My Stupid Back Tweak

[Jeff Hazeltine]

Yesterday, finishing week 3 of Novice, excited about how well everything is progressing, and I tweak my back about 2/3 of the way up on the 3rd rep of my working DL set. Of course I was scared. And really pissed off because I thought that I must have lost my concentration and my rigid back thinking about finishing the set. During the day, I read and watch a bunch of search results from the forum and start looking forward to Monday's workout and I think I'll be alright. THEN, turning a few pages in The Blue Book, I reread the programming page that says, "For a novice, the deadlift should not be trained using sets across." FU@^! When I wrote this weeks program, I wrote # X 5 X 3 on my dead lift working set line just like on my squat and press working set lines. It was during my third working set of dead lifts that I tweaked my back! I did 3 sets on Monday and 3 on Wednesday and yesterday I tweaked my back on the third set. So F'ing Stupid.

I had to get that confession out of the way. So....Monday? Warm up sets? And if the pain doesn't get worse, train as usual? Or should/could I back off on the loads for a week or more? I am not in a hurry. I've been going up by 2.5kg each workout because that's what I have. Should I get some micro plates?

66 years old 160 lb.
Squat 47.5 kg
Press 27.5 kg
BP 32.5 kg
DL 52.5 kg

[Mark Rippetoe]

What belt are you using?

[Maybach]

Deadlifts, even when programmed incorrectly, are seldom the proximal cause of a back tweak. Can you tweak your back doing deadlifts? Of course. But you can also tweak your back throwing a ball, putting on a slightly too small jacket, or sneezing. It just happens.

I would be very surprised if 50 kg could actually impact your workout on Monday, even with a back tweak, especially if you've been doing it for sets across. You are a bit older and lighter, but usually before the weight becomes actually dangerous, you should have authentically questioned, after the first set, whether or not you were expected to do two more sets. That you felt comfortable picking the barbell back up tells me this probably won't damage you too much.

If you find you are authentically fucked up, just roll the weight back until you can complete a set of five, and build back up aggressively from there.

Back tweaks are not "injuries" in the sense that that word is usually used: they don't represent an authentic insult to the tissue, and like I said are very rarely caused by the load management itself. The reason you "back off" when you experience a tweak is not to give the injury rest, but because the tweak actually *prevents you from lifting heavier*. If all your weights move comfortably on Monday (or at least, only with some minor discomfort from the tweak), then you don't need to change your loading (other than correctly eliminating the extra deadlift sets)

[Jeff Hazeltine]

I still need a belt, shoes, and a Training Camp.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I agree.

[Jason Donaldson]

To add onto what Maybach says, you might just find that the deadlift actively makes your back feel better. It's not literally the case, but for me the exercise just kind of feels like it pulls everything back into place, so to speak.

Sure, it seems paradoxical at first, but now that my experience has gotten my thinking realigned, on the rare occasions I do get a back tweak, I immediately think, "Lemme deadlift this out..."