Hey y’all.
I know y’alls protocol of finding a weight to where there’s no pain, and if not that, an ROM where there is no pain.
But I don’t really have more or less pain during the exercise. I have pain outside the gym. It isn’t DOMS, I’ve been lifting for like 5 years and know the difference.
It’s in my low back, just to the right of the spine. I have had this pain occur a few times over the years, and it usually gets better on its own.
I understand that a lot of pain isn’t caused by injury. So if I’m likely not injured, should I even lower the load or reduce ROM, if I can work through it without doing so? Do I risk anything by not doing so?
I wanna stress that the pain isn’t load dependent. It just always hurts a little bit. Just nagging, in and out of the gym. Thats why its tough to follow the usual protocol of “use a weight that doesn’t hurt.”
One thing I’ve noticed is that it hurts whenever I have it rested in the same position for a long time, and then move it into another. But actually, the more movement I get, the better it feels. I worked out last night, kept all my loads how I normally would, but used a belt for everything.
So I did not follow the usual protocol of finding a weight where it feels better first (because that doesn’t seem applicable to my situation), and then a ROM second if changing the load doesn’t work, and then lastly a substitution if all else fails. I just went straight to substitution (I’m doing The Bridge, and it says to use beltless for all variations).
Is that alright? And what about using sumo to manage back fatigue? I have looong femurs, pull conventional and also low bar squat.
Hey Cani687 - thanks for the questions. There may be some misunderstanding here. We don’t say “finding a weight to where there’s no pain”, rather we advocate for finding activity dosage that allows for a tolerable experience for the individual. This distinction is important so folks don’t avoid activity for fear of a pain experience. Check out this article if you’ve not yet done so: Pain in training: what do?
If you prefer sumo over conventional deadlift, then that’s fine. I would still say find tolerable dosage of loading and not just “chase numbers”. If you need individual guidance, we’d be happy to consult with you. Please complete our intake paperwork HERE.
In the grand scheme of things I do not think powering through would be advisable. If you are consistently experiencing pain a few hours after session I would recommend accounting for this in the selection of weights. Using sumo deadlift is a viable option if it is not bringing on symptoms afterwards.
Unfortunately, I can tolerate a lot lol. So it’s difficult to gauge what load makes for a “tolerable experience,” because of that. Also difficult to know what is/isn’t an appropriate/tolerable load because I won’t know whether my back hurts more/less until the next day.
What do I risk exactly?
And what about keeping the load the same, but switching to sumo, which is less taxing on my back, due to the more upright position?
It is ultimately at your discretion and when it comes to risk, it really is how much/how long you want to deal with the symptoms afterwards. You are perfectly fine to switch to sumo, but there does seem to be some aversion to lightening the load. Just because you can tolerate a lot, doesn’t not inherently mean that there should be a constant push into attempting to tolerate it. It is perfectly fine to decrease the load for a few sessions and see how your back feels the next day. That being said, you are perfectly fine running sessions with different variation to see if that works as well. If I were coaching you, we would take a few sessions at a lighter load and see how you respond the day after. However, I am not and you are welcome to try some different methods.
I appreciate the feedback. I haven’t really lightened the load, but I have switched to sumo. I do still have some issues, but it definitely seems less bad. It’s definitely noticeably worse after a day of conventional. I have long as shit femurs, so I think between conventional, low bar squat, and pendlays, it’s just creating too much fatigue. I’m switching to sumo.
Going back to risk, do I risk anything other than more/longer pain if I don’t unload the bar, and instead change the movement? Like, am I more/less likely to get injured? Or just a prolonged pain experience?
Hey Cani687 - ultimately we advocate for auto-regulating loading rather than just finding work arounds to keep “chasing numbers”. However, at the end of the day, it is your decision to make how you choose to approach programming. Hearing your questions about risks in regards to outcomes of pain experiences and/or injury almost seems as though you are aware of steps that need to happen here but are reluctant to buy in. With that in mind, you need to make the best decisions for yourself, situation, and goals. We can merely advise how we would approach similar situations with folks generally speaking. For more involved individualized advice, we need a consultation with you.
You will likely find these two podcasts of benefit for your situation: