My latest on PJ: Back Pain and Back Strength

[Mark Rippetoe]

Back Pain and Back Strength | PJ Media

The comments are always fun.

[Thomas Jones]

Great article. Hopefully a few people actually get past the Conventional Wisdom.

[Satch12879]

Surprisingly mild comments. Majority positive. We're making progress(?).

[JohnW]

A superb article.
Despite having had failed spinal surgery followed by a post operative infection that wrecked a whole bunch of my lumbar musculature squats and deadlifts eventually rescued the situation.
The physiotherapy exercises I did for the two years prior to the operation did nothing but make the situation worse.
I wholeheartedly agree that pain is not what it may first appear to be and that one of the major benefits of training is psychological.

[Joel Perdue]

"every adult has degenerative spinal changes."

You will be shocked to hear this, because i am sure its NEVER come up, but this is exactly what my Doc told me. Then told me I needed PT.

So instead of paying the 50$ copay three times a week for 8 weeks (thanks Obama) I did some research, found starting strength and bought a barbell and a rack. 1 month later and my pain (pretty much) is gone.

[Lactateislove]

The part how our spines our evolutionarily better suited to shear than compression forces is very thought provoking. At university they teach you shear is a "bad" force that will cause degeneration and acute injuries.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can you argue the contrary point effectively? You should be able to.

[Scaldrew]

Back Pain and Back Strength | PJ Media

The comments are always fun.

Some guy (Tom Jones) posted "I love Rip articles here because it brings out all of the skinny-fats, the fatty-fats, and the hashtag prouddadbod experts. No, I cannot see each of you, but I hear the same comments from people I do know, and I know what they look like." Talk about savage.

[stejor]

While I can't argue against the general point of the article, I can't say it's been borne out by my personal experience. I started barbell lifting at 20, with no particular history of back pain, and within a few months I had developed back pain that still causes problems for me eight years later. I don't think I was squatting or pulling much more than 225 at that point, so it's not like I was going any heavier than the average novice.

If I had been working with a coach who could give me feedback on form, I probably wouldn't have gotten injured, but I was a poor college student who couldn't afford to pay the hundreds of dollars a month that usually costs. Correctly performed barbell lifts with reasonable weights are probably good for your back, but I wonder what percentage of novices actually manage to do the lifts correctly.

It's not the end of the world, and I've still managed to progress significantly in my lifting, but the back injury still affects my life in pretty significant ways. I love lifting, but when my back pain flares up and makes it difficult to concentrate at work, I do sometimes wonder if I would have been happier doing curls and pushups twice a week.

[Mark Rippetoe]

While I can't argue against the general point of the article, I can't say it's been borne out by my personal experience. I started barbell lifting at 20, with no particular history of back pain, and within a few months I had developed back pain that still causes problems for me eight years later. I don't think I was squatting or pulling much more than 225 at that point, so it's not like I was going any heavier than the average novice.

If I had been working with a coach who could give me feedback on form, I probably wouldn't have gotten injured, but I was a poor college student who couldn't afford to pay the hundreds of dollars a month that usually costs. Correctly performed barbell lifts with reasonable weights are probably good for your back, but I wonder what percentage of novices actually manage to do the lifts correctly.

This may win the Inane Post Of The Week award.