Problem with Power Cleans in 5x5 - please help

[Troy07]

Is it okay to swap barbell rows for power cleans?

I've been doing Bill Starr's original 5x5 at the moment, like so:

Monday - Heavy Day
Powercleans - 5 sets of 5
Bench - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5

Wednesday - Light Day
Powercleans - 5 sets of 5
Bench - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5
set 5 use weight from 3rd set of Monday

Friday - Medium
Powercleans - 5 sets of 5
Bench - 5 sets of 5 1x10 weight from 3rd set
Squat - 5 sets of 5 1x10 weight from 3rd set
set 5 use weight 4th set of Monday


But I've been having some lower back pain due to Power Cleans, and I'm afraid it will get worse if I keep doing them. I've had the same back problem when I was younger and it's nothing serious, slight problem with my spine, but certain lifts just seem to cause it pain more than others. And power cleans is definately one.

I did deadlifts and barbell rows before in a program and they caused no problems, actually I think they really helped by strengthening my lower back.

So would it be counter productive to replace power cleans with barbell rows and add deadlifts on the light day in the 5x5? I tought it should be ok because Its similar to madcows version, but need some more knowing advice.

I would of done madcows but the original is going well for me other than the powerclean, so I don't want to change program completly.

This is how the new program would look, with the changes in red:

Monday - Heavy Day
BB Rows - 5 sets of 5
Bench - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5

Wednesday - Light Day
Deadlifts - 5 sets of 5, to 5rep max
Bench - 5 sets of 5
Squat - 5 sets of 5
set 5 use weight from 3rd set of Monday

Friday - Medium
BB Rows - 5 sets of 5
Bench - 5 sets of 5 1x10 weight from 3rd set
Squat - 5 sets of 5 1x10 weight from 3rd set
set 5 use weight 4th set of Monday


Does this look like an okay program??


Thanks.

 

[war_machine31]

it looks good to me dude.i would do my deads on the heavy day tho.

 

[Troy07]

it looks good to me dude.i would do my deads on the heavy day tho.

Thanks for reply, why do you think heavy day would be better?

I'll do deads too failure on the light day every week, I think this makes more sense than putting them on the heavy day, where I already have alot of tonnage.

And this way I can do a heavy and medium day of barbell rows too and just skip the light day and do heavy deads instead

 

[war_machine31]

depends on what your going for.i like heavy deads cause its more of a mass builder but thats me.do what works for you dude,i'm no guru.