Weight Lifting with a problem back?

Linnaea27

Hi everyone,

After being here for some time and working on getting myself in better shape, I've seen over and over that lots of people have had great success with heavy weight training. I'm almost to my maintenance weight and I'm thinking about what I need to be doing to maintain and get fitter/stronger. I'm intrigued by weight training, and do some with dumbbells (usually 12 lb ones-- have worked my way up from 6 lb ones over a period of time) but I keep seeing people talk about using really heavy weights.

Issues of getting to a gym aside ($ and distance from a gym/living in a rural area are issues for me), I kind of want to try lifting. But I have chronic lower back issues, which even when I am careful to use proper form when lifting heavy items in everyday life, bother me to the point that I'm worried about trying weight training.

So, is it possible to do some heavier weight training even with back problems? Are there particular moves that are better for someone with lower back issues? Where might I start?

And (forgive the possibly stupid question. . . I'm new to the idea of heavier weight training), is it possible to see some of the same benefits from really heavy lifting from exercising with dumbbells that FEEL heavy to me (as in 12-14 lb dumbbells)? That weight I can handle without back trouble, usually.

Thank you!

AJ_G

Just to clear up your last question. When people use the term "heavy lifting" it has nothing to do with how heavy a weight feels. Heavy lifting refers to using a weight heavy enough so that your muscles fail withing about 12 or less reps. It's not so much how it feels, it's that your muscles physically fail during your set in the proper rep range. The common rep range for strength based goals is failure from 1-7 reps, and for hypertrophy based goals (muscle building) the rep range is 8-12 reps to failure.

What sort of back pain do you experience? Could it be that strengthening your back muscles through heavy lifting may actually help with your back pain? Just a suggestion, I'm no doctor, whatever you do, do it very carefully and it wouldn't hurt to talk to a doctor about doing this.

greentart

I'm on board with asking a doctor and/or experienced trainer if your back problems are that severe. However, I suffer from a lower nerve issue in my back and the only thing that I find helps it is exercise. I've been doing some heavy lifting, bench presses mainly, and find that as long as I have the correct form, they don't hurt my back at all. I started off with just the bar (which I believe is 45-55 lbs from what I've been told) and just added 10 lbs on. True enough, it's taken me 2 months to get that, but I'll take it!

I feel SO much better after lifting, even compared to cardio. As a beginner, I don't feel its right to give you a lot of advice, so I'm in for the more experienced lifters.

sijomial

I've got a chronic lower back problem but still lift - it will very much depend on what your injury is.

As long as I avoid big vertical compression lifting helps me manage my back issues. So there are lifts I cannot do (or have to limit weight) but there's also lots of lifts I can manage.

I was in a pretty bad way up to three years ago and prolapsing discs doing very everyday things - my personal breakthrough was in getting my core and abs very strong over an extended period of time to support my weak back.

Please do take medical advice for your condition and technique is paramount - form first, heavy weight second!

katscoots

Check out the book 'New Rules of Lifting for Women'. I have had back problems as well and it actually helped me to lift. You just have to be careful and know your limits. And yes, definitely talk to your doctor first.

Linnaea27

I guess my back may not be as bad as the problems some of you have had-- yikes! It still does bother me rather often, but the only time I have really been sidelined by severe, debilitating back pain was 11 years ago now, when I originally injured it doing something stupid as a teenager. . . sledding accident I think.

Thank you for the info everyone! I have found that since I've been exercising a lot more, my back has been better. I am hoping that working on my core strength will help (more than it already has) and will look into "New Rules of Lifting for Women."

To answer AG_J's question from the beginning of the thread, when I said the 12-14 lb weights I use now feel heavy to me, that means that, depending on where I am in a workout (beginning, middle, end) I can usually do about 10-12 reps of certain moves using those weights; some moves I can't do quite that many before, I guess, muscle failure. Bleh, I guess I'm not very strong.