Happy Friday BBM!
I’ve been working out for over 3 months and have recently switched from SS to the Bridge after some discussions with BBM staff during my form check (Thank you Hassan!). I have mention this in another post, but I had lifted for multiple years from 2005 to 2009 but had stopped due to some back pain and being told by a doctor I should no longer deadlift or squat. After finding you all, I’ve been working back to get my strength and that is my primary focus.
During the 3 months of SS, I pulled conventional the whole way through. I had avoided it for years as I was afraid further hurting my lower back/discs, but that had changed when I found your content. During week 4 of the SS, I had re-aggravated my back but kept working through it and now I have no pain while I squat. However, my deadlift seems to re-aggravate my back and cause tightness for the last several months. I had tried to work through it but at this point my pulls are starting to become weaker (245x5 DL, Now can barely hit 225x1). Back when I lifted previously, I had sumo deadlifted and played around with that during the rack pulls (not my working sets, just with bar or light weight after my Conventional sets) and noticed I had much less pain throughout the exercise. I don’t plan to quit training (never again!) but would it be detrimental for me to switch the Sumo now? (finished 2 of my 3 working sessions for week 1)
If switching now is fine, I planned to work it back up slowly and not just load what I conventionally pull - but also want to make sure I’m hitting the correct RPE.
At this point, would it be okay for me to switch at the start of the Bridge or should I just pull conventional at a lower weight until I feel improvements on my back.
Thank you all in advance!