Today was my leg day in the gym, and on the second set of squats, rep 3 my back decides to say no more. Not bad enough so I couldn’t do other things like leg press and leg extensions, but bad enough that I had to stop squatting (it was 1 1/4 squats actually). I imagine I’ll be fine soon, but what frustrates me is that it came out of no where. Maybe it was because I had done deadlifts yesterday, but I have done that combo on back to back days plenty of times. No warning, set one went perfectly, set two reps 1 and 2 went fine as well, but rep 3 did not and I had to cut out the rest of the sets and go on to other things.
This is more of a rant then anything, I have had back problems in the past but they haven’t acted up for about a year now. For about two years now, squats have been in every one of my routines, deadlifts in most as well, and my workout usually starts with them, just seems annoying that it decides to get stiff today.
Any experiences with this kind of thing, something decides to not work without any real warning? I’m sure I’ll be full squatting in no time, but now it’ll be on my mind and I’ll be worried it’ll happen again.
oh man! That has happened to me twice in recent years past. I was on rep #8 of a 20-rep set when suddenly my back just felt…odd. I kept squatting, but minutes after the set, my back pain was such that I could barely walk.
Not sure exactly what it was, right at the tale bone but the pain feels a bit more to the right side. On my way up I felt this sharp stab like pain, stood there for about 3 seconds then re-racked the weight. It’s stiff that if I’m standing relatively still for a while, I gotta slowly sit down, and if I’m sitting for too long I gotta slowly stand up. When I move around a lot it seems to help but staying still for too long makes it stiff again.
I guess it’s one of those things that may never fully go away, I had just forgotten about it for a while.
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
oh man! That has happened to me twice in recent years past. I was on rep #8 of a 20-rep set when suddenly my back just felt…odd. I kept squatting, but minutes after the set, my back pain was such that I could barely walk.
My chiropractor is a God-send in these instances.[/quote]
heh yeah not this time but another time I made the stupid mistake to keep squatting after I felt it, box squats this time. I will not make that mistake again, I could barely touch my knees let alone my toes.
Other then the trip to the chiropractor what measures did you take on your own, any light rehab work or simply rest and nothing else. By light rehab for me, I usually do BW squats or stuff like that.
I know what you mean…two weeks ago while squatting I was on my last rep and actually had too much forward lean. Didn’t think too much about it and went on and did leg press. What a mistake! First two reps went fine…then I felt something “pop” in my lower back, left side. I was stupid, finished my set. Should’ve quit right there. Couldn’t do straight leg deadlifts, but finished with leg curls. Talk about hurt! I could stand just fine, but couldn’t sit without the lower back cramping up (had to drive six hours that Thursday back to Iowa for my cousins wedding).
I’ve taken two weeks off from lifting and have been foam rolling my lower back and following mobility exercises to try to rehab it.
Did legs today…front squats, reverse lunges, and leg curls. Still a little tight, but didn’t have any pain. It’ll be awhile before I do back squats and leg curls again…
[quote]bdem62 wrote:
I know what you mean…two weeks ago while squatting I was on my last rep and actually had too much forward lean. Didn’t think too much about it and went on and did leg press. What a mistake! First two reps went fine…then I felt something “pop” in my lower back, left side. I was stupid, finished my set. Should’ve quit right there. Couldn’t do straight leg deadlifts, but finished with leg curls. Talk about hurt! I could stand just fine, but couldn’t sit without the lower back cramping up (had to drive six hours that Thursday back to Iowa for my cousins wedding).
I’ve taken two weeks off from lifting and have been foam rolling my lower back and following mobility exercises to try to rehab it.
Did legs today…front squats, reverse lunges, and leg curls. Still a little tight, but didn’t have any pain. It’ll be awhile before I do back squats and leg curls again…
[/quote]
That sounds worse then mine, i bet that car ride seemed a lot longer then what it really was. Was this your first back problem? But yeah after mine today I still did some wall sits, leg curl and extension, leg press and some calf work and all of those were fine which makes me believe I’ll be squatting within a week.
Of course I won’t be stupid about it like I was when I was younger. Hope your rehab goes well.
Yea…I bought one of those lumbar supports thinking it might help. No dice. I had to stop at each rest area to get out and walk around to loosen up the lower back.
I tweaked my lower back about two years ago after deadlifting. I didn’t unload the bar enough before trying to put it back onto the pins in the power rack and felt something “pop”. It took two years and I was finally back to deadlifting and making good progress.
Good luck on getting back to squatting. I hope to be back to regular squats in about a month. I’m not going to rush it…
[quote]Growing_Boy wrote:
dude squats after deads. no bueno. I try to have at least 2 days in between the two. Hope its not too bad. [/quote]
I think that’s what I’m going to have to change, my hamstrings were nice and sore today before my leg day because of deadlifts. I’ve been on this training style for about two months now but I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
I’ve only ever put my back out doing squats and once when I was doing BO rows (a few years ago), but never deadlifts. I guess I can imagine a stiff back tomorrow morning as I won’t be moving for the next 8-10 hours.
I agree with growing_boy… so rest it for a week or two, nil squatto und zero deado, and then do them lightly, very lightly from then. It doesnt sound like you need a whole “pre/re-hab” setup though, just good old fashioned rest.
Tell you what might just help tho… reverse hypers… should train the area you mentioned.
Already ahead of you Joe, thanks though, I’m hoping simple rest will suffice. As planned, my next squat day would be Sunday, 3 sets of 5 and it includes full back squats as well as front. hmm, prolly doing to be doing some light weight that day.
I would be seriously tempted to give free bar squat a rest for this whole week… keep training, just give those kinda lifts a pass. 1 week? it will probably do your lifts GOOD!
Well today was chest and in between sets I did some hyper extensions and back extensions. The more I moved around the better it felt, better that I forgot it was even there. I went to a low box and did 3 bodyweight squats, just below parallel. Yesterday that ROM was not possible. I’m still going to take the week off from those kinds of lifts, as in the past I have believe something to be heeled, then was quickly reminded that no…it was in fact not fully heeled.