the time to figure them out. I will defer them to later when I may have the patience to devote the time to dialing down the weight and building up to get these feeling more comfortable. Maybe in my next hypertrophy block. For right now, I have a 4-plate conventional DL in my sights and am determined to get there.

John