KnuteMeyer
I was wondering what modifications, if any, you’d make to the NLP for someone with a grade 1 spondy (L4/L5). For context, I’m a male, age 30, 5ft 11.5, 195 pounds.
Mark Rippetoe
Get a good 3-inch belt and learn how to use it.
I’ve got the starting strength double ply belt. Would you recommend keeping power cleans? In your podcasts about spondy, you recommend not doing them because someone with a spondy shouldn’t be slamming things around. Additionally, you’ve said to use the least effective dose, just go in, do one heavy set, then quit. Does that advice apply to novices with spondy as well?
Do power cleans hurt?
I don’t get any sharp pain but my lower back muscles get tight.
You want your lower back muscles to be loose?
It doesn’t feel like a good tightness, more the muscles are seizing up and it makes my lowback ache really bad.
Do deadlifts hurt?
Yeah, the same thing happens.
Squats?
Yep.
Get an MRI.
I did and that’s how they identified the spondy. The assessment is that the muscles are getting tight to protect the spine.
I'll bet you that if you gain 20 pounds of bodyweight, this goes away.
Waschechterwiener
I'm 22 years old and doing the NLP. Even though i can progress, my lower back seems to be the weakest link in the chain and feels extremely sore every single time after I do squats or deadlifts. It is not painful, but prevents me from progressing the way I should be.
I read the first 3 questions and I am eating more than enough, sleeping enough and resting enough between my sets. I genuinely have no idea what it could be. I deadlift once a week, do back extentions with added weight once and power clean once.
Do you have some advice, sir?
Numbers? What about the pain is keeping you from adding 5 pounds to the bar and lifting it?
Around 130-140kg squats, for fives obviously. Deadlifts 155kg for 5, Powerclean Something between 85-90kg for a triple. I can assure you that I'm not a pussy, I always try to do the weights I have to lift but my lower back feels so fatigued that i can't manage to complete even the first set of 5. This is really weird; let's say i managed to do 135kg for 3x5. The next workout with 137,5kgs fails at rep number 3 or 4. This happened pretty often unfortunately, and i deloaded by 5-10% every time that happened.
I tried the light day method you explained in practical programming, where you use 80% on squats but that just made me weaker for the next squat workout. I feel like I have to squat "heavy" every workout in order to make progress but that seems impossible with being sore all the time. I know you don't give a fuck about muscle groups, but it feels like my legs could take way more punishment but my lower back cannot.
Tell us about the First Three Questions. Details.
I am 22 years old, sleeping around 9 hours a night, I am resting around 10-12 minutes between sets when training squats. I am atleast eating 4000 kcals a day. With 10 eggs and bread and chiapudding in the "morning" later pasta with vegetables and so on. When I do not feel satisfied, im drinking half a liter of milk. Was there more?
If your lower back is "fried" you are not recovering. Figure out why.
Training Heavy, Olympic Lifts, and Strength with Carl Raghavan | Starting Strength Radio #339 –
Why Your Toes Should be Turned Out in the Squat –Phil Meggers
Highlights from the StartingStrength Community. Browse archives.
