After hurting my lower back last week, I tried my best to rest and not push myself too hard this week. I started off the week with a rest day, and the next three workouts I did I tried to lower the weight and do exercises that barely used my lower back.
When I was at home I kept using my hot water bottle to apply heat to it and I felt it getting better fairly fast. When I first injured myself, I wanted to make sure it did not get worse because I did not want to lose any more time at the gym and I wanted to keep progressing. I did some research on how to tend to a lower back injury. Contrary to popular belief, doctors do not recommend bed rest when an injury to your lower back occurs. They suggest staying active while taking measures to avoid future injuries. When weight lifting, it is important to have proper form and learn to lift and bend properly. There are many measures to be taken when lifting, such as lifting using your leg muscles, bending at your knees instead of your waist, not bending forward when standing up, and standing as close as possible to the object you are lifting (Encyclopedia, 2022). In addition, although it is important to stay active after a back injury, there are certain activities to avoid such as contact sports, running, sit-ups, and golf (Encyclopedia, 2022). I will keep these in mind in the future as I do not want to injure myself again.
Monday
- Rest day
Tuesday
- Machine flys (84lb) 4 sets of 10
- Tricep extension (57.5lb) 3 sets of 12
- Face pulls (77.5lb) 4 sets of 10
- Chest press (96lb) 3 sets of 10
- Overhead tricep extension (50lb) 3 sets of 12
- Cable one arm lat raise (10lb) 3 sets of 10
- 500 steps on the stair master
Wednesday
- Face pulls (77.5lb) 4 sets of 10
- Delt fly machine (84lb) 3 sets of 10, 1 set to failure
- Straight arm bent over pull down (85lb) 4 sets of 8
- Lat pull down (57.5lb) 3 sets of 10
- Chest supported dumbbell row (2 x 25lb) 3 sets of 10, 1 set to failure
- Bicep curls (2 x 20lb) 3 sets of 10
- Hammer curls (2 x 15lb) 3 sets of 10
- Incline walk (20 mins) incline 15 speed 2.5
Thursday
- Rest day
Friday
- Leg extension 3 dropsets of 25 (80lb for 10, 60lb for 6, 40lb for 4, 20lb for 5)
- Leg curl 3 dropsets of 25 (60lb for 10, 40lb for 10, 20lb for 5)
- Machine leg press (210lb) 4 sets of 12
- Machine single leg press (150lb) 3 sets of 10
- Calf raises (96lb) 3 sets of 12
- Calf extensions (240lb) 3 sets of 12
Saturday
- Rest day
Sunday
- Bench press (115lb) 1 set of 2, 2 set of 3, (105lb) 2 sets of 5
- Dumbbell shoulder press (30lb) 3 sets of 10
- Incline dumbbell bench press (30lb) 3 sets of 8
- Tricep extension (57.5lb) 3 sets of 12
- Cable one arm lat raise (10lb) 3 sets of 10
- Machine fly (96lb) 3 sets of 8
- Overhead tricep extension (57.5lb) 3 sets of 12
- Front raises (25lb plate) 3 sets of 10
- Bench tricep dips 3 sets of 10
Encyclopedia, M. (2022). Taking care of your back at home: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22 March 2022, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002119.htm
Below is a picture of a stretch that I did that was helpful when I injured my lower back.
https://pixabay.com/vectors/stretching-exercises-exercise-37268/
brianmajic
March 22, 2022 — 11:08 am
Hi Liv,
I am sorry to hear about your back but am glad you decided to take it easy. It takes a large amount of maturity to put your safety above your passion for working out but I am proud that you did the responsible thing. I remember tweaking my shoulder at the start of a shoulder workout last summer and instead of switching the muscle group or lowering weight, I just continued on the same trajectory with my workout. This resulted in shoulder pain and poor workouts that I had to push through and I ultimately had to take a week off of working out after a week of bad workouts. I had to take a week off anyway and I wish I had done it at the start rather than wasting my time.
I recall you recently working towards progressive overload and small strains are bound to happen when you are pursuing this. The best thing to do is pursue lower reps (if you do the same amount with a higher weight your form will suffer), a good warmup, and a good cool down if you have time.
Keep up the good work, and I am glad you are feeling better!