Low Back Pain CoachA Sample Month of Back Extension Training Logs
This is a worked example of how the next-morning rule sets each session. The person, the sessions, and the pain scores are made up for teaching. It is not a real log or an app export, but every prescribed session in it follows the app's rules. On Thursday of week 3 the person repeats Wednesday's holds instead of the eased 13, 10 and 10 seconds.
The example lifter has a 45-degree bench and is on Stage 1, isometric holds. Their baseline, the usual pain on an ordinary day, is 4 out of 10. They train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They log pain once a day, the morning after each session, and every day of the flare, and nothing else. The number in each row is the next-morning check-in. The rule works like this:
- If the newest pain reading is above baseline, the session eases and no step up happens. Otherwise the app reads the newest pain log made after the last workout, normally the next morning.
- Above baseline, the next session is eased by about 30%.
- Same as baseline, the next session repeats. If the previous training day also had a qualifying next-morning check-in at or below baseline, and neither check-in was higher than the pain logged before that session, the dose steps up instead.
- Below baseline, the dose steps up when that next-morning check-in is not higher than the pain logged before the session. A step up adds 5 seconds to the shortest hold (the first, if several match) and changes nothing else.
The next-day rule guide explains the reasoning. No bench yet? The same rule runs the prone hold in the floor session.
Week 1: the starting dose
| Day | Session | Pain log after | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 3 holds of 15 s, 60 s rest | Tue: 4 | Same as baseline, and there is no earlier session to compare. Wednesday repeats 3 × 15 s. |
| Wed | 3 × 15 s | Thu: 3 | Below baseline. Friday is 20, 15 and 15 s. |
| Fri | 20, 15 and 15 s | Sat: 4 | Same as baseline, and Wednesday's check-in was below it. Monday is 20, 20 and 15 s. |
One step up in the first week, on Friday, to 20, 15 and 15 seconds. The next step up is Monday of week 2, to 20, 20 and 15 seconds.
Week 2: a step up, then a cut
| Day | Session | Pain log after | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 20, 20 and 15 s | Tue: 3 | Below baseline. Wednesday is 3 × 20 s. |
| Wed | 3 × 20 s | Thu: 5 | Above baseline. Friday is eased about 30%, to 3 × 14 s. |
| Fri | 3 × 14 s | Sat: 4 | Same as baseline, but Wednesday's check-in was above it, so there is no step up. Monday repeats 3 × 14 s. |
The cut on Friday is bigger than the step that came before it. Steps up are small and cuts are large so that a wrong guess costs one easy session rather than several bad days.
Week 3: an extra session and a flare
| Day | Session | Pain log after | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 3 × 14 s | Tue: 3 | Below baseline. Wednesday is 19, 14 and 14 s. |
| Wed | 19, 14 and 14 s | Thu: 5 | Above baseline. The next session is eased to 13, 10 and 10 s. |
| Thu | Feeling fine by the afternoon, they skip the rest day and repeat Wednesday's 19, 14 and 14 s | Fri: 7 | Well above baseline. They answer the red-flag questions (all no) and start flare-up mode. |
| Fri to Mon morning | Bench work paused. Short walks, frequent position changes, pain logs | Sat: 5, Sun: 4, Mon: 4 | Sunday and Monday are two days at or below baseline, so flare-up mode ends on its own. Monday's session is eased below the pre-flare dose, to 13, 10 and 10 s. |
Thursday is the mistake in this month. The app had already eased the next session, and the extra day went back to the dose that produced Thursday's 5. The app does not lock days, so skipping a rest day is always possible. The flare-up plan covers what to do beyond walking and logging.
Week 4: the restart
| Day | Session | Pain log after | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 13, 10 and 10 s, eased restart after the flare | Tue: 4 | Same as baseline, but Thursday's next-morning check-in was Friday's 7, so the two latest training days are not both qualified. Wednesday repeats 13, 10 and 10 s. |
| Wed | 13, 10 and 10 s | Thu: 4 | Same as baseline for the second session in a row, so the dose steps up. Friday is 13, 15 and 10 s. |
| Fri | 13, 15 and 10 s | Sat: 3 | Below baseline. Monday is 13, 15 and 15 s. |
After four weeks the holds are 13, 15 and 15 seconds, just under where the month started, because the flare set the dose back. Stage 1 aims for a hold of about a minute, or about 3 minutes of holding across the session, so this lifter has weeks of Stage 1 ahead, and a qualifying next-morning check-in below baseline adds 5 seconds to the shortest hold (the first, if several match).
What the example shows
- Log the morning after every session. A log from before a workout does not count as the response to it.
- Take the session the log gives you, including the eased ones.
- Keep the rest days. The one extra session in this month came right before the flare.
- After a flare, the restart sits below the pre-flare dose.
The program card is the paper version of this log. For the weekly schedule, see how often to do back extensions, and for the stages after holds, the progression guide.