Back pain. How to avoid when doing sets.

[RimBlock]

Hi,

My lower back is likely to be quite week and the two lower discs in my spine are around half the others thickness meaning I have to take very good care of my back. I have damaged it in the past and it is not a happy time.

So, following the routine of 3*8 reps heavy lifts, the 45deg leg presses (now up to 166.6 Kg) are starting to cause a little bit of discomfort in my lower back if I am even slightly out of position.

My legs are not too bad for strength when compared to the rest of me as my upper body is pretty poor under the extra fat I am trying to shed.

Should I stick with the current weight / drop down a bit and up the reps rather than weight whilst working on my upper body.
or
Should I leave my legs alone for a while and concentrate on my upper body until I get some improvements there and then go back to full body workout.
or
Are there other exercises that would be good for my lower back to strengthen it which I can add to the routine I am doing.
or
Some other combination

I am still doing cardio so my legs are getting exercise on non-weight days.

Thanks
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Sorry, just to be clear, I have seen a speciallist hence knowing about the disc thickness which came from an x-ray.

Speciallists advice was to be mindfull but it should not stop me doing whatever.

I understand you are just trying to stress the the limitations of the forum and that my back is my resposibility and more importantly if it all goes wrong then it is my pain....

Thanks for taking the time for that.

It is not about correctitive measures I am after but more of a case of the best direction to go from here.

1. Continue as normal (3*8 - success = up weight).
2. Continue upper body and core until core is stronger then continue with legs.
3. Continue full body but add some core exercises as well.
4. Continue full body but add some core exercises and don't up legs weight until core is stronger.
5. Something else.

Please do not be concerned as if I feel anything is a bit 'funny' then I will be backing off.

Will look up the core exercises.

Thanks
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Thanks Chong Warrior,

I was working on some hyperextentions last night with light weight and slow movements. Also did some cable twists (seated on the floor facing the calbe machine and do a single arm rowing motion but twist the upper body at the end). My lower back is feeling the work today but more of a firmness and not with pain. Both exercises were not painful.

I dropped the weight with the 45 deg leg press last night down to 136.6 KG (machine dry weight is 36.6) and went slower trying to take twice the time for the movement, not that I went particually fast to start with.

I appreciate the suggestion about the PT but the two I have come accross in the last two weeks are telling me that they can setup the program to help me loose the weight and get lean mucsle but for my weight it will take around a year to get the weight down (105Kg -> 85Kg), one was hungup on weight rather than size loss and both advise not doing the 3*8 with heavy weights but use much lighter weights and go much slower.

To be clear, the routine Morba has suggested and I am more or less sticking to, along with the cardio is having good effects over a reasonibly short period of time. I am not bulking up due to my calorie restrictions but I am firming up and the fat is coming off. My belt size is coming down a bit so I would rather not change anything around.

Both trainers gave the impression that they dissaproved of helping with anything but their own devised program. Saying that, with the new gym I did the trial with last week a guy came over (gym staff, not PT) and showed me a couple of back cable exercises I could do. That I was very impressed with.

Rb

 

[RimBlock]

My back went badly a number of years ago now and I was off from work for a number of months. The only way to get rid of the pain was to hang between two chairs (supported by my arms like doing dips).

I have since learnt that if a feel the sharp pain which indicates it has had a problem then I need to take a couple of nurifen and lie down straight away then the effects are minimised and sometimes completely negated.

Well by back is feeling the work but in a good way. The gym also has a body basics session once a week mixing yoga, pilates and tai chi. I will give it a go. If nothing else it will provide entertainment for the rest of the gym and hopefully there will be some fit girls in there.

RB