Hello gentlemen! I’d like to start by saying that my neck is doing fine, I haven’t had any issues with it since my last post haha. However, I’m having an issue with my lower back.
My training program prescribed deadlifts with 200 kg. I was being stubborn and went with 220 kg instead. At the same time, I changed the deadlift variation from speed pulls to paused deadlifts, which probably played a role too. I was doing those with 150 kg, around 5 sets of 3 reps.
After all of this, my lower back started to hurt and feel sensitive. The weird thing is that it doesn’t bother me at all during the workout, only during out-of-gym daily activities. It’s sensitive to hyperextension and I’m also feeling some sciatica in both glutes and legs.
How can I fix/resolve this issue? And how should I modify my Strongman event day to manage this recovery process. I want to say that it took some time for this to develop. Around 2-3 weeks. First it flared up just a bit, then calmed down then flared up again and so on.
I’m happy to hear your neck is feeling better, though I wish something didn’t take it’s place.
Sounds to me like a pretty standard tweak, which appears to be due to a spike in training load: you pulled 220 when the program said 200 and swapped speed pulls for paused pulls at the same time. That’s quite a bit to add all at once.
The picture’s somewhat reassuring, though. It doesn’t hurt while you train and it ebbs and flows. I don’t love the description of sciatica, though depending on what you’re actually feeling, it may not be something that would change what I do. The perils of trying to dissect a single forum post!
I really think this is an excellent use case for a consult with our pain and rehab team. I have some concerns regarding continuing to do a strongman event day with this history, as I am not sure how much it can be modified, as well as what the rest of the program looks like (and if it needs modifications).
That said, a general guideline would be to reduce the weight significantly for the deadlifts even though your back feels fine during the workout. I would also skip the paused pulls in favor of a single leg hinge variant, perhaps a single leg RDL or hip thrust. Yes, I know they’re light and feel goofy. For the event day, cut the load and volume on the spine-heavy stuff for a couple weeks, heavy yoke, carries, heavy pulls, and gradually bring the volume (first) and then load back up.
Hey, Jordan! Thank you for the answer. I gave a read to the articles you sent here. I modified the load for the moment and it feels better already. I will gradually go back up to where I was. I’ll pause the events day for this week, and depending on how I will feel, maybe the next week too. I really appreciate the time and the knowledge you guys offer here!
