How To Train Legs With Back Problem

I have a lower back problem. Currently, its not serious, and it is just tight and some soreness in the disks. I would like to do leg work today, but Im not sure what to do.
Obviously, squats and deads are good because they help build your body everywhere(low back, core, overall thickness). What lower body exercises can I do that wont place excess strain on my back? THanks

Variations of single leg squats, lungers and step ups would be your best options. If you have the access, a belt squat machine or the pulley squat in Thib’s exercise page will be perfect in your situation but not everyone can set those up.

Leg press… I find they work well when my back is sore from deadlift and squats. Unilateral work also which was mentioned earlier. Glute ham raise would be alright if you back isn’t too bad, leg curls as well.

I would stay away from squatting, and deadlifting until your back problem is resolved. In order to work your quads I would resort to doing leg presses, the leg press will allow you to lower the weight slowly and so you can get a good stretch at the bottom, without putting undue stress on the back itself, and also if you can do leg extensions, those will give you some mass as well. I would stay away from doing lying leg curls because they will shorten the muscles run ning through your back and glutes, which will probably cause irritation in your back.

I would stick with lunges and split squats, even step ups, done with heavy weight can involve your back to some degree. Also, check out the belt squats in CT’s bulk up cut up program

I would have a think about sorting out your back problem. No point working around it. Tackle it head on. Why go and train legs when you can go in and get started on working on your back problem?

[quote]Will Heffernan wrote:
I would have a think about sorting out your back problem. No point working around it. Tackle it head on. Why go and train legs when you can go in and get started on working on your back problem?[/quote]

I’d tend to agree with this. I’m on the tail end (I hope) of some back problems, like yours not real serious, but bad enough to keep me from deadlifting. I’d say buy a foam roller, has helped me, start stretching if you aren’t already, ice, all that stuff. Back problems suck though, almost as bad as messing up your shoulders.

And yeah, I’d leg press in the meantime. Also take a look at Cressey’s concept in a recent article on injuries of working your way back through exercises that put less stress on the injury. I found that back extensions, stiff-legged DLs and Romanians put less stress on the lower back than conventional deads, probably due to the lesser load. So do those in the meantime if you can while getting your lower back in order.