I’ve tweaked my back three times over the last few years. One instance was relatively minor, but the other two were doozies. I got stupid and rushed what I was doing and I paid for it.
But I know, I know. It could be worse. And that, in a roundabout way, is what I want to talk about.
The back injury story in our collective imagination usually goes something like this: person picks up something too heavy, back goes out. The usual remedy is prevention by way of proscription–don’t do that! Get some help the next time you’re lifting that box. Be smart about it!
Except…sometimes there isn’t any help. And pretty much all the time, there are boxes. So unless you want to live on the Planet Xerxon where those goofy Xerxonians don’t use gravity, you gotta get to figuring this out.
One solution? Get stronger so you can pick those things up (and…put them down). Barbell training is the quickest, safest way we know how to build lower backs that can withstand what life sets out on the floor for you.
And while there are videos and I certainly know a few self-taught athletes, for most of us a professional coach amplifies the good that weightlifting can bring into your life. We can make corrections in real time and suggest how you might progress from session to session, which is no small consideration at the onset of your training.
Perhaps just as importantly we’re also here to remind you that, after a time, you are strong enough to pick up that box, and that you should act that way. Set your back, use your legs, make it happen.
Because in my experience that’s when the back injuries actually happen. We forget that we know how to do this stuff, or maybe we’re rushing through something, or maybe we just kind of lose sight of one important fact: we’ve gotten strong enough to do this the right way.
As for what happens when you’ve gotten strong enough to do it the right way but still do it the wrong way? Well…most of the time you don’t hurt yourself as badly as you would’ve in an untrained state. Like I said, it could be worse.
