Latest / Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40 / Strength Training with Back Problems (Lifting "Heavy" in Midlife) | Ep 320

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Strength Training with Back Problems (Lifting "Heavy" in Midlife) | Ep 320 · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:01
  Philip Pape: If you are experiencing back issues of any kind a little bit of back pain and fatigue all the way up to more significant back problems or a quote-unquote bad back that leaves you either sitting or even in your bed or on the couch for stretches at a time, and then you hear phrases like heavy lifting.
• 0:19
  Philip Pape: You might think that that is not for me.
• 0:21
  Philip Pape: I'll stick to my walking, my lighter weights, my machine work, but what if avoiding the heavier weights is what's keeping you from building the strong, resilient body and back that you need?
• 0:32
  Philip Pape: Today we are talking about the counterintuitive thinking behind building strength with back issues.
• 0:38
  Philip Pape: That will change the way you approach strength training when it comes to your back.
• 0:42
  Philip Pape: Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency.
• 1:01
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we're answering a fantastic question from a listener named Kristen that I think perfectly captures the concern shared by millions of people women, men of many ages, especially over 40, over 50, and beyond.
• 1:20
  Philip Pape: And Kristen wrote, quote I'm a 51-year-old woman who is overweight and I need a great program and tips for strength training for a strong, healthy future in my body.
• 1:29
  Philip Pape: I have a back problem, so when I hear heavy lifting, I'm not sure this is a great fit for me personally.
• 1:35
  Philip Pape: What are your thoughts Now?
• 1:38
  Philip Pape: I did get back to Kristen with a lot of details specific to her, but today I want to answer the crucial thing that I think this question hits on that there's a massive disconnect between what many people believe they should do for their bodies, especially as they get older, and what the evidence actually supports.
• 1:56
  Philip Pape: The truth is that not only can most people with back issues safely perform strength training with barbells and heavier loads, but it might be exactly what they need for long-term back health.
• 2:09
  Philip Pape: The one caveat is I am not a medical expert.
• 2:13
  Philip Pape: I'm not a doctor.
• 2:14
  Philip Pape: I'm not dispensing medical advice, so, when in doubt, always seek the help of a professional or a physical therapist.
• 2:20
  Philip Pape: I know some great ones in the industry, in fact, and I've worked with them myself, but today we're going to break down the principles and specific approaches in general that can help Kristen and everyone in a similar situation build the strength that they need for this vibrant, active future for decades to come, no matter what age you are.
• 2:40
  Philip Pape: Now, before we get into specifics, if you have a question that you'd like me to address on a future episode, just like I'm doing today, featuring Kristen's question.
• 2:49
  Philip Pape: And you want a personal reply from me?
• 2:51
  Philip Pape: Just go to witsandweightscom slash question or click the link in the show notes.
• 2:56
  Philip Pape: And I love these questions because they allow me to address the real concerns that are holding you back, that preventing you from reaching your potential, that you're curious about, that are holding you back, that preventing you from reaching your potential, that you're curious about, that are very specific and contextual to you and I'd be happy to tackle your question or situation in an episode.
• 3:12
  Philip Pape: Usually it's going to be featured all on its own and I'm going to give you a shout out, just like I did today for Kristen.
• 3:17
  Philip Pape: So go to witsandweightscom slash question to do that.
• 3:22
  Philip Pape: All right, let us start by understanding what the problem is.
• 3:25
  Philip Pape: After I got Kristen's question, I followed up.
• 3:29
  Philip Pape: I asked her some more details because it always depends right and she shared with me that she had injured her back in her 20s.
• 3:35
  Philip Pape: She has very weak core muscles, she occasionally has flare-ups where she could be bedridden for up to a week, and she mentioned specifically that poor form had caused a severe episode where she couldn't even get out of bed for five days.
• 3:49
  Philip Pape: Now I can definitely relate to this.
• 3:51
  Philip Pape: I've had back surgery and it was exacerbated when I had a herniated disc while I was lifting with poor form.
• 3:58
  Philip Pape: I remember specifically I forgot to put on my belt not that you need to have a belt, but I forgot to put on my lifting belt for the final set.
• 4:05
  Philip Pape: Not that you need to have a belt, but I forgot to put on my lifting belt for the final set of really heavy deadlifts.
• 4:07
  Philip Pape: I was in a gym talking with people getting totally distracted and I just went after it just in a very sloppy way.
• 4:14
  Philip Pape: This is, this is before.
• 4:15
  Philip Pape: I knew better and I could just feel that I pulled something, but it was just an exacerbated, um uh injury from years and years.
• 4:24
  Philip Pape: That probably happened when I was in CrossFit and or snowboarding, you'll never know, but in this case it sounds like she, you know, lifted improperly and she said she walks one to two times a week, uses machines at the gym one to three times a week doing chest press rows, pec, fly seated leg presses, and she gave me some specific numbers and reps and you know I again I gave her specific advice.
• 4:47
  Philip Pape: But what I want to talk about today are are three key principles that will change how you think about strength training with back issues, and this is especially true for men and women in midlife, over 40, over 50, when these things really start to catch up with you.
• 5:04
  Philip Pape: So principle number one is the stronger back paradox.
• 5:09
  Philip Pape: All right, this is where most people believe that having back issues means you should avoid challenging your back through heavy lifting.
• 5:18
  Philip Pape: But the evidence points in the opposite direction, because a weak back is more vulnerable to injury than a strong back.
• 5:26
  Philip Pape: When I say it that way, you're like yeah, okay, that makes intuitive sense.
• 5:30
  Philip Pape: But when you avoid training your back due to fear of injury, then you're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, aren't you?
• 5:37
  Philip Pape: Your back, then, remains weak.
• 5:39
  Philip Pape: It's unstable.
• 5:40
  Philip Pape: It is prone to exactly the injuries you're trying to avoid.
• 5:45
  Philip Pape: Most people are going to get their back injured doing something stupid, like trying to lift something up into the back of a truck and twisting their body, and they lift it up with a massive amount of back curving.
• 5:57
  Philip Pape: You know those kinds of things Very rarely, but occasionally somebody might injure themselves in the gym, but again, it's usually because of very poor form or trying to do too much too quickly.
• 6:07
  Philip Pape: The research shows us that progressive overload, progressive resistance, training right.
• 6:12
  Philip Pape: This is where you continue to get stronger over time actually reduces back pain and improves function in most individuals who have chronic back issues.
• 6:21
  Philip Pape: A 2016 systematic review in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine found that strength training led to significant reductions in pain and improvements in physical function for individuals with chronic low back pain, and I've seen it directly with so many clients clients who were hesitant to lift weights.
• 6:39
  Philip Pape: We got them doing deadlifts and, all of a sudden, the pain starts to go away and they're shocked, they're surprised, but they're super happy and pleased.
• 6:46
  Philip Pape: Um and I've seen this time and time again start deadlifting.
• 6:50
  Philip Pape: Now, this paradox applies to Kristen situation perfectly, because, by limiting yourself to light machine work, I think she's missing out on the training stimulus that can make her back more resilient, and I told her this.
• 7:01
  Philip Pape: You know she I'm not calling her out here, she knows.
• 7:03
  Philip Pape: You know I said the thing that I first learned through starting strength right it's better to have a strong, bad back than a weak bad back, and, of course, bad back is a subjective thing that we like to label, but the strong back is going to serve you far better in daily life.
• 7:18
  Philip Pape: The key, though, is leading me to principle number two that progressive overload is non-negotiable.
• 7:25
  Philip Pape: So when you think, okay, what does it mean to have a strong back?
• 7:28
  Philip Pape: Well, you actually have to challenge it.
• 7:30
  Philip Pape: You have to adapt your body to increasing demands over time.
• 7:35
  Philip Pape: If you keep lifting the same weights, the same you know loads, the same exercises forever, your body has no reason to build more strength or muscle and it's going to stay at its current level.
• 7:45
  Philip Pape: And I would say that this is even more critical for older folks, people over 40, 50, 60.
• 7:51
  Philip Pape: I did an episode specifically geared toward the over 50 crowd where I talked about the importance of the big compound lifts specifically for the back and for bone density and for like those functional things that we really care about.
• 8:06
  Philip Pape: Take women, for example.
• 8:09
  Philip Pape: After menopause, women can lose 3% to 8% of their muscle mass per decade.
• 8:13
  Philip Pape: Of course, men lose muscle mass as well, but for women it increases at an accelerating rate because of the hormones.
• 8:19
  Philip Pape: So in your 20s and 30s you had a let's call it good enough, quote unquote strong back and you had some muscle.
• 8:39
  Philip Pape: Just that came along for the ride.
• 8:40
  Philip Pape: Well, now you're losing that muscle.
• 8:42
  Philip Pape: So unless you do something about it, it's just going to get worse.
• 8:45
  Philip Pape: So when Kristen mentioned that she increases weight when it feels too easy, which was one of the replies when we were discussing this.
• 8:52
  Philip Pape: We talked about how our perception of difficulty some people call it RPE, or just you know how it feels is pretty subjective.
• 9:02
  Philip Pape: It's influenced by a lot of things on that day that you go into the gym, your sleep quality, your stress, your nutrition, you know whether you're gaining or losing weight at the time, or in a calorie deficit or not.
• 9:12
  Philip Pape: And this is why I like a structured plan that takes the guesswork out and does not depend on how you feel for the day until you get much more advanced and and can really rely on that.
• 9:25
  Philip Pape: And so for all of us whose bodies are going to be forever aging and you're worried about that muscle loss, the principle of progressive overload has to be applied, and applied intelligently.
• 9:35
  Philip Pape: You know, small, consistent increases over time, not dramatic jumps, not taking lots of time off from the gym and also not just staying at the same weight.
• 9:44
  Philip Pape: Right, it's okay, if you're doing 30 pounds now, go in the next session or the next week and try 35.
• 9:50
  Philip Pape: And your body will continue to adapt and stay strong when you do that.
• 9:55
  Philip Pape: And then, principle number three I just slightly alluded to this already, but I'm a big fan of focusing on movement patterns over isolated muscle groups when the concern is a strong back.
• 10:08
  Philip Pape: Kristen said she was using machines.
• 10:11
  Philip Pape: I think that's great.
• 10:12
  Philip Pape: It's definitely better than nothing, and certain machines can definitely give you similar results for hypertrophy, for building muscle, but it's not going to develop the coordinated function of multiple muscle groups working together for that overall stability and posterior chain, which is what your back needs.
• 10:32
  Philip Pape: It needs those very strong rope-like attachments that go up your spine to become strengthened, and that is best accomplished through, you know, a systematic multi-joint, multi-muscle compound lifts.
• 10:44
  Philip Pape: Because back pain here's the thing it usually stems not from a single weak muscle but from not moving the right way.
• 10:54
  Philip Pape: Right, doing again, I said doing something stupid right and the fact that you don't have very good coordination between your muscle groups.
• 11:00
  Philip Pape: You are just not neuromuscularly adapted to it and training on machines might feel safer, but it bypasses the development of these neuromuscular connections.
• 11:11
  Philip Pape: Think about it Functional movements like squats, deadlifts.
• 11:14
  Philip Pape: They train the body as an integrated system.
• 11:17
  Philip Pape: They teach your bodies or your muscles to work together and they develop what we're going to call useful strength.
• 11:23
  Philip Pape: Right, useful strength, not just big muscles, not just size, not just higher load for the sake of it, but the actual strength that translates to daily activities lifting and carrying your groceries, moving furniture, playing with your grandchildren all the things that actually end up pulling people's backs right.
• 11:42
  Philip Pape: Even just the fact that you have to sit in front of a computer for your job potentially could cause back issues.
• 11:48
  Philip Pape: But having a stronger back through coordinated, functional I hate the word functional, but the compound movements is going to mitigate that significantly.
• 11:56
  Philip Pape: And again, this doesn't mean machines have no place.
• 11:59
  Philip Pape: So, kristen, I'm talking to you as well.
• 12:00
  Philip Pape: I don't want you to feel bad with some of the stuff I'm saying in this episode.
• 12:03
  Philip Pape: They can be extremely valuable for building specific muscles, for working around limitations.
• 12:08
  Philip Pape: In fact I'm going to do an episode soon about building muscle despite injuries and limitations, so you might actually like that one as well.
• 12:17
  Philip Pape: But the machine should complement right.
• 12:20
  Philip Pape: They should complement and not replace the compound movements.
• 12:23
  Philip Pape: I think those should be the foundation right, especially deadlifts when it comes to back health.
• 12:30
  Philip Pape: And if you're not doing them yet, kristen, you can start with a light, empty bar and work your way up from that.
• 12:37
  Philip Pape: If you can pick something off the ground for a set of five with very little effort, then you could, of course, pick something slightly heavier for a set of five and heavier for a set of, and eventually you're gonna hit a point where it starts to feel heavy and your body will then adapt by building more connections, neuromuscular connections, as well as building muscle over time, and that's what's going to make your back really, really strong.
• 12:58
  Philip Pape: Now let's talk about putting this all together for a, you know, application of the principles.
• 13:05
  Philip Pape: I don't want to get too deep in the weeds about, like specific programming, um programming, prescriptions, I should say, and it also doesn't mean you have to jump straight into, like super, what you would consider heavy barbell deadlifts If you have back issues.
• 13:22
  Philip Pape: Of course, again, as I said before, caveat, this is not medical advice.
• 13:26
  Philip Pape: If it's something that is surgically indicated or requires physical therapy, that's really up between you and your doctor.
• 13:38
  Philip Pape: What I would suggest, however, from a training perspective, is starting with the movement patterns using body weight or very light resistance.
• 13:42
  Philip Pape: Yeah, that could be bands, that could be an empty bar, an empty light bar.
• 13:45
  Philip Pape: Right, there are light barbells, there are women's barbells that are 35 pounds, and then there's even 15 pound bars or even just like a broom handle.
• 13:53
  Philip Pape: So if you can learn how to brace, how to breathe right, stabilize your spine and have a neutral spine during the movement, learning the squat and the deadlift pattern properly.
• 14:05
  Philip Pape: I can't tell you pretty much every client that I start working with when they send me their first video of them doing a deadlift, it's always got some major issues the bar's way too far from the legs, they're rounding their back.
• 14:18
  Philip Pape: There's something that's off that I know you're going to get injured by, and this is also why working with a trainer or coach can be really helpful.
• 14:24
  Philip Pape: I know I mentioned, you know, physique University.
• 14:26
  Philip Pape: In there you could post a video and get a form check from me.
• 14:30
  Philip Pape: I will break it down either in text or on a screen share video and I'll say look, here are the, here are your, here's your low hanging fruit and here are the cues that you can use to improve your movement pattern.
• 14:41
  Philip Pape: Um, so it's.
• 14:43
  Philip Pape: It's.
• 14:43
  Philip Pape: It's the hip hinge right, the foundation of the deadlifts.
• 14:45
  Philip Pape: It's the uh core stability that you get through doing squats and deadlifts and progressing them over time.
• 14:52
  Philip Pape: It's modified versions of those movements.
• 14:54
  Philip Pape: If you need them.
• 14:55
  Philip Pape: Like, let's say, you carry a lot of excess weight and you can't get into a squat, maybe you could do a leg press, all right.
• 15:01
  Philip Pape: But let me tell you, I work with clients who are in excess of 300 pounds on the scale and they can generally do all of these movement patterns.
• 15:07
  Philip Pape: They just have to be taught the right way to do it and start light and work your way up right the.
• 15:13
  Philip Pape: The key here is we're not avoiding the movements that challenge the back.
• 15:16
  Philip Pape: We are introducing them in a controlled way that builds strength and confidence.
• 15:21
  Philip Pape: And if you could do it light with good form, then eventually you could do it heavy with good form and your body will adapt to it.
• 15:28
  Philip Pape: So again, if you need modifications, like if you have to do goblet squats, initially really light, with a kettlebell or dumbbell, then that's fine.
• 15:36
  Philip Pape: Start with goblet squats.
• 15:38
  Philip Pape: If you had to do kettlebell deadlifts instead of just full up deadlifts, or if you have to use a trap bar I'm not going to, you know, get dogmatic here, criticize you for that I think it's great If you have to do seated overhead presses instead of standing overhead presses, right, like.
• 15:53
  Philip Pape: As long as you're doing the movement patterns and then you have the appropriate load on your spine, establish you know proper technique and then start to progress.
• 16:02
  Philip Pape: You're going to be able to adapt to it as you go, and that is the best way not to get injured.
• 16:09
  Philip Pape: So I think perhaps the most important thing when it comes to the back is actually not the physical, it's the psychological, it's the fear of the re-injury, and I get this.
• 16:22
  Philip Pape: At the same time, I was so excited to want to get back to lifting, because I had done it for several years before my back surgery that that building of the habit and the strength actually got me through without nearly the amount of fear I suspect I would have had if I wasn't a lifter and I wasn't already in shape.
• 16:41
  Philip Pape: And so I've talked here and there before about the importance of being strong leading into a surgery.
• 16:47
  Philip Pape: And again we're talking about injury.
• 16:49
  Philip Pape: But, like, a lot of people get injured and then they have to do something about it, they have to recover, and then they're afraid that they're going to get injured again.
• 16:56
  Philip Pape: And then what pain specialists call this is fear avoidance behavior, right, and that's where you limit your movement to avoid the pain.
• 17:03
  Philip Pape: So, kristen, if you're listening to this, and that's the thing that is going on um, you know, recognizing that is a good step one, for.
• 17:11
  Philip Pape: And then we're going to talk quickly about breaking the cycle.
• 17:14
  Philip Pape: But what does the cycle look like?
• 17:16
  Philip Pape: Well, you have fear, then you avoid the movement, then, when you avoid the movement, you get deconditioned, you get weak, weakness increases vulnerability to injury and then the injury reinforces the fear.
• 17:27
  Philip Pape: Right, so that's the vicious cycle.
• 17:29
  Philip Pape: Fear, right, so that's the vicious cycle.
• 17:31
  Philip Pape: And so it requires this mental shift in your psychology from seeing your back as fragile and so so fragile right, you think it's fragile, it's breakable instead to thinking of it as adaptable, flexible and adaptable, but in a in a positive way.
• 17:48
  Philip Pape: So this is a reframe that I'm asking you to consider right now instead of thinking your back as this fragile thing, think of as an adaptable thing, right, and that doesn't mean you ignore pain or you push through injuries.
• 17:59
  Philip Pape: It means that you work with your body, doing the things we talked about putting it in controlled movement patterns and expanding the capability and the competence over time, by getting stronger as your body gets stronger mentally and physically.
• 18:14
  Philip Pape: Right, instead of accepting that this is some sort of limitation, because, let me tell you, every single person over 30 has a back quote, unquote issue, and if they got an MRI, it would show something in their spine that an orthopedic surgeon would say, yeah, we need to go in there and cut you open, okay, um, and I had back surgery and it took me a while before I got to the point of saying, no, I actually need the surgery because I had an impinged, uh disc impinging on my nerve, so it was literally sending a shooting pain down into my nerve continuously.
• 18:43
  Philip Pape: Um, and as soon as the doctor just removed the material, I was fine and I was able to walk.
• 18:48
  Philip Pape: And I've been great ever since lifting PRs for my deadlift.
• 18:51
  Philip Pape: I mean, I just did a new PR recently.
• 18:52
  Philip Pape: Um, and I know for a fact I've seen people who are engineers cause I know a lot of engineers who are like, oh, my back hurts so much.
• 18:59
  Philip Pape: I'm like, yeah, you're sitting down all day.
• 19:01
  Philip Pape: Oh, my back hurts so much.
• 19:03
  Philip Pape: I'm like, yeah, you're sitting down all day.
• 19:03
  Philip Pape: Of course it's going to work.
• 19:04
  Philip Pape: What do you do for activity?
• 19:05
  Philip Pape: It's like not much.
• 19:05
  Philip Pape: Or I try to do this stretching, or these cobras.
• 19:07
  Philip Pape: I'm like, let's get you deadlifting.
• 19:09
  Philip Pape: Your body will respond to that Right and successfully implementing this strength training program.
• 19:15
  Philip Pape: It's.
• 19:15
  Philip Pape: It's not just about the physical piece.
• 19:18
  Philip Pape: You're going to build confidence through small, consistent wins as you accomplish this hard thing, but do it in a controlled way.
• 19:27
  Philip Pape: Every successful training session you have.
• 19:29
  Philip Pape: Every little increase in weight or reps, it becomes evidence to you that challenges the narrative that you're vulnerable because you're not.
• 19:38
  Philip Pape: Your back has so much potential and capability to be strong.
• 19:41
  Philip Pape: It is not fragile at all.
• 19:43
  Philip Pape: It is highly adaptable, whatever age.
• 19:45
  Philip Pape: You are right, and this is why having proper guidance, proper coaching, is so valuable.
• 19:50
  Philip Pape: Just get the form right.
• 19:52
  Philip Pape: You've got to get the form right, even if it's spending one hour with like a starting strength coach or knowledgeable coach or talking to me and we can do a console, we can do a free call or you can jump into our program and get some um, you know, for the first month or two, as you're figuring this out, send videos and really rapidly skill up or level up your knowledge and ability.
• 20:11
  Philip Pape: And, uh, you know, a good expert will help you distinguish between what we'll call harmful pain and the normal discomfort of training, although if you've had pain, you kind of will know the difference.
• 20:23
  Philip Pape: Right Between that and some soreness and the way that I'm asking you to train, where it's fairly heavy, compound lifts, not a lot of reps.
• 20:31
  Philip Pape: There is a lot of rest period.
• 20:32
  Philip Pape: You're only doing it three days a week actually doesn't involve much soreness.
• 20:36
  Philip Pape: It shouldn't hurt.
• 20:37
  Philip Pape: You're actually just going to feel stronger and stronger over time and then you're actually going to notice the pain going away.
• 20:43
  Philip Pape: That's the really cool thing that I want you to get to, all right.
• 20:47
  Philip Pape: So this is all a long-term thing, but the change can happen quickly.
• 20:51
  Philip Pape: You know, building strength is is a process.
• 20:54
  Philip Pape: It takes time, right.
• 20:56
  Philip Pape: It's measured over months and years.
• 20:58
  Philip Pape: However, I've seen pain relief come in as little as a few days, like just a few sessions.
• 21:05
  Philip Pape: Right, and again, you don't have to start super heavy.
• 21:10
  Philip Pape: The goal is not to address the back pain.
• 21:12
  Philip Pape: The goal is not to lose weight with your nutrition right, like all those things.
• 21:17
  Philip Pape: The goal is not to hit PRs.
• 21:19
  Philip Pape: The goal is to have a foundation of strength that supports your active, independent lifestyle that is pain-free.
• 21:27
  Philip Pape: Now are you going to have a little bit of pain in certain areas for the rest of your life?
• 21:32
  Philip Pape: Maybe, I don't know.
• 21:33
  Philip Pape: I'm not here to help you with that right?
• 21:36
  Philip Pape: I know that there's aspects with me, for example, my shoulder, where I'm dealing with what to do to work around it, to keep it strong despite a little bit of pain, but I think that's different than what we're talking about today with the back right, I think we're talking about the chronic pain that a lot of people have, and they have a fear and they stay stuck in that fear because they're not taking the time to strengthen the back and then prove to themselves that they can do it, thus breaking through the fear cycle.
• 22:09
  Philip Pape: So if we can get a consistent, structured progression, compound lifts, gradually get heavier, build that strength, you're gonna be good.
• 22:18
  Philip Pape: Now, before I forget, there was one last thing in my notes, and that was rehab and training.
• 22:23
  Philip Pape: Right, people think of these as two different buckets strength training and then rehab.
• 22:27
  Philip Pape: Um, my, my good.
• 22:29
  Philip Pape: Uh, I'll call him a friend, but he was my physical therapist for a bit and we still stay in touch.
• 22:34
  Philip Pape: John Petrizzo, he was on the show.
• 22:36
  Philip Pape: He combines the two as if they are basically one in the same, in in just the right way.
• 22:41
  Philip Pape: What I mean by that is, the exercises that strengthen a bad back are the same ones that build an impressive physique.
• 22:47
  Philip Pape: They're just at different points on the intensity spectrum.
• 22:50
  Philip Pape: Like, you may have to make certain modifications, but you don't have to choose between healing your back and building a strong body.
• 22:56
  Philip Pape: I don't want you to go and just do quote, unquote mobility and band and stretching work.
• 23:01
  Philip Pape: That is not enough.
• 23:03
  Philip Pape: You have to train, and a barbell is one of the most effective ways to do that.
• 23:10
  Philip Pape: Obviously, you could use dumbbells and such, but when it comes to deadlifts, a barbell is a really effective tool for the job.
• 23:13
  Philip Pape: And I've worked with so many clients in their forties, their fifties, their sixties who came to me with back problems and an assumption that they needed some sort of watered down program or senior friendly program or old person program.
• 23:24
  Philip Pape: Right.
• 23:24
  Philip Pape: And we're like no, let's get in the gym, let's get that power rack and bar set up and go after it.
• 23:30
  Philip Pape: We'll just start light and we'll work up to it and it won't take long before you get super strong and then you get this pain-free strength that you never thought possible.
• 23:38
  Philip Pape: I've started clients in their 60s, women in their 60s, never lifted before.
• 23:43
  Philip Pape: Maybe they have trouble bending over to tie their shoes without pain, maybe they have trouble getting off the couch and we start with, say, chair squats and then we go to box squats and then we go to full squats and we're talking.
• 23:56
  Philip Pape: Within weeks they're starting to get super strong.
• 24:02
  Philip Pape: So if you're listening to this and you're thinking that can't be me.
• 24:04
  Philip Pape: I want you to question that right now.
• 24:05
  Philip Pape: The human body at any age, has a remarkable capacity to adapt and grow stronger at any age.
• 24:11
  Philip Pape: Again, I just said any age twice.
• 24:13
  Philip Pape: But it's important right.
• 24:16
  Philip Pape: Your back is not fragile.
• 24:17
  Philip Pape: It's not destined to be a liability.
• 24:19
  Philip Pape: It can become one of your greatest assets for your posture, your strength, your function and a pain-free life, if you just give it the opportunity.
• 24:27
  Philip Pape: So let's wrap it up.
• 24:28
  Philip Pape: What's the key point?
• 24:29
  Philip Pape: Strength training isn't just safe for most people with back issues.
• 24:33
  Philip Pape: It's essential for back issues to improve your back health.
• 24:37
  Philip Pape: Start where you are, focus on proper technique, follow a progressive plan that evolves through the capabilities, be patient and the rewards will absolutely follow, because your body's capable of far more than you might currently believe and the limitations you perceive are just that.
• 24:53
  Philip Pape: They are perceptions, they're not physical realities.
• 24:55
  Philip Pape: All right, if you have a question you'd like me to address on a future episode, go to witsandweightscom slash question or click the link in the show notes.
• 25:05
  Philip Pape: Maybe it's about strength training, nutrition, mindset, consistency, anything.
• 25:11
  Philip Pape: I'd love to help you overcome whatever's standing in your way and absolutely feature it on the show and give you a shout out as well, if you'd like that Until next time, keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember, when it comes to back pain, the solution isn't to avoid strength, it's to build it.
• 25:29
  Philip Pape: I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights Podcast.