O’Shea, you’re confusing me again. What injury?
What Jackass said. He would know. Pull throughs if you dont have a reverse hyper. High rep band good mornings are also great.
It’s wierd seeing, “I agree with Jackass”
Anyways, Jackass brought up a good one: obliques.
Wow. Never thought about that.
Lower back??? Doesn’t matter, tired, too many asignments, going home.
What about using a weight belt?
This is real frustrating, I’m considering simply not doing them anymore.
A belt will not help you, it may actually make things worse. A doctor may send you on your way, but a physiotherapist/chiro. might be able to assess if you have a structural/muscular problem. Consider it. Also, what kind of weight are you using? Most people I see deadlifting use way too much weight for their strength levels. You mentioned that the only lower back training you are presently doing are deadlifts. Don’t look at deadlifts as a lower back exercise, think of them as a hip/glute exercise. If when you are performing them, you don’t feel the tension mostly in these areas then more than likely you are not performing them correctly. And so what if you don’t have access to a reverse-hyper bench, this exercise is one of the easiest to improvise with. I have done them with my legs hanging off the end of my couch, swiss balls and my favourite, facing against the angled pad of a preacher bench and holding on to the seat. Get to them and stop making excuses!
I no longer deadlift conventional after wrenching my back badly on my 5th set of 5 with 315. Sumo will save some stress on your back. One leg deads with dumbbells are very effective for gluteal development, safer on the low back, and require a balance component too.
The last time I did deads, I did 5 sets of 3 reps with 215, my bodyweight was between 126 and 130.
A hip/glute exercize? I thought it was a back exercize! By the time I’m done, I feel a pump in my lower back, traps, and even my lats. My hips are usually a bit soere the next day. My glutes only hurt from doing squats.
I used to do weighted hypers before a while, but stopped when I started deadlifting. I never tried a reverse hyper.
You get a pinch which makes it harder for you to stand and walk straight right? I had the same thing, even when I did squats.
Then some guy who happened to be a physical therapist told me what I needed to do was stretch my lower back, as it was getting shortened by years of squats and deadlifts.
A week later I didnt even feel the pinch. These are the stretches he gave me:
1. lie down. Make a four with your legs. Pull them to a 90 degree angle or until you can feel the stretch in your lower back. Make sure to maintain the four shape. You can bend the straight leg at the knee, so as not to hit something overhead with it.
2. Sit down on a bench or a block. Make sure your back is STRAIGHT and maintain the lower back arch throughout the whole stretch. grab one of your legs and pull the knee to your chest. Repeat for other leg.
Do these a couple times a day, and maintain the stretch for no less than 30 seconds for each leg. These solved the problem for me. I would also make sure you keep working on your lower back perhaps with good mornings or stiff leg deadliftes, although when you get that pinch its harder to maintain proper form. For that reason, spinal extensions worked much better for strengthening my lower back when my lower back was pinching.
Last week I skipped doing deads. Today, I dropped the weight by 40 lbs. and did nothing but concentrate on keeping my back arched through the full movement. Did 5X5, with NO PAIN, just a pump!
Also did some reverse hypers on a preacher bench. Will I eventually need to add resistance to this? Only way I think to do it is to hold a dumbbell between my ankles.
diesel23, tried to do your stretching, but wasn’t exactly sure what you meant by “making a 4.” Could you give a better desciption?
Thanks for everyone’s suggestions!
My two cents on how I’ve been taught to do DLs:
- I do 'sumo’s
- No belt
- Before the lift, suck in the gut to
protect the back. Keep it sucked
in during the entire movement - Before the lift, squeeze the shoulder
blades together to protect the back.
This should leave you chest slightly
up and out. Keep it that way
during the entire movement. - On the way down, the predominant
sensation is having your backside
move to the rear (no pun intended), - On the way up, the predominant
sensation is lifting the chest up
and back. The barbell should be
scraping your shins.
Works for me. Hope this helps.
T.E. Young
You can add resistance to the reverse hypers, but you don’t need to rush into it. Remember, the hypers are good as a therapeutic, recovery exercise, so higher reps are called for. Using a DB between feet works as does attaching an ankle cuff to a low-pulley.