Beating the Low Back Blues, Part 1: Why Your Back Isn’t the Problem

Two thirds of you told me your low back is the biggest issue you deal with. And it makes sense.

The truth is, most low back pain doesn’t start in the back itself. The back is usually the victim, not the cause. Tight hips and glutes that aren’t firing the way they should lock your movement down. Then the core stops engaging and your low back is left carrying more than its share. Over time, that leads to stiffness, fatigue, and eventually pain. Research shows that targeted core and hip strengthening reduces recurrence of low back pain and improves function (JOSPT: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0304, NIH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3658406/).

That’s where most people get stuck — they treat the back like the problem instead of addressing the chain. To get lasting relief, you need a plan that follows the body’s natural order: loosen what’s tight, activate what’s weak, then bring everything back together. Over the next 3 weeks, we'll walk thru the below plan to get your low back feeling like it's 18 again.

• Loosen and activate the hips. Unlock tight hip flexors and get the glutes firing to take pressure off your back.

• Re-engage the core. Once the hips are moving, learn what true bracing feels like and train it consistently.

• Train the chain. Treat your hips, core, and back as one unit. When they share the load, your back stops carrying it all alone.

  
  

This sequence is a simple way to begin loosening and engaging your hips so your back doesn’t have to carry the load alone.

👉 Try the sequence: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIXpMQLI42v/

🔗 Here's the link to the resistance bands I used: https://a.co/d/0rOVsKA

Next week, we’ll dig into the core — the missing link for most low back pain.