Lower back pain

J

Joe.Muscle

Active Member
Ok guys...I mainly squat or do leg presses for the legs.

Well I have not to my knowledge pulled a muscle or anything however whenever I bend over at the sink to do the dishes my lower back hurts.

Not the kind of hurt that is mind blowing or knife like...but still it hurts enough that it bothers me.

I seem to be real weak in that area...so I was wondering what are some good exercises just for the lower back?

Hyperextensions?
Good mornings?

any suggestions?

Thanks
 
could just be that your back is fatigued. i always feel the most "knackered" when my lifts are the strongest ( 5s) in the gym b/c thats where most of my energy is going. i cringe when it snows and im in the 5s' b/c my low back is so played out it hates the extra effort of shoveling.
 
I've had a smashed disc for about 30 years, and am no stranger to pain.
I have avoided squats,, deads, hypers, and good mornings due to this. I also didn't do abwork because of the curve of my spine, and I didn't want to gain any mass there.
My back got worse. Doing dishes or anything where I'd keep tension on it was worse than lifting stuff.
Recently, I've just gone for it, started doing abwork, deads and now am working on squats, the very exersize that hurt me before. I'm still having a little pain, but NOTHING like the debilitating junk I had before. I'm doing the very exersizes I'd avoided to spare my back and they're curing it.
I've come to find that the back, regardless of pain, is one very tough unit. Maybe there's truth in the old adage that says "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".
 
My lower back gives me all sorts of bother the day after heavy deads. Even doing the washing up, bent over at a slight angle, is enough to get pretty uncomfortable pretty quickly! That's why I only do deads once a week now. When I was weaker I could cope with deads 3 x weekly. Squats don't give me anywhere near as much of a problem even during 5s.
 
You could try some core stability work also. The lower back may be trying to compensate for abdominal / other deficiency. Even if this is not the case, core work will help.
 
I think all of us who go heavy experience the back pain you speak of....the trick is differentiating between an injury, DOMS, and general post-workout stiffness.

If you feel a sharp pain in the midst of your set, then the next day you feel stiffness/pain at the sink doing dishes, it may be an injury.  However, if you felt no pain at the time of the lift, and it's sore the next day, odds are it's just muscle soreness/stiffness.

The thing about the back is that there's no rest for the muscle group after a hard workout.  Unless you spend the next day in bed, you're going to use those muscles, and they're gonna let you have it every time you move, especially if you bend over
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For me, good mornings have made all the difference.  I never did them up until two months ago, and the amount of strength that you can gain in your low back from them is staggering.  Hyperextensions are good, too, but as you move up in weight you'll have to most likely attach plates to an EZ curl bar, and do the movement that way (it's easier than trying to hold multiple plates by themselves.)

One last thing you can maybe try is doing an extensive warm up on a treadmill wearing a back belt, and make sure your lower back muscles are good & warm b/4 you hit squats, deads, good mornings, or whatever.  Then, after the workout, go for another 15 minute walk on the treadmill, again, with the back belt.  You'll increase blood flow to the area, and that may help with residual soreness the next day.
 
Watch your frequency... I had a thread on my lower back two weeks ago, and since taking Hyperextensions out of my off days (Deadlifts on the other days), I haven't had the soreness.
 
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