I remember my early days of weight training. Training to failure. 8-10 exercises per workout. 4-6 sets per exercise. 7 days a week!
I also remember what limited my progress...
I would reach failure due to my back getting sore. I would struggle with the next session because of that pain. And, of note, I thought this was simply a normal part of the training process.
To a certain extent, I wasn't wrong. It is true that back pain every now and then as part of a hard training programme is normal. But, if that pain is limiting your training on a consistent basis, it might be time to change something.
So, what to change?
Here are some of the key areas I look at when planning training for clients experiencing back pain.
Exercise Selection: While there are no exercises guaranteed to hurt your back, there are those that, when performed in excess, might increase the probability. For example, if performing deadlifts, squats, bent over rows, and good mornings in the same session, your exercise selection could probably do with some changes. As a rule of thumb, I would try to limit heavy spinal loading to 1-2 exercises per session.
Volume: This is almost always what people are reluctant to change. Sometimes, the dose of training is simply too great. A 30-50% reduction in volume (sets) allocated to exercises loading the back (e.g. those listed above) would be where I would start, and then reassess symptoms thereafter.
Intensity & Effort: Training hard is to be respected. However, harder is not always better. If you are pushing all the way to failure consistently, that is not a smart way of managing your efforts. Typically, I will have my back pain clients pull back to RPE 5-7 on provocative exercises as a starting point, particularly if aggravated when closer to failure.
Range of Motion: Often, back pain is position specific. If you find that it's just the bottom of your squat, deadlift or other exercise that aggravates your symptoms, then modifying the ROM by using a box squat or block deadlift could be just what you need. This is especially the case if you are someone who has to round your back a lot to achieve "Full ROM".
Start with those, and I can almost guarantee you will experience an improvement in symptoms, although it may not be enough. There are, of course, further variables that may be relevant, but these are those that I end up coming back to time and time again with my clients who lift weights and experience back pain.
Before I go, do note that we have
coaching spaces available currently. If you’d like personalised guidance throughout your rehab process, or other training goals, get in touch.
