I started lifting a couple of months ago after being away from the iron for some time. Last Monday I did deadlifts for the first time in awhile and woke up the next day with bad back spasms. I mean locked up and immobile. They were partials, from below the knee to upright, on a Smith Machine (yeah, I know - stay away from the @#%&* Smith Machine).
My chiro tells me to either build up my core first then return to deadlifts, or to do them super slow. By that he means lift the bar about an inch, hold it for several seconds, continue the lift taking 7 seconds to come fully upright. Then drop down an inch and hold again, and finally taking 7 seconds to lower the bar to the floor. Continue doing reps until you can’t do another.
I’m thinking WTF? He swears if you do this with each exercise whether squats, deadlift, bench, rows, etc. that it builds bulk and strength and reduces the likelihood of injury. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here so has anyone heard of this? What about the issue of strengthening core before trying deadlifts?