You got a question?!? 8/28

You got a question?!? 8/28

Posted: August 28th 2021

Years ago, I would’ve told you to go through a series of evaluations designed to show every flaw and imperfection in your movement and muscular stiffness, which ultimately would not have have helped all that much but would’ve made me sound super smart. Now, I’d advise you to go get evaluated by a good physical therapist or an ortho. Rule out anything structural before we get to mobility and strength.

Let’s start by looking at your hips and focusing on getting them to loosen up a bit. We will use what’s called the limber 11, a flexibility/mobility routine created by strength coach Joe DeFranco. You can find the 5-part video series on my YouTube channel and you can also find the Joe Ds original by searching Joe DeFranco limber 11, what’s important here is to perform this routine as often as possible and to continue each exercise until you feel a change in the muscle. Don’t stop at 10 reps if you still feel tight. I’m using a foam roller but, if you really want to know pain, you could grab a lacrosse ball. If you don’t have the time to perform the entire routine, you could perform 3 to 6 of the exercises that you feel have the biggest impact. Consistency is key, I’d rather you hit 3-6 every day than the entire routine 2-3 times per week.

If you’re someone who likes to dead lift or squat, try rotating in some single leg exercises to ease the repetitive stress on the low back. You could deadlift for three weeks, perform a heavy sled push or drag for three weeks, squat for three weeks, and then perform a single leg exercise such as a split squat for three weeks. This gives you at least 6 weeks out of 12 where you are training hard without heavily loading your lower back.

Learn how to brace your abs. When you watch power lifters moving 800, 900, 1K pounds, you might notice how tight and tense they get. Before each set, they take a big breath and push their abs into their belts to provide a brace against the weight. They aren’t holding their breath, they are taking little sips of air throught the set. Learning how to brace is a skill, start with some lighter weight in your hands or on your back, focus on pushing those abs out.

I remember reading about how Louie Simmons, the godfather of powerlifting in America, rehabed his broken back essentially by strengthening it. He performed exercises like back extensions and reverse hypers to build up strength and muscle in the posterior chain which helped him get back on his feet. Make sure your training involves some lighter work performed 3-4 sets of 8-20 reps.

So your checklist for fixing your low back pain is to get evaluated, stretch regularly, rotate heavy strength exercises, learn how to brace your abs, and incorporate muscle building exercises for the low back, Glutes and hamstrings.

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