Fix Back Pain by Doing This (EASY!)

If you want to fix back pain that you get on a regular basis, then this might be one of the most important videos on lower back pain that you watch. It is quite common for us to experience pain and tightness in the low back, sometimes from even the slightest of movements. Whether it is caused by a muscle strain or a disc, the problem is often rooted in an accumulation of bad spinal mechanics that results in what seems to be a sudden blowout.

This is almost always not the case.

When it comes to low back pain, too often it is our posture when bending forward and the accompanying weakness in our lower back muscles that sets the stage for problems. Whether it is being too lazy or ingrained habits of poor hip biomechanics, if you don’t hinge properly you are going to put excessive strain on the low back that doesn’t have to be there.

Let’s take a test.

If you had not watched this and dropped a pen on the floor, how would you pick it up? Do you just bend forward at the waist and reach down to grab the pen. When doing this, is your low back rounded? Are you reaching out in front of your body so that your arms are drifting forward when you do? If either of these happen, you are likely joining the 90 percent plus that picks things up this way.

It doesn’t matter that the pen only weighs a few ounces. It’s almost never about the weight of the item you are picking up that results in back pain. It’s about the mechanics.

Bending must always start at the hips with a hinge backwards. In fact, very little knee bend is required to get you to the ground once you’ve fully hinged through your available range of motion at the hips. By hinging, you not only set the stage for proper biomechanics of the hips but you preload the muscles of the glutes to do the lifting for you rather than the weaker paraspinal muscles of the lower back.

Your glutes are the powerhouses of hip extension. You need to learn how to use them.

To do this properly, I highly recommend that everyone includes the RDL into their training regimen. Even though this shares many of the same characteristics as the conventional deadlift, it is a different movement that is driven entirely by the posterior chain throughout the lift. The deadlift has a large knee extension moment at the beginning of the pull from the floor. It isn’t until the bar gets to the level of the knees does the movement shift from a quad dominant leg exercise supported by upper body pull musculature to a hamstring and glute dominant leg exercise supported by the upper body.

With the RDL, you want to start the movement from the standing position rather than picking the bar off the floor. Ideally, you’ll have a rack that will allow you to do this however you can prop the bar up onto a bench if needed to get it off the floor. From here, you take a grip just outside of your legs. Initiate the movement by hinging back at the hips.

Imagine there is a dresser drawer behind you and you are trying to close the open drawer with your butt. If you do this right, the bar will simply ride down your thighs and past the knees, without the lower back excessively arching or arching in a different plane than the mid back.

Allow the bar to drift past the knees, placing a big stretch on the hamstrings. At no point is the lower back leaving it’s fixed stable position to flex or extend the weight back to the top. The glutes and hamstrings are driving the pelvis forward in order to power the movement.

With these muscles of the posterior chain much better equipped to handle these loads and this function, you will find that the action of bending down becomes much more efficient and easier to perform without the risk of strain on the weaker lower back muscles. Back pain that could arise from an accumulation of poorly performed forward bends will become a thing of the past if you learn to groove this pattern.

It doesn’t just help here either. This movement is critical to performing a deadlift, squat and row properly as well.

You don’t have to keep dealing with every day low back pain. Learn to strengthen the muscles of the glutes and hamstrings via the RDL and then let that carry over into your daily functional tasks that we take for granted, like bending over to pick up a pen off the floor.

[athleanx]

*NOTIFICATION SQUAD GIVEAWAY* - It’s back!! Alright guys, I’m giving away a complete 30 Day Workout program to 100 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 100, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached! 

If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

[olekseleznov]

Jeff forgot to mention about picking the marker with two hands to avoid imbalance

[commenttorv]

Me: Taking an object from the ground.
Jeff: You're doing it wrong.

[zbrian]

So weird, I really needed this video so badly since I blacked out in the shower drunk and slept in the tub. Hope this fixes my back

[goro]

Shirted Jeff and Shirtless Jeff are now officially canon in the Athlean X Universe

[kevinkirathe]

"Pain will leave once it's done teaching you."

[KaitCervi]

SO glad to see this! When I saw Stu McGill as a patient for LBP (was a competitive gymnast) he literally dropped his pen on the floor playing it off as a mistake and asked me to pick it up for him 🤣. That is the moment my life changed and my back pain began healing and I have been 10 years pain free!

[dadbodbombero]

The fact that Jeff built a dresser to show us proper mechanics blows my mind. Thank you sir

[tendaimoyo]

This is a lifesaver! Been having serious lower back pain for a week a half now, and it did kinda start after a workout. This also helps a lot in figuring out the right form for a deadlift. Thanks, Jeff.

[mr]

For those who it may help, I had major back pain for years. I would shake while putting my boots on in the morning. When this happens now, though it’s rare, I stretch my hamstrings, glutes and most importantly I do BODY SQUATS. Not a 100, not fast, just controlled pace. Looses everything up and the pain goes away insanely fast. Hope it helps someone!

[michaelbarletta]

How is it that every video you put out is unique from every other video? That’s a true sign of a great personal trainer/physical therapist

[omarmansoor]

Let's be honest. Jeff became the Godfather of fitness in this video with his "I'm going to take care of you, line."

[kevinmitchell]

No one explains how your body works better than this guy! Awesomely simple and efficient video, thanks man! :)

[aarishhasan]

Me : Breathes
Jeff: Breathing is killing your gains

[dacolemon]

First off, these videos are the single best source of physical fitness advice I have ever found on the internet, certainly on YouTube. No BS, just smart, well-informed advice for building long-term functional strength. These back pain videos in particular have been incredibly helpful. I actually have labral tears in both of my hips, which have been a constant source of upper glute / lower back pain for several years. Might be too specific a video, but getting the Athlean take on how to train smart and prevent future injuries for ppl with labral tears would be GOLD. Thanks Jeff and Jesse for all the killer content. Keep it coming.

[JulioMacarena]

Thanks bruz. This is so true. I ruined my lower back from years of leaning over into car engine bays, picking stuff up off the floor with my back, and basically just not exercising and employing my glutes and quads to get low. Have been stretching it out for months now and tightening my core and firing up my glutes and i now reactively use my glutes to access lower cupboards and even squat for interacting with my child. My back is so much better and rarely gives me pain. Lining up some deadlifting at the gym soon with proper form in mind. Thanks heaps. :)

[johnosborn]

Its really weird. Every time o have an issue one of your videos comes out and you share a way to fix it. Crazy!🤯

[thehamsterarmy]

0:22 Muscle Markers have secretly been pens this whole time

[Tabth]

I've been dealing with some back pain and it's been stopping from me from doing things like going for walks. Thanks man

[XsTGriff]

I watched your how to squat video and learned way more than anyone has ever taught in my 6 years of school football. It’s sad that so many people don’t know just the basics. I think an updated series on the basics would be helpful now that so many people are working out at home. How to squat, how to properly curl, etc. You put the science back in working out and I appreciate it!