I had a bad back for the LONGEST time, really, really bad. Many times would injur it and couldnt get out of bed for a day or two..
Here's what I did:
- I bought an incline sit up bench and did that for a while, I think it did help, but I did tweak my back again, so I:
- bought a roman chair off amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Cap-Barbell-Xodus ... 591&sr=8-4
- first day I got it, I did 1 set of 10 reps with no weight, felt fine, was in agony in the morning, ended up missing several days of work.
- rest, Advil. 2 weeks later, I did 1 set of 1 rep. literally, just 1 rep.
- then, next day, 1 set of 2 reps
- then, next day, 1 set of 2 reps again.
and so on, after a couple weeks of doing it every day, I had built up to 1 set of 10 reps. I was just trying to not get hurt.
couple month's later of doing it every day, I had build up to 2 sets of 10. Then I started doing it with a 10lb weight
kept doing it every day (or at a minimum 5 days a week), I got strong enough to start doing dead lifts.
fast forward 3 years of doing it consistently, 4-5 days a week, every week, I can dead lift 225 lbs, and my goal is to get to a 1 rep of 300 lbs by Christmas.
Nothing astonishing, but my back feels great, and it's strong. The only time it ever hurts is if I stop doing the work for a week or so.
THE HARDEST THING is to do it consistently, 4-5 days a week, week after week.. that's really hard. But it will work.
HTH
-chad