Re-gaining my strength with pain free movements, but chronic pain still exists.

Hello,

I have been strength training on and off for about 2 years now. During the winter of 2017/2018 was the first time I was really able to stick to a program and be consistent (mostly because I bought my home gym). I had 315lbs of weight and figured that would last me a while, but by the spring of 2018 I was squatting and deadlifting 315 for reps without to much issue. I continued to do this for a couple more months, following a 5/3/1 template but just increasing my rep range on the ‘heavy’ week.

In July I finally bought an addition 2, 45lb plates so I could start to train beyond 315, and of course I wanted to try and see what my real 1RM was after training at 315 for so long. I first tested my squat and got to about 350 and stopped there. The next day I wanted to test my deadlift. I kept adding 10lbs and lifted them fine up to 380. At 380, I completed the pull with decent speed, but felt some pretty intense acute pain in my lower back. Luckily, I had literally watch Alan Thralls video where he hurts his back with Austin a few days prior, so I at least had some sense what I should do.

I tried not to panic, and did some body weight squats and banded RDLs etc… The pain and stiffness was pretty intense for the first week (sciatic type symptoms), but I kept moving and did some light weight strength training and the pain decreased for about 6 weeks. I also train for cycling and decided to focus on that for the last few months of summer.

I may have over corrected, but I basically started back down in the high 100s, and slowly worked my way back up. I am about 4 months since the injury and I am squatting and deadlifting in the mid 200s with no pain, and making progress again.

But this is where I am a little confused what to do. When I workout (either strength training or cycling), I experience no pain. Usually my back actually feels the best during exercise. But I still have the issues during all the other times. I wake up and my back hurts, if I sit on the couch my back hurts, if I stand to long my back hurts etc…
(mostly lower back/glute pain, no pain down the leg like there was for the first 6 weeks).

So I guess my questions are:

Will continuing to strength train and exposing my body to these movements eventually help with pain during normal day to day type activities, like sitting?

If I complete a set of squats or deadlifts with 0 pain, but in the following hours or next day I feel an increase in pain, does that mean the movement was not pain free?

In the most recent BBM podcast, they had mentioned a ‘spike in fatigue’ can increase your chance of injury, do you think that was what happened? My body was strong enough to lift the weight, but I had not exposed it to any weights over 315.

Thanks for your help.

EDIT:
I am male, 30 years old, and I weigh about 190lbs. I have been lightly active my whole life skiing and cycling, but I am (was?) extremely undertrained, and never did any formal fitness plan or training up until about ~2 years ago.

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Same for me. As I warm up and progress through the workout - it gets better and better. The next day, or the day after however, mornings are as stiff as they get, with some (tolerable) pain. The pain goes away after about 15-20 minutes of moving around the house, preparing that 1000 kCal breakfast. :slight_smile:

Truant, sorry to hear about the low back pain. It’s likely this is a loading issue where you didn’t adequately expose higher intensity lifts beyond 315# and then acutely increased load in a single session; 380# is decent jump from 315# (20.5 %). However, what’s done is done. Moving forward it would be helpful to reframe the premise of pain as it relates to the movements/positions you are continuing to experience symptoms with, while also continuing to train to tolerance. You’d likely benefit form a consult with us so we can help guide your path back to your goals and provide individualistic advice: Contact Us | Barbell Medicine.

Regarding your questions.

Your symptoms should continue to regress (provided we have a better understanding what is pain, minimize fear avoidance, and continue to complete necessary life tasks). It sounds as though your symptoms have already been improving since onset in July?

If you are having a dramatic increase in symptoms the next day after training, then it is likely you didn’t tolerate loading well (this doesn’t mean you’ve injured yourself).