I never understood the burden myself until I needed to know how to get rid of back pain. Struggling with back pain for a while, I continued working out and just pushing through it, hoping it would disappear.
Workouts We’ll Detail Below
Kettlebell Swing
Squats
Lunges
I finally stopped and sought out a friend who is the most knowledgeable trainer I’ve ever worked with. His comprehension of how the body works and the wonders he’s done for people. I am fortunate to have him as a resource and a friend.
THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO
A great book young women wrote centered around her struggles and how David assisted her in recovery. The book details a young women’s recovery from a stroke and the long ordeal she went through. It’s a motivating and humbling read that will inspire you and reaffirm your faith in the goodness of others.
I love to promote good things like this whenever I get an opportunity.
Yes, nothing will drop jaws and spin heads around like a well-shaped butt!
Perhaps more importantly, a strong sculpted backside is also the key to increasing speed, overall power, and refining performance while minimizing injury risk. David’s evaluation in short, was my pain was from an IT band issue and how tight mine was. We went back in time and discovered what I could surmise was the genesis of the problem. I was rolling Ju-Jitsu and had a severe glute muscle pull that had me limping for a long time.
Where I went wrong is I never stopped training, I was running a lot of miles back then, and what I didn’t do was foam roll or strength train my backside. My body began compensating for my injury, was not operating correctly, and developed a muscular imbalance.
Below I want to share a workout and pass on some knowledge I learned from David that got me on a path with developing my glutes and learning how to get rid of back pain.
It won’t happen overnight, and after a couple of months, I had amazing results and success relieving my back pain!
When I first realized my body had changed wasn’t from comments my wife made that she noticed a difference visually, which was great to hear! I first noticed the change when I climbed stairs, and I could now feel the fatigue or burn in my butt and not my quads. I realized I had changed how my body was operating and my glutes had been activated and were being used. Instead of other muscles my body had been using and was being over-utilized for motion and activities like climbing stairs.
The first thing to understand is our backside is not just one big butt muscle.
The gluteal muscle group, known as the glutes, is the largest in your body and comprises the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.
So, Where And How Do We Begin Working On Our Glutes?
Whenever you target an area of the body, it’s always essential to incorporate a variety and multitude of activities. Resistance bands, squats, deadlifts, lunges, glute bridges, and the exercises listed below will help get you started or maybe spark an idea to change up to or add to what you might currently be doing.
One of the first steps you need to take is activating your glutes and getting them ready to work.
Before you first glute set, simply squeezing your butt as hard as you can for 30 seconds for 3 sets can help activate your glutes and get them ready to work.
Kettlebell Swing
What I used as a warm-up was the Kettlebell Swing.
Above, you see Zharien demonstrating a variation between a two-handed and single-handed swing. I began by squeezing my butt for 30 seconds, focusing on just my glutes while relaxing the rest of my body, and then going directly into the Kettlebell Swings, then resting for 1 minute.
I started with 3 sets of 10 reps, squeezing my butt for 30 seconds before each set.
In the beginning, I was doing standard 2 handed swings, but after a couple of weeks, I began to add variety to this workout.
I was adding single-handed swings and alternating hand swings to release the kettlebell in the air and catch with the opposite hand.
The kettlebell swing is a dynamic movement that will incorporate more than just the glutes. I enjoy this as a warm-up, and don’t forget to squeeze your glutes to spark them into activation.
Squats
Squats, some look forward to them, and others dread the day.
No matter how you feel about them, squats are one of the best exercises for firming your behind. Most fitness experts will tell you if you want to run or jump better and lift heavier, squatting is the critical exercise to perform. Not only in added performance but squats also help improve your knee stability and range of motion.
Getting Started
Bodyweight alone is always a great way to begin learning from and to start challenging your muscles.
1) Stand with your feet a comfortable, well-balanced distance apart. Be sure you are aligned and your hips, knees, and toes are facing forward.
2) Slowly bend your knees and extend your butt backward as you lower yourself down. Imagine you are sitting down on a stool. Now slowly come back up, then repeat this motion.
Now slowly come back up, then repeat this motion.
Remember, slight bending of the knees is not a squat!
Practice this form and try and go lower in a controlled and balanced movement. Once you feel comfortable with this motion, you can begin adding weights and incorporating some squat variations into your workout.
You can see another example of a squat using a heavy bag in this workout routine.
Lunges
The last exercise we are going to go over is lunges.
Squats have a broader base of support, but the effectiveness of lunges forces you to continuously re-adjust your body weight. Also, lunges will test mobility and increase hip, foot, and ankle stability.
To Get Started:
1. Again, like your squat, stand high with your feet a comfortable, well-balanced distance apart.
2. Take a long step forward with one leg.
3. As much as you can, keep your body weight on your front foot as you lower your center to the ground.
Focus on keeping the front foot flat and back heel lifted.
4. Lower your body until your rear knee nearly touches the floor and the front knee is directly above the ankle.
5. Push through the heel of your front foot and bring yourself back to the starting position.
Again, like squats, focus on slow balanced movements and perfecting your form. When you feel comfortable with this motion you can add weights and lunge variations to increase the challenge.
I want to thank Zharien for demonstrating these workouts for us and letting me film and post it.
Z is a great guy, and worth the follow on Instagram: Z The Machine
Hopefully, if you are suffering already, this workout can help relieve or get rid of back pain for you. If you do not have any back pain, these are still some great exercises to add to your routine. They will help performance and provide a preventive measure as well. Hopefully, you don’t need to worry about learning how to get rid of a back pain!
Thanks for recommending this post on how to get rid of back pain. I have found it to be quite helpful indeed. I will definitely work on getting my glutes, legs, and abs in more balance. I am starting my morning exercise routine to include resistance bands and am also working a bit on an elliptical. Thanks again for this great information.
My pleasure, thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
I was having some severe issues and pain in my back. I know I am not alone and I wanted to share how I got rid of a back pain that I had and what the causes were. Hopefully, it can help others!
Great article, I especially like the visuals on how to squat and lunge! It really brings it to life, particularly for people who would be familiar with the correct technique! I never thought of them as a method of back pain relief though, interesting fact.
Sharon
Thanks Sharon
I wasn’t aware of the correlation either until I was educated on it.
I changed up my workout and it worked for me in relieving my pain.
A tight IT band and weak glutes are a factor with a lot of people’s back pain.
Thank you for this article.
I have struggled with my back for a long time now. I had an operation for ten years ago and felt so good after. Suddenly I could run and exercise Crossfit without having any back pain. But for 5 years ago my back pain returned but now they can’t find out why.
I became a lot better when I stopped eating any food that could give me inflammation but I also need to build some muscles. I will start doing the exercise that you suggest and will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again!
Janicke
I hope it helps.
All of our bodies are different so unfortunately there can’t 1 solution for everybody.
These were the steps that helped me and hopefully they can work for you.
Please come back and let us know if it helped!
Fantastic article with great visuals. Glute activation is definitely key to a healthy back. I do agree that with proper activation of the gluteal muscles you could alleviate lower back pain. As a trainer myself I love to teach the importance of core strength, glute strength and proper movement mechanics. You nailed it in the article. Looking forward to reading more!
Thanks Z!
I appreciate all your help
Thank you for your fantastic article. I must say that I had to grin when I saw the title of your blog. Not because I thought it was funny, but because I have been having back issues. As I was reading I had to stretch and and move my back. I would never have thought that the butt could cause so many issues with the rest of my body.
I have always been lazy when it comes to exercise. However, I do work hard for the living so by the time I get home I have a real issue with doing any extra exercise. Thank you for inspiring me to try harder. I have decided that I will start doing those Squats, resistance bands, dead lifts and all the other ones you have mentioned, but I’ll be doing them first thing in the morning and starting slowly. Jim
Best of luck Jim and thanks for responding.
Take it slow and don’t feel like you have to do a lot and come out of the gates fast.
Just implement something that you know you’ll do and as you start seeing results you’ll be motivated to add more and continue.
To many people make the mistake of trying to go from 0-60 and it becomes to much work and they end up quitting.
Just do what you can and build from there.
Very nice and informative article! I have been a personal trainer since I was 17 years and even beginning of my career I had some serious lower back pains and I was almost unable to walk. Until I realized out how important it is to have your glutes, legs, abs and much more in a balance. I fully agree it may be hard to realize out how crucially important it is. In my case, getting glutes and abs strong enough made my lower back pains to disappear forever (hopefully forever). Thanks for sharing this, I will take a further look at your website.
Thanks for commenting and it’s always good to hear from a trainer who’s been at it for awhile.
I try to be a sponge and learn from everybody.
I’ve had a lot of experienced trainers who’ve been at it longer then me Say there was a shift for helping people with back pain. At one point It was more common in the industry to focus on a clients core, then there was a shift to focus on the glutes.