Severe lower back pain from light deadlift squat, I think due to very weak core

[sfetaz]

Here is my situation. When I was a teen I worked out a lot and at the time had constant severe back pain, which was misdiagnosed at the time as spinal stenosis. I eventually believed this was due to very weak and very tight core muscles. I feel I have weak lower back muscles, weak ab muscles and weak hip flexors. Even worse is that according to massage therapists I have dealt with, my core muscles are extremely inflexible.

Today was the first day in years I trained my legs with weights. Since I knew if I did regular squats the back pain would occur, I decided to try very light deadlift squats instead. By the 4th set my lower back was in a lot of pain, and I had to stop during the 5th set from extreme pain. I could not continue my workout because the pain was unbearable. I believe it was clearly a mistake to do this exercise. An hour later now and my back is better but still sore. I know form is extremely important with squat exercises to prevent back pain, but I am guessing that even with proper form my back can't handle the weight I was doing, but the highest weight i did was 30lbs each side plus the bar. While this was enough to get a workout in my legs when I was doing it, its not a high intensity workout on my legs.

This problem makes training my legs difficult. A lot of the times in my life when I did workout I felt forced to do isolation leg exercises because of the pain I experience with stiff leg deadlifts and squats and other similar exercises. But I want to be able to do these exercises and not have pain.

So what can I do? Should I get physical therapy to develop my core muscles and increase flexibilty? If not, is there a program I can do to strengthen and increase flexibilty of my core without putting too much strain on my lower back, to the point where my core will be strong enough and flexible enough to start handling squats? In the meantime, are there any good compound leg exercises I can do to train my quads, hams, and glutes that will not strain my back but give me a workout similar to squats? Leg press is good but it never hits my legs like squats did, even if when I did the squats my back hurt more than with the leg press.

Thanks for reading and for any advice. I should also note that I have very tight and not flexible hamstrings. My sit and reach my whole life has been terrible. I want to increase and improve my sit n reach as well.

[marblehead]

You need to stretch the hell out of your Hamstrings/Quads/Calves/Glutes etc

Use dynamic, ballistic and static stretching.
You really need to hit the those areas with stretching hard. 4-5 times a day

You need to get your form correct while squatting/lifting in check.

As for the weak core...just start training your core.
P90X's Ab Ripper is nasty.
Doing core work on a stability ball will be great.

What do your daily activities include/work etc

[sfetaz]

Most of my life is in a chair or in a bed. Very sedantary. I work behind a computer answering phones and emails for 10 hours a day, and on most of my days off I play poker in Atlantic City. My current plan is to do cardio first thing everyday when awakening 6 days a week, and weight training most of those days about 6 to 7 hours later, hitting each major muscle group once a week. Workouts and sets are taken from the Body for life style. 7th day is my free day. My plan was to stretch each night but you are saying multiple times a day, just curious why so often and if there is any problem doing it in khakis, which is my work pants? Also is there a place other than ebay where I can order individual discs of P90X?

Edit - I should also mention that today I did 10 minutes on the stair climber machine at a low to moderate pace and my lower back started being painful again, I could have kept going but was worried the pain would get extreme again. Right now I have some mild lower back pain sitting here at work.