What exercises can I do for legs with a bad lower back?

[supasparty]

Backstory: I have always had a weak lower back (I used to get random jolts of pain from running on asphalt). A few months ago, I got some injury to a disc (or so I think) during seated rows. I couldn't bend over for a few days, but I eased back into my workout a few days later. My lower back still feels a tad tight even now, but it isn't too much of a big deal.

Anyways, I really want to do squats, but am pretty scared about putting wait on my back and having to maintain that position with a lower back that is prone to injury. I would appreciate any suggestions that know of exercises comparable to squats or a possible workaround.

Thanks.

[ironwill2008]

Backstory: I have always had a weak lower back (I used to get random jolts of pain from running on asphalt). A few months ago, I got some injury to a disc (or so I think) during seated rows. I couldn't bend over for a few days, but I eased back into my workout a few days later. My lower back still feels a tad tight even now, but it isn't too much of a big deal.

Anyways, I really want to do squats, but am pretty scared about putting wait on my back and having to maintain that position with a lower back that is prone to injury. I would appreciate any suggestions that know of exercises comparable to squats or a possible workaround.

Thanks.

See an Orthopedist, and get your spine issue dealt with directly. Taking exercise advices for such a problem on an interwebz forum could leave you with far more physical troubles than you can imagine.

[iviicrociot]

See an Orthopedist, and get your spine issue dealt with directly. Taking exercise advices for such a problem on an interwebz forum could leave you with far more physical troubles than you can imagine.

This. Once you're cleared then come back. When I was much more overweight (100+ lbs more than I am now), I injured my back a few times. The worst was from constantly bending over at work, eventually my back just gave out and I had to spend a couple months rehabbing it.

After getting in the groove of losing weight and lifting for a good six months I decided I wanted to add squats and deadlifts as well. My lifting partner at the time said he'd never do either because he had disc issues from a wrestling injury so I took it on myself to add them to my own routine. Unfortunately, the first thing I did was look at the novice/beginner/intermediate weight chart and thought to myself...well I'm benching over my own body weight and my other lifts have been going up, so I should be deadlifting at 300ish lbs and squating 270ish or whatever. So, instead of taking months to get my form down and build toward those weights (like I had with my other lifts), I was adding 10-20 lbs a week to my weight trying to catch up to those numbers. After about a month of squating I decided I would squat lbs. Mind you, my form was ****, I wasn't even close to parallel... not hard to hack squat heavy weight if you've been hammering leg presses from the get go.

Anyway, long story short is, I hit a weight where I wasn't coming back up from and my torso tilted forward and instead of dropping the bar on the rack pins, my first instinct was "I've gotta get this heavy ass weight off my shoulders" and pushed everything I had to get it back up to the starting rack. Popped my lower back again. So... after a good 12 weels of not squatting or deadlifting...when I'm feeling normal again... I make the same stupid mistake of trying to conventionally deadlift more than my form could handle and, after locking out, I let the weight down too far from my body and again rounded my back.

Best advice I can give you is, just because you're strong, doesn't mean you're other untrained lifts are as strong as the ones you've worked on for months/years. Check your ego and start light. Watch videos on form and cues. I've been working on hip flexibility...the main reason why my form sucked on these two lifts. I can't even pull conventional dl properly with heavy weight... but I can pull sumo properly and I don't feel any "exaggerated" stress on my lower back. I work back extensions in as an accessory movement, and at all times my mind is on keeping my back straight and locked.

Hope this helps and the wall of text didn't knock you off your chair.

tldr Take it slow, learn form, don't be an idiot like I was.

[MikeFFO]

See an Orthopedist, and get your spine issue dealt with directly. Taking exercise advices for such a problem on an interwebz forum could leave you with far more physical troubles than you can imagine.

Great reply. Chances are if a good doctor gives you a clean bill of health, you will be prescribed a dose or rehab and hard work. Don't mess with the spine without getting it checked out by a real doctor.

[schneppy07]

See an Orthopedist, and get your spine issue dealt with directly. Taking exercise advices for such a problem on an interwebz forum could leave you with far more physical troubles than you can imagine.

Agreed, they will be able to tell you how bad it is and how to fix the problem.

[Temple90]

Its probably a bad idea to load weight on your back when your lower back is bothering you.

[whyser]

This. Once you're cleared then come back. When I was much more overweight (100+ lbs more than I am now), I injured my back a few times. The worst was from constantly bending over at work, eventually my back just gave out and I had to spend a couple months rehabbing it.

After getting in the groove of losing weight and lifting for a good six months I decided I wanted to add squats and deadlifts as well. My lifting partner at the time said he'd never do either because he had disc issues from a wrestling injury so I took it on myself to add them to my own routine. Unfortunately, the first thing I did was look at the novice/beginner/intermediate weight chart and thought to myself...well I'm benching over my own body weight and my other lifts have been going up, so I should be deadlifting at 300ish lbs and squating 270ish or whatever. So, instead of taking months to get my form down and build toward those weights (like I had with my other lifts), I was adding 10-20 lbs a week to my weight trying to catch up to those numbers. After about a month of squating I decided I would squat lbs. Mind you, my form was ****, I wasn't even close to parallel... not hard to hack squat heavy weight if you've been hammering leg presses from the get go.

Anyway, long story short is, I hit a weight where I wasn't coming back up from and my torso tilted forward and instead of dropping the bar on the rack pins, my first instinct was "I've gotta get this heavy ass weight off my shoulders" and pushed everything I had to get it back up to the starting rack. Popped my lower back again. So... after a good 12 weels of not squatting or deadlifting...when I'm feeling normal again... I make the same stupid mistake of trying to conventionally deadlift more than my form could handle and, after locking out, I let the weight down too far from my body and again rounded my back.

Best advice I can give you is, just because you're strong, doesn't mean you're other untrained lifts are as strong as the ones you've worked on for months/years. Check your ego and start light. Watch videos on form and cues. I've been working on hip flexibility...the main reason why my form sucked on these two lifts. I can't even pull conventional dl properly with heavy weight... but I can pull sumo properly and I don't feel any "exaggerated" stress on my lower back. I work back extensions in as an accessory movement, and at all times my mind is on keeping my back straight and locked.

Hope this helps and the wall of text didn't knock you off your chair.

tldr Take it slow, learn form, don't be an idiot like I was.

^ Great response, same thing happened with me, pushing too much weight with bad form = spine injury.
Keep in mind that after a spinal injury, you're MORE susceptible to re-injury for the next 4-6 weeks, so I would be extra careful during this time.