For three years I was unable to touch my toes and do simple every day tasks such as walk pain free and tie my shoe laces. I was 21 whilst demonstrating a leg press on my personal training assessment in 2012 and something didn’t feel quite right. On my way home later that day I found it very difficult to get out of the chair and had sharp pains running through my legs and into my back. My body felt frozen and locked at the same time. Not the ideal start to my personal training career! 

This experience motivates me to help clients stay strong. It is also the reason why weight training works as it puts your body into positions where you will increase overall strength and range of movement in your body.  I continued to weight train through the 3 years of having the problem before eventually having a L5/S1 microdiscectomy. Weight training helped me with the pain management during the period of time that I had the problem and also helped my speed of recovery post operation.

The more strength that you have the more you are able to move more freely, improve your performance in activities and also be able to decrease your risk of injuries by helping your joints move through their full range of motion. 

Key lifts to focus on are:

• Barbell Back Squats.
• Barbell Deadlifts.
• Pulling Exercises.
• Barbell Overhead Press.
• Flat Barbell Bench Presses.
  
• Leg Raises.

Fast forward to 2022 and I am in the best shape of my life squatting over twice my bodyweight and deadlifting 3 x bodyweight, overhead presses at 100kg, pull-ups at 60kg on top of my bodyweight, dips at 80kg on top of my body weight.

My advice to anyone who is suffering from disc problems would be to focus on getting stronger through your entire body with weight training. Focus on the following lifts listed above whilst focusing on being hydrated, getting 7 hours of sleep, consuming enough protein and weight training a minimum of 2-3 hours per week.