28 y.o male no health conditions, very active. I’ve been dealing with low back pain associated with spinal extension for the last 4 years. I’ve competed in d1 college rugby with this pain. Since the onset of pain I have been able to train my lower body the way I’d like (heavy squats, deadlifts etc. I’ve been just doing movements for lower body that don’t bother my lower back but I feel like my progress is stalled and I want to really focus on addressing the problem. Is there a way to modify the lower body template so I can do two upper body days and 2 days dedicated to the lower back template?
Hi there,
Yeah, this is easy to set up, and the way you’re thinking about it is close, with one adjustment that matters. I’d just do 2 of the template’s training days (vs the 3 in the first two phases) as planned, removing any upper body stuff. Then, I’d do your normal upper body days in between. So, upper-lower-upper-lower for 4-days a week.
That said, since you’ve been dealing with this for years and really want to get a handle on it, you might benefit from just running the template as planned for a few weeks. Yea, the upper body training load is likely less than you’re doing now, but it’s not going to make you weaker or anything for the limited time you’ll run it. That might be a more fool-proof move.
In the same vein, if you want the graded exposure dialed specifically to you and your lifts, that’s what our rehab consults are for.
Further reading
- Low Back Pain Rehab Template — the tool for this, built to walk loading back into the back gradually. Low Back Pain Rehab Program Return to Training | Barbell Medicine
- Pain in Training: What Should You Do? — the reintroduce-load mindset that’s the actual fix here. Pain in Training: What To Do?
- Rehab consult if you want the graded return dialed to you: Injury & Rehab Coaching | Barbell Medicine
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Thanks for your response. If I were to implement your upper/lower 4 day strategy, how would you recommend structuring the lower days (starting with phase 1)? I am going to try this for a few weeks and see how I tolerate it. If my symptoms don’t improve I will take your suggestion and run the program as is. It’s tough for me to want to dial back on upper training because it is the only aspect of my training that I can make substantial progress with.
I would do it the way I mentioned above. Might’ve gotten lost in the wall of text:
do 2 of the template’s training days (vs the 3 in the first two phases) as planned, removing any upper body stuff from those days. Then, I’d do your normal upper body days in between. So, upper-lower-upper-lower for 4-days a week.
So, I’d do Day 1 (template), Day 2 (your upper body workout), Day 3 (template), Day 4 (your 2nd upper body workout).