I got a bad lower back ache, pain from doing squats and leg press. Do I ease up on it, or to continue to thru

Question

I had a doctor who told me that our body accomodates to everything. Maybe I just need to work out till my lower back strengthens and keeps up with it. Maybe its sore cause its strenghtening? I never used to have that pain before tho, And I used to lift more weight than I do now. Or maybe I should take a break, if so like how long. Thanks

Answer 1

Your lower back should not hurt from doing squats and leg presses. It's far more likely that it's your form that's the problem. If you don't have a personal trainer, just grab one of the staff at the gym and get them to critique your stance and movement. You may need to drop to an even lower weight to get the form perfect, then work your way back up. It's far better to do lower weight and fewer reps with perfect form and work up, than muscle up heavier weights and wind up with a ruptured disk.

Answer 2

Lay off the squats for a while til the back pain goes away. you can compress your spine doing a lot of squats. If youre lower back hurts, try doing excercises to strengthen it and stretch it. Many gyms are equipped with a seat that you can lean forward over it and extend your lower back. This will help develop your back muscles and possibly help to relieve pain during squats. Take about 1-2 weeks off of doing anything involving squats. Be sure to stretch your back out before lifting just to be safe. If you do keep doing squats you will pull something in your back and then you cant lift at all.

Answer 3

I first would check your form to make sure that it is correct, because just a little mishap in your form can cause your back to go out of alignment (which is vary common while squatting/deadlifting). I would really be careful tho, because when i was in highschool, i was in a squat competition and i tried to do more weight that i ever have, and in the process of the squat i lost my form and felt my lower back pop and fell to the floor. After seeing my schools athletic trainer, he said it was just muscle strain and it would get better and that i could go on and play football for the remainder of the year with no problem (with the help of alot of tiger balm). After the season was over i went for a run and after a little while, i noticed sharp stabbing pains in my lower back and i couldnt run anymore and barely walk. i went to the doc and he took xrays and found that i had broken 2 vertebre in my lower back!! So much for just a mucle strain! I had to go to a chyropractor 3 days a week for 6 months to get it straitened out and it still bothers me to this day. So i am telling you this so that you don't make the same mistake i did and try and be a hardass and hurt yourself worse that you already were. To this day i can't go above 225lb squat without pain... which sucks to me considering i was competing at 185 and squating 545. Just be smart with it and if it feels like somethings wrong, don't be afraid to get it checked out. It could have possibly saved my life.

Answer 4

Squats are for the legs, if you are hurting lower back then you are doing something wrong. Try elevating your heals.