I'm 22. I used to lift a lot. Now my back sucks. What do I do?

[XXXNoahXXX]

I'm 22 and throughout college I lifted 3-4x per week and did some form of cardio like 3 days a week. I am 6'3" and weighed like 210, could bench well over my body weight, was pretty defined all over except being on the verge of abs.

Then I hurt my back. I hurt it playing b-ball, didn't do anything about it, week later bent down to pick up a dropped toothbrush and WHAM. Out for a month.

Just had a bad relapse, most pain I've ever felt in my live. For a week, I'd literally wake up in the middle of the night crying until I passed back out from the pain. Got some drugs, then got an epidural, now I feel at like 85%.

I just started physical therapy and obviously the answer for my back is stretching, conditioning, stretching, etc.

But I want to get back to lifting. This is where I was hoping some people with experience could help me out. Since I'll be doing a lot of stretching a light cardio as well as dieting, I will be getting slimmer and working on my abs and back in that way.

I want to get back to my chest/arms/shoulders/back though and I am afraid to get back in the gym.

Anyone have any experiences or advice for some good exercises for those with a bad back? Should I get a belt? What things should I definitely avoid?

Basically I just want to get back in shirtless shape and be able to play basketball again, which particularly scares me because of all the sudden movements.

(My back pain is very lower back, mostly on my right ass cheek/hip and radiating down my right leg. When trying to touch my toes with knees locked, I can only get to my waist before I start shaking and it hurts. Pretty weak.)

[skunkworks]

Work on the rehab for your back, and stay away from back-intensive exercises until you're done. No deadlifts. Can you squat without pain?

[XXXNoahXXX]

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Work on the rehab for your back, and stay away from back-intensive exercises until you're done. No deadlifts. Can you squat without pain?

[/ QUOTE ]

Haven't tried squatting. The thought of it scares me. When I'm doing bicep barbell curls and whatnot, would a belt be helpful for stabilizing my back?

Would machines be better than free weights for now?

[mattnxtc]

before doign squatting with weight do some body weight squats to test ur back out..then slowly add weight...i know it sucks having to use light weight but its well worth it in the long run

[skunkworks]

If you haven't squatted before, now's not the time to start. Hopefully someone who's actually dealt with a back injury will chime in about the belt/no belt issue. Gut instinct says that a belt won't be necessary with a barbell curl unless you're doing the traditional kind where you pick it up off the floor every rep.

[kyleb]

Noah,

Try squatting without weights to see where you're at. Take anti-inflammatory medicine regularly to help with the pain and to help reduce swelling in general.

[Doug Funnie II]

I wouldn't do any exercise that involves standing, or anything to failure. I'd also substitute flatbar bench for dumbell bench but go a lot lighter because its a little harder. I'd probably avoid all leg and back work entirely, even on machines, until the rehab is over. To be honest you sound like you're really high risk for reinjuring it because you used to lift so you have conceptions of what you "should" be doing. You just have to put all pride aside and take it SUPER easy, no matter how much of a pussy it makes you feel like. Good luck.

[ronitonline]

I would say negative to squats, I have had back problems from a young age.
I would avoid doing anything where you are leaned foward, that is the worst of them all. I would say machines are best for now cause generally you have something to stabalize your back. To workout back I would probably do a lat pulldown or something of that sort. If you want to do legs try and find one of those leg machines where you have an entire back support and you basicallly are squatting but without pressure on your back. (You want the one where your body is on the part with the weight, not the one where you push the weight into you and out with your legs, you want the one where you go down towards your legs then push your body back up; that one is better for pressure).

[Rearden]

most valuable advice in here:

See a specialist!!

At your age such severe back pain is unusual and a sign that something is very seriously wrong. Treatments for the pain likely will do nothing to impact the overarching problem (disc issues, who knows). You mentioned starting PT... why not ask them about lifting?/ Get another opinion on the whole situation. 22 year olds do not naturally have the backs of 75 year old arthritic men. Go out and find the best medical advice you can on this subject. being worried about being in shape short term is insanely stupid considering the long term impact of not getting your back fixed (welcome to a life of pain or wheelchairs). Your range of mobility is already impaired and painful... it would be beyond basic stupidity to push this.

Also, as a random aside, Im curious what the foundation may have been for all of this... How heavily did you work your back, lower back specifically? (muscle imbalance? who knows)

Short Notes: You [censored] up your back really seriously and need to do whatever you can to get hardcore intensive medical help on this. Wanting to get right back into lifting at this point is really dumb. Getting more tests done and more PT done is the best option for long term health

[cbloom]

Noah, I'm in a similar spot and have had similar back problems as well.

The #1 thing is to get your back right, which means don't worry about the weights too much until you can handle that. Swimming is the best exercise to do while your back is bothering you. Swim!!

After that, I totally disagree with most of the advice in this thread. It's very important that you keep working you back because a strong back is the best preventative against back problems. Doing heavy machine work with back support is very dangerous and will make your back under-developed. Things like free squats & dead lifts are very good for you (once your spine is okay and they're not painful). They key is to start out with no weight at all and make sure it feels okay. You really have to focus on form, not on doing heavy weight. Once you're comfortable, just start with the bare bar and then gradually add weight each week as it feels okay. This is annoying and frustrating to be doing such little weight when you know you could do more, but it's better than re-injuring. Never ever try to max weight and start "cheating" and jerking the weights around.