Replacing deadlifts and squats

[speakeasy]

What's a good substitute for these? After injuring my back early this year, I still can't safely do deadlifts without a bunch of back pain the next few days. Is there anything else that's just as good?

 

[Flyer]

Nothing i know of is as good.. just start off LIGHT... (like really light - bar light)

also like you to read:

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=700

 

[Quiksilver]

After injuring my back early this year, I still can't safely do deadlifts without a bunch of back pain the next few days.

I experienced the same thing a couple years ago.

What happens is you tear a ligament(or badly strain a muscle) and your back protects itself by contracting/tightening all the muscle fiber in the area of the injury. When this happens the contracted muscle pulls on your spine and causes pain.

You have to loosen those tightened muscles, and the only way to do that is to slowly and gradually increase your workload. As dude above said, start with just the bar on squats/deads. Start going on long walks or doing cardio BEFORE weight sessions just to get your back muscles loosened up and warm.

Other good rehab exercises are: hyperextensions, good mornings, glute ham raises, etc. As you can see, all these exercises focus on actually using your back again in a controlled and safe manner, which is the only way to rehab it well.

Trust me man, my life went into a downward ****ing spiral when I tore a ligament in my back. Know why? Because I thought it would be a smart idea to AVOID using my back. Sure a few weeks of rest is good, but after that you're actually doing more harm than good. It took me WAY longer to recover because I got sedentary and avoided using my back for almost a year(for fear of the pain).

So, whatever the doc says about resting your back, if it's been a month or two since the injury, you have to fight to get that movement and health back. You can either avoid rehab and live with the knotted muscle in your back for the rest of your life, or you can deal with it now.

Please man, don't do what I did!!! :cuss:

 

[blinkwatt101]

Straight leg deadlifts and squats on the smith machine.....your sole focus should be form and you will be fine. One of buddies who fractured a vertebrae is slowly working his back in and he's having no problem doing those.

 

[Colossus]

Back problems are FAR more common in people with weak backs than in those who train.

Quik gave good advice----warm up thoroughly before lifting. You need to keep that area warm and perfused prior to and during lifting. Do exercise like light good mornings, straight-leg deadlifts, leg presses, and belt squats if you have access to them. Squats place serious loading on the spine, but if you are squatting light this should be a problem. Start light and progressively add weight every week. Avoiding exercises that strengthen the back, hams, glutes, and the rest of the posterior chain will certainly not promote any valuable healing after the initial post-injury/operative period.

 

[CaptainJ]

Straight leg deadlifts and squats on the smith machine.....your sole focus should be form and you will be fine. One of buddies who fractured a vertebrae is slowly working his back in and he's having no problem doing those.

Smith machine squats? You daft or something? How is that going to help his back, or even his form for that matter. Smith machine squats does for your form what excrement does for dessert, it fvcks it up.

Also straight leg dealifts are going to put more pressure on his back than normal deadlifts, which will probably cause more problems.

Just keep doing deadlifts and squats but ultra light so that there is no pain, hey you now have an excuse to deload and work on form. You want to make sure you stay in the groove and that your CNS remembers those exercises.

 

[Drum&Bass]

well smith squats aren't all that bad, its really just a quad builder and a pretty good one at that, I understand that you see the importance of doing conventional squats and i agree with you.

Doing lunges is a good REPLACEMENT for squats. Will you develop maximum strength from lunges, NO...will you develop balanced healthy legs, YES.

You can't really replace a deadlift, you can just do it with lighter weight. Picking up a pen or piece of paper off the floor is deadlift. The best thing to do after your better would be to use a TRAP bar for deadlifting instead of a barbell.

 

[Da Realist]

My experience has been that powerlifting actually helped. I messed up my knee one time and it hurt constanly for days on end. Around that time I decided to start lifting again and one of the lifts I do is squat. I did it and my knee hurt even worse when I used it. The thing is that I built up the weight slowly and my knee got better and didn't bother me as long as I kept lifting regularly. So truthfully, I wouldn't stop completely, but it would be worth your time to do exercises to build up and stretch your back muscles if you're cleared to do it.

 

[Quagmire911]

Good mornings are a good substitute, HOWEVER, these might still aggravte your problem. If you want to try them I'd start with a weight that you can comfortably do and see if that gives you any problems. Then you could slowly build over time.

But you need to get that underlying problem addressed. An A.R.T. therapist seems like a good way to go.

 

[Fengshui]

As you heal, their one legged versions are of great help to maintain strength and in some (mine for example) actually improve your strength in squats and deadlifts. I actually added twenty pounds to my squat max. 400 lbs squat. I allmost shed a tear out of pure happiness. It had been two years of chronic lower back pain. Bad joint injury. Scans showed nothing, doctors couldn´t figure out anything. Only time, foam rolling (soft tissue massage), lactic acid training and avoidance of sitting would heal the injury.

Pistols are good
Bulgarian split squats holding dumbbells.
One-leg deadlifts holding dumbbells

You can variate the exercises by holding two dumbbells, one dumbbell in the same arm as the working leg, and one dumbbell in the opposite arm of the working leg.

Also, do weighted hip thrusters for strengthening the glutes. Alot of back pain comes from inactive glutes. When glutes are not firing off propperly, the body will compensate by using the hamstrings and lower back to take over the work that the glutes should be performing. The lower back is the weakest link, and also the smallest. Therefor, when the lower back has to take over the weight that the other muscles should be lifting - it´s no surprise people get lower back pain. Stretch those glutes and hamstrings brutally hard. Tight muscles can lead to lower back rounding. As we all know, that will lead to injury one day.

 

[Monster]

front squats

 

[talrock]

What's a good substitute for these? After injuring my back early this year, I still can't safely do deadlifts without a bunch of back pain the next few days. Is there anything else that's just as good?

which portion of deads hurts your back? the initial pulling off the floor or from about knee height or above? take it slow, and be sure to stretch and strengthen the muscles slowly. i would lay off deads for a while if they hurt. hyper extensions and strengthening your core in the meantime will do wonders for your back. there are plenty of other things you can do to work your back. there is also rack pulls, which are partial deads. here's a vid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX25JXycqlM

can you squat at all without pain?