Hi chaps,

Recently I've been getting some crippling back pumps at the gym!

Don't know why it's started - I used to get them in my teens when standing for ages and running, but not for a while, just the usual "DOMS" after a big work out. However, for some reason now they seem to be back in a vengence... could it be that I'm pushing myself harder at the gym? Are there any foods I should eat a bit more of to help minimise the back pumps? Is it a physiological thing - should I go and see my physio?

The latter is probably a given, but I thought I'd run it past your expertise first.

Ae you just back from a lay off and/or maybe went from low carbs to lots of them?

Well I've been hitting the gym hard for the last 4 weeks after a few months of less enthusiastic training.

Carbs haven't gone up much if at all... maybe a little actually.

Just the body adapting and getting back into it? Had them before, but this is rather spectacular!!

I can't see how nutrition will affect this. It's to do with the program. What are you doing right now?

If, for example, you do deadlifts, back extensions and BO ROws in the same sessions then it's to be expected.

I would also recommend foam rolling before and after sessions. If you don't have one, buy one as they are cheap and very effective.

It would be common to find that after being low in carbs to training hard agian and higher in carbs that you get really crazy pumps

Painful lower back pumps are a nightmare. I was actually unable to walk to my car 6 or so weeks ago post show when i reintroduced all the carbs i could eat (:lol:) and had to lie down and stretch it out in between sets of anything it involved

that's an extreme nutritional circumstance that I assume Will hasn't followed??

I dont know if he had or not been very low on carbs due to a lay off, not trianing and wanting to keep lean......... then back into training with a few hundred more grams of carbs...thus the posibility of bad pumps

Sheesh. Id hate to be a client of yours and have things "assumed"

You can see my body composition from the pic I posted recently. I'm back up to around 100kg now, and eating better/more. Though not paying that much attention to carb intake, it's always good low GI carbs though.

It's maybe just because I'm not giving myself enough of a break in between sets or days - I'm doing full body stuff at the moment, and have been squatting a lot recently - back up to reps @ 200kg and deadlifting 230+ so maybe I should lay off heavy deads and squats for a few days to let the body recover?

I think my technique is pretty sound and my core is fair good. Maybe I'm just caning it a bit too much?

@Rab: tone is lost in internet speak

@Will: post a week's training. Are these heavy squat and deadlift sets explosive reps or grinders? The latter is not great btw. How many days rest is there between squats and deadlifts?

It's probably just you hitting it to heavy after a lay-off.

I suggest giving sir a dicky back ride. That would move the focus of the pump to your glutes.

Scott:

This has been my training for the last week.

Day 1:

Squats
Barx20
60x12
100x10
140x6
180x4
200x2
160x6
140x10

Ham Curls:
40x12
45x10
47.5x10
50x10

Flat Bench:
Barx16
60x12
80x10
100x10
120x6
100x10
80x12

Chins:
BWx8
10x6
15x6
20x6
25x5
10x8
BWx8

Side raises
3x15kgx10 reps

Bis (3 sets of 10)
Tris (3 sets of 10)

Calves (3 sets of 10)


Day 2:

Deadlifts
100x10
140x8
180x5
220x4
180x5
140x10

Leg Press
200x12
300x10
400x10
440x10
440x10

Dips:
BWx10
10x10
15x10
20x10
25x10

BORs:
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x8
80x10

Standing shoulder BB press:
Barx10
60x10
60x10
80x6
100x3
60x8

Bis (3x10)
Tris (3x10)
Calves (3x10)

Day 3:

Squats
Barx20
100x10
140x5
180x3
200x2
160x8
140x10

SLDLs:
Barx12
60x10
80x10
100x10
100x8

Decline BB bench:
Barx16
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x6
100x10

T-Bars:
60x10
90x10
105x10
120x10
90x12

Cable side raises:
3x20kgx10reps

Bis
Tris
Calves



That's basically what I've been doing, usually one day on one day off. I do add in some machine work as a last burn out at the end of the session just for a laugh. Probably over doing it slightly... but I'm loving the pain I'm in! I just add machines to do a dropset for example, or some days instead of doing deads I'll just do rack pulls. However that's a rough guide and basically what I've done for the last 3 work outs to date. The last few reps often involved some sort of "body english"!

I'm going to drop the reps to 5 or so to work on some more strength work for a few weeks next week.

Diet is typically:

Orange juice
Couple of large smoked mackerel fillets
Couple of poached eggs
Sometimes a small bowl of porridge

100g or so of mixed unsalted un roasted nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts etc...)

Apple
Banana
Clementine

2-3 Large wholemeal pitta or food doctor multi cereal pitta with chicken/egg/tuna/meat/salad filling of some kind
Little side salad (beetroot, spinach usually)

Protein and carb shake after workout

Fish/turkey/chicken (300+g) for dinner with steamed mixed veg (about 220g of veg)

Cottage cheese with pineapple as a pre bed snack.



Just in case there is anything glaringly obvious that I'm doing wrong.

Yep. My lower bck would be sore anpumpedrm that lot lol

maybe just a case of steaming in there with the full body stuff with your bear strength shifting some serious poundage every session with lowe back

i recon if your enjoying that kinda training give it another week and it may well calm down as you adjust

So it's just a case of going OTT then you reckon? I wanted to do full body just to give myself a blast - so maybe just calm it down and go back to a push/pull split you reckon?

I'd say the same Will as you're hammering lower back a fair bit with Squats and Deads through the week.

It can be done but maybe look to vary the rep range you're working with and try maybe higher rep range for Squats early in the week and lower rep range later in the week. Deads will hit lower back so no real way of avoiding these but just look to avoid grinding reps every week. Try a few more reps and then reload on week 3-4 with heavier 2-3 rep sets.

Are you on dbol?

there's A LOT of lower back work. Too much volume on it.

You could (but I wouldn't) do all those exercises but you'd need to be clever with the programming. Basically, doing one big set; so work up to it with a number of sets with lowish reps (say 4-6), then hit the heavy "end set" hard. Perhaps to do one "back-off" set with 80-90% of weight used in that heavy "end set" and do it for reps.

Get rid of the orange juice (unless freshly squeezed yourself) at breakfast as that is just sugar water

Ok point taken. Crank it down a notch, or give myself more time between exercises.

Orange juice is freshly squeeze but bought from the local shop (they have a machine).

And max, I'm on so much gear at the moment I look like a pin cushion

Will wrote:Ok point taken. Crank it down a notch, or give myself more time between exercises.

Orange juice is freshly squeeze but bought from the local shop (they have a machine).

And max, I'm on so much gear at the moment I look like a pin cushion

Lmao I' not sure if you're joking, if you aren't then its the gear simple!

Back pumps are one of the major sides lol

I was taking the pee matey. I'm not on gear.

Alas my gullibility !
Anything you've changed to throw of your electrolyte balance?

Max wrote:Alas my gullibility !
Anything you've changed to throw of your electrolyte balance?

lol! Sorry matey!

How would I work this out?

Looks like the volume to me.

One thing I've learnt this year is that volume really isn't that important - in the long term it does more harm than good as you're more likely to injure something. Now I just keep sessions short and intense, and mix up long rests with shorter ones (e.g. supersets) from week to week.

I've always been a fan of volume!

It's going to be a hard habit to break! I shall try!

^^ if you get results... probably better results (strength for sure), by doing less volume than you currently are then that can only be a good thing right?