Check out our Bulletproof Back Builder accessory program for a proven plan to build low back strength.

Best Exercises for Low Back Strength

Reverse Hypers

Reverse Hypers are our favorite low-back strength accessory exercise. They don’t involve spinal compression but provide an intense stimulus to build up the low back muscles. Many gyms don’t have a Reverse Hyper machine like the Scout Hyper so we show how to perform on the Glute Ham Developer.

GHD Rows

The glute ham developer is one of the most underrated pieces of equipment in gyms. There are so many posterior chain  and core exercises that you can do to build serious strength. Our favorite GHD is the Rep Fitness version.

Bent Over Rows

Any heavy, forward-leaned rowing variation will do a great job of building isometric strength in the lower back.

Back Attack

Another great piece of equipment not found in many gyms is the Back Attack machine. Since it isn’t often available, our videos show a way to set up the Back Attack with a squat rack and bands.

The post Best Exercises for Low Back Strength appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

Most Common Squat Mistakes

#1. Learn to keep your upper back tight.

Lack of upper back often results in the entire spine losing stiffness and missed lifts. Think of pulling yourself into the barbell to lock in your upper back stiffness for a better-braced spine.

#2. Learn how to better brace your spine for lifting heavy loads.

When lifting maximal weights, we want athletes to increase intra-abdominal pressure to stiffen their core and spine. Athletes should take a big breath into their belly and then tighten their abs on top of that air.

Squat Mistakes #3. Understand how to initiate your descent.

Too many coaches still over-emphasize the “sit back” cue when athletes squat. We want the knees and hips to break simultaneously to optimally spread the load across the knees, hips, and back.

#4. Avoid a “good morning squat” pattern.

The Good Morning Squat pattern is seen in athletes with stronger glutes and low back than their quads. For these athletes, a little targeted quad accessory strength work will improve form and have them setting new PRs fast!

Squat Mistakes #5. Identify your optimal squat stance.

Every athlete has different hip boney anatomy, anthropometrics, and mobility. These factors mean that every athlete will have a different squat stance. Play around with yours to find what works best!

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Suggested Program: Overhead Mobility Overhaul

Best Exercises for Overhead Mobility Transcript

Sleeper Stretch Eccentrics

Our first exercise is going to be sleeper stretch eccentric. We’ve got a band attached low on the ground, and Pamela is going to have her elbow at the same height as her. So we’ve got a ninety-degree angle here, and she’s got her shoulder blade pulled back underneath her body. And what she’s going to do is use her nonworking hand to lift that arm off. The forearm starts flat on the ground, and then she slowly lowers it down. So she’s going to do that for a few reps.

What we’re doing here with this exercise is so often, the back side of the shoulders can be a little bit stiff. And most people don’t realize that posterior shoulder stiffness will limit your overhead mobility. These sleeper eccentrics are my absolute favorite for people with posterior shoulder tightness.

Bench Stretch for Overhead Mobility

Exercise number two is going to be the bench or prayer stretch. It goes by both names, but I will show you two different variations depending on where you’re more limited in your overhead mobility. Pamela’s going to start kind hands together like she’s praying on the edge of her bed, and she’s just going to drop down, thinking of pulling her chest down towards the ground.

And what you’re going to notice as she goes into position is her shoulders getting open up, but she’s also arching her upper back. So we get a little bit of thoracic mobility work and shoulders.

Now, if you’re somebody who is tighter in your lats, that’s what’s limiting your shoulder mobility more. This hack is going to get you a lot more out of that. So Pamela is going to hold the PVC pipe. And what she’s doing is she’s grabbing that with her hands wider than her elbows. So that puts her shoulders and external patient. And she’s also going to think of rounding her back and kind of keeping her tailbone tucked underneath her, and then she sits back as she goes down. And you’ll notice she does go down near as far as she did earlier because that combination of her tailbone may have tucked underneath her. That hand positioning puts a lot more stress on the lat muscle, and it’s going to get more of a stretch in that area compared to earlier when her hands were together.

Lat Eccentrics

Exercise number three is going to be a lat eccentric.

So Pamela is lying on a bench or a box. She’s got her hips flexed, and her hands are grabbing the PVC pipe with a lightweight on it. Palms are facing up.

She’s going to lower that down overhead and then bring it back up. But that’s a slow lower down, a little pause in the bottom, and then back up. The backup doesn’t have to be slow if you want to speed it up.

The reason why I like this is not only because it stretch the lats and shoulders but also because it is for so many people with stiff shoulders. They’ll tend to arch their back quite a bit as they press or do any overhead movements. And that becomes their ingrained pattern when they’re going overhead: to make up for those stiff shoulders, they use their low back a little bit. As we mobilize those shoulders, we don’t want that to still be the position you go to when you overhead, press, or do overhead drills. So by doing this setup, we can cue that athlete to keep their abdominals on and lock in their back positioning as we open the shoulder up.

Down Dog

My last favorite exercise for improving overhead mobility is down dog. But I’m going to do this with a couple of different twists to the technique. Number one, we start by pulling the shoulder blades together, letting the body sink down, and then we push our shoulder blades apart. So we’re going to activate all the muscles around the shoulder girdle. Then, after Pamela is in this high plank position with her shoulder blades pushed forward, she’s going to continue to think of pressing her hands into the ground and asking for her hips to open up.

This technique will work on all these small muscles around the shoulder girdle for many athletes who lack a little bit of range strength, especially if they’ve had stiff shoulders for a long time. So this is a great combination drill to open up a little bit of mobility and put a little bit of that in-range strength on the shoulder that we’re not just opening up mobility, you can’t control or aren’t strong in. You get the best of both worlds by doing a little bit of downward dog.

Overhead Mobility Conclusion

Alright. So there you have my four favorite exercises for improving overhead mobility. Some of those you’ve seen before, some of you probably haven’t.

The key to the shoulder is unlocking those areas, and you will be better positioned for all of your overhead lists.

If you want a proven plan to help you do that, check out our overhead mobility overhaul at performanceplusprogramming.com, which has helped thousands of athletes get their shoulders in a healthier, more mobile state.

The post Best Exercises for Overhead Mobility appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

Let’s start with the differences between this barbell and other powerlifting or general strength. First will be the diameter of the barbell. The Rep Fitness Hades Bar is a 27mm diameter versus most multi-purpose barbells, which will be 28.5mm. That one-and-a-half millimeter difference will give you a stronger grip on the bar. For many people, their deadlift will be limited by grip strength if they’re not deadlifting with straps. And so that thinner diameter is going to help improve your maximal strength.

The other thing that you have here is the length of the bar. The Rep Fitness Hades deadlift bar is 91 inches wide compared to other barbells, typically around 63 inches.

And that long, thin bar will give you more whip, which is a slight flexion of the barbell as you start pulling the weight off the ground. That’s also a massive advantage in the deadlift because it will make it a little bit easier for you to pull the slack out of the barbell.
If you’re using a stiff barbell and you have four plates on the bar, you have to lift all four plates at once.
When you use a deadlift bar, as that bar starts to flex, some of those plates will unload while some of them stay on the ground, helping you build up a little bit of speed and get into better positioning.

Hades Deadlift Bar Knurling

The next feature of this bar to discuss is the knurling. First, there is no center knurling, as that isn’t needed with a deadlift bar. Second, the knurling starts wider than most standard bars to get a little more leg clearance to reduce tearing on your shins as you lift. The knurling itself is very aggressive, which combined with the small diameter of the bar, will let you lock in a strong grip.

Sleeve Length

The next thing to consider with the Rep Fitness Hades deadlift bar will be the length of the sleeve. The sleeve is 15.5 inches long compared to a standard lifting bar like the Ohio bar, which has a 16.4-inch long sleeve. The Rep shorter sleeve could be the difference between putting another plate on. So, you really need to consider that depending on your weight-lifting plate type. If you’ve got powerlifting competition plates or competition plates, you’ll probably not run into any issues here. But if you are lifting with hi-temp bumper plates, this could limit how much you can load on the bar.

Rep Fitness Hades Bar Price

And then, finally, when we’re talking about the Rep Fitness Hades bar, let’s talk about pricing. This bar was $370 when this article was written, with Rep always offering free shipping. When we compare that to the Rogue Ohio bar’s deadlift version, it costs $375 plus shipping costs. So that will make the Rep bar considerably cheaper for a specialty bar.

Overall, I really like my Rep Fitness Hades bar here in the first two months or so that I’ve had it. I think it’s definitely worth considering buying if you want a deadlift-specific specialty bar.

The post Rep Fitness Hades Deadlift Bar Review appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

Purchase Options:

• Direct from Squat MaxMD – use code “Physio$50” to save $50
• Titan Fitness Version

Squat MaxMD Review

Why the Squat Max MD is the Best Belt Squat Option

I want first to discuss why it is the best possible belt squat machine. With the Squat MaxMD, the weight hangs directly vertical under the athlete so that as they squat, the weights pull them directly down into the hole, just like a barbell would during a barbell squat.
That’s a big key to consider when looking into belt squat machines, as so many other belt squat machines are based on a lever. As you descend, when it’s on a lever, that weight will start pulling you forward, and you won’t be in a vertical squat anymore.

Getting pulled forward will result in your quads getting a ton of work placed on them, which is a great thing, but it will reduce the amount of work your glutes must do. And that’s been demonstrated with the Squat Max MD compared to lever systems in research studies. So, with the Squat Max MD, we will get better glute activation. And I’ll also say, when you squat on the Squat Max MD compared to other belt squats, especially lever-based systems, you’ll notice that you have to work a lot harder on your technique here than you do on those fixed machines.

Think of this as like a leg press versus a squat. The leg press doesn’t require as much technical thought in work. Squat max MD will make you think about technique just like a squat would.

The other options that you do have from a belt squat perspective if you don’t want to look at a machine, as you could set stuff up like using a dip belt and hanging weight and standing between two boxes, which I’ve done in the past and is a great way to really load your legs up.
The problem with that setup is that you’re never going to be able to load to maximal weight. So you’re going to end up doing a lot more sets of like fifteen, twenty, thirty reps, which can be fine, but I’ll tell you, standing in between two boxes with a weight hanging from your legs is sketchy. When your quads are on fire after a set of intense squats, you have to figure out how to safely get down without falling. The Squat Max MD allows you to bottom out if you hit failure, so it is a much safer setup than DIY belt squat variations.

Titan Squat Max MD Review

Some of the following pieces of my review may vary from the current Squat Max MD being sold by Titan. I got my machine directly from Squat Max MD prior to them working with Titan.

Another nice upgrade made by Titan was cushioning the box squat seat. This will make different row variations, reverse hypers, etc, so much more comfortable. I had to use a yoga mat on my box squat pad for those types of movements.

Titan has not released an incline pad (when this article was written), but the original Squat Max MD does have an adjustable incline pad. This is a wonderful feature to use for a variety of different chest-supported row variations.
They also have an optional incline pad. So this is adjustable.

The next piece of equipment to examine is the footplate. So your diameter of the hole for the Squat Max MD can be wide enough to put like your standard forty-five-pound bumper plates, or you can go twenty-five-pound plates as I do. I’m a very narrow-stance squatter. And so this hole is a little bit wider than where I would typically perform standard squats. They’ve got this nice little footplate that you can just drop into place and set it up, and now you can stand with a more narrow stand, or you can remove it if you want to load up with forty-five-pound plates or squat with a really wide stance.

The final thing to consider with this, especially if you’re in a home gym like myself, is the size of it. It is about 45 inches wide by 41 inches deep and 20 inches tall. So it does take up a good chunk of space, but as I’ve already talked about, there are so many different exercises you can do on this compared to some of the lever-based systems that really only let you belt squat
and a few other small variations. This is an incredibly versatile piece of equipment.
So, even though it takes up a lot of space in my garage gym, I get a lot of usage out of it, so it doesn’t bother me that much.

If you’re in the market for a belt squat machine, you need to consider the Squat Max MD strongly. It is by far the best belt squat machine out there!

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Fix Back Pain with Deadlifts

A number of different factors can contribute to back pain with deadlifts: training volume errors, poor recovery, technique issues, nerve tension, strength imbalances, and more. In this video, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Zach Long, breaks out the most common deadlift technique issues that contribute to back pain with deadlifts. If you want to fix back pain with deadlifts then make sure you aren’t making any of these deadlift mistakes!

Our Bulletproof Back Builder program is a great accessory plan for fitness athletes dealing with recurring back issues. It will build back strength up to help reduce strain and increase your strength.

Related Articles:

• Treating Back Pain with Deadlifts
• Returning to Deadlifts After Low Back Pain
• The Best Low Back Strength Exercises
• Strength Ratios

Fix Back Pain with Deadlifts Transcript

Spinal Bracing

The first reason why I see people struggle with deadlifts related low back pain is that they don’t know how to properly brace their spine.
So we wanna think of your spine as like a water bottle versus a soda can. A soda can is stiffer, it’s gonna be better able to tolerate having force applied to it. So, we wanna do the same with our abdominal cavity when we lift.
So when we brace our spine for heavy lifts, we actually wanna think about taking a big breath into our belly and then tightening our abs on top of that. That’s gonna be like carbonating a water bottle.
It’s gonna create more pressure inside your intra-abdominal cavity and that’s gonna let you better stiffen your spine to move maximal loads in the deadlift.

Take the Slack Out of the Bar

So the second most common thing I see contributing to deadlift-related low back pain is athletes who don’t understand how to pull the slack out of the bar.
So they’ll get set up and everything will be a little bit loose. You might see their elbows a little bit bent, but you certainly won’t see them taking a slow lift of the bar off the ground. Instead, they’ll just grip it and rip it off the ground as aggressively as they can.
What we have to understand is that the barbell has a little bit of wiggle in it. So if I take a bar and I pull it up a little bit, what you’ll find is between the collar and the shaft of the bar, there’s a little bit of jiggle there and most bars also have a little bit of bend or what we call whip to them.
And what we wanna do is slowly lift that bar off the ground versus jerking it off the ground. When you slowly apply pressure and remove all the slack out of the bar, this will result in the bar not jerking you out of position. If you get set up and you don’t pull the slack out of the bar and you start driving with your legs, then the bar is gonna pull you out of positioning. You’ll see a lot of movements like what Pamela just demonstrated there, leading to people struggling with low back pain during their deadlifts.

Engage Your Lats

The next common factor I see is individuals that don’t understand how important their lats are in the deadlift and it’s important in two different parts of the lift.
Number one is in your setup. So when you get set up in the deadlift, what I want you to notice is that Pamela pulls her shoulder blade down towards her back pocket. That little downward pull reduces how far the bar is away from her hip joint.
It puts her in a more mechanically efficient position when she focuses on that downward movement that happens from engaging your lap. When it gets closer to your hips, you’re going to be more efficient.
It’s also really important later in the lift. So when Pamela starts to deadlift, and the bar gets to her knees, if the bar drifts away from her body and stays out in front of her thighs, it’s almost like carrying your groceries into the house. But, carrying them far out in front of your body versus by your side. It’s a lot more work that way. If we really engage our lats, what you’re going to see is that that bar is going to slide up her thigh.
She’s going to keep it really close to her body where she’s more efficient in the lift, and that’s going to place significantly less stress on her low back.

Deadlift Leg Drive

Next thing is individuals that don’t get a good leg drive. So we typically think of the deadlift as like a low back, posterior chain exercise, but it’s important to note that the deadlift starts with a really strong quad drive off the ground. Those legs are thinking of pressing through the floor to initiate the deadlift.
Individuals that don’t get a good leg drive typically do one of two different things that both put a lot more force on the back. Number one is a stripper pull. So they’ll shoot their hips up and then deadlift. And essentially what you’re doing if you do a stripper pull where you shoot those hips up is you’re turning the deadlift into a straight leg deadlift and that’s going to be a lot more load on your low back. The second thing that we’ll see is some individuals will pull the bar off the ground, but they won’t press their legs through the ground and you’ll actually see, if you watch that one more time, you’ll notice that the bar actually goes out in front of Pamela. It moves away from her body at first and then it comes back towards it.
If the bar is moving away from your body, you are going to be less mechanically efficient and you’re going to see a lot more load on your low back.

Stiff Lumbar Flexion

Next thing, and I have to say that like stereotypically, like where I see this in my physical therapy practice is my 40 to 50 year old men and that’s the stiff low back trying to deadlift.
So what I like to look at is when somebody bends forward and reaches towards their toes, do they get flexion throughout their entire spine? So notice how Pamela’s low back rounds a little bit. I’ll see a lot of guys that as they flex, their upper back might round, but their low back stays completely locked in. into place, and so then when they go to deadlift even though they’re maintaining what looks like a neutral spine they’re at kind of their in range of their spine motion and the back just doesn’t like to have that much load on it at in range.
So some individuals with a really stiff low back would benefit from doing more catcalls, Jeffers and curls and exercises to open up a little bit of spinal flexion so that they can then deadlift in a true neutral versus neutral end range.

Low Back Strength

So the final piece of the equation here is an individual whose low back is just not strong enough. The deadlift does require a lot of low back strength. There are two kinds of ways that I might diagnose if somebody’s low back is just not strong enough.

Number one is I’m gonna look at this Beiring Sorensen hold here. So Pamela has her torso parallel to the ground while she’s on a GHD. Her hands are at her chest and if we find what’s called your ASIS is this little pointy bone on the front of your hips that’s almost just outside of your belly button usually a little bit lower than that.

That’s right on the edge of the pad here, and she’s gonna simply hold that plank position. I like to see my athletes who are deadlifting have enough low back lumbar spine endurance that it could hold this for about two minutes is I think a good metric. If you can’t hold it for two minutes and this is also a fantastic accessory exercise to do to build that low back strength up.

Strength Test 2

The second thing that I use is looking at somebody’s back squat versus deadlift. Most people are gonna deadlift more than their back squat and their back squats gonna be about 80 % of their maximum deadlift if your back squat is much closer to your deadlift like maybe you deadlift 400 pounds and you back squat 380 pounds far shy of 80 % or higher than 80%. Often those are individuals with more muscular legs relative to the back. I will say a caveat though is that a lot of individuals with different body proportions might be stronger based on their body proportions making that slightly less accurate of a test, but it can be a good starting point for some of you to identify if your low back just needs a little bit more strength. So there we have it. Six different things to look at if you struggle with deadlift-related low back pain.

We do have a great program if you follow into the category of somebody needing to build more low back strength, and that is our Bulletproof Back Builder at performanceplusprogramming .com. That is an accessory program built for individuals needing to strengthen and bulletproof their spine so that they have better lifts and less pain.
So check that out at performanceplusprogramming .com.

The post Fix Back Pain with Deadlifts appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

The Romanian Deadlift is one of the best exercises for building posterior chain strength. This exercise will build stronger erector spinae, glutes, and hamstrings. But having variations of this great movement will give you multiple ways to continue progress by slightly varying the stimulus imposed as you change variations.

Romanian Deadlift

Start with a narrow stance and hands just outside of the legs. From the top, you’ll have soft knees that stay slightly bent. Initiate the descent by pushing your hips back as the barbell slides down your thigh with a flat back. Lower until a stretch is felt in the hamstrings, and then return upright.

Sumo RDL

The Sumo Romanian Deadlift is an excellent Romanian Deadlift variation to strengthen the posterior chain muscles. The wide stance often results in athletes reporting a deeper stretch in the hamstrings and more workload being felt in the adductors while keeping glute work high. I’m not aware of any research showing drastically different muscle activation levels with the Sumo RDL. Still, I like it as a simple way to change loading a bilateral hinge pattern from the traditional narrow stance Romanian Deadlift.

This variation is also significant for athletes with Sciatic nerve tension as the wide stance challenges neural mobility less, meaning some athletes with back pain may tolerate this RDL variation better.

Snatch Grip RDL

The Snatch Grip RDL has an identical technique as the standard RDL, but the wide grip adds two critical areas of emphasis. First, the wide grip allows an athlete to train through more range of motion. Second, the wide grip significantly challenges the lats and upper back muscles. This will place slightly less emphasis on the lower body, as upper body strength tends to be the limiting factor with the Snatch Grip RDL. Consider lifting straps to not let your grip give out before other muscle groups are sufficiently challenged.

Hand-Supported Single Leg Deadlift

The Single Leg Deadlift is an excellent Romanian Deadlift variation that is unilaterally loaded. The negative of this exercise is that the reduced stability when standing on one leg can result in less work on the hamstrings and glutes themselves. If our goal is maximum stimulus on the muscle, we want to reduce the instability of a movement. Enter the Hand Supported Single Leg Deadlift, where the athlete holds a squat rack upright with the working side hand to reduce the balance demands of the SLDL.

B Stance RDL

The B Stance Romanian Deadlift takes the Single Leg Deadlift and adds stability to the exercise by lightly touching the back foot to the ground. Reducing instability allows for increased loading and emphasis on developing glute and hamstring strength compared to the SLDL.

Rear Foot Elevated RDL

The Rear Foot Elevated RDL is a glute crusher! This variation of the single-leg deadlift reduces the balance demands of the SLDL, with the back leg assisting with support. It allows for heavy loading that emphasizes the glutes over the erectors or hamstrings more than other RDL variations.

RDL with Rotation

The RDL with Rotation takes the B-stance Romanian Deadlift to the next level with increased glute work and more hip mobility opening. The rotation of this variation creates an excellent glute stretch and workload with a lighter weight than the B-Stance RDL. Rotating also makes this a wonderful variation for athletes needing to open up their hip mobility.

Band Resisted RDL

The Band Resisted Romanian Deadlift is a variation of the RDL that emphasizes the glute max more as the band resists full hip extension. This exercise is great for anyone needing extra targeted glute work or those wanting to train the hinge pattern while recovering from low back pain. Since the band goes around the hips, it only loads the lower body, not the back, allowing for higher-intensity work with less spinal loading.

RDL with Lat Engagement

Our final variation is the Romanian Deadlift with Lat Engagement. This variation uses a resistance band that pulls the barbell away from the body. The lats much keep the bar close to the body in many lifts, and this variation is a great one for coaching better engagement of this muscle group.

The post Romanian Deadlift Variations appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

The Rep Fitness PR-5000 is a wonderful power rack for the home gym owner. This Rep Fitness PR-5000 Review video will discuss the rack’s pros and cons. I’ll also share some of the mistakes I made in building my PR-5000 and attachments that I’ll be adding to better fit my needs.

Affiliate Link to support reviews like this: https://repfitness.com/products/pr-5000-rack-builder/#63ebfde007531

Rack Height

The rack is available at 80 and 93 inches tall. I went with 93 inches, but at 6’2″ and a standard pull-up bar, this setup was not tall enough to allow me to perform full range of motion movements like kipping pull-ups. So, I had to go back and purchase a multi-grip pull-up bar that elevated my pull-up position another 3 inches so that my feet would not hit the ground during hanging movements.

Rack Depth

The PR-5000 is available in 16, 30, and 41-inch depths with additional uprights potentially being added if you choose the weight storage option. I wanted to minimize my rack’s footprint while still having enough internal spacing to lift inside the rack. The 30-inch depth is perfect for my needs.

Rack Color

I love the color options available for the PR-5000. I knew ordering white would result in scuffs, and that has happened pretty quickly. If I were ordering as just a home gym rack, I’d order black. But since I film so much content and have dark walls, the white upright gives great contrast in my videos.

Hole Spacing

The PR-5000 has 1″ holes spaced every 2″, which has worked well for my needs. I do LOVE that the rack has lasered numbers on every hole, making adjustments of J-cups and safety bars so much easier.

Attachments for the Rep Fitness PR-5000

I chose the following PR-5000 attachments:

• Pin & Pipe Safety Bars – but I wish that I had gone with flip-down safeties
• Dip Bar – great
• Leg Rollers – love them
• Landmine – opted not to, as I love my Ab Mat Barbell Bomb
• Band pegs – great
• Lat pulldown & Iso Arms I decided against as these aren’t used much in my training
• Belt Squat attachment – not purchased as I love my Squat Max MD Belt Squat

The post Rep Fitness PR-5000 Review appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

Westside Scout Reverse Hyper Review

Stability

My biggest concern with purchasing the Westside Scout Reverse Hyper was that the smaller frame would result in too much instability. While the Scout Hyper is less stable than the Rogue Z-Hyper because of its 1” by 3” frame and lighter weight, stability has not been an issue for me.

It will wobble side to side, but fortunately, lateral stability doesn’t impact performing reverse hypers. As you swing, the Scout Hyper slightly leans back, resulting in the front feet slightly unloading. But again, this hasn’t impacted my ability to use it.

Ease of Moving

The biggest reason I purchased the Westside Scout Reverse Hyper is that I needed to move it around easily. Not only does the reverse hyper easily fold up, but it only weighs 86 lbs when not loaded. That combination makes moving the Scout Hyper easy.

Footprint

The Westside Scout Reverse Hyper’s footprint is 60” x 27.5” when unfolded but will reduce to only 8” deep when you fold it up. So when not in use or when more space is needed, this RH quickly gets out of the way.

Height

Another concern of mine with the Westside Scout Reverse Hyper was the height of the machine. Since I utilize it with a wide range of patients, I was concerned that my taller athletes wouldn’t be able to exercise on the machine. But I’ve had athletes as tall as 6’5” use it without issues.

Loading Capacity

Here’s the biggest drawback to the Westside Scout Reverse Hyper. The collars are only about 5 inches wide. This means that depending on your plate types, your loading capacity could be limited.

I have thick, non-competition-style bumper plates in my clinic. That means I can only load a 45lb and 25lb bumper plate on each side and still fit a collar on the sleeve. So, my max capacity is set to 140 lbs.

This might not be an option if you have thin, calibrated plates. But this must be considered for stronger athletes with thick plates. Measure the width of your plates before purchasing to ensure you can load the Scout Hyper enough to suit your back strength needs.

Westside Scout Reverse Hyper Price

The price of the Westside Scout Reverse Hyper is probably its most significant selling point. When writing this article, it costs $395 plus shipping. This price is considerably cheaper than any other reverse hyper on the market.

Rogue’s Z-Hyper costs $915, and even Titan Fitness’ Reverse Hyper will cost you $750.

Westside Scout Reverse Hyper Review Conclusion

This RH machine is a great deal! It costs significantly less than any other RH option while still being a solid piece of equipment.

If money and space aren’t a limitation, especially for stronger athletes needing more loading capacity, then the Rogue Z-Hyper or Titan RH might be better options. But for most of us not wanting to break the bank, the Westside Scout is well worth picking up.

The post Westside Scout Reverse Hyper Review appeared first on The Barbell Physio.

The best exercises for your back pain is a complex discussion, as is pain in general. An MRI is a snapshot of your body at one moment in time. And while disc herniations can be severe, more often, medical professionals incidentally create more fear than is necessary with this diagnosis. I hope to give you better guidance and hope for your recovery in this article.

Best Exercises with a Disc Herniation

Let’s start by having a big-picture discussion of disc herniations. We previously believed that any findings of a disc herniation on an MRI were a significantly concerning diagnosis.

Recent research has significantly challenged this idea, and I’d like to review a few studies that should give you a lot of hope if you have the diagnosis of a disc herniation.

Disc Bulges in Asymptomatic Populations

First, several studies have looked at spine MRIs of people with no back pain or symptoms. In these studies, they’ve imaged thousands of people with shocking findings.

To quote a meta-analysis:

“The prevalence of disc bulges in asymptomatic populations ranges from 20% in young adults to >75% in patients older than 70 years of age.”

This research should bring up a question in your mind. If 20% of people without symptoms have a disc bulge, is my pain from this or something else? Maybe it is. Maybe not.

Variability in MRI Findings

Another study had similarly shocking results. One patient with low back pain received 10 MRIs in three weeks. Each MRI was performed at a different center and read by another radiologist.

“Across all 10 study examinations, there were 49 distinct findings reported related to the presence of a distinct pathology at a specific motion segment. Zero interpretive findings were reported in all 10 study examinations and only one finding was reported in nine out of 10 study examinations.

This study found marked variability in the reported interpretive findings and a high prevalence of interpretive errors in radiologists’ reports of an MRI examination of the lumbar spine performed on the same patient at ten different MRI centers over a short time. As a result, the authors conclude that where a patient obtains their MRI examination and which radiologist interprets the examination may directly impact radiological diagnosis, subsequent choice of treatment, and clinical outcome.”

Put simply, there was a crazy amount of differences in findings across these MRIs. This would lead to a wide range in diagnoses and treatments.

Or, put another way, if you don’t like your MRI, get another one because you’ll likely find something different.

Spontaneous Regression

Finally, this study suggests that 2/3rds of disc herniations spontaneously resorb. This means that if a disc herniation is the actual cause of your symptoms, the human body is often capable of healing itself!

So What are the Best Exercises for Back Pain?

So, the above research may make you question if your disc herniation diagnosis is relevant or not. I think that is worth considering.

And since MRIs are just ONE static image of your body that has the ability to adapt and heal, I do NOT believe there are good or bad exercises for people with disc herniations to perform.

Instead, we need to focus on the positions, loads, and activities that aggravate your symptoms and those that improve your symptoms.

Here’s what you should do:

In detail, write out the movements and activities that aggravate your back pain. For example, when I back squat over 185lbs, my back pain goes from 0/10 to 5/10, and then it takes an hour to calm back down. But when I front squat, I can lift without pain.

Write down your response (good and bad) to several different movements and start to look for a pattern. In the above example, you might recognize that back squats have a more forward torso lean than front squats. If you notice other movements follow the same pattern, you might be able to identify that your back doesn’t like being very inclined under load right now.

By identifying these patterns, you can figure out other exercises that you can do without aggravating your back and those that you need to unload. With this in mind, you can game plan a more effective return to activities progression. 

In our squat example, you’ll bias your leg training to movements with an upright torso, like front squats, goblet squats, sumo deadlifts, and lunges. 

Related article: Back Vs Front Squats – Understanding the Key Differences

As your symptoms calm down, you can add more hinged movements. This might start with lightly loaded back squats and then progress to more hinged exercises like RDLs and conventional deadlifts.

Conclusion

There is no “best exercise with a disc herniation.” But there are more and less tolerated exercises for YOU.

By methodically tracking your symptoms, you can better game plan how to stay active and accurately assess if the treatments you are doing are helping you progress or if you should explore other treatments.

Need help from fitness-forward back pain specialists? The Onward Physical Therapy team is nationwide and specializes in helping active individuals stay in the gym while getting out of pain. 

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