How to Reduce Back Pain When Doing Rows or Deadlifts

Back discomfort during rows and deadlifts is common, and in many cases it comes down to a few fixable things: how fast the load goes up, how well you brace before each rep, and how tired you are when a set starts. Those are the first places to look. If the pain is sharp, worsening, spreading down a leg, or changing the way you move, stop loading that area and see a physiotherapist or doctor before you train through it.

Load often rises faster than technique

The most common pattern is adding weight faster than your position can keep up. As the bar gets heavier, the lower back may start to round, the hips may rise too early off the floor, or a row may turn into a jerk with the torso swinging. Progress in small steps, and add load only when every rep looks the same as the lighter sets did.

A simple method is double progression. Pick a rep range, such as 6 to 10, and work within it with the same form. When you reach the top of the range on all sets, increase the weight slightly and start again from the bottom of the range. This keeps increases controlled and gives you a clear signal when a jump is too big.

Setup and bracing

Before each rep, take a breath into your belly and ribs and brace your trunk as if you are about to be lightly pushed, then keep that tension for the whole rep. In a deadlift, keep the bar close to your shins, over the middle of your foot, and let the bar path stay straight. In a row, keep the torso angle steady and pull toward the lower ribs rather than leaning back and forth to move the weight.

Filming a set from the side is one of the easiest checks. Compare your first rep with your last rather than trying to judge a single perfect position. Changes in posture as a set goes on are often easier to see on video than to feel while you lift.

Fatigue and recovery

Fatigue quietly erodes position. A set that starts well can lose its shape near the end, and that is often when strain happens. End the set when your form changes, not when you are forced to stop. If the same weights now feel harder across several sessions, or your position keeps slipping, reduce the load for a week. A planned lighter week is a practical tool, although the evidence that scheduled deloads improve results is limited. Reducing load when performance drops is a reasonable alternative.

Sleep, total weekly volume and rest between heavy sessions all affect how tired you are when you lift. Adjusting these is often more useful than adding exercises.

Core work and soreness

Some people add direct ab work and hope it will prevent back pain. There is no strong evidence that training the obliques directly prevents back pain, so treat core exercises as support for bracing rather than a cure. Soreness after an unfamiliar or hard session is common. Delayed-onset soreness usually peaks about 24 to 72 hours later and then eases. Pain that is sharp, localised, or gets worse over days is different and deserves assessment.

Takeaway

Progress the load slowly, brace before every rep, stop sets when your position changes, and recover well enough that each session starts fresh. If pain is present or persistent, a professional assessment is the right next step rather than pushing through it.