Resuming F1

Last week I had a back spasm which completely took me out for a few days. The pain and tightness have been slowly but steadily diminishing this week and by Monday I think I'll be ready to resume Foundation. So my question is, what's the best practice for returning to F1 after this sort of thing.? The spasm occured during my deload week on the second day, so I'll have been off training for at least a week and a half. Should I restart the deload week? Jump back to an earlier week?

I've had a very tight back for a long time, no doubt because of anterior pelvic tilt. Though F1 has been alleviating it I'm considering adding in some extra mobility work for it. I'm considering the Jefferson Curl because I've read someone's post on here with anterior tilt say great things about it (still on the Windmill progression in F1). I think it was Cory Fair? Practicing the movement unweighted I definitely feel the stretch in my lumbar. I've been stretching my hip flexors and that feels great, but I was doing that before the spasm.

I am not an expert, but if you are feeling good, maybe you just go ahead and do the deload week as it was planned; by the end of it, depending how you are feeling you can decide to keep on the progression, or redo the micro cycle.

When did you first get the back spasm - after a specific exercise, after the session, or next day?

- Chris

The spasm happened during my warmup, triggered by getting into a squat position. I suspect that my approach during deload week was too casual. The workout was going to be half intensity so I paid half as much attention, maybe, and hit the squat with bad form. Don't what else it could have been, since I felt fine beforehand.

Restarting the deload sounds like a good idea, Fred. Use it as sort of a load-back-in.

trw said:

(...) Use it as sort of a load-back-in.

Yeah, easing back in is what I had in mind when I wrote that

That you got immediate feedback is a good thing IMO. I have often had to try and sort out why my back is locked up the next day and what aspect of the workout, or my life in general if there was no workout, did it to me.

That said, I would pay special attention to stretching your hip flexors before any session involving squats. Be sure you are feeling it in the proper area - this for me was key. I have posted on here before that Kit's technique point to be sure the hip being stretched is pushed forward in front of the opposite hip (as much as is possible) made a huge difference in the effectiveness for me - basically from none to immense. Opening that area prior to sessions has made a noticeable difference in alleviating my anterior tilt specifically.

Also, be sure your deck squat foot position coming out of the roll matches where you are capable of maintaining good squat alignment. This may not be where the athlete demonstrates the motion at this time.

One further thing ... lately, I have been experimenting with band distractions and mobilizing that hip as well as my ankles - this has further helped it would seem, but I have only been doing it for a few days and will need to put more time in to truly evaluate the results. The goal, of course, is that over time the necessity for this stuff diminishes and the range improves significantly.

Hope that helps. I have been fighting my similar issue for years now and spending time stretching/mobilizing that area prior to loading it is the best preventative mechanism I have thus far found.

- Chris

Thanks for the advice, Chris. Nothing works better than hip flexor stretches right now as I fight that lingering tightness. I did them regularly before the spasm, but usually after working out. Now I'm doing them multiple times a day. I'll definitely make a practice of doing these stretches pre-workout from now on.

No problem. One thing I forgot to mention that helped me out was to transition from doing just pure stretches to a Bulgarian Split Squat - once I had enough range to make it viable with good form. I have been using it as part of my warm-up as well as whenever I am feeling it tighten up. The split squats seem to be more effective than just doing the stretch, YMMV.

- Chris

Hm, interesting. I'll try those out.

Good news is that I restarted my deload week today and felt great. Added in hip flexor stretches and some windmills in addition to what I usually do for the warmup. Didn't try any squats to be on the safe side. After I finished the workout I tried some Jefferson curls, first unweighted, then with 20 lbs, then 40. Really stretches the lower back exaclty where I wanted. No discomfort aside from the usual tightness.

Tomorrow is the lower body stuff. I'll try the split squats then.