4 days · Push / Pull / Legs / Upper
Train like a film star.
Protect your back.
Dumbbell-first strength paired with 45-second cardio bursts, inspired by Simon Waterson's style. Every exercise was picked to keep load off your lower back.
Your week
Rest days: a 30–45 min walk is great for your back. Shift the days to fit your week — ideally avoid 3 lifting days in a row.
Day 1 · Mon
Push
Chest · Shoulders · Triceps
Dumbbell pressing with 45s cardio bursts between strength sets.
Day 2 · Tue
Pull
Back · Rear Delts · Biceps
Chest-supported rows so your lower back never has to hold you up.
Day 3 · Thu
Legs
Quads · Glutes · Hamstrings
No barbell on your back and no heavy hinging — hips and legs trained around the spine.
Day 4 · Fri
Upper Circuit
Full Upper · Core · Conditioning
A Waterson-style athletic circuit — strength, carries and a 45s burst every round.
Built around your back
- ✓No barbell back squats, deadlifts or bent-over rows. Swapped for goblet box squats, hip thrusts and chest-supported rows.
- ✓Overhead pressing is seated with back support, or half-kneeling so you can't arch.
- ✓The McGill Big 3 (curl-up, side plank, bird dog) are built into every week.
- ✓Before each workout you rate your back pain. On bad days, gentle mode drops the finisher.
- ✓Every exercise has a “Back twinge?” swap button during the workout.
- ✓Pick up and put down dumbbells with a squat, never a rounded-back bend.
Not medical advice. If you get sharp pain, pain shooting down your leg, numbness, tingling or weakness, stop and see a physiotherapist or doctor. Mild discomfort (≤3/10) that settles within 24h is usually OK.
The Waterson-style method
The ideas this plan is built on: strength and conditioning in the same session, with no time wasted.
45-second cardio bursts
Instead of sitting on a bench between sets, hop on the bike for 45 seconds at around 8/10 effort. Your heart rate stays up while the muscles you just trained recover.
Pair it up
Supersets and tri-sets. Two or three exercises back to back, then rest. More work in less time — a session fits in about an hour.
Prep before you load
Every session starts with easy cardio, gentle spine mobility and core activation. Skip it and your back will remind you.
Core as a pillar
Core work trains you to stop movement (resisting arching, twisting and side-bending), not to do endless crunches. That's also the backbone of most back-rehab programmes.
Quality over ego
Controlled tempo: about 3 seconds down, every rep. Leave 1–2 reps in the tank. Only add weight when every set is clean.
Finish, then recover
Short, sharp finisher, then breathe and down-regulate. Recovery is part of training.