barbell_coach_kasper

“Every time I start lifting, I eventually hurt my back and have to stop. I can’t make progress. Am I just not made for this?”

I started of on a simple like I do with basically everyone and sure enough, after a week or so her back started to hurt like it had before. It was a matter of when, not if, so it didn’t worry or surprise me. Maddy’s back pain pattern was very established after all.

From the imaging she had gotten in the past, we knew her back was fine: just a normal spine, so we decided to break the pattern.

This time she didn’t stop lifting. We skipped squats one session and the pain went away. Next session we squatted and deadlifted after a small de-load to give her more time to adjust, and very gradually worked up from there. The pain came back after two weeks or so, but not nearly as bad as before, and it went away much faster too.

For the past two months, we haven’t had to de-load on squats and deadlifts at all, because there’s no more pain.

The first time the pain flared up, it was after squatting 40kg for a set of five. Today, she squatted 60kg for three sets of five pain free.

“You are made for this, we just have to find a way”