Hey guys, I need a little help for WSM prep...

[81Ort]

Here's the situation: my back is bothering me a bit when it comes to heavy deadlifts and squats. Last year at this time I was pulling around 870 (suit) and squatting about 600 for 8 (no suit). I am trying to find ways around doing these two lifts in particular but still bringing them up. All ideas are appreciated!
Also, any ideas on rehab/prehab are appreciated.

I probably know the answer to my problem but it's never as easy to figure out your own sh*t so let's just bounce around some ideas. Thanks in advance guys.

-Travis

[Newbtime]

hamstring curl, GHR, reverse hyper, leg extensions, leg press possibly although some people say that is even harder on their back then squatting

whats the most weight you can handle without pain on both lifts?


but asking for help here is kinda like asking a blind man for directions to be honest lol

[skinnycalves]

Layne Norton mentioned that reverse hypers brought his deadlift from 530 or so to 615. If you haven't already done so, contact Louie Simmons, though im sure you have already done this. He will help anyone out especially such a high profile strength athlete such as yourself. He has personally talked for hours with JustinSulham and BigswoleKA, completely free of charge. E-mail him with your phone number, Louie does not use computers, his wife takes care of all of that.

Sorry thats all the help i could be

[HRK (herb)]

check out Ironmind.com, they have a hip belt that will help take the stress off you lower back when doing squats. It costs about $100. Magnus used it when he blew his bicep.
Sled or prowler work helps with leg strength without frying you back.

Prehab/rehab stuff - see a chiropractor that has a cold laser and/or does cox-flexion traction.
As mentioned Reverse hypers are kick ass (but hard to find in most gyms), foam roller work can help with keeping trigger points from forming....


just a few thoughts - hope it helps
Herb

[someonefat]

Well I'm not in any position to give advice to someone of your level, but if having back problems one thing that really has been helping me is deep tissue messages. I know a lot of bodybuilders do them to help with there back and avoid injuries and stuff.

I hope best at WSM this year, try and conserve some energy this time and not blow everyone away in semifinals but save it for finals

Just don't get too frustrated sure you know what to do best for your body considering the type of success you have had.

[PAS08]

Originally Posted by 81Ort

Here's the situation: my back is bothering me a bit when it comes to heavy deadlifts and squats. Last year at this time I was pulling around 870 (suit) and squatting about 600 for 8 (no suit). I am trying to find ways around doing these two lifts in particular but still bringing them up. All ideas are appreciated!
Also, any ideas on rehab/prehab are appreciated.

I probably know the answer to my problem but it's never as easy to figure out your own sh*t so let's just bounce around some ideas. Thanks in advance guys.

-Travis

what exercises/events give you back pain? what exercises/events are pain free? why do you feel you need to bring your squat an deadlift up?

[The_cannibal]

Originally Posted by someonefat

Well I'm not in any position to give advice to someone of your level, but if having back problems one thing that really has been helping me is deep tissue messages. I know a lot of bodybuilders do them to help with there back and avoid injuries and stuff.

I hope best at WSM this year, try and conserve some energy this time and not blow everyone away in semifinals but save it for finals

Just don't get too frustrated sure you know what to do best for your body considering the type of success you have had.

I second that post.

Like all others here, I'm not really in position to give much advice to a world class competitor like you, but deep tissue massages and foam rolling could help, in addition to performing assistance exercises as mentionned in previous posts.

[81Ort]

Thanks for all the replys guys! I know a lot of you are wondering why I'd ask for advice here... I'll tell you. There are some pretty sharp people here willing to help, and it is appreciated. You're right, I know a lot of these things; however, sometimes you just need to be reminded. When I win this year(hell yeah I said "when!") I will have you guys to thank for part of it!

I've been going to a chiro regularly and I am getting back on the "massage once a week" schedule. I guess I need to get back on the foam rolling and stop being a lazy ass.
I guess deadlifting hurts the most right now and I feel I need to bring both that and my squat up because they aren't as good as last year... But my shoulders are way better!
You guys think I should give some good mornings a shot? Just make sure I keep a tight arch in my back.


... oh, and 4th in the world sounds so much better than 2nd in the country!!!

[K11]

Taking deep tissue massage a step further, there's graston, which helps immensely for any soft tissue injuries. I had a massive knot in my left shoulder, scar tissue hindering my ROM, tons of pain, and graston was the only thing that fixed it. Physical therapy, acupuncture, and massages didn't do anything, but graston cleared it right up. They use metal tools to essentially "meat tenderize" you and pound any injuries away. It may not be the thing for your back issues, but if anything else feels tight or hurts, give it a try.

http://grastontechnique.com/

[Arlecchino]

1. Agree with deep tissue massage. ART may be even better. If you need to find someone who can perform active release in your area, shoot me a PM and I can look someone up.
2. Reverse hypers and good mornings. Not in the traditional sense, but extra volume with band work. Mostly as restorative exercises, but the flexion/extension will also allow you to pinpoint the area(s) that cause you the most pain, which can lead to finding better/alternative solutions.
3. Sauan/hot tub.
4. Extra massages. If it matters, you can tell your wife that a kinesiologist recommended it, and then you owe me a favor if she listens.
5. Ice/heat. Ice it to lessen the inflammatory response should this occur. A heating pad at other times can increase blood flow and speed healing.
6. Foam rolling has already been mentioned.
7. Mineral or electrolyte imbalance. While I doubt you can pay out of pocket for a serum mineral assay, you can increase your mineral intake and this may help with any cramping or spasming. And not cheap-ass one-a-day minerals, those suck.
8. Extra stretching. Serious. The act of stretching itself will increase blood flow to the area, which can speed the healing process slightly. But also because when we are injured, we often develop poor recruitment patterns, so you really need to be careful with the flexibility of not only your back, but all of the surrounding areas, particularly the hips and hamstrings. Otherwise even after you heal, you will have ground to make up.
9. Shrugs in what would be a horizontal plane, or while on a chest supported t-bar row. Extra stability for the lower traps (3&4) can go a long way to stabilizing the back in general.
10. You have a PM.

[str8flexed]

Originally Posted by skinnycalves

Layne Norton mentioned that reverse hypers brought his deadlift from 530 or so to 615. If you haven't already done so, contact Louie Simmons, though im sure you have already done this. He will help anyone out especially such a high profile strength athlete such as yourself. He has personally talked for hours with JustinSulham and BigswoleKA, completely free of charge. E-mail him with your phone number, Louie does not use computers, his wife takes care of all of that.

Sorry thats all the help i could be

incorrect, glute ham raises did that. But he reverse hyper is a great exercise.

Travis, I'd definitely recommend glute ham raises, they won't be very taxing on your lower back but they will blow up your hammies and really help the posterior chain.

I did nothing but glut ham raises for a year and never deadlifted and when I tried to max out again I'd put almost 100 lbs on my deadlift.

I'd also recommend reverse hypers as other people have said and I'd recommend belt squats. I"m not sure if you have access to a belt squat machine, but it would be a good way to get the benefits of squatting without having to put pressure on your lower back; in fact it would provide some traction for your lower back.

I'd also recommend that when you do rows you brace yourself against something. For example I do dumbbell rows bracing my upper body against an incline bench. I also do rack chins for lat assistance work because they actually provide some traction for the lower back

do you know if what you have is a disc or a muscle problem? have you seen an orthopedic?

-Layne

[skinnycalves]

Ah, my mistake, sorry about that.

[PAS08]

Originally Posted by 81Ort

Thanks for all the replys guys! I know a lot of you are wondering why I'd ask for advice here... I'll tell you. There are some pretty sharp people here willing to help, and it is appreciated. You're right, I know a lot of these things; however, sometimes you just need to be reminded. When I win this year(hell yeah I said "when!") I will have you guys to thank for part of it!

I've been going to a chiro regularly and I am getting back on the "massage once a week" schedule. I guess I need to get back on the foam rolling and stop being a lazy ass.
I guess deadlifting hurts the most right now and I feel I need to bring both that and my squat up because they aren't as good as last year... But my shoulders are way better!
You guys think I should give some good mornings a shot? Just make sure I keep a tight arch in my back.


... oh, and 4th in the world sounds so much better than 2nd in the country!!!

but neither deadlift or squat are in the finals, so why do they need to be as good as last year? with stones, keg toss an truck pull in the qualifier you will still qualfiy regardless.

My thoughts if i were you would be to focus everything around the events of the finals, i would do some limited squatting, but you would get plenty of leg an especially back work from training arm over arm, cleans, stones etc

[UHCougar05]

You can try the GMs Travis. If you have bands, you can do Band Good Mornings to get blood flowing. Heading over to Ryan's to do Reverse Hypers couldn't hurt either.

[81Ort]

Here's a quick update. I did make it up to Ryan's gym (Asylum Gym) on Monday and had a great workout. I stayed away from anything that would cause me to hyper extend my back so instead of doing axle cleans I used the circus dumbell. I ended up getting 12 reps too! Anyway, I used the reverse hyper machine at the end of the workout and I really felt it right in the sore spot. There was so much blood in there I could hardly bend over to take my shoes off. I felt so much better the next day too.
I kept up with the therapy and Wednesday I had another great workout. I did some bottom position squats with the bar set so that I started right at parallel. I hit 600 for 8 with just a belt on!
I have basically been doing the things we discussed in this thread and I just wanted to thank you guys for helping me get out of my own way and sort this thing out. Sometimes you just need to hear it instead of trying to remember it all.

Here's a short list of what I did:
-ice after workouts and throughout the day when I had time.
-ice/heat therapy when I had time
-NSAIDs
-stretching
-reverse hyper
-inversion board
-chiro/ ART therapy
-meditation (see it, believe it, BE it)
-Stay Activ by Promera Health
-upped my joint supplement intake

I will stay on top of this so that I can tear it up at WSM!

[81Ort]

Originally Posted by PAS08

what exercises/events give you back pain? what exercises/events are pain free? why do you feel you need to bring your squat an deadlift up?

I just think that these have the best carryover into everything else we do in Strongman. I think staying away from the deadlifts this week may have let it have enough of a break to heal. I should be good to deadlift next week. Probably still won't go too heavy. The other reason I want to make sure that these lifts are up to par is you never know if they might decide to change something in the final. "All events are subject to change."

[dannyautrey]

Awesome dude! Can't wait to see how you do at WSM.

I wish I had access to a reverse hyper.

[nateakabear05]

Originally Posted by dannyautrey

Awesome dude! Can't wait to see how you do at WSM.

I wish I had access to a reverse hyper.

Feels good man. Feels good.

[Isolatorweg]

Originally Posted by 81Ort

Thanks for all the replys guys! I know a lot of you are wondering why I'd ask for advice here... I'll tell you. There are some pretty sharp people here willing to help, and it is appreciated. You're right, I know a lot of these things; however, sometimes you just need to be reminded. When I win this year(hell yeah I said "when!") I will have you guys to thank for part of it!

Are you gonna give a shout out to us when you win?

[Blindead]

Glad to hear everything is going well Travis. If you're dealing with inflammation, though, you might want to look into a boswellia serrata resin extract. It's similar to NSAIDs in that it's an inflammatory prostaglandin forming enzyme blocker, but it inhibits a different enzyme. It did wonders for me. It's pretty cheap too.

[PAS08]

Originally Posted by 81Ort

I just think that these have the best carryover into everything else we do in Strongman. I think staying away from the deadlifts this week may have let it have enough of a break to heal. I should be good to deadlift next week. Probably still won't go too heavy. The other reason I want to make sure that these lifts are up to par is you never know if they might decide to change something in the final. "All events are subject to change."

fair enough, i agree squats an deadlifts have carry over to a lot of events, but i also feel you could improve your squat an deadlift just by training the events - hope your working your core, grip an conditioning like crazy >good luck

[Arlecchino]

Excellent.

[trap-bar]

ever try muscle rub or biofreeze?

[juiyuanwu]

Hey Travis, do you know when does WSM 09 competition start?

I looked up the website and it says it will be held in Malta, but no date was set.

[Shanecutler51]

Hey Travis, quick question about your supps. You mentioned you increased your joint supplement intake. Which joint supplement do you use and have you found it helps a lot with joint/ligament pains?

[lifterg]

I have had off and on battles with 2 herniated disks since nationals in 86. I started swimming as rehab/prehab/shoulder flexibility.
The combination decompression and low resistance rotational movement helped my back a lot.

Don't forget abs.

Also take a look at how you sleep. I have a friend who is a high 500/600 puller at 123/132 and swears sleeping in a fetal position is the only thing that allows his back to recover. Not 100% sure about the fetal position thing, but sleeping positions have a huge impact on spine and shoulders.

Good luck