BACK PAIN

That’s a common question that I get from pretty much everyone new to kettlebell training.

The answer, I’m sure to your surprise, is YES.  

Yes, you can hurt your back training with KBs…

…but you can also hurt your back doing traditional weight training.

You can hurt your back bending over to tie your shoes.

You can hurt your back twisting the wrong way when you put your 2-year-old in her car seat.

The point is that it isn’t a kettlebell that will hurt your back.  

It’s years and years of stress that’s been put on your back because of de-conditioning, lack of hip or thoracic (upper back) mobility, improper training practices, decades of poor posture or just weakness of the muscles supporting your spine.

Don’t blame the kettlebell (or the barbell, car seat, or your new pair of Nikes).

Fortunately, there are solutions and ways to prevent back pain. Some of the more common ones are…

• understanding the real functioning of your abdominal and low back muscles
• making sure your butt (glutes) work properly
• increasing the mobility in your hips and upper back
• learning how to brace when you’re exercising
• knowing what movements put the most stress on your spine and avoiding them if possible
• monitoring your diet for foods that could be inflaming your gut and turning your abdominal muscles "off" (and believe it or not, that’s a big one!)

There has been a lot of "research proven" methods out there to help you with your back pain, but more often than not, these methods fall short.

And my confidence in the medical community really starts to wain when I see a new client with back issues get prescribed some kind of pain killing pill to get rid of his back pain…

...Pills just hide the symptom, they don’t get rid of the problem.

I looked at the research done my Dr. Stuart McGill to get my information.  And when one of his students, Eric Wong (a Certified Kinesiologist), came out with the exact guide that helped him get over 10 years of back pain, I had to get myself a copy to review.If you have a history of back pain, then don’t let back pain limit your training or your life.

To your health,