It’s hard to avoid the message these days: Strength training – specifically weight training – is one of the key habits you can develop for increasing your longevity.
Longevity doesn’t necessarily mean a long life, it means putting back more life in the years you have. Less falls and bone fractures as you age, increased ability to continue activities and sports you love, better posture and less injury.
The pursuit of longevity has been something that we, as Physiotherapists, have always been in the practice of promoting. Helping our clients live at their strongest, healthiest and happiest is, in fact, our primary goal.
However, the encouragement to weight lift is often met with the similar concerns:
- How do I avoid injuring myself at the gym?
- How do I best avoid flaring my existing injury?
I get it. As a 6-foot tall person myself, back problems have been something I’ve had to learn to accept and manage as part of my health and fitness self-care.
Weight training is one of the key ways to strengthen yourself to prevent further injury, especially as you age, and if you are in an occupation that is already physically demanding, such as nursing, policing, construction, etc – it can be what allows you to survive and thrive in your career.
So, in this post, I’m sharing some of the education I regularly give my clients on how to best avoid injury while weight training and how to best care for existing injuries.
Tip 1:
If you are new to weight training, get professional help when starting out.
Most people assume this means they need a personal trainer, however if you are dealing with a new or longstanding injury, I think starting your weight training journey with your Physiotherapist is the safest and best plan if you are currently working with an injury or significant limitation to your training.
I love kinesiologists and refer to them regularly, however no matter how rehab-oriented your trainer is, they are going to understand your body and injury in the depth that your physio does. It isn’t their skillset or training to diagnose injuries and they simply don’t have the training, time or facility to assess musculoskeletal injuries in the depth or with the understanding that your physio does. Their strengths lie in programming and strength training longer-term: something that your physio will not be as fit for.
As long as you have a physio that also lifts, in my opinion getting them to set up an initial strength training program for you is an excellent first step.
If you really want to work with a trainer to start and have someone who you already know and trust – make sure they have spoken to your physiotherapist and understand the limitations that should be kept in mind for your program.
If you are uninjured, a kinesiologist is a great place to start. They can provide excellent one-one training on technique, recommendations for variations in exercises, how to progress and also how to meet more specific fitness goals.
There are also many great online strength programs for beginners or people coming back to the gym after years off. My current favourite and one that I regularly refer my female middle-aged clients to is the programs on Hailey Babcock’s website Hailey Happens Fitness. Great programming, easy to use app, videos and zoom sessions to help you learn how to lift.
Tip 2:
Trust yourself – you are your body’s best expert.
There is no one more important on your healthcare team than yourself. Regardless of the training and experience that we have as professionals, you are the one who knows how an exercise feels in your body and also the one who has to live with the consequences when an exercise or lifts hurts you.
Even myself, a physiotherapist with advanced orthopaedic training and a lifetime in my body working through many injuries, have made the mistake of overriding my own intuition and wisdom when a personal trainer or physiotherapist has pushed me (with the best of intentions) to do something that didn’t feel right for me.
Tip 3:
Don’t be afraid to drop some exercises –especially the deadlifts and back squats
I’ve been practicing as a Physiotherapist over 2 decades now and one of the most common statements I’ve heard during initial assessments in which a client hurt their back at the gym is: “So I was doing a deadlift.”
In a recent expert panel podcast on Peter Attia’s The Drive (admittedly – he’s not the most popular right now for good reason – but this discussion on his show was prior to that drama being exposed and was excellent), he mentioned that “deadlifts and back squats just weren’t worth the risk” for him.
I couldn’t agree more.
Yes, technique matters A LOT, however if you are dealing with recurrent lower back issues, my advice would be to drop these two exercises from your program until you have been symptom-free for two years and have put in that amount of time at the gym.
As we age, the risk-benefit choice must be considered and with the variety of exercises and ways we have to challenge bodies and strengthen muscles, the fitness industry needs to soften it’s obsession with getting everyone doing the same lifts and saying this is putting our client’s needs first.
Sometimes, it’s just not worth it for someone and it’s better to explore the many other options available for keeping them healthy and fit.
Tip 4:
Modify as needed and as much as you want – and don’t let anyone tell you that’s not really doing the exercise.
Here’s some examples of modifications I regularly teach and encourage:
- Elevate your heels using plates or heel wedges for squats so you can keep your back more upright
- Don’t be afraid to keep squats or leg press in the 90-95 degree range to protect your knees or back
- Keep some exercises in the inner to mid-range if you can’t control the full range yet – stay there if it doesn’t feel safe to move out of that range
- Keep some (or many) exercises in the lighter weight range to focus on getting the technique right and correct muscles activating in order to avoid compensating. Also use this strategy when returning to training after a flare-up.
Personal trainers, kinesiologists and physiotherapists who are experienced with weight lifting and have facilities in which they can teach and demo these to you are great resources for developing skillful modifications. Don’t be afraid to ask for help – and use a few of us if you need more ideas or advice.
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I weight train 3-4 days a week and can honestly say that it has completely changed the intensity and frequency of the back issues I deal with. I follow all of the guidelines I’ve listed here myself too.
Hopefully these tips are helpful in supporting you in starting or continuing your strength training journey – and if you are looking for a knowledgeable physiotherapist who lifts, we are proud to say that all the physios on our team are weight-lifters who understand how it feels to be injured. We’d love to help.
You can book a session with one of our physios here.
Happy training!
Katrina Sovio, Registered Physiotherapist & Clinic Owner