Have Low Back Pain Or Tightness??

321go • February 2, 2023

16 million adults every year deal with some sort of back pain whether it’s from an injury, muscle imbalances, and or muscle weakness. However, there is a way to make your back more resilient and make yourself less susceptible to back issues.

Training
the glutes is the secret. The glutes are involved with a lot of functions in the lower body including pelvic stability. Usually people that have underactive glutes are also the same people who constantly struggle with low back pain or tightness. This is because
the low back muscles including the lower erector spinae and quadratus lumborum can start to become overactive/overused as a result of the glutes not being able to stabilize and perform movements of that they are supposed to.

Strong Glutes = Strong Lower Back

So what exercises should you do??

Some of my favorites include:

-Glute
Bridges (single or both legs)

-Mini
Band Squats (weighted or unweighted)

-Lateral Squat Walks

-Mini Band monster walks

-Reverse Hypers (weighted or unweighted)

-Bird Dogs

Start with 3 sets of each at low reps to focus on activating the right muscles and progress by either adding resistance or repetitions! As your glutes get stronger, you will notice that your lower back will feel stable and you won’t get that “tightness” that lots of people get during activities that require you to bend over (especially shoveling)! Give those exercises a try and let me know how you do.

Coach
Evan

recent posts

By Evan Amell April 22, 2025
I recently worked with Redfin to provide them with some insight on making the most of minimal equipment when doing home workouts for a blog post they put together titled 9 Home Workout Ideas to Stay Active and Fit at Home . See below for the excerpt featuring quotes and recommendations for me on how you can best utilize whatever equipment you have at home to keep working towards your fitness goals!
By Evan Amell March 12, 2025
Now you probably read the title and thought “that is a pretty dark way to look at this”. However, the unfortunate reality is that there is truth to it. People way too often kick the can down the road. Year after year after year after year. Until one day it finally catches up with them. They find out that they have elevated blood sugar. They find out they have osteopenia that could lead to osteoporosis. They find out their triglyceride and cholesterol levels are concerning. They take a fall and fracture a bone. You get the story. They have a bad wake up call. People take their health for granted until it starts to go. Remember the times that you lose electricity because of a storm or accident? Almost makes you feel helpless since everything runs on electricity. The difference with that versus the scenarios I gave you above is that all those issues are preventable with healthy lifestyle choices. The key is being proactive. It doesn’t mean you need to take on a regimen like a professional athlete. You are too busy for that. However, you can do things today that will put you at a SIGNIFICANTLY LESS risk to developing chronic disease and aside from that, improving your quality life. We talk about investing financially for your future but think of eating healthy and moving daily as your investment in your health so you can THRIVE in retirement. Traveling. Playing with your grandkids. Not paying huge medical bills because of unhealthy decisions. Maintaining your independence. All very important things but require time and effort in order to reach those milestones in your later years. So don’t wait until it's too late. Strength training 2-3x/week, walking daily, and eating mostly whole foods will have a profound effect on your health in ways you wouldn’t think possible.
February 11, 2025
The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and deleteI preach this all the time about how we need to shift our focus from just looking for the amount of calories in the foods that we are deciding to eat to evaluating the nutrient profile and the amount of ingredients instead. Now, it's not inherently a bad idea to know how many calories you are consuming when you are trying to lose weight HOWEVER, when you look at the foods that are very nutrient dense and don't have many ingredients, usually those foods naturally have a lot less calories than the ultra processed foods you see in the grocery store(chips, cereals, etc.) with a few exceptions like olive oil(120 calories per tablespoon). It's not even just about the calories though. You want your body to function optimally right? You want energy. You want to maintain muscle mass. You don't want to suffer from indigestion. You want a strong immune system. You want to optimize the way your body burns body fat. The fact of the matter is that whole foods naturally will help with all of these because in order for your body to be in the best possible place, it needs the resources to do so. It needs a certain amount of macronutrients and micronutrients in order to function the way that it needs to so you can feel your best! This is what whole foods eating does! So long story short, focus on the QUALITY of the calories. Not just the calories. Consume single ingredient foods that are high in nutrients and you will not just see changes on the weight scale, but you will also feel better!