I'm computer programmer in my thirties. Had problems with back and neck spine since puberty. Special chair, correct anatomical sitting position, doctor visits...nothing helped. Deadlifting 300 pounds helped and cost fraction of money compared to other "solutions", it's also more enjoyable than any prescribed "exercise". A year later, my PR is 470, next goal is 500.
@@korbyn49 He just speaks great facts and tips, but wayyyyy toooooo slow.... at 1.5 speed he sounds like normal speed for conversations... hell, even at 1.75 it still sounds pretty understandable. Saves a lot of time too!! Good luck.
So basically, deal with it... and squat and DL. Makes sense, and kind of what I figured the answer would be. I'm here because not being able to lift during lockdown has made my back pain worse. For anyone wondering, a lacrosse ball brings temporary but significant relief, but I really just gotta find something to lift.
I had back pain for years that worsened with heavy lifting. I eventually figured out that intensive stretching targeting the QL and erectors/hammies was the only solution. Ruined my training for a long time until I got the tightness under control. Why does he never mention stretching?
I've often questioned whether I should be loading my bad back with squats and deadlifts but the fact that it lessens my back pain keeps me pumping the iron.
starting strength is infectious I tell everybody about it I do it religiously three times a week and it is the only training i will do with my clients however one thing I have noticed is that when I'm watching Mr repto on RUclips I rest my forearms on the table and start doing the funky crab with my thumb and four fingers
I have extreme back pain and have since age 17 (I'm almost 21). I had rapid degeneration in the T-spine area, as well as multiple disk bulges. I'm not all the way through the video so this may be too early, but I do wanna say that the degeneration CAN be a cause of pain though. It doesn't have to be, but it can. One of the bulges in my T-spine area is oriented towards a nerve, so certain movements push the disk into the nerve and cause immediate pain for me.
I think the reason we are all in pain somewhere, low back, neck, shoulders etc. is because we got off the playground. Imagine if we played for a half hour every day as kids swinging, hanging, climbing, jumping etc. and never stopped
Hey Rippetoe, why not get a cane with knurling, to lean on? You can get a handcrafted cane that looks sort of like a barbell, but is solid wood, maybe with a plutonium tip to use on those souls that annoy you too much.
I needed to hear this in a bad way thankyou for this video I’m starting back lifting weights properly this Monday after quoting over a year ago. I reckon it will either get better or it will get worse and then I can have it worked on from the doctors. But this complacency is killing me!! Thanks for the video!!
What do you do If your the small percentage with problems in your legs and bladder issues? Asking for a friend..... jk I need to know. I went to a orthopedic hip doctor and she wasted my time and money and was about to call it fibromyalgia. The muscles on my right body don’t really work so well. I do all the main lifts but I have some really bad issues. Who should I go see? My hips are crooked and the hip muscles are seriously tight all the time and my right leg and arm have problems with full extension and flexion like in a Chin up I’m hanging different on one side and I’m always standing on my left leg because it’s hard to load my right hip by shoving it forward.
Back pain? Just deadlift bro. Make sure your form is impeccable too... as soon as the slightest degree of lumbar flexion occurs, make sure to deload by no less than 50% and work your way up properly.
So I got hurt doing trap at deadlift a year ago above the right cheek. So I went back to deadlifting on the barbell worked up to 350 and couldn’t take it anymore once I got into position I just couldn’t pull it anymore so I dropped weight. With less weight it still hurts but I can mange it. I went from 350 to 200. Now the odd thing is when I low bar squat I fill fine I got 325 up no problem. It’s been a year now and seems like it’s not getting better
I had a back pain since I was 20. It was a trauma, not degenerative changes so it was "more serious". What I want to say is that exercising is indeed the key: it would go considerably worse during the periods when I didn't exercise. It got so bad at one time that I walked with a limp... Lately I found that kettlebell exercises are pretty good for me (swings, snatch, jerk etc) and I feel so much better now when I am 55 when I was say 40 y.o. Kettlebell exercises strengthen the core while being not as intimidating as barbell - well, at least for me (I blame the trauma what else). You have to progress of course, the same logic applies: first increase the volume and then move up in weight. Again, depending on your age and level of fitness and background problems, like mine, but sitting on your azz and doing nothing is not an option. P.S. and running does not help at all, rather the opposite: do not do running if you have a back pain!
@@jeffriggins9106 someone with bad back is way better of doing interval walking vs a long one hour walk. I would say Americans don't walk that much, u have to use a car a lot
I was told today that 2 of my lower back discs have fused. Of course the Chiro said no more deadlifting or squatting. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks...
I've watched all of these SS back talks out of personal interest due to my own back pain. All of them, including with credentialed guests, are saying: "strengthening the muscles of the back makes pain go away." Not one of them addresses an equally important question: can loading the spine, and inevitable micro-breakdowns of form we all have in the gym, *accelerate structural degeneration* in bone and cartilage and nucleii? Logically....it seems yes. Haven't heard anything otherwise and the logic of physics compels a conclusion. Yes, maybe strength training generates medium term alleviation through soft tissue fortification, but long term, potentially worse off as hard tissue grinds away under massive force. This glaring hole is demotivating to continue.
Unless you're very old, and/or are not allowing your body to recover and thus adapt, measured incremental stress to your system will result in a strength response. Remember, the idea is to stress,not curb stomp, your back. Give it something to work against. Very reason why astronauts get back issues after being up there too long(no gravity is bad for a gravity-based system like your spine). Don't lose heart my dude. If your form is breaking down to where the load is no longer supported and balanced, reduce the weight and only do what you can do with perfect form and take smaller increases in weight. Most of the literature produced by Starting Strength says if you're doing bad, do fewer sets, but stay on 5 reps.
@@oliverallen5324 everything you're saying is in respect to soft tissue adaptation. You're missing what I'm saying. I appreciate the supporting encouragement. Very kind. Even still it remains that cartilage doesn't regrow. Whether or not loading large weights accelerates degeneration (even if alleviating back pain in the nearer term) is still the unanswered question by Rip and his guests. Military career. Powerlifting (including competing) for several years (not new at this). For the sake of career, I just second guess strength/fitness choices when it's not explicitly clear that I'm not doing irreversible damage as it nags now after doing this a few years.
Your hypothesis is correct. I don't have any back pain. My friends in their 50s who do daily 3+ hr walks and yoga for exercise, have no back pain. They also add 1-2 days a week of light resistance training. The only people who have back pain are fat lazy slobs who don't exercise and those who perform the Big 3 as their main form of exercise so they can show their buddies that they are strong. I am an MD / Diagnostic Radiologist and look at lumbar spine MRI daily. The myth Rip likes to repeat - everyone has an abnormal lumbar spine MRI is also false, surprise surprise.
What about scoliosis? Still squat and deadlift? I’m 57 and I’ve been training for 40 years. I’ve only started doing powerlifting movements over the last couple years. Just wanted to make sure that it was advisable.
When I'm deadlifting off the floor I got a shooting pain and my muscles don't let me do anything for like a week. Doesn't matter which weight. When my lumbar spine starts flexing just a little bit it's over. Some tips how to handle that?
@Amir Mohajerani it’s actually getting my better. Just tweaked it a bit. I had close to six sessions since this post and it has gotten better. Still some inflammation but I think the strength gains are helping. I’m not even sure what I did. Felt like I pulled something at the bottom right
Back pain is not because of the way we evolved, it is due to technology and man sitting and forward reaching, almost no one past the age of 18 in america has the posture our bodies were designed to maintain, curve at l5 s1 butt behind you, fairly flat thoracic spine, tall neck, shoulders and arms in line with the back of the torso, most have too much lumbar curve or flat lumbar, kyphotic thorcic, forward arms and shoulders.
My weight training has helped my back pain in general the past 2+ years I've been doing it. .... I don't do regular deadlifts though.... I seem to hurt myself on them. Squats n Press n Bench,... Some trap bar deadlifts now n again.
I have a L4,L5,S1 fusion and got it 10 years ago when I was 18. I haven't had issues but a little pain off and on over the years. I haven't trained much over the years because I have been afraid to push my back. But I have done physical labor pretty much my whole adult life while on shift work. I have been training harder and harder over the last year. I have started doing crossfit with my wife recently, so far I have had only a little pain, what I would consider normal flair ups. What are your thoughts on crossfit in general, for me and for long term training? Thank you
Lifting will mess up your back eventually. You shouldn't be stressing your spine every week lifting heavy, even with "good form" and strong core your spine is not meant to hold that much weight.
Actually, I had a conversation with the SS staff on Instagram about it. I'm not entitled to Uncle Rippy's reply, so it was cool that we connected. Now go drink your milk.
Placing tape across the bottom third of the video will solve that issue for you without requiring the world to conform to your whims. Good luck out there.
8:12 is where it starts.
THANK YOU.
Video should’ve started hear. Fuck man 8.5 mins is a long time to solve
I'm computer programmer in my thirties. Had problems with back and neck spine since puberty. Special chair, correct anatomical sitting position, doctor visits...nothing helped. Deadlifting 300 pounds helped and cost fraction of money compared to other "solutions", it's also more enjoyable than any prescribed "exercise". A year later, my PR is 470, next goal is 500.
Hows your back pains now in August 2020
Prove it
Video or it didn’t happen😄
Just kidding 😄
hes paralized @@CrazyLocoInsane1
i dont believe you
Listen to this at 1.5 speed.... thus, it approximates normal speech speed for the rest of humanity. And you will not lose or miss anything.
GGR TheMostGodless Great Advice!! I didn’t even know RUclips he that feature. Haha
@@korbyn49
He just speaks great facts and tips, but wayyyyy toooooo slow.... at 1.5 speed he sounds like normal speed for conversations... hell, even at 1.75 it still sounds pretty understandable. Saves a lot of time too!!
Good luck.
How do you do this?
15x ?
LMAO not 1.5 but at 1.25 you can barely notice it's faster than normal
A video like this for knee pain would be great.
I wonder if the engineers from prometheus have back pain
19:00 I think Rip is a comedic genius and it's time the world to recognise it. We are ready for that conversation
So basically, deal with it... and squat and DL. Makes sense, and kind of what I figured the answer would be. I'm here because not being able to lift during lockdown has made my back pain worse. For anyone wondering, a lacrosse ball brings temporary but significant relief, but I really just gotta find something to lift.
I had back pain for years that worsened with heavy lifting. I eventually figured out that intensive stretching targeting the QL and erectors/hammies was the only solution. Ruined my training for a long time until I got the tightness under control. Why does he never mention stretching?
“Resist the temptation to be dumb” 😂
48:41 to 48:48 This advice applies to many things...well above and beyond back pain!
I've often questioned whether I should be loading my bad back with squats and deadlifts but the fact that it lessens my back pain keeps me pumping the iron.
Finally an answer for why Rip leans on everything
At what minute
@@connorw360 0:00
@@connorw360are you dumb. It’s right away
What are your thoughts on the reverse hyperextension exercise?
"Healing Back Pain"-Dr. John Sarno. that is all.
McGill's "Back Mechanic" is very good too
Thanks. You're comment is how/why I read it. You changed my life!
starting strength is infectious I tell everybody about it I do it religiously three times a week and it is the only training i will do with my clients however one thing I have noticed is that when I'm watching Mr repto on RUclips I rest my forearms on the table and start doing the funky crab with my thumb and four fingers
oh shit you are becoming the crab
Listening to this while doing my work out!
Mark and uhh Rippetoe
This was terribly funny
My back hurts when I do my taxes. Lifting makes it go away every time.
I have extreme back pain and have since age 17 (I'm almost 21). I had rapid degeneration in the T-spine area, as well as multiple disk bulges. I'm not all the way through the video so this may be too early, but I do wanna say that the degeneration CAN be a cause of pain though. It doesn't have to be, but it can. One of the bulges in my T-spine area is oriented towards a nerve, so certain movements push the disk into the nerve and cause immediate pain for me.
To rehab a back , you have to have a strong core , strong glutes , and nice spinal erectors , and you can come back
I think the reason we are all in pain somewhere, low back, neck, shoulders etc. is because we got off the playground.
Imagine if we played for a half hour every day as kids swinging, hanging, climbing, jumping etc. and never stopped
Hey Rippetoe, why not get a cane with knurling, to lean on? You can get a handcrafted cane that looks sort of like a barbell, but is solid wood, maybe with a plutonium tip to use on those souls that annoy you too much.
"Resist the temptation to be dumb. Everyone you get the opportunity, don't be dumb." -M. Rippetoe
I needed to hear this in a bad way thankyou for this video I’m starting back lifting weights properly this Monday after quoting over a year ago. I reckon it will either get better or it will get worse and then I can have it worked on from the doctors. But this complacency is killing me!! Thanks for the video!!
Don't believe evolution--have no back pain
Evolution is a fact whether you believe in it or not.
Ditto. Evolution as an explanation for how life came to be is a crock of Shite!
What do you do If your the small percentage with problems in your legs and bladder issues? Asking for a friend..... jk I need to know. I went to a orthopedic hip doctor and she wasted my time and money and was about to call it fibromyalgia. The muscles on my right body don’t really work so well. I do all the main lifts but I have some really bad issues. Who should I go see? My hips are crooked and the hip muscles are seriously tight all the time and my right leg and arm have problems with full extension and flexion like in a Chin up I’m hanging different on one side and I’m always standing on my left leg because it’s hard to load my right hip by shoving it forward.
I had severe back pain after bench pressing. Why?
Rip compresses the most words into the smallest idea more than anyone I’ve ever heard or read
.... But he's thorough.
dereksmallsuk it’s called verbal masturbation
-Abraham Lincoln
And he isnt wrong.
Being able to explain complex subjects accurately in few words is a good sign of experience and competence.
I have lumbar spinal stenosis....is fee weights advised?
My back feels right after deadlifting, it’s not painful at all almost like a pump, fades away over the next hour and is gone. Is this normal?
Yes.
Back pain? Just deadlift bro. Make sure your form is impeccable too... as soon as the slightest degree of lumbar flexion occurs, make sure to deload by no less than 50% and work your way up properly.
Unlimited Piss can’t tell if serious or troll
try sumo for while hard to do flexion
So I got hurt doing trap at deadlift a year ago above the right cheek. So I went back to deadlifting on the barbell worked up to 350 and couldn’t take it anymore once I got into position I just couldn’t pull it anymore so I dropped weight. With less weight it still hurts but I can mange it. I went from 350 to 200. Now the odd thing is when I low bar squat I fill fine I got 325 up no problem. It’s been a year now and seems like it’s not getting better
You fill fine? What are you filling?
@@sananton2821 well it’s been a year now I feel a lot better and been doing CrossFit so I’m good now thank u
A properly executed back extention doesn't create any more spinal movement than a Deadlift. Also, what about people with chronic back pain?
Some more detail on rehabbing disc injuries and sciatica would be appreciated.
My sciatic nerve pain virtually disappeared as soon as I started doing hip stretches.
I had a back pain since I was 20. It was a trauma, not degenerative changes so it was "more serious". What I want to say is that exercising is indeed the key: it would go considerably worse during the periods when I didn't exercise. It got so bad at one time that I walked with a limp... Lately I found that kettlebell exercises are pretty good for me (swings, snatch, jerk etc) and I feel so much better now when I am 55 when I was say 40 y.o. Kettlebell exercises strengthen the core while being not as intimidating as barbell - well, at least for me (I blame the trauma what else). You have to progress of course, the same logic applies: first increase the volume and then move up in weight. Again, depending on your age and level of fitness and background problems, like mine, but sitting on your azz and doing nothing is not an option.
P.S. and running does not help at all, rather the opposite: do not do running if you have a back pain!
Discover Stuart McGill and read his Back Mechanic. Implement 3 daily walks and do Big 3, it's a huge change
@@kadijaish humans just don't walk in day to day life anymore ??
@@jeffriggins9106 someone with bad back is way better of doing interval walking vs a long one hour walk. I would say Americans don't walk that much, u have to use a car a lot
I was told today that 2 of my lower back discs have fused. Of course the Chiro said no more deadlifting or squatting. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks...
I've watched all of these SS back talks out of personal interest due to my own back pain. All of them, including with credentialed guests, are saying: "strengthening the muscles of the back makes pain go away." Not one of them addresses an equally important question: can loading the spine, and inevitable micro-breakdowns of form we all have in the gym, *accelerate structural degeneration* in bone and cartilage and nucleii? Logically....it seems yes. Haven't heard anything otherwise and the logic of physics compels a conclusion. Yes, maybe strength training generates medium term alleviation through soft tissue fortification, but long term, potentially worse off as hard tissue grinds away under massive force.
This glaring hole is demotivating to continue.
Unless you're very old, and/or are not allowing your body to recover and thus adapt, measured incremental stress to your system will result in a strength response. Remember, the idea is to stress,not curb stomp, your back. Give it something to work against. Very reason why astronauts get back issues after being up there too long(no gravity is bad for a gravity-based system like your spine).
Don't lose heart my dude. If your form is breaking down to where the load is no longer supported and balanced, reduce the weight and only do what you can do with perfect form and take smaller increases in weight.
Most of the literature produced by Starting Strength says if you're doing bad, do fewer sets, but stay on 5 reps.
@@oliverallen5324 everything you're saying is in respect to soft tissue adaptation. You're missing what I'm saying. I appreciate the supporting encouragement. Very kind. Even still it remains that cartilage doesn't regrow. Whether or not loading large weights accelerates degeneration (even if alleviating back pain in the nearer term) is still the unanswered question by Rip and his guests.
Military career. Powerlifting (including competing) for several years (not new at this). For the sake of career, I just second guess strength/fitness choices when it's not explicitly clear that I'm not doing irreversible damage as it nags now after doing this a few years.
You should look at the barbell medicine articles they might help
Your hypothesis is correct. I don't have any back pain. My friends in their 50s who do daily 3+ hr walks and yoga for exercise, have no back pain. They also add 1-2 days a week of light resistance training. The only people who have back pain are fat lazy slobs who don't exercise and those who perform the Big 3 as their main form of exercise so they can show their buddies that they are strong.
I am an MD / Diagnostic Radiologist and look at lumbar spine MRI daily. The myth Rip likes to repeat - everyone has an abnormal lumbar spine MRI is also false, surprise surprise.
@@Re3iRtH www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25430861
You have any evidence or just anecdotal bullshit?
I quit at the Ape part !
What about scoliosis? Still squat and deadlift? I’m 57 and I’ve been training for 40 years. I’ve only started doing powerlifting movements over the last couple years. Just wanted to make sure that it was advisable.
This video is good general information about life. Many Americans are soft and have been conditioned to believe the should always feel good.
34:00 🙌
The wet wing univariately jam because linen ontogenetically hop for a violent run. cute, whimsical boundary
I have lower back pain while bending forward, any advice?
This was super helpful, Rip. Thank you sir.
48:44 resist the temptation of being dumb HAHAHA i died
Needed this at the perfect time. Back isn’t feeling too great after not managing volume and fatigue properly but I will train through it.
36:02
32:00 FAAAHHVVEEbromyalgia
When I'm deadlifting off the floor I got a shooting pain and my muscles don't let me do anything for like a week. Doesn't matter which weight. When my lumbar spine starts flexing just a little bit it's over. Some tips how to handle that?
Just finished my workout and my back feels like shit again. I guess I'll just train trough it
That is risky. I’d rather listen to my body
@Amir Mohajerani it’s actually getting my better. Just tweaked it a bit. I had close to six sessions since this post and it has gotten better. Still some inflammation but I think the strength gains are helping. I’m not even sure what I did. Felt like I pulled something at the bottom right
Thanks for this. I have an extra vertebrae and this technique is helpful.
brag
Excellent, thanks!
Back pain is not because of the way we evolved, it is due to technology and man sitting and forward reaching, almost no one past the age of 18 in america has the posture our bodies were designed to maintain, curve at l5 s1 butt behind you, fairly flat thoracic spine, tall neck, shoulders and arms in line with the back of the torso, most have too much lumbar curve or flat lumbar, kyphotic thorcic, forward arms and shoulders.
Why you back hurts all time? You have said that Squats and Deadlifts make your back stronger.
He got thrown from a horse, motorcycle accident, etc
@@kadeshaderow oh, i didn't know.
Gianluca Santos and old people just feel pain for no absolute reason.
My weight training has helped my back pain in general the past 2+ years I've been doing it. .... I don't do regular deadlifts though.... I seem to hurt myself on them. Squats n Press n Bench,... Some trap bar deadlifts now n again.
I had some decent pain from deadlifts until I switched to sumo stance dead lift
Don't trust that shirt.
I discovered you yesterday on RUclips and subscribed. Watching this video was enough to make me change my mind.
LMAO why?
I dont imagine he gives a transvestite hookers left testicle weather you are here or not.
I have a L4,L5,S1 fusion and got it 10 years ago when I was 18. I haven't had issues but a little pain off and on over the years. I haven't trained much over the years because I have been afraid to push my back. But I have done physical labor pretty much my whole adult life while on shift work. I have been training harder and harder over the last year. I have started doing crossfit with my wife recently, so far I have had only a little pain, what I would consider normal flair ups. What are your thoughts on crossfit in general, for me and for long term training? Thank you
Lifting will mess up your back eventually. You shouldn't be stressing your spine every week lifting heavy, even with "good form" and strong core your spine is not meant to hold that much weight.
Rip, Ellen and I go to the same gym in Brooklyn. I see her pretty often. Amazing lifter.
A year later Rip doesn’t care
Actually, I had a conversation with the SS staff on Instagram about it. I'm not entitled to Uncle Rippy's reply, so it was cool that we connected. Now go drink your milk.
Stop moving ur fingers about every second when u speak its very distracting
Placing tape across the bottom third of the video will solve that issue for you without requiring the world to conform to your whims. Good luck out there.
@@MarkusLaumann 🤣🤣
I had chronic upper back pain since my teens, it completely stopped after a few months of lifting
I wish I had discovered this 25 years ago