Originally Posted by
Matt James
Going back to the original questions:
No, yes, probably not.
Remember, both the low bar squat and the deadlift stress the posterior chain. You started with a deadlift that was quite a bit higher than what someone who came into the program totally green. As a result, your back is starting to feel a lot of stress that it's not adapted to. My suggestion for the deadlift would be to work up to a weight that you can do for a set of 5 without a form breakdown (as described in the book) and then continue adding 5 lbs per workout from that weight. Your back will adapt and the squat and deadlift should become mutually beneficial to each other's progress.
A belt will help you continue to add weight to the bar, as you learn to use it, but it's not going to make your lumbars work any less.