I've brought this up in my Journal, but thought I should start a thread here just to make sure I'm dealing with this in the best manner possible.

Two Sundays ago, doing squats, I felt a painful twinge in my lower back, so reracked the weight mid-set and cut out my last set of squats, but did the rest of my workout (walking lunges, ham curls). My back was throbbing pretty bad for the rest of the workout, but seemed better the next day.

That Thursday was back day, and I felt pretty sure I was safe doing deadlifts (my favorite exercise by far). This turned out to be a mistake, because I woke up the next day with pretty intense pain in my back.

For my leg day on Sunday (and for the next three weeks) I'm replacing squats with Bulgarian Split Squats (another fave). However, even this proved to much last Sunday, and by the end of my workout I was in pretty intense pain which hasn't let up yet.

Today was supposed to be back day again, and I was going to skip dead lifts but keep the rows and lat exercises I had planned. I decided instead to take tomorrow's rest day today, and move my back workout tomorrow. If I still hurt like this tomorrow I'll skip deads.

The pain is a sharp, kind of pulsing pain that starts in my tailbone and goes up to about my middle back. It hurts worse when I stretch it, stand up or lift something up, or turn my back by accident in an awkward way. It feels not so bad in the morning, but gets worse as the day goes on. If the pain continues for one more week I'll seek medial attention, but I'm kind of hoping it will just go away.

I've been alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and cold/heat when it hurts especially bad. Should taking out deads and squats be enough fo a break? I really don't want to take anything out and risk major losses in these last 3 weeks of my bulk.

Any insight/advice/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

For my leg day on Sunday (and for the next three weeks) I'm replacing squats with Bulgarian Split Squats (another fave). However, even this proved to much last Sunday, and by the end of my workout I was in pretty intense pain which hasn't let up yet.

Today was supposed to be back day again, and I was going to skip dead lifts but keep the rows and lat exercises I had planned. I decided instead to take tomorrow's rest day today, and move my back workout tomorrow. If I still hurt like this tomorrow I'll skip deads.

The pain is a sharp, kind of pulsing pain that starts in my tailbone and goes up to about my middle back. It hurts worse when I stretch it, stand up or lift something up, or turn my back by accident in an awkward way. It feels not so bad in the morning, but gets worse as the day goes on. If the pain continues for one more week I'll seek medial attention, but I'm kind of hoping it will just go away.

I've been alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and cold/heat when it hurts especially bad. Should taking out deads and squats be enough fo a break? I really don't want to take anything out and risk major losses in these last 3 weeks of my bulk.

Any insight/advice/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

Never lift when pain is that great and not leaving before next workout. Keep it up and you will have big problems. I suggest Aleve or Naproxen Sodium tablets for pain. take a couple of weeks off. Protect that back. You won't lose much, you will come back stronger than ever. But get well. If you still have pain then a visit to Doctor is not out of place.

Lower calories a bit and then when you go back up them and you should get a positive reaction.

Most lower back pain is mechanical injury to the muscles in that region and will go away with 2-3 days of rest and anti-inflammatory meds. There is always the concern of disk injury, however, and if you are seriously concerned I would seek medical attention.

Thanks guys. I think an update is in order.

Since writing this post this afternoon, my back feels better than it has since my last back day, so I think I'm recovering. With all due respect RTE (and i have loads for you), I now think my back is much better off than I thought it was when I started this thread, so depending on how I feel tomorrow, I may do my back workout (minus deads, of course) at a light weight. Of course, if I feel again tomorrow as I did today I'll skip the workout and all workouts til I feel 100% better. My guess, however, is that in two days or so, I won't be feeling any pain. I'll keep you updated, and thanks so much for the help.

UPDATE: I'm an idiot.

My back felt pretty great this morning, so I did my back workout minus deads (Which amounted to neutral close-grip rows, front lat pulldown, bodyweight rows to failure, plus adding 4 sets of 5 pullups w/ various grips because I felt like I was gyping my body by just skipping deads). My back now feels like it did when I started this thread. I should have listened to you RTE; I just really didnt' want to miss any workouts. I'm going to listen to you now, and just cut out the next two weeks of heavy lifting. During this time, I'll lower calories by ~100/week, and start lifting again when my cut starts on January 18.

What would you think of me doing bodyweight exercises during this time? Pushups, pullups, prisoner squats, situps two or three times a week? I know taking a week or two off every eight to twelve weeks is good, but I just took a week off three weeks ago and really hate how I feel at the end of such rest weeks (flabby, soggy and soft). I think this lightweight stuff would help keep me motivated. If i just take it off I can see myself slipping back into bad old habits...

I promise to listen to you this time. I feel like such a moron right now.

Don't be hard on yourself - treat this relapse as a learning experience

With some body parts you simply don't ignore pain - Lower back, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees etc....

The lower back has very few nerve endings so sometimes its difficult to know just how bad an injury is. It also heals very slowly so treat injuries to it very seriously

If it were me I would avoid all exercises that work the lower back (even indirectly) for at least a week and evaluate its condition then

Getting an injury sucks but its also a good chance to learn how to better care for ourselves - making a mistake is fine so long as you resolve to not let it happen again

UPDATE: I'm an idiot.

What would you think of me doing bodyweight exercises during this time? Pushups, pullups, prisoner squats, situps two or three times a week? I know taking a week or two off every eight to twelve weeks is good, but I just took a week off three weeks ago and really hate how I feel at the end of such rest weeks (flabby, soggy and soft). I think this lightweight stuff would help keep me motivated. If i just take it off I can see myself slipping back into bad old habits...



Just relax, don't loaf. Move around. get 8 hours sleep. Do it right and you will come back with more power than before. Leave the exercise alone. Read and study everything you can get your hands on about fitness. Think of it as a time of enrichment bringing energy into your mind and body. Check form on all your exercises. Prepare for your most productive workouts. :tucool:

Alright sounds good guys. I really appreciate the input. RTE, don't worry about me loafing around. I'm training in an acting conservatory, so am moving around pretty regularly in most of my classes, including Stage Combat twice a week (Of course I'll let my professors know about this injury, and won't do anything to worsen it)

I'll read up, research exercises, confirm my form, and design a kickass split for my upcoming cut. I'll reassess a week from now, but my guess is I'll take two weeks off before starting my cut, and I'll hit the ground running on January 18. I'll start ramping down my calories slowly so that I arrive safely at a decent deficit by the 18th, and can continue training with minimal loss of LBM and maximum loss of flab.

Thanks again for the advice and support. I'll update in a week.

I'll read up, research exercises, confirm my form, and design a kickass split for my upcoming cut. I'll reassess a week from now, but my guess is I'll take two weeks off before starting my cut, and I'll hit the ground running on January 18. I'll start ramping down my calories slowly so that I arrive safely at a decent deficit by the 18th, and can continue training with minimal loss of LBM and maximum loss of flab.

Something to think about for cut - 60C/20P/20F and Lower then normal calories like 1800 to 1200 in a down and up pattern with the change every two weeks.

Something to think about for cut - 60C/20P/20F and Lower then normal calories like 1800 to 1200 in a down and up pattern with the change every two weeks.

This sounds interesting. I had great success last summer with 2150 cals on 40p/35c/25f and was planning on doing something similar this time. I did a 'mini-cut' for about three and a half weeks before an event I'd have to be shirtless at, and I used the same ratios but dropped to 1800 calories and I was CONSTANTLY starving.

I'm sure your idea would be effective, but with calories so low my workouts suffer and the temptation to cheat multiplies exponentially. I guess I'm asking you to sell me on this idea...I'd love to try it if it would breed effective results.

By the way, I visited a chiropractor this afternoon.

He deduced that my injury is muscular, as opposed to an injury directly to the spine or the sciatic nerve (which is a very good thing). He said my body is telling me not to move my back around, but I should be fine to do it anyway.

He did some adjustments in my lower and upper back, and right now I feel amazing, almost weightless from the waist up. He said I'd probably feel good for 10-12 hours after the treatment, but would probably wake up in more pain tomorrow as my body tries to pull my spine back into its distorted place. I'll go again next week for a followup.

He's actually a bodybuilder as well, who does mostly kettles (he's huge; I'd guess 220, 14% BF or so). Based on his advice, I'm going to take the rest of this week off and see how I feel Sunday, at which point I may resume weights or take some more time off depending on how my back feels.

This sounds interesting. I had great success last summer with 2150 cals on 40p/35c/25f and was planning on doing something similar this time. I did a 'mini-cut' for about three and a half weeks before an event I'd have to be shirtless at, and I used the same ratios but dropped to 1800 calories and I was CONSTANTLY starving.

I'm sure your idea would be effective, but with calories so low my workouts suffer and the temptation to cheat multiplies exponentially. I guess I'm asking you to sell me on this idea...I'd love to try it if it would breed effective results.

Well a condensed version, the diet ratios are approved by the majority of Nutritionists and Doctors. The calories aren't a permanent thing only for say the next 4-6 weeks. You should get a 3 lb average weekly loss. The diet with 1-1.5 gallons of water a day should keep hunger away with 5-6 meals/mini meals a day.

You should get a 3 lb average weekly loss. day.

You're the expert, not me, but my fear would be losing what little lean mass I've managed to acquire. I'm about 175, 15%bf. I want to lose fat quickly, but I don't want to sacrifice the gains I've made during this bulk.

I assume the high carb content of your suggestion helps counteract this? Also, would you predict I'd still be able to add weight and/or intensity and/or decrease rest times with each workout while on such a caloric deficit?