Your Back Isn't
Done Lifting.
I'm the physical therapist in Brandon from the Buff Dudes' video, and I've been where he was. Most backs I see belong to lifters who got told to stop lifting. I was one of them. The words on the report are scarier than the back, most of the time. If you're stuck in the tweak, rest, repeat loop and you don't live anywhere near Bend, Oregon, this is how I get you back under the bar anyway.
Dr. Steven Dobson, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS · 50+ five-star reviews on Google
Brandon's video on the Buff Dudes channel. 12 minutes. I'm the physical therapist in it.
I've Been Where Brandon Was
Fifteen years under a barbell, and the worst stretch of it wasn't a missed lift. It was my back. PT school, a clinical rotation in Salem, Oregon, lifting heavy every day while stressed out of my mind and starting a business on the side. I didn't adjust a thing. Then came shooting pain all the way down to my foot.
The clinician who tested me used the word "instability." That word did more damage than the injury. I took a few weeks off, got scared to make it worse, gained weight, and my head went somewhere dark. What got me out wasn't the rest. I started small, did the stable stuff first, and worked back up until I PR'd every lift. The pain calmed down in weeks. Trusting my back under a heavy bar took a lot longer, and nobody had told me to expect that.
So when Brandon reached out with bulging discs, a reinjury, and a walker, I recognized the whole thing. The scary words, the layoff, the fear of making it worse. We did what worked for me. Find the lifts you can do today, add a little each week, don't rest your way back to the couch. A few months later he's lifting again. The video shows the rest.
The question every lifter asks me: "Am I ever going to be back to normal?" Probably. It just doesn't happen in two weeks.
There's nothing special in there. The right load, a little heavier each week. That's pretty much it.
Three Ways to Start. None of Them Is Resting.
Not every lifter who watches a video is ready to hop on a call with a stranger. Fair. Here's the whole menu.
Book a Free Consult Call
Thirty minutes on video. You tell me what's going on with your back and which lifts you want back. I tell you straight whether I can help from a screen, and what the first step would look like. If I can't help, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Book a Free Consult CallGrab the Training Through Pain Guide
It's the traffic-light system I give every lifter I work with. Which lifts are green, which ones to modify, which ones to skip for a hot minute, and the next-day rule that tells you if you overdid it. Free, short, and it'll get you training this week instead of waiting for it to calm down on its own.
Send Me the GuideRun the Back Program in the BUFF App
The low back program I built with the Buff Dudes lives in their BUFF workout app. It's the whole thing, start to finish, not a sampler. If you're good at running a program on your own, it's a solid place to start. When you want it built around you, specific feedback on your lifts, and a straight answer from me every time something comes up, that's when you reach out.
BUFF App (iOS)Android? It's here too.
Why Your Low Back Keeps Going Out Under the Bar
Here's the thing with lifters' backs. Most of what gets done to them calms the sore spot and changes nothing about how you lift.
The Classic Cycle
You rest. It feels a hundred percent. You load the bar back up where you left off. Two weeks on the couch. Every lap through that loop it comes back a little worse, and you trust it a little less. I've done it with my own back. Got better, thought I was fine, went right back to pulling heavy. It's a classic.
The Words Are Scarier Than the Back
Bulging disc. Degeneration. Wear and tear. About 6 in 10 fifty-year-olds with no back pain at all have a bulging disc on a scan. It's just information. It tells me where to be careful at first. It doesn't tell me what you'll be deadlifting in three months.
Rest Calms It Down. It Builds Nothing Back.
Massage, adjustments, needles, I'm not against any of it. It feels good. It just doesn't make you better long term, because nothing got stronger. The lift that sometimes hurts is usually the lift you need to build back up. Hinging, squatting, bracing under load. Done light, done on purpose, a little heavier each week.
Stay in the Gym. Fix the Rest. Be Patient.
Getting a lifter's back better is three things at once. Most plans only do one of them, and it's usually the sheet of stretches.
Stay in the Gym, Modified
Modification over restriction. You don't quit lifting. You change the lift, the load, or the range for a hot minute and keep showing up. Trap bar instead of conventional. A box under the squat. The pressing and the arm work untouched. Staying in the gym while your back recovers is the whole point, not a reward for after.
The Rest of Your Life
Stress has to go somewhere, and your back takes the hit for all of it. Sleep, food, how much you're sitting, what's going on at work. So we look at the two easy ones first, water and protein, then the sleep and the stress. Not a lifestyle overhaul. A couple of levers that make the gym work actually stick.
Patience With the Timeline
This is the part nobody wants to hear. Pain calms down in weeks. Trusting your back under a heavy bar takes months. If you expect two weeks, you'll quit at week three and call it a failure. I give you a realistic timeline up front and we check it against reality as we go. Managing expectations is half my job. The other half is making sure you're not resting your way through it.
Online Low Back Rehab for Lifters, Honestly
I don't coach you through your sets over a laptop in the gym. You train on your own schedule, I see every lift you want me to see, and we sit down once a month to go through it. Virtual back rehab works really well for lifters, honestly, because lifting is the one thing that films well. I can't put my hands on you through a screen, and for most lifters' backs that turns out to be the least important part.
The Blueprint, on Video
A full hour. Some questions, then I watch you move and lift on camera, then we put a few numbers on what your back can handle today. At the end I tell you what I think is going on and what it's going to take to get you back to your lifts.
A Program in Your App
Every exercise with a video demo, sets, reps, and a note on what it should feel like. Built around your gym, your lifts, your sleep and your work week, and whatever meet, show, or PR you've got your eye on. Your main lifts stay in the program, modified, not removed.
Film Your Lifts, I Send Feedback Back
You film your sets and send them in. I watch them and send a video back: what I see, what to change, what to load next. Catching the thing in your deadlift or your squat is easier on video than you'd think. Honestly, sometimes easier than standing next to you.
A Monthly Call
Once a month we hop on a video call. Not in the gym, no sets. We sit down and go through things specifically: how your back is responding, what's bugging you, what the next four weeks of training look like, and whether the timeline still holds.
Message Me
Something flares on a set, something feels off, you're not sure if a lift is green or yellow. You message me and you get a real answer from me, consistently, not a receptionist and not a chatbot. That's the difference between a program and a coach.
A Pain Rule You Can Use Without Me
Zero to three and gone right away: fine, keep lifting. Four to five: yellow, modify the lift. Sharp, stabby, or shooting down the leg: rack it, not worth it. Next-day rule: if it aches all day or wrecks your sleep, that was too much. You'll know what a flare-up means and what to do about it.
You Want Your Lifts Back and You're Tired of Waiting
Most of the backs I coach online belong to lifters who were training everything except the one lift that scared them.
- You powerlift, bodybuild, do CrossFit, or you just like being strong, and your back is the thing in the way.
- You've got a gym or a garage setup and a phone that can film a set. That's the whole tech requirement.
- You've done the tweak, rest, repeat loop and you're done with it.
- You want to keep training while we work on it, not take twelve weeks off.
- You're okay with it getting heavier on purpose, because that's the part most rehab skips.
Something Is Off Beyond the Pain
These are the rare ones, and they're not a screen problem. Not later. First.
- New numbness around your groin or inner thighs
- Trouble controlling your bladder or bowels
- Weakness in a leg that's getting worse, not better
- A fever, or weight loss you didn't plan, along with the back pain
- A recent fall or crash, and this is new since then
And if you want someone to fix you on a table once a week while you stay out of the gym, that's not me either. I'm the guide. You do the lifting. It's a collaboration, not a dictatorship.
Back to Your Lifts, One Step at a Time
Four steps. You always know which one you're on.
Free Call
Thirty minutes on video. What's going on, which lifts you want back, and whether I'm the right person. No pressure either way.
The Blueprint
A full hour on video. Questions, a movement exam, a few lifts on camera, a few numbers. Then I tell you what I think it's going to take.
The Plan
Your program in the app, feedback videos on your lifts, a monthly call, and me a message away. Most people go about twelve weeks, because out of pain is only the first part.
Back Under the Bar
We don't stop when the pain quiets down. We stop when your back handles more weight than it did before any of this started.
People Who Got Their Backs Back
Lifters, in their words, from Google.
Frequently Asked
The ones lifters ask me on almost every call about working online.
Do I have to be in Oregon?
No. I'm licensed as a physical therapist in Oregon, so if you live here this is physical therapy over video. Outside Oregon, I work with you as a strength and rehab coach. Same me, same program, same feedback, different paperwork. We'll sort out which one you are on the free call.
Can you really help my back without touching it?
For most lifters' backs, yes, and it works really well. Hands-on work feels good and calms things down for a day or two, and I do it in person. It's just not the part that gets you better. What gets you better is finding the lifts you can do, loading them, and adding a little each week. That I can coach from anywhere. If your back actually needs hands on it, I'll tell you that on the call and help you find someone local.
What equipment do I need?
If you've got a gym or a garage setup, you've got everything. Early on we might use almost none of it. A floor, a kettlebell, an empty bar. The goal is a back that handles weight again, and that eventually means your barbell. I build the program around what you've actually got and what you actually lift.
How much does it cost?
It starts with the Blueprint, the full hour on video where I figure out what's going on and what it'll take. After that the plan depends on how long you need me, and it includes the program, the feedback videos, the monthly call, and messaging. I'll walk you through the exact numbers on the free call, before you commit to anything. If you're in Oregon and this is physical therapy, you can usually use HSA or FSA money.
How long until I see results?
Most people feel a difference in the first 2 to 4 weeks. No guarantee on that, because it depends on how long it's been going on and what's driving it. Getting out of pain is the first part. Feeling confident under a heavy bar again takes longer, which is why most people work with me about twelve weeks. I'd rather tell you that now than have you quit at week three. Rehab is not a straight line to the moon.
I'm scared to deadlift or squat again. Will you make me?
Not on day one, and never without you understanding why. But here's the thing. You're going to hinge and squat for the rest of your life whether you like it or not. A barbell, a kid, a suitcase. You might as well be strong at it. We start with the version that feels okay, maybe an empty bar, maybe a box, and build from there, light and on purpose. Mental is like 80 percent of the battle sometimes. You are not super fragile, even though it feels that way.
Do I need an MRI first?
No. Almost every image of a lifter over forty looks abnormal, and only about half of those people have any pain. The scan is just information, and it rarely changes the program. If you already have one, send it over and I'll tell you what matters and what doesn't. If something does need a scan, I'll say so and point you to the right person.
What if I live in Bend?
Then come see me in person. The gym is on SW Cyber Drive and the hands-on part is a nice bonus. Everything on the low back pain page is for you, and the free call is the same either way.
Your Back Can Handle
More Than You've Been Told.
Book a free 30-minute consult call. You tell me what's going on with your back and which lifts you want back, I tell you straight whether I can help from where you are. Worst case you leave with a clear answer and a next step.
Not ready to talk yet? Grab the Training Through Pain guide and get back to training this week.