Kick back pain’s backside and get back in the gym

November 6, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

Lower back pain de-motivating you from hitting the gym?

Yeah, I totally get that.

Many a time have I felt the same and pushed through yet another cardio sesh, only to feel worse. (Chronic back pain sufferer here.) However, according to the fitness pros, that might just be because cardio’s not what we should be doing anyway. Not alone, at least. See, for the longest time, I had this misconception that – if I just shed a few more pounds, by some sorcery, my dorsal side would suddenly heal. So I hit the elliptical on the regular. And ya wanna know what happened? Nothin’ good. I either angered the pain deities – or it stayed the same.

Meanwhile, over in the corner of my local 24 Hour Fitness, the actual answer to all my workout woes was right under my nose. The weight section. See, the problem is, when we’ve got back pain, a lot’ve the time, it’s because we’ve got weak booty muscles. Now, granted, I had a herniated disc in need of physical therapy. But, even after I sorted that out, the muscular pain remained. And that’s where the physical part of physical therapy came in. I needed to strengthen those two lumps’ve meat my seat was made up of. When your backside’s slacking on its job, chronic back pain sets in. The reason? Because your glutes aren’t helping the hips function well. They aren’t strong enough to. The result: your back takes the brunt of it, while your whole bod’s thrown off as well.

So, what’s the remedy? Strengthening, of course. But, surprisingly, it’s not a generic prescription of “50 squats a day” that you may’ve read everywhere. Instead, there’s a twosome they suggest for best results: hip thrusts and one legged squats. Why? ’cause these are cheater-proof moves that help really isolate the specific area of your butt muscles we wanna brawn-ify. And how do you do each exactly?

Well, for hip thrusts, you’ll put a weight across your lower abdomen.

And then, lift those heavy hips heavenward.


(As you do, try to “feel” your way into your butt muscles – to make sure your quads aren’t overworking.)

Also, keep your body weight on your heels during this bridge motion.

That’ll ensure you’re not just pushing your knees to their limits in lieu of working that booty.

Then, after that, it’s onto the single leg squats.

I love these because you can do ‘em one of two ways. The first is where you put your leg behind you, with your uninvolved foot resting (presumably onto a stool, chair, or bench). Or, if you do it the other way, you have the foot in front’ve you. And if that’s not tough enough for you? No worries. If you’re a legit badazz, you can either hold onto that foot with your hands or keep it elevated, and drop it into a pistol squat.


(I can get down. But I can’t promise I’ll get back up again…)

But even if you’re thinking “No, thank you,” on that last modification option, no worries. Because, according to the trainers to the stars who own the most beastly of bubble booties, you don’t have to. In fact, you don’t even need to do these daily. By committing to a routine of these even just a few days a week, your weakness will morph into a fortified backside in no time.

So, get ready to wave pain goodbye and welcome a sumptuous rump into your life.*

*As ever, consult your doc about your condiche before firing up a fitness regimen. Duh.

#weight loss activity#weight loss exercises#weight loss workouts

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