Deadlift down 50kg in 4 weeks.

[welshwizard]

Hi,

I'm a 25 year old male, keen sportsman and bodybuilder with a self-taught knowledge on nutrition and therefore I can safely say that I am currently eating with the intentions of getting bigger and stronger and therefore there is absolutely no reason as to why my deadlift has gone from 190kg to 160kg in less than 4 weeks other than the fact my lower back is shot. And I'm not sure why. Which brings me to you fabulous people.

My form is fine, I've had trainers and coaches police that. It just seems that after the first or second set, my lower back is the reason I cannot continue. It feels as though someone is stabbing me whenever I walk and when actively deadlifting, it feels as though my lower back will snap. Tough one to explain, I just know it's not right!

I am not yet looking to seek physical help because I'm currently seeing a physio about a dislocated shoulder (on the way to recovery).

Even a full, active set of squats is enough to make me feel like my back has been trampled on by a few elephants. Is it a sign of poor mobility, flexibility? Do I need to stop these compound lifts for a while? I feel like an old, old man.

Any advice would be so much appreciated,

Thank you.

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[physiobob]

Hi Welshwizard, thanks for your post. As a bodybuilder in my younger years I feel your frustration. One can really only confirm your thoughts and put clarity on the following.

It seems that there is something up with your low back. This will cause inhibition (involuntary) to both the back muscles and even moderate the leg muscles as a protective mechanism to prevent you from lifting an amount that could cause further damage. You are also noting how much the back contributes to the deadlift capacity, i.e. if it is not firing then your max weight will drop, simple as that.

You mention a stabbing pain on walking. This could indicate an imbalance in the pelvic alignment and it's influence on the lumbar spine position, although it also works in reverse. Only a thorough physical assessment can determine what's going on there. My advice is that in the current state (a low back that has some sort of alignment, possibly discal, issues) rest will not resolve the symptoms. You need to restore the full pain free motion of the low back before the muscle synergies will begin to work as normal. You also mention a shoulder issue and it could even be that an issue up there had lead to you altering your movement patterns in the squat or deadlift or bent over rows etc etc and that this could have driven the issue in the first place. It is all so connected and when lifting heavy you see when one link in the chain breaks the whole system can come unstuck.

I would ask your shoulder guy to take a look at your back range of motion when you next have a check. You should be able to get a lot out of an good hour assessment and treatment plan with perhaps 1 or two followups, with you doing most of the work.

Let me know if this sounds reasonable or if you have any further questions. :-)

[welshwizard]

Very reasonable physiobob thank you. You have confirmed what I feared, that I need to now concentrate on fixing my lower back as well as my shoulder! But at least I can go to her with at least a very brief understanding of what might be wrong. Thank you.

[physiobob]

No worries, glad to be of a little help. Let us know in due course how you got on. :-)