Learn From My Dumb Arse. Literally.

Here's a re-post (from July of last year) that we thought would be helpful to share once again. Enjoy!

I recently read an article on PubMed titled Prevalence of gluteus medius weakness in people with chronic low back pain compared to healthy controls.  It reminded me of how stubborn I had been over the years regarding my own low back pain, and the role my glutes played in that pain.

It took me years to learn that my chronic lower back pain came from my weak glutes & hip dysfunction.  I didn't understand it.  I mean, I was a good athlete all my life... and one hell of a dancer up in tha' club.  These hips don't lie, son (real talk).

CrossFit forced me to further my understanding of what my body was doing right and what it was doing wrong.  Then, as I started to understand it better I fought the notion. "How could I have weak glutes?!  I deadlift 2.5x my body weight.  I can dunk a basketball (well, I could... at one point... haha).  Nonsense!!!"  Turns out my adductors and spinal erectors are overachievers and like to outshine my slacker booty.  Hence adductor strains whenever I'm being lazy and not potentiating my glutes on the regular (i.e. I stop doing my banded glute walks/steps, various bridges, planks, and other activation exercises).  Also turns out I couldn't separate hip flexion from spinal flexion, meaning I couldn't bend at my hip without bending my back (pretty common for many of us).

As athletes at Arena Ready your progress and safety is our main concern.  Please learn from my own stubborn mistakes.  Let my pain save you pain.  Trust me when I say that the glute activation movements we do in warm-ups are important, and not just "time fillers" for you to go through the motions.  They are also a minimum for most everyone - to really effect change you have to do a bit more, and be consistent with it.  We just purchased a batch of new "glute bands" for the gym - please use them (they are stored next to the larger stretch bands & PR gong). Get in 5-10 minutes early and add glute activation to your pre-class foam rolling routine.  If I told you 5 minutes of glute work every time you're in the gym could potentially save you a ton of back pain in the long run would you do it?  Well, I'm telling you.  Ask a coach if you're not sure you're doing the exercises correctly - we're happy to help, and will be thrilled to see you implementing the movements in addition to our normal class warm-up and mobility. 

My low back pain is pretty much gone these days.  After 15 years of competitive sports with chronic back pain my dumb ass finally started to figure it out (pun intended).  The last 4 years have been spent trying to understand WTF I've been doing incorrectly and then actively correcting it.

Join me.  Don't accept chronic back pain as your fate.  Determine your fate.  Say NO to back pain!

WOD for 04-15-16:

Back Squat:

6x3 @ 80%

Across

(Use the same 80% loading from your 6x2 on Tuesday 04-12-16)

-then-

Hang Squat Snatch + Overhead Squat:

5 Sets of (1+1)

Climbing