Programming for Tall Lifter after Back Tweak

Morning,

Age: 33
Height: 6’7"
Weight: 255-265

I successfully ran a modified version of the SSLP and took my Squat to 255 and Deadlift to 320. Not anything to write home about, but I’ll take it. One night after a set of Squats I cut the training session short because my lower back started to balloon and tighten up. Several hours later I was in pretty bad shape and getting out of bed or standing up was a life-or-death struggle. Wanting to rule out spinal or disc issues, I decided to see a doctor.

Doctor wrote it off as mechanical back pain and told me to take 6 to 8 weeks off.

Friend of mine is a chiropractor (although he’s never formally assessed me) and said roughly the same thing, but added I should still find a way to train and that “doing nothing” would be the worst thing to do. He is familiar with Starting Strength, 5/3/1, etc, and casually mentioned that I should find a way to add in additional lower back or hamstring work.

I began fiddling around with arched-back good-mornings and RDLs for high sets with the bar which actually provided some relief. I don’t know if this is just from the blood being pumped into the area or this is actually reinforcing the connective tissue.

In any event, I would like to incorporate RDLs and GMs going forward into my training, and was wondering the best way to do that. I was thinking something like:

Monday and Friday
Squat - 5x3
Bench - 5x3
RDL or GM - 8x3

Tuesday
Light Squat - 5x2
Press - 5x3
Deadlift

Thanks for reading.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I way out of line?

Michael,

Thanks for the post and hope you’re feeling better. We would take issue with the diagnosis of mechanical back pain, but that’s for another time. We do agree you should be exercising and staying active. Our recommendations for management are summed up here:

We also would not recommend continuing LP, as there are a number of shortcomings in that program. We would recommend our Beginner Template:

-Jordan