I'm going to substitute Power Cleans... no, really.

[Sami]

I have a early mild disc and facetal degeneration and a protruding disc at L5/S1 causing me mild sciatica. Got it several years ago, and it comes and goes.


On B days (presses and power cleans on the novice program), I get painful sciatic pains down one leg, causing me to limp for several days.

On A days (bench and deadlift), the sciatic pain in my leg that was there from B day, goes away. Until the next B day.

I've seen Rip comment a number of times, that the ballistic explosive nature the Olympic lifts can exacerbate disc/spinal problems (I'm paraphrasing). I've seen this for myself. It's a real shame, because I love the Olympic lifts, especially the Clean & Jerk, but it happens, literally, every time.

So, what shall I do in stead. Don't like rows with an unsupported back, want to save that for deadlifts. Or I could introduce deadlift partials. Or Kroc rows.

These are the ideas bumping around in my head at the moment. I'll probably play around with a few things, but it'd be nice to get a few thoughts and ideas for how to move forward.

Thanks.

[Ryan Dell Whitley]

Why do anything else? What's wrong with doing just bench, squat, press, and deadlift?

[jameson]

What about box jumps and/or KB swings/one-arm snatches?

[Sami]

Why do anything else? What's wrong with doing just bench, squat, press, and deadlift?

True. I was mainly just asking for the novice SS routine. But tbh, I don't see myself being on it for tooo long. And in TM, it won't be a problem to program around it. It's just that I know that from time to time I have to take breaks from training, and I always jump back on SS to quickly catch me back up. Probably just do chins and pullups then. Easy.

[gzt]

My thought on the matter would be pullups/chinups and/or some sort of row.

[jameson]

What about box jumps and/or KB swings/one-arm snatches?

I was thinking you might still want some type of explosive movement (made me think of taking a dump typing that). Chins are definitely not a bad idea.

[gordonrumble]

I do the chins. I threw out my back twice PCing, wasn't worth it. It's a hobby, I don't want to fuck myself up when I can switch it out and improve myself in a different exercise.

The chins work great. I do 3xF.

[PVC]

My thought on the matter would be pullups/chinups and/or some sort of row.

I agree. And Sami FYI Wendler thinks Kroc Rows are the bees' knees.

[hatmanii]

Chins and some sort of hamstring/low back exercise like back extensions or Nordic curls and the such.

[ColoWayno]

Hey Sami, I know we've chatted about this before and maybe you've made up your mind which is fine, but here's some food for thought for you or anyone else reading.
Do you have any luck when you deload? If that works why not just join me in the ranks of wimpy wannabe's and keep the move for what it's worth at a lower weight and see what happens?

Keeping in mind we are all a sample of 1:
When I first started pc's with just the bar it was a disaster for my sciatica problem. I would wait until the pain went away then try again. I reset many times on that, deadlifts and squats for various reasons including sciatica. Something happened along the way as my overall strength increased and I seem to have overcome the sciatica problem. I don't know if I have the same back problems you do but I'm also 47 so I'm pretty sure it's not all good news "back" there and I'd had sciatica for nearly 20 years.
The last time I reset for back problems I also found a book called 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back which basically taught me how to keep an anteverted pelvis when standing, sitting or laying down.
Now I think my PC is just limited by my crappy form and the fact that I'm not genetically gifted as an explosive lifter, but I'm doing many reps and slowly progressing the lift.
Good lifting everyone.