Hey BBM crew. Huge fan of your content, and your information on pain/rehab and specifically low back pain has helped me tremendously, and helped me help my father through some difficult times as well.
I’m no stranger to having low back episodes, and since finding your resources I’ve always been able to handle it well and get back to normal training quickly. However, I’m currently having a bit of trouble.
About a month ago I had the old pop on the left side of my low back doing some snatch grip deadlifts. I didn’t panic or freak out, just stayed active and did some light lifting and within 3 or 4 days most of the pain was gone. However, a lingering feeling of “instability” in the left side remained. Four days later I was doing some tempo SSB squatting. Empty bar felt fine, 105 felt fine, 145 felt fine for the first few reps and then the same pop occurred in the left side. I took the weight off, did some empty bar squats, then 105 for a few sets of 5, then back to 145 for another set and I felt much better.
Ever since, I’ve had this same thing happen two more times. The first was getting up off of the ground after playing with my dog, and the second was Friday getting out of the car. Each time I’ve stayed active, did light lifting and the bulk of the pain clears in a few days, but this feeling of “instability” in the left side remains. It actually is lessened for the day or two following one of these tweaks, but I assume that’s just because my entire low back is pretty sore so I just don’t notice the weird feeling.
My question is just if there is any additional consideration needed here? Previous acute tweaks haven’t had this feeling, and I’m usually back to regular training within 4 or 5 days (with slower onset episodes taking longer to clear up oddly). The actual pain seems to dissipate in the same time frame here (2-3 days and most is gone), but the lingering feeling of “instability” didn’t seem to clear up at all during the 2.5 week stretch I had between the past two tweaks.
Can you outline a bit more of what your general training looks like at the moment? I get the sense you are doing very well in terms of adjusting intensity appropriately in the aftermath of these episodes, but I’m mainly interested in how much variation in exercise selection & general activity you have in your current setup. It may be that you need to take a bit of time away from more “barbell-specific” movements and move / train in a ton of different ways to build up some tolerance and address that sensitivity, before returning back to those kinds of movements. I discuss this further here:
I actually listened to the podcast about that article a few weeks ago, and have been using that advice. Training right now has been 3x per week lower body stuff, with a big emphasis on single leg stuff and barbell movements I never do. Something like this currently:
Day 1:
5-0-0 Sumo Deadlift w/ belt - 3 ascending sets of 10-12 reps
Belt Squat - 2 sets of 10-12 @ 8 ish
GHR - 2 sets of 6-8 reps @ 7-8
GHR Situp - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Day 2:
3-1-0 Pin Squat w/ belt - 3 ascending sets of 10-12 reps
3-1-3 SL RDL - 2 sets of 10-12 reps @ 7-8
Reverse Nordic / Banded Leg Extension - 2 sets of 10-15 reps @ 7-8
3-1-3 Staggered Stance Side Bend - 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Day 3:
3-1-0 Wide Stance SSB w/ belt - 3 ascending sets of 10-12 reps
Back Extension - 2 sets of 12-15 reps @ 7-8
Curtsy Lunge - 2 sets of 10-12 reps @ 7-8
Kneeling Ab Wheel - 3 sets of high reps
The feeling of “instability” has substantially decreased the past week or so after posting this so I’m headed in the right direction.