[Balkan]

A good exercise for back prehab and rehab I haven't seen mentioned is reverse hyperextensions. Some nice gyms have the machine. Otherwise, you can jimmy the movement yourself using a yoga ball or bench. I'd recommend doing several high rep bodyweight sets throughout the week.

Here's a video that shows it. I think the exercise is as effective with hand contact vs. forearm, but both variations work.

[Bastard Sword]

Kaotic --

Makes sense, there definitely are shitty broscience trainers out there, and yes these kinds of gyms are expensive. In my opinion, though, a serious commitment to your fitness (getting fit in a progressive and sustainable way) simply is going to cost you money, no two ways around it.

LINUX may absolutely know what he's doing on his own terms, but he's not looking over your shoulder checking your form on every rep. If you're making a small form mistake on your squats, repeating that mistake 30+ times is not going to be good for your back. There's just lots of little things that I never knew before signing up for a functional gym myself ("breaking the bar" during deadlifts, properly bracing my core during squats). These little mistakes caused me serious back issues down the line, which I'm only just rectifying now.

I know you're in the LA area -- there are tons of great trainers out there. You may just want to give a shot. Realistically it will run you around $400-500 per month if you go once or twice weekly. Honestly a good trainer is a great investment -- I plan on using trainers/attending functional gyms for the next several years. Being able to powerlift with a healthy back is a blessing that should not be underestimated and these gyms will help you get there.

Just reaching out cause I've been there in terms of back injuries -- I got to a respectable strength level myself then fucked myself up doing deadlifts. It took me three years to get my fitness back on track and even now I'm still not close to where I used to be strength wise. Lifting injuries are no joke and will debilitate you if you don't develop perfect form/strengthen vulnerable areas like the glutes and core.

The biggest issue is the wasted time -- I could tolerate the pain up to a degree but seeing my muscle and strength wither away was incredibly frustrating.

[kaotic]

While agree it's an investment, there's no way I'm paying $400-500 a month for that, just to go 2-3 times a week, I'm also not near LA.

Like I said, I haven't squatted or dead lifted in over 4 months, with no plans to, until I strengthen my core and do more back strengthening exercises.

Squats and deads are on the back burner, they can wait.

I'm also not trying to be a powerlifter and hit PR's, my goals are functional and being mobile with my ROM for legs.


I know my back is getting better, which is why I'm sticking to machines when it comes to legs.

Now if it's a weekend clinic for lifting then awesome, I'm down for it.

My local guy could probably help me on for on the cheap, I'll probably hit him up and see what he offers.


My back isn't THAT serious of an issue where it's debilitating my daily life, the PT stretches help for the day to day stuff, obviously I need more PT/guides to help rehab my back.

[Veul]

@kaotic, don't know the extent of your back problems but what helped me out on the last months was actually starting Deadlift and squats.

For years my back routine would be only seated row and lateral pull down, even those would leave me barely walking. For legs I would do only extensions and some high resistance elliptical. I have double scoliosis, hip malformation , worn out knees etc. After some reading I decided to lower the weight on seated row keep the core tight and stop the reps like 3 less than failure. I incorporated dead lifts and squats starting from really low weights. Same principle whenever I felt my back was starting to arch or that the rep was getting too hard I would stop immediately . Been progressing the weights on the last 4 months and only time I got an issue was when I did one more rep than I should in Deadlift. Also do once per week some exercises for hips on swiss ball and some hyper extensions. Every case is different but the concept that back exercises are bad if you have a condition is not totally accurate, I remember.one year ago and several times in the past dreading the seated row cause knew for two days I wouldn't walk. Never did squats cause was afraid to get liquid in my knees or damages in my hip like it happened in the past. What actually was damaging my knees was high impact exercise like running.