Throughout my twenties and occasionally during my thirties, I suffered from severe lower back pain.
My back pain stemmed from a weightlifting incident in 1992 which left me unable to walk normally for months afterward.
I had foolishly entered a powerlifting competition without adequate training or preparation.
Powerlifting, of course, consists of three separate lifts: the squat, the deadlift and the bench press.
I was a great bench presser but rarely did squats and almost never performed a deadlift.
I went to a gym a week before the meet to test my deadlifting strength so that I could state the highest weight I could confidently lift on my first attempt.
A disk in my lower back popped, or a muscle snapped, or a ligament tore, or something like that happened.
(X-rays showed no skeletal abnormalities, so I know it was some sort of soft tissue injury.
)I had to be carried out of the gym on a stretcher.
It took months of self-directed rehabilitation before I was able to walk like a normal man again.
I rejected any surgical options, and spent the next decade doing hyperextension exercises to strengthen my lower back muscles.
Severe back pain would occasionally recur, however, especially when I engaged in work that involved lots of bending over.
As I approached 40, I reentered "gym life" and began lifting heavy again (maybe as part of a mid-life crisis, I don't know.
)I discovered that the squat, one of the three powerlifting lifts, was the key to curing my long-lived lower back problems.
Squatting is not just a leg exercise.
It is an exhausting exercise of "the core," that set of muscles girding the lower torso from front to back.
Doing deep squats strengthens the buttocks and lower back like no other exercise.
I have found that deep exaggerated squats (i.
e.
, with the torso lowered to near-horizontal and the butt sticking out) are best for concentrating on building up the muscles of the lower back.
I have also tried more strict squats (such as feet-together or back-erect) to good effect.
Heavy weights are not required, and even a bar with a hundred pounds on it will produce fantastic results.
My back pain stemmed from a weightlifting incident in 1992 which left me unable to walk normally for months afterward.
I had foolishly entered a powerlifting competition without adequate training or preparation.
Powerlifting, of course, consists of three separate lifts: the squat, the deadlift and the bench press.
I was a great bench presser but rarely did squats and almost never performed a deadlift.
I went to a gym a week before the meet to test my deadlifting strength so that I could state the highest weight I could confidently lift on my first attempt.
A disk in my lower back popped, or a muscle snapped, or a ligament tore, or something like that happened.
(X-rays showed no skeletal abnormalities, so I know it was some sort of soft tissue injury.
)I had to be carried out of the gym on a stretcher.
It took months of self-directed rehabilitation before I was able to walk like a normal man again.
I rejected any surgical options, and spent the next decade doing hyperextension exercises to strengthen my lower back muscles.
Severe back pain would occasionally recur, however, especially when I engaged in work that involved lots of bending over.
As I approached 40, I reentered "gym life" and began lifting heavy again (maybe as part of a mid-life crisis, I don't know.
)I discovered that the squat, one of the three powerlifting lifts, was the key to curing my long-lived lower back problems.
Squatting is not just a leg exercise.
It is an exhausting exercise of "the core," that set of muscles girding the lower torso from front to back.
Doing deep squats strengthens the buttocks and lower back like no other exercise.
I have found that deep exaggerated squats (i.
e.
, with the torso lowered to near-horizontal and the butt sticking out) are best for concentrating on building up the muscles of the lower back.
I have also tried more strict squats (such as feet-together or back-erect) to good effect.
Heavy weights are not required, and even a bar with a hundred pounds on it will produce fantastic results.
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