One of the most common injuries seen in the gym is pain in the lower back when deadlifting. How to relieve this and prevent it happening in the future?
First things first, warm up your back
This may sound simple but an often overlooked part of a training routine. Warming up can be done in a number of ways depending on your environment. Body weight exercises such as the cat-camel mobilises every segment of the spine and gets you ready to perform some great movement.
Next, warm up the movement
Although it sounds simple, practicing the movement with a lighter load before and correctly drilling down the technique can transfer movement patterns well when the weight gets heavier and our body starts to fatigue. A simple tip is to complete practice sets first with 30% of your maximum weight and slowly build up until you are at your working set. As part of your warm up you could complete 4-5 sets of the movement.
Third, train your glute's, hamstrings and abdominals, and train them well
Although we all like doing the big compound movements in our gym routine and don’t like the accessory work so much, this is what will build a strong base in your deadlift and keep you training harder and longer.
Take rest days between your deadlift days
Deadlifting is fun, but back pain isn’t. Our bodies and soft tissues need time to adapt. It is this time which not only helps us build muscle and recover but it also helps our brains digest the technique and learn the movement to complete it more efficiently. Two to three days between deadlifting is suggested for a beginner to intermediate gym goer.
Keep moving your back throughout your day
When in pain we tend to reduce movement through fear of making it worse. We actually know general movement throughout the day can settle down back pain, and in fact helps us to get back on our feet and back to what we love doing. This could be anything from walking at lunchtime to doing a few stands ups and sit downs at the office.
