I periodically experience sensitivity in my low back (just below the waist line, in the center around the spine), in regular life but more specifically, when squatting or deadlifting. In both cases it occurs at the bottom of the movement, so just past a half squat, or in the first 1/3 of the deadlift ROM.
When this occurs, it doesn’t seem bear any relationship I have been able to identify to warmup, previous training or anything else - it just happens that day. The only identifiable connection is after sets >RPE 9, when I usually have pain and substantial performance reduction. However the practical result is a 10-15% reduction in performance on those lifts for that day. Sometimes it causes enough mental uncertainty that I have to take 20-30% off the bar in order to proceed with my sets, though I can usually work my way back up from there if I have time. usually the next day performance returns to baseline.
So should I conclude that
A) it do be like that, adjust weights as needed for the day and move on
or
B) I should develop a strategy to address this?
possible strategies would be:
- gradually increase trunk work from 1x/week to say, 4x per week
- add some accessories like Supermans, Good mornings, etc that are low back specific
- switch to a different competition variation such as high bar squat, sumo dl etc
- avoid anything past RPE 8 (although perhaps that’s a tenuous connection)
thanks!
I’m not sure if I can tell you much about your pain experience given this history, unfortunately. If it’s consistently happening and you’re unable to string together many months of productive training, you may consider getting some professional help.
I don’t think added trunk work or accessories would be my first move and I think that suggests a belief that a “weak” back or trunk is responsible for your symptoms. I think that narrative may be limiting here.
I don’t know that you need different exercises either if you’re otherwise able to tolerate them. Rather, it may be that you need different programming from an intensity and volume perspective to prepare you for higher intensity sets and moderate fatigue levels.
tl’dr- I’d be more curious about your programming and related history than anything else and that’s where I’d start playing with things.
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Thank you for the response.
I don’t think added trunk work or accessories would be my first move and I think that suggests a belief that a “weak” back or trunk is responsible for your symptoms. I think that narrative may be limiting here.
This makes sense.
tl’dr- I’d be more curious about your programming and related history than anything else and that’s where I’d start playing with things.
I’ve been training 3 years, no prior strength training history. BBM templates for the last 2+ years, very consistent training since early 2020.
Since the fall I have run Legacy Endurance, Strength I, Hypertrophy ! (first half only), Legacy Endurance again with added upper body slots (plus tons of trail running for about 16 weeks), Legacy Hyper 4day, and now starting PL II. I’ve seen modest but steady progress in that time - e1RMs up 20, 30, 40 and 60 on PR/BP/SQ/DL. Singles have tracked close to e1RMs for upper body lifts, but not for SQ/DL - for example my best DL effort is 305x6@8, e1RM 390, but PR single is 330.
A pain consult is something I have considered, although in general life I feel that this LBP is well managed. However for lifting it is an annoyance inasmuch as it limits progress, which is fun, and makes those sessions themselves frustrating.
I hear you.
I think if I had to hazard a guess at what was going on, it’d be the need for more graded exposure to singles and circa maximal efforts for strength work if that’s something you want to improve. To me, this makes sense given the small gap between a repetition effort and your actual max AND your symptom history.
You may consider running the first two blocks of PL-II with no lower body singles and reducing top set RPE all lower body sets to 8, max. Then re-running it as written as you’ve built some tolerance to that style of programming from your current baseline.
-Jordan
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You may consider running the first two blocks of PL-II with no lower body singles and reducing top set RPE all lower body sets to 8, max. Then re-running it as written as you’ve built some tolerance to that style of programming from your current baseline.
sounds like a great way forward, thank you. I will try this and revisit the idea of a consult afterwards.
To clarify: “first two blocks” = weeks 1-10?
thanks again.
Yep, you could do it like that.