I was curious about whether or not the low back rehab template would be a good option for me. The reason I’m unsure is because I’m so new to lifting. Other than doing SSNLP for only about 4 weeks 3 years ago I’m essentially untrained with resistance training. I’m working through the Beginner Template and on week 2 day 3 I tweaked my back doing DL. I’m familiar enough with BBM to know not to leave the gym immediately. I walked around, did air squats, air dead lifts, etc… then did some lower weight DL and worked up to the prescribed RPE taking pain into consideration. Next session my back felt pretty good going in but I just started warming up and tweaked my back again when I was pulling only 135lbs (first tweak happened at 200lbs). Next session with DL prescribed I decided my back once again felt ok going into the session. As I was warming up again I tweaked my back at 135lbs. Today I decided to pull off blocks and only pull 95lbs. Felt ok until my 3rd set when I felt my back pop again.
im trying not to get upset about this and take it as part of the process, but the fact that I feel this pop in my back with excruciating pain every DL session even when I’m backing way off and trying to rehab it’s getting pretty discouraging.
additionally, for a few days after these tweaks bending over and lifting my leg to simply put my pants on is borderline unbearable pain as well as putting on my shoes.
my biggest question is this… it feels odd to me to need to do a rehab template after lifting for only 3 weeks. But I’m seriously considering getting the low back template or even the bundle. Would this be a good course of action or is there some things I could potentially be doing before that?
Sorry to hear this.
I don’t think jumping into a back rehab template is necessary this early on. Rather, I might temporarily substitute the conventional deadlift you’re doing in that slot for a different type of “pulling” movement (could be anything – machine/cable rows, pulldowns, pull-ups, inverted rows, dumbbell rows, RDLs, etc.) and try to build up some good momentum on the squat and upper body lifts, then re-introduce the deadlift (or perhaps you could try switching to a sumo deadlift to see if you tolerate that better).
If you are feeling unsure and seeking guidance, you could pursue a consult with our staff (or the bundle, which includes an initial consult), but I think you’ll be able to get through this.
Thanks for the response Austin. I’ll try some other pulling motions (my brother was telling me earlier I might be able to do sumo instead of conventional). It’s clear that I’m pretty sensitized to the movement. Also trying to work through the mental side of it. My squat is affected by the pain now as well. Additionally, I was raised going to a chiropractor and have a biomechanical model of pain pretty ingrained in me particularly when it comes to back pain as a result. It’s difficult for me to not think “I just need my back to crack and I’ll be ok” or that I need to immobilize it. I know those things aren’t true, but they feel so ingrained in me.
Just to follow up here… I tried Sumo and was almost completely pain free. I did feel some fatigue build up in my back by the third set of 4 but I just dropped the weight 10 lbs and pulled another 4 @ 8. And I was almost at the same weight I was pulling conventional before the tweak. The last couple sessions have felt so good to feel like I’m actually training and not trying to work around pain points.