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I have lifted for years, and deadlifts and squats just kill my back every time. I just had to take a week off lifting, having to support myself like an old man

I have lifted for years, and deadlifts and squats just kill my back every time. I just had to take a week off lifting, having to support myself like an old man every time I had to bend over, after another failed attempt at deadlifting. Putting my socks on was excruciating. I'm not even 30. Right now I just cop out with the leg press machine. I've had professional instruction, I don't arch my back, I've watched countless videos, and nothing seems to help. It's a big shame, as I've always liked to put a big focus below the waist, but it just doesn't work for me. Do you have any tips?

tekkk 7y ago
Well my guess is that probably your back/hip muscles are weak and not used to working together. You really shouldnt be putting a lot of weight when you start learning a tough movement like deadlift, squat. In deadlift concentrate contracting your lower back muscles as you lift and if you feel they are getting tired and you're starting to compensate with other muscles, lower weights and focus on technique. Also the movement itself can be tricky eg not to hit your shins with the bar. Then squat is even harder but for me helped to focus on keeping foot pressure midfoot, not heels. Also i realized my hips/glutes were weak and i had never trained them properly, hence my form was bad and overusing quads. It took me a while to be able to go full range of motion with glutes contracted. So i first did like 3/4 squats, then 1/2 and now ass to the grass But this is just if the problem is about the muscles/technique. If your back is damaged somehow, it won't fix that. But it could be that you just haven't learned to activate your back muscles properly and then do way too much weight, with your body compensating with your spine/other muscles
- 0db532a0 7y ago
  Thanks for the tips. What hip and glute exercises would you do to supplement the deadlifts, or are deadlifts enough once you’re in shape?
  - tekkk 7y ago
    Hmm not really, no. I might do legs too or other back muscles but you can't really train deadlift by doing other than deadlift. You should rather focus on doing a very good warm-up to enable easier contraction of those muscles and then doing a lot of low-weight training sets just to get the muscle memory right. There's a ton of good videos on Youtube about this, so pick whatever works for you and slowly move to doing the lift faster and heavier. With squat the warm-up I'd say is even more important. The ability to even squat low enough with proper movement that keeps the glutes activated takes a long while. But don't give up! I have hurt my back with deadlift too and it took a long time for it to heal. There's no shame using low-weights and you'll be so much happier in the long run having learnt the technique properly so spend time on it.
    - 0db532a0 7y ago
      Thank you.

tekkk 7y ago

Well my guess is that probably your back/hip muscles are weak and not used to working together. You really shouldnt be putting a lot of weight when you start learning a tough movement like deadlift, squat. In deadlift concentrate contracting your lower back muscles as you lift and if you feel they are getting tired and you're starting to compensate with other muscles, lower weights and focus on technique. Also the movement itself can be tricky eg not to hit your shins with the bar. Then squat is even harder but for me helped to focus on keeping foot pressure midfoot, not heels. Also i realized my hips/glutes were weak and i had never trained them properly, hence my form was bad and overusing quads. It took me a while to be able to go full range of motion with glutes contracted. So i first did like 3/4 squats, then 1/2 and now ass to the grass But this is just if the problem is about the muscles/technique. If your back is damaged somehow, it won't fix that. But it could be that you just haven't learned to activate your back muscles properly and then do way too much weight, with your body compensating with your spine/other muscles

0db532a0 7y ago
Thanks for the tips. What hip and glute exercises would you do to supplement the deadlifts, or are deadlifts enough once you’re in shape?
- tekkk 7y ago
  Hmm not really, no. I might do legs too or other back muscles but you can't really train deadlift by doing other than deadlift. You should rather focus on doing a very good warm-up to enable easier contraction of those muscles and then doing a lot of low-weight training sets just to get the muscle memory right. There's a ton of good videos on Youtube about this, so pick whatever works for you and slowly move to doing the lift faster and heavier. With squat the warm-up I'd say is even more important. The ability to even squat low enough with proper movement that keeps the glutes activated takes a long while. But don't give up! I have hurt my back with deadlift too and it took a long time for it to heal. There's no shame using low-weights and you'll be so much happier in the long run having learnt the technique properly so spend time on it.
  - 0db532a0 7y ago
    Thank you.