Sciatica has a way of rewriting your relationship with the gym. One bad flare and suddenly everything feels like a risk — the deadlift you used to love, the split squat you'd been grinding on, even a long walk from the parking garage to your Palo Alto office. If you've been told to rest it off and it hasn't worked, you're not alone.
I'm not a physical therapist, and I'm not going to pretend this is medical advice. What I can tell you is that a lot of the people I work with at my San Carlos studio arrive with a history of low back and nerve issues — and the thing that finally moved the needle wasn't more rest. It was building the right kind of strength, in the right order, with a coach who actually paid attention.
What Sciatica Actually Does to Your Training
The sciatic nerve runs from the lower spine down through the glute and into the leg. When it's irritated — whether from a disc issue, piriformis compression, or something structural — you feel it as a sharp line of pain, numbness, or tingling that doesn't behave like regular muscle soreness. It's unpredictable. Some days a loaded hip hinge feels fine. Other days sitting in a car for 20 minutes sets it off.
That unpredictability is why generic programs fail. A 12-week bootcamp doesn't know your nerve is cranky. A group class instructor isn't watching your hip position on every rep. And most trainers, frankly, don't have the confidence to deviate from the template when something's not working.
I do.
How I Actually Coach Around It
The goal isn't to avoid loading the posterior chain forever — that's a path to becoming weaker and more fragile, not less. The goal is to find which movements you can train hard right now, build there, and systematically reintroduce the ones that are currently off the table.
In practice that often looks like: starting with suitcase carries and single-leg RDLs instead of bilateral deadlifts, using split squats at a range of motion that doesn't provoke symptoms, and paying real attention to hip flexor length and glute recruitment before we add load. It's less dramatic than it sounds. It's also more effective than either gutting through pain or doing nothing.
The 'beat your last' standard still applies. If you did 3x8 Bulgarian split squats at 25 lbs a side last week without symptoms, we're looking to beat that this week — more reps, more load, better position. The bar moves. It just moves in a direction that respects what your body is telling us.
The 12-week is where we figure out what that starting point looks like for you. It's a real conversation — your history, your current symptoms, what you've tried, what made things worse. If coaching doesn't make sense for you, I'll tell you. If a PT referral should come first, I'll say that too. I work with people all across the Peninsula, from Palo Alto down through Menlo Park and Foster City, and the studio on Industrial Rd in San Carlos is easy off 101.
What the Research Actually Says
A 2019 review in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that exercise — including progressive resistance training — outperformed passive treatment for chronic low back and radiating nerve pain in most populations. That doesn't mean loading up a barbell on day one. It means the direction of travel is toward movement, not away from it.
Strength is a skill that compounds. If your nervous system has been in a threat state around certain movements for months, reintroducing those patterns gradually — with attention to position and load — is how you rebuild confidence and capacity at the same time.
Who This Is Actually For
If you're currently in an acute flare, see a doctor or PT first. That's not a hedge — it's just true. But if you've been through the imaging, had the cortisone shot, done a round of PT, and you're still not sure how to get back to lifting without setting yourself off, that's the gap I fill.
Most of my clients in this situation are over 40, have demanding jobs (a lot of them work in tech around Palo Alto and Menlo Park), and don't have time for programs that waste their time or make things worse. They want to lift. They want to be coached by someone who's actually thinking. That's the pitch.
FAQ
Can I deadlift with sciatica? Sometimes yes, sometimes not yet. It depends on what's causing the irritation, where you are in recovery, and what your mechanics look like. In many cases we'll use a trap bar, a Romanian deadlift variation, or a single-leg pattern while we rebuild tolerance. The goal is to get you back to bilateral pulling — just not necessarily on day one.
Do I need to be cleared by a doctor before starting? If you've had a recent acute episode, imaging that showed significant disc herniation, or neurological symptoms like weakness or bladder changes, yes — get a medical clearance first. For chronic or managed sciatica, most people can start training with appropriate modifications.
Is your studio accessible from Palo Alto? Yes. The studio is on Industrial Rd in San Carlos, right off 101 — about 20 minutes from downtown Palo Alto depending on traffic. Most clients from Palo Alto and Menlo Park come in two or three times a week without it being a burden.
What's the 12-week, exactly? It's a consult-first coaching block. We spend the first session talking through your history, goals, and current limitations — no fitness test, no sales pressure. From there, if it makes sense to work together, we build a program that's actually built around you. If it doesn't make sense, I'll tell you that instead.