Hi guys,
I am currently in Beginner Template Block II week 5(overall week 13), so far I have done everything as prescribed, unfortunately I injured my lower back on Saturday while deadlifting (Sharp Pain on Topset with 140kg). I could hardly move for about an hour, putting on shoes was difficult for 2 days. I followed your recommendations and continued to move and train . Pain is much better now but back feels a little “insecure” .Today I did Squats with reduced weight (about 10 percent fewer than usual top set weight ) and fewer sets than prescribed. The pain was in the area of the ilioscral joint, the muscles there cramped up/ were very tense.
My question: As this injury is probably due to overloading/ too much fatigue, should I reduce the sets and intensity of the beginner program? Or just carry on as before? Whats the “path” after this?
Kind regards and many thanks
Edit: I had this kind of pain at a similar spot a few years earlier during garden work (heavy lifting), so this is not unknown to me. But didnt had problems since then.
If everything is still moving ok (albeit sore) and you can perform the movement, I would stick with the prescribed RPE. Whilst it feels weird, that may translate to less weight for the effort of completing the exercise.
It’s very hard to say an injury is due to ‘too much weight/fatigue at this exact moment in time affecting this exact muscle’. Stuff happens and your approach to the squats sounds fine. You’re only on the first week of the block so there’s nothing lost by taking it a bit easier and repeating the week until you feel more secure in how things are going to feel when you load the bar up.
FWIW, I had exactly what you have and my lower back twinged badly with conventional setup so I changed my DL to sumo.
If even that isn’t enough to feel comfortable, you could pick variations with a slightly short range of movement e.g. pulling from blocks/bumpers. Then you’d work back to the original movement (if that’s what you want to do).