Squat, Deadlift - Back Pain

Hi,

I’m still new to the iron game and recently included these two excercises into my routine. I feel that my form is correct and the amoutn of weight i do is not a problem. but everytime i finish a set i get lower back pain…but then it goes away after 5 minutes. is this normal because of the weakness of my back muscles?

What kind of pain? Sharp spasms, tearing pain, dull aching pain…? How severe? Does it return later? Has it gotten worse? Is it always the same duration?

When I complete a hard set I feel a slight soreness that I’d describe more as a “worked” feeling, for lack of a better word, but no pain.

Get a second opinion on that form. It may feel right, but there is a lot that a second pair of eyes can pick up on, like how you initiate the movement(where you start and finish), and all sorts of good stuff. Just make sure that the person spotting your form knows what they are looking for/at.

Also maybe drop the weight until your form is goot and you have worked in to that movement. Bad habits in form are realy hard to un learn.

hmm…its always hard to describe pain but i’d say its a dull aching pain. sometimes ill use my fists and tap my lower back and it hurts. also when i lay down on my bed my lower back will hurt for a short while and then stop.

Just off the cuff I’d say that if it’s dull aching pain and it goes away after a few minutes, it’s probably just your weak back muscles. I get the same thing. But you should definitely keep an eye on it and get a second pair of eyes to watch your form, just in case.

Most newbs have a tendency to let their hips come up in both lifts.

In other words, I would wager that if you were to video your lift from the side, when you come out of the hole in your squat, or when you break the floor on your pulls, your hips are coming up before the bar moves, and this places stress on the low back.

We always try to teach what I would term patience when deadlifting. This is not at the expense of aggression. What I mean by this is keep your hips down and breaking the floor with your leg drive, not the low back. Don’t break the floor with your low back, sit back and use your legs.

The reason I call this patience is because sometimes, particularly in a sumo pull, this can make the lifter feel like breaking the floor is taking forever. This is really just your brain slowing down time. What feels like a couple seconds is actually tenths.

Both lifts start at the top. Start the lift the way you want to finish. Make sure you are locking your hips and knees at the beginning, and focus on keeping your chest up as you descend. Big breath of air and push your belly out.

When coming out of the hole in a squat, think about thrusting your belly forward. Ideally, the movement in your hips should be forward, not back and up

Good luck.

When I first started doing heavier pulls and squats I had some lower back pain. However, it was more of a severe “tight” feeling. I started doing somes hypers to help strengthen my lower back, which helped immensly.