Podcast 8 is up

[Simon Rest]

Thanks for that podcast. Retrospectively opportune as I tweaked my back today. In the gym (likely due to form degradation with fatigue)

[Simon Rest]

Hi Rip, I have a question about the speed of recovery and returning to full training. You mentioned in the podcast that if a back is just tweaked it responds well to training through the pain, after maybe a couple of days rest. How quickly would you suggest ramping up to full intensity?

As an example, take a trainee who was squatting 300 at the time of injury, and the tweak was minor enough that he was walking around the next day mostly free from pain but with a bit of muscle tightness. Would you start at 50% intensity the next workout and jump 50lb each workout until they were back at 300, or would you advocate ramping up quicker than that?

Would there be a benefit to training more frequently (daily) at lighter weights to keep the muscles active?

Thanks for your time

[Mark Rippetoe]

Daily work on the area would help it. The pain will tell you about the loads to use.

[wk105]

I tweaked my back squatting last night because I was so fixated on my 500lb heavy set (already with it mentally) that I didn't concentrate on a 400lb warmup set - didn't get tight enough. Stupid. As soon as I did it, I thought of Kirk's advice to treat every set like it's heavy.

I had instant SI joint pain and trouble walking last night and for the first few minutes after getting out of bed this morning, but no numbness or tingling at any point. I couldn't do bodyweight squats last night, but I can do them today.

I've had this before and training through it fixed it. I loaded the bar to 225 today but the pain was intensified the moment I unracked it - should I leave it a few more days?

Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Maybe try 135 tomorrow.