Extra back work without screwing up SS

[Dana]

I have herniated L4 and L5 and twice in my life (last time was about 5 years ago) have had my lower back suddenly go out to the point where I was stuck in bed for a few weeks. By being very very patient have managed to make decent progress via SS over the past 6 months, taking baby steps on the DL. I'm 180lbs, 5'10". DL is now at 285 for the set of 5.

I'm starting to get that warning feeling from the lower back, and am thinking that some extra work would be a good idea, but don't want to mess things up. What's the best move? Keep the DL the same for a while? Add RDLs? Add extra DL sets with lighter weight and/or higher reps? Something else?

Luckily the low bar back squat seems to keep my back happy, so it's really just the DL that concerns me. My Power Clean weight isn't heavy enough to cause trouble at this point. FWIW, my back feels most unstable about halfway through the DL, when the bar is just clearing my knees.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If I were you, I'd be content with the 285 and start adding in RDLs, SLDLs, reverse hypers, glute/hams, haltings, and rack pulls. In other words, your injury history requires that you establish a different goal for your back training than a 500 deadlift. But post a video and let me see your form, because the instability you describe might be a back angle issue.

[bgates1654]

I would suggest back extensions to lactic acid threshold at least 3 times a week. Dont make them jerky, just slow up/down. If you can do more than 25 reps before hitting the lactic acid threshold, slow down or add weight.

If you are worried about repeated spine movement, then I would suggest good mornings in stead of back extensions. Either way the point is to get the healing effects of lactic acid in your back.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You don't think goodmornings involve spinal movement? Loaded spinal movement? Standard goodmornings are essentially defined as flexion and extension of the spine under a compressive load. Even flat-back goodmornings take the spine from compression into shear. Shear is not a bad thing, but it is hard for an injured back to counter if the degree of shear is changing from 0 to maximum around the ROM of the exercise. Goodmornings are just about the last thing I'd have someone with a disc injury doing.

[bgates1654]

Sorry, I was thinking of flat backed good mornings.

Wouldnt reintroducing shear in a controlled manner, at the appropriate time, be beneficial to healing the back? Is this something that is forbidden forever after disc injury?

I would imagine that anyone who can DL 285lb probably has a decently healthy back. On top of that most peoples end of range of motion for a flat back good morning isnt too different from the angle of the back below the knees in the deadlift. The OP would already be experiencing significant amounts of shear. Considering this, for him, I dont think this would be a bad movement to use for getting lactic acid and bloodflow into the area. For someone who wasnt already successful with deadlifts after injury, I would also be hesitant to recommend flat back good mornings as well.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Several of the exercises I recommended have a shear force component, since controlling shear force is the basic function of the back and trunk musculature. But goodmornings are no better than the exercises I mentioned for back rehab, and might be quite a bit worse if done wrong.