Riad, 51: Pain-free after 11 years of back pain and 2 surgeries

Riad had trained since he was 17. Strength training, running, martial arts — all of it was a fixed part of his life, through the police academy and further into his career.

Then in 2011 he got severe lower back pain. A herniated disc between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebra. Treated with surgery. And the year after: relapse and another surgery.

What followed was 11 years of constant pain and stiffness in the lower back. Not the kind that comes and goes, but the kind that is there every day.

"I had in a way given up," Riad said. "I thought that was just how it was. I had learned to live with 'my handicap.'"

Again and again he tried to restart his training. And again and again his back locked up and knocked him back. The pain returned, and the hope disappeared a little more each time.

After starting structured strength training 2 times per week with us, Riad is today completely pain-free. He runs 5 km in under 30 minutes. He does Romanian Deadlifts with 80 kg — an exercise that for over a decade he had been told was unthinkable for his back. And his "handicap" has become a part of the past.

Here is how a 51-year-old man discovered that 11 years of wrong focus didn't mean his back was broken. It just needed the opposite of what he had been recommended.

Client

Riad, 51, Head of SSP Copenhagen

Goal

Be able to strength train without back pain, regain physical strength

Before

2 back surgeries (2011-2012), 11 years of constant lower back pain, many failed attempts to get going again, frozen shoulder along the way

Plan

2x Full Body per week (2 hours/week)

Duration

2 years

Results

Completely pain-free in back and shoulder, Romanian Deadlift 30 kg → 80 kg (+167%), Hack Squat 25 kg → 55 kg (+120%), Leg Extension 20 kg → 45 kg (+125%), Seated Leg Curl 30 kg → 55 kg (+83%), runs 5 km under 30 min, full range of motion in back and shoulder

11 years with the wrong focus

After the two surgeries, Riad did what most people would do. He sought help. Chiropractors. Physiotherapists. Body therapists. Yoga. Running. He tried everything.

And he was always told the same thing: Do McKenzie exercises. Train your core. And whatever you do — avoid bending forward.

So that's what he did. For 11 years.

"For far too long I had focused on not leaning forward and trained my core," Riad said. "But the solution lay in activating the posterior chain and daring to bend forward."

It is a pattern we see again and again. People with back pain who are told that certain movements are dangerous. That the back must be protected. That certain exercises must never be performed. And then they do exactly that. They avoid, protect and take care. And become weaker with each passing year.

Riad's back was not broken. It had been underloaded for over a decade. It was weak, but not fragile. But no one had ever questioned that approach.

Daring to bend forward

When Riad started with us, we turned everything upside down.

Already from the first session, we said something that went directly against everything he had heard in 11 years: It is allowed to bend forward. And more than that. We asked him to do it with weight.

Romanian Deadlift. The exercise that was "completely unthinkable" in Riad's world.

"Already from the start I was guided that it is allowed to bend forward," Riad told us. "At the same time I was supposed to do deadlifts, which was completely unthinkable in my world. But I could immediately feel that my posterior chain was being activated and that I could feel my back in a way I haven't been able to in over 10 years."

That was what changed everything. Not a new diagnosis or a new practitioner. But doing the opposite of what everyone had warned him against.

"For far too long I had focused on not bending forward. But the solution lay in activating the posterior chain, daring to bend forward again and building general strength of the entire body." — Riad

When the shoulder locked in the middle of progress

Just as Riad was in the process of rebuilding his back, a new challenge hit: His left shoulder locked. A frozen shoulder is a condition that can take up to 3 years to get through.

"When my shoulder started hurting, I was afraid I would give up again," Riad said. "It seemed a bit hopeless."

For many, that would have been enough to stop. Yet another setback. Yet another reason to wait.

But we changed the training program so he could continue training everything his body could do and only adjusted what required it.

Cable Pulldowns were temporarily replaced by Cable Rows, because his shoulder couldn't reach overhead. As mobility returned, we switched to Single Arm Cable Pulldowns with a slightly leaned-back position that didn't require full overhead range of motion. And we added Cable Y-Raises to gradually strengthen the full overhead range of motion.

Everything else ran as normal. The training didn't stop — it adapted.

"My trainer said that even if you had broken nearly your entire body, you can train the part that can move," Riad recalled. "There was compassion and empathy, but no pity. That approach was what I needed. Someone who backed me up without wrapping me in cotton wool."

"Even if you had broken nearly your entire body, you can train the part that can move. There was compassion and empathy, but no pity. That was exactly the approach I needed." — Riad

Riad's transformation

After 2 years of structured training — 2x Full Body per week:

Strength gains:

• Romanian Deadlift: 30 kg → 80 kg (+167%) — the exercise that was "completely unthinkable"
• Hack Squat: 25 kg → 55 kg (+120%)
• Leg Extension: 20 kg → 45 kg (+125%)
• Seated Leg Curl: 30 kg → 55 kg (+83%)
• Dumbbell Chest Press: 17.5 kg → 27.5 kg (+57%)
• Single Arm Cable Pulldown: 45 kg → 65 kg (+44%)
• Cable Y-Raise: 12 kg → 20 kg (+67%)

Pain-free:

• 100% pain-free in the back after 11 years of constant pain
• Full range of motion in back and shoulder
• Frozen shoulder completely resolved

Functional capacity:

• Runs 5 km in under 30 minutes pain-free
• Can move freely without fear
• More energy in a demanding leadership role

Consistency:

• 96% attendance (completed 184 out of 192 planned sessions) with planned holidays along the way
• Sticking with training for the first time in over 20 years
• No burnout, no unwanted pauses, no frustrating restarts

Identity shift:

• From "someone with a bad back who never properly recovers" to "I have completely forgotten my handicap"
• From fear of movement to trust in his body
• From giving up to the strongest shape in 15 years

"I haven't felt as strong as I do now in the last 15 years. It's a strange thought when you've turned 50." — Riad

Why the wrong focus kept him stuck for 11 years

Riad's story shows something simple: It is not always the problem itself that keeps you stuck. It can be the way you try to solve it.

For 11 years he was told that the problem was his back and that the solution was to protect it. Train core without heavy lifts. Avoid bending forward. Be careful. Spare the back.

But the body is complex, and things are connected. A focus that is only about avoiding pain doesn't make the back stronger. It makes it weaker.

"I understand now that for years I focused on protecting my back in the belief that it was fragile, while what it actually needed was to become stronger. I had had the wrong focus for far too long."

The solution was not more protection. It was making the back stronger — gradually, systematically and with a trainer who dared to challenge the advice he had been given for 11 years.

By Lucas

Personal Trainer, Licensed Physiotherapist & Co-Founder of Nordic Performance Training

Riad's journey shows what can happen when you shift the focus from what you're not allowed to do to what you actually can — even after 11 years of pain and two back surgeries.

When Riad started, he had for over a decade received the same message from practitioners: Avoid bending forward. Train your core with floor exercises. Spare your back. It sounds sensible. But the result was that he had become weaker, stiffer and more afraid to move — not stronger.

My most important principle with Riad was to focus on what he could do, instead of what he wasn't allowed to. We used the pain circle metaphor: Instead of trying to remove the pain directly, we built strength and capacity around it. As Riad became stronger, the pain filled less — not because it was treated away, but because his body could do so much more.

Romanian Deadlift became the symbol of that shift. An exercise that for 11 years he had been told was unthinkable for his back. It was crucial for breaking the fear of bending forward — while exercises like Leg Curls and Glute Bridge built the real strength and muscle mass in the posterior chain that had been neglected for over a decade. Today he lifts 80 kg in Romanian Deadlift — completely pain-free.

When his shoulder locked in the middle of the program, the principle was the same: Train what you can. We replaced pulldowns with rows while the shoulder was very immobile. Later we introduced cable pulldowns in a leaned-back position and added Y-raises to gradually expand the range of motion — until he eventually had full overhead range of motion. The training never stopped. It adapted.

The most important thing in Riad's story is not just that he became pain-free. It is that he got his identity back. When he started, he saw himself as someone who was fragile with a bad back and a "handicap." Today he has completely forgotten it. He is stronger than ever before, runs 5 km pain-free and generally has more energy in his life.

What others can learn: If you have for years been told what you're not allowed to do, and it still hasn't helped, then maybe it is not your body that is the problem. Maybe it is the approach.

Ready to shift the focus?

Riad spent 11 years protecting his back. Two surgeries. Countless practitioners. Everyone said the same thing. No one helped.

The solution was not more protection — it was structured strength training with a positive focus on what his body could actually do.

"If you have lived with pain for years, followed all the advice and still haven't moved forward — then maybe you don't need more of the same advice. Maybe you need an entirely different approach."

Book a free start-up conversation at our private gym in Copenhagen, and experience how structured strength training can do what years of treatment could not.

Because your back rarely needs more protection. It needs more strength.