Back pain

Expert Discussion Weightlifting
1

I started a weights program with my athletes about three weeks ago. The lifts they do are:

Hang Pulls (as warm-up)
Barbell Rear Lunges
Barbell Deadlift (from bent leg position.)
Weighted Twisting Crunches focusing on upper abs
Barbell Military Press
30s running arms with 1 min rest
Supermans
Barbell Squats
Pull-ups
Barbell Step-ups
Weighted Back Extension
(Please see my training journal for full details)

These are all done with very light weights, and in most cases only with the bar. Sets and reps are usually 3 sets of 8 reps. There is a complete rest day between the two days we spend lifting. My focus is to teach the correct technique as none of my athletes have any experience at lifting.

THE QUESTION: Is it normal/natural for beginner lifters to suffer from back pain a day or two after lifting or is there a technique problem somewhere? The athletes all complain of stiffness of the muscles in the lower back around the spine.

2

if you are doing a pause in the contracted position during the supermans, then you are fatigueing the smaller muscles of the spine before doing BB Back Squats and weighted back extensions

3

Would you suggest dropping the supermans, or to just change the order of the lifts?

4

How old are your athletes

What is their sport

What is your goal of the program apart from teaching lifting technique to your athletes

5

I’d just switch the order around so you do the primary lifts first and then the auxillary lifts. You may find you have too many lifts, it just depends how hard people are working.

Generally i use no more than 3 primary lifts because they generally all hit the same muscles anyway…

6

How deep are the squats? I found when I squatted to the floor as an athlete I intially got very stiff around my SI joint. I found that working on improving low level activation of my TVAs helped to stabalise my back at the bottom of the lift. All i did was contract my TVAs and then knee lift. 3 sets of 10 every day. In 1 week it was able to pretty much cure the problem. But squatting low is defintily uncomfortable for me problably due to lack of lower back flexability.

7

Have you had previous low back injuries?

8

They range from 15 to 18 years and are all girls. They train for 400m and 400mH. At this stage of the year our GPP have only just started, 4 weeks ago, so it is all general strengh at this stage.

9

The squats are to a depth where the upper legs are parallel to the ground.

10

Hi Atletiek,

This is on the money,

11

If I may, you have A LOT of different exercises. Most of them challenge the muscles in and around the hip. So it would be hard to say it’s this exercise or that exercise. Could you post which lifts are done on which days and the order.

Thanks :slight_smile:

12

I am working with one Taekwon do fighter (she) for about 3 weeks now. She had some back issues and 1-2kg overweight (for her category). Very, very, small weigh training experience.
She told me that her back doesn hurt anymore (or so much) when she started working with me. She had pain when flexing, or loaded for transfersal torque (one arm rowing etc). No pain when the back were kept in neutral. No pain down the leg. So I concluded it could be spondylo lystesis (or problems with joint facets)… but, this was only my “non-proffesional” opinion.

Anyway, we did the following weight traning (mon, wed, fri) interspreaded with tempo and medball throw (5 exercises, 5 trhrows each) (tue, thu, sat).

Mon
Core training (as a part of warm-up)

  1. Lying on floor arm lifts (II, Y, T) (forehead on floor in all on-stomach exercises)
  2. Leg lifts (both legs, reverse leg-reverse arm)
  3. Isometric curl (McGill)
  4. Bridge
  5. DeadBug (spine neutral)
  6. One leg Bridge
  7. Side Bridge (McGill)
  8. Bird Dog (McGill)
  9. Isom 4-way neck
    *** All exercises were done isometrically except DeadBug: Hold 6sec, and relax. Breed normally during hold

Explosive exercises

  1. Compass jumps
  2. Zig-zag jumps
  3. Push Lunge (Parisi Decceleration)
  4. Forward Lunge (Parisi)
  5. Decceleration Jump (Parisi)
  6. Plyo Push Up

Exercises
A1. Lunge
A2. Seated Rowing (had some pain, but we fixed this)

B1. Push-Ups (narrow)
B2. Romanian Dead Lift

C1. Rotator Cuff work
C2. DB dorsiflexion
C3. Toe Raises

Metabolic circuit
I talked about this in Lactate threshold training… search there if someone is interested

[u]Wed[/u]
Core training: Same as in Mon

Explosive exercises

  1. Pogos
  2. Wide Pogos
  3. Diagonal Pogos
  4. Pogos (with ins & outs + diagonal)
  5. Squat Jump
  6. Split Jump
  7. Metson (up, behing the head)
  8. Metson (front)
    *** Note: I didnt wanted to spend time teachin her Olys, because we had very small time till championsip, so we used this stuff (with 10kg barbell, and later with 12kg, mostly using 3x10reps)

Exercises
A1. Front Squat
A2. Pull Up

B1. Military press (standing)
B2. Lateral Step Up

C1. Fist Work (spool the weight hanging on the rope)
C2. Hip work (pushing plates on the floor, sumops, walking lunges, easy)
C3. Shoulder Work (Flys, reverse flys etc)

Tabata
It consist of HI skip and HI wide outs (20sec work 10 sec rest)

[u]Fri[/u]
Core: Same as in Mon

Explosive exercises: SAme as in Mon

Exercises
A1. Side Split Squat
A2. Bench Row

B1. Push-Ups (wide)
B2. Sumo Romanian Dead Lift

C1. Rotator Cuff
C2. DB dorsiflex
C3. Toe Raises

Metabolic Circuit
Same as in Mon

*** Note that I didnt provide weigth used, reps, sets, rest, becuase this would took too much of a room (I will put it in another thread)

Atletiek, I found the folowing exercises contraindicated for “healthy back” (so maybe they are causing the problems with your athletes):
1. Weighted Twisting Crunches focusing on upper abs (especially this one - take care)
2. Supermans
3. Weighted Back Extension

I would suggest you readin Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance book from Stuart McGill for more info. My training phylosophy on core development is very influenced by Siff and McGill! I avoid doing isolated core exercises except in neutral spine and in isometrical contraction. I have hard time arguing with my colegues and my teachers on this, but trust me, I had some back issues and using this approach I healed it! Also, we improved back function and reduced pain in that takewondo fighter which is another “evidence”!
I hope I helped! Cheers!

13

Hi Deuxx,
While I agree with you about keeping a neutral spine during certain lifts and postures, I don’t believe that this is necessary all the time. It is when you are doing a heavy dead lift, but there are times when the lumbar spine needs to extend. If this gives you a problem then there is a mechanical reason. But holding neutral position in the spine during squats is not necessary, down to parallel but as you go below parallel your spine must extend in order for the center of gravity to adjust itself.

Also it is difficult to hold a neutral spine during reflex actions.

You say that keeping a neutral spine healed your back issues, while this may be so and can also work for others, an arguement could be put forward that keeping a neutral spine could be a way of avoiding adressing back issues.

Just giving the other side of the coin. So to speak

14

I’ve found that certain ab exercises give me back pain. Most notably, the ones where you lay flat on the ground and lift your legs.