Training Around a Low Back Strain

[John Tony]

Andy,

I am on a 4 day TM split, but for the purposes of this discussion I will just focus on lower body:

M: Int Bench, Vol Press
T: Int Squat, Int Deadlift, Vol Deadlift
Th: Int Press, Vol Bench
Fri: Vol Bench, Power Clean

I strained my low back a few weeks ago and up until the last few workouts I was able to train through it. However, it is now causing me to miss lifts on my Tuesday session: Int squat, Int deadlift, and vol deadlift.

I don't know that the injury occurred in the gym (i.e. there was no discernible moment when I injured it) but the most noticeable effect is the inability to maintain low back position in the start of a deadlift.

I think trying to push through at this point is not only going to be a waste since I will continue to miss lifts, but increase the risk of a worse injury as well.

What is your recommended plan of attack? Lay off squats and deadlifts completely until it is healed, work at lighter weights, or something else?

My upper body movements haven't been affected so I am planning on continuing those as scheduled.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Start back up a little lighter and give it time to heal without making it worse. If you are training to the point of failure on squat and dead that isn't a good idea with a back injury. But neither is just doing nothing unless its a severe injury.

[John Tony]

Thanks Andy.

My intensity days were rotating one set of triples, one set of doubles and one single over a 3 week period. In addition to reducing the weight would it be a good idea to change the rep scheme for intensity day as well?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Yeah. I wouldn't be doing anything less than 5. You aren't going to have true "intensity days" anyway right now while you heal up. I'd honestly squat with more of an HLM style right now. More frequency and volume at lighter weights (lots of sets of moderate 5s) will probably speed up healing, maintain work capacity, and not get you reinjured.