Hello, 

I was enjoying back day in the gym and I strained my lower back doing dumb bell pullovers.  The injury was not that serious and if I would have let it heal right away we would not be having this conversation.  The next day was leg day and I was doing a super set involving seated quad curls and laying hamstring curls and around my fourth set of hamstring curls it happened a shooting pain in my lower and and the very top of my buttocks.  The pain was intence enough for me to wrap up what I was doing and end leg day early. 

The following days I went threw an abnormal amount of pain killers and muscle relaxants.  At work I have been standing on a conctete floor for hours at a time.  Upon arrival from work I immedietly retire to my bed.  The first couple days it was so bad I didn't even shower when I got home.  I went for accupuncture yesterday and today is the first day I have not taken any pain killers so the injury is clearrly moving in the right direction. 

What I am curious about is how long should a guy wait until he can get back into the gym?  Once back in the gym, how much should I lower my intencety and is there anything I should avoid completely? 

Thanks!  

Be very carefull with your back mate, you dont want to end up training hard again and sustaining a real big injury. If you end up getting an injury it may very well mean the end for your gym days, which would be the least of your conserns. Go to the doctor and get a proffesional to deterimine what you should do is the best advice I can give. Hope it isnt that serious, but checking it out is always the better option. The back may feel fine but if you train again the pain may come back and may get worse. Its hard for me to give any other advice since I cant help you first hand.

I had the same back problems when I was deadlifting on the boat. Was on the last set and just got a spasm running from my right hamstring all the way up my lower back. Could barely walk for a week and even now when I'm not careful it will get sore, especially after long stints of driving. When I talked to my coreman (medical) about it he gave me a list of exercises and stretches as physical therapy. What finally made it go away to where I could lift again was lots of those exercises and 5-15 second stretches between sets with much lower weight to just keep the area active. Something as simple as toe touches (center and to each foot) really helped keep it from getting crazy tight again. But you can also do glute bridges and stretches specifically targetting your lower back and glutes like lying on your back and pulling one knee at a time to your chest or, again from lying on your back, lifting one leg straight up and then stretching it across your other leg.

Once you feel confident again in your ability to lift lighter weight without soreness or tightness, just gradually start to work your way back into lifting the same weights as before. It sucks having to reset like that, but it's the only way to keep safe. And belts and braces don't count. They are only adding stability, but they're not making those stabilizing muscles work for themselves and they won't heal that way. None of this stopped me from going to the gym, and I still did a lot of cycling and rowing to keep those muscles warm and loose, but I just understood that I couldn't lift heavy for a while.

Bottom line, and like Will said, see your doc to make sure it's not something more serious than a strain. The sciatic nerve (which runs from the back down the leg) could be damaged and the doc can help you with that. Until then, do whatever dynamic warmup style exercise that will keep the area loose without too much strain and stretch.

Great answeres from William and Joshua!!

First thing's first Eric, go and see a professional to determine how bad the injury is.. if you had to live off of pain killers and could barely manage the energy to have a shower it sounds pretty intense and needs to be looked at properly.

And next on your priority list should DEFINITELY be mobility work (which is probably something you will get from your doctor/massage therapist, whoever you go and see). Stretching, foam rolling, massage.. anything you can do that won't cause pain in that area. Maybe even try heat packs as well, and aside from that probably rest up and avoid anything you know will put strain on that injured area.

Thank you guys very much for all the great advice I will take it all into consideration. On a positive note. Since my accupuncture appoitment on Friday the injury has been moving forward greatly. The doctor gave me a list of streches to do at least twice a day and I have been rolling on a foam ball since then as well. I have not taken any painkillers since then either.

I plan to get into the gym Wednesday morning and I will be reducing my intensity by more then 50% followed up by a rest day and go from there. Hopfully my transition back into the gym goes as smoothly as possible.

Since the injury my nutrition plan went kind sidways :S. Although I have used this time to revamp my meal plan and I am hitting the grocery store today so I can have a fresh start Monday morning.

Thank you once again for the great advice, and I am looking forward to many more conversations with you guys in the future!

No problem mate, hope you will get well !

Awesome to hear @gtzbotz! I knew doing some mobility work would help alleviate that pain! It's something you can't forget about if you want to minimze injuries 😊 

Sounds like a good plan of action easing back into it. And you can always post about your macros if you need help with your @mealplan! Recover well bro! 💪