Back pain settles in and takes over.

Running, jumping is out of question. Walking is a challenge. Any movement is difficult.

What happened?

Yes, there are many reasons for back pain but one of the more common is muscular back pain.

This type of back pain can come unexpectedly and bring us to a complete halt.

Muscular back pain is so common because of Increased Inactivity

Increased inactivity in turn leads to:

• Weak back muscles back
• Improper functionality and biomechanics
• Faulty movement that overworks some muscles and bring in tension

Weak back muscles and improver pelvic alignment lead to back pain.

The solution?

To put it simply: Move more.

• Move as much as you can
• Stand in stead of sitting
• Walk as much as you can
• Avoid sitting at all cost (Get a standing desk if you do computer work)

Stick with these few rules and you will forget what back pain is.

Happy moving!

International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation (IKFF) and myself, started free video lesson series focusing on Human Biomechanics, Posture, Athletic Performance and Functionality.

Below is the first lesson, talking about what posture is and why it has such great effect.

One of the questions that comes up often, is whether one still has to ‘do cardio’ when training with kettlebells.

Are kettlebells as effective as running, sprinting, jogging and other cardio activities when it comes to developing cardiovascular capacity?

The short answer is “kettlebells are on par with running”, long answer is… well, keep on reading for the long answer

Kettlebells are great for improving cardiovascular capacity. It works, there is no argument.

I would even recommend kettlebells over any other cardio activity like running, jogging or aerobics class (I apologize to all the aerobic class enthusiasts – you’ll have to give your stretchy pants a rest…)

Why?

Kettlebells are much safer on joints than any other kind of activity.

[gasp...]

It’s true.

The exercise that (in my opinion, anyway) is one of the best exercises for improving strength and cardiovascular endurance and capacity is kettlebell swings.

[Why swings and not snatches or jerks or cleans?]

• While swinging kettlebells there is no resting point, the bell is always moving, demanding attention and cardiovascular output
• Kettlebell swings is a foundational movement that is simple. Everyone, including beginners, can benefit from it
• All major joints (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders) are moving and engaged through proper planes of motion
• Back muscles are engaged (usually a major weak point in most people) and strengthened

For an average person, should swings replace running?

Absolutely!

Keep in mind that an average person is a dis-functional person containing many muscular imbalances and suffering from numerous postural deviations.

Now take this off-balance, mis-aligned body and make it run. What do you think will happen? Compensations leading to pain and injury are inevitable.

Kettlebell swings, on the other hand, will move all joints in proper planes through proper range of movements and help muscles find the much desired balance.

Does that mean that you should never run? Nonsense!

Humans are made for movement, running and walking and not sitting (shocking!). So if you are consistent in your kettlebell training you can attempt running but be careful and listen to what your body tells you afterward. If you experience any pain (soreness does not count as pain) you may want to put running on a shelve until your body is more ‘connected’.

[Tree climbing?! Are you insane? Do I look like a monkey to you?!]

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to get used to odd looks (disbelief?) from my clients when I ask them to do certain things like climb a tree.

Why do I ask these nice people who trust me with their health and fitness to regress to a monkey-like stage?

You see, tree climbing is a shockingly effective test of body strength and function. Not only that, tree climbing is a downright fantastic way to further develop strength (especially upper body strength), function, and flexibility.

Can you climb a tree? If the answer is ‘probably no’ then you need to work on your strength, flexibility and function.

What exactly do I mean by ‘tree climbing’?

There are few ways of doing it.

• My favorite way to Tree Climb is to climb around a tree without touching the ground (see the video below, featuring one of my clients, Paul Dickinson – black belt in Aikido, currently living in Tokyo, Japan)

• You can also literally climb a tree so that your feet are resting on a branch
• You can go around a tree (see that video) but without using your legs. Think of using the tree as glorified monkey bars
• You can also do all of the above with a kettlebell attached to you (fun, fun, fun… trust me on that one)

Enjoy!

My daughter asked for my help with her Physical Education homework (hey, I was shocked as well… PE homework!?). The task consisted of giving a parent a standard fitness test and then analyze the results.

My results were superb (I’m way above suggested fitness level of a 15 year old boy). In addition to giving yet another boost to my self esteem, the test got me thinking about the adequacy of Physical Education and such fitness tests.

Here is what I had to endure:

• Sit and Reach (aka Flexibility Test)
• Sit Up test (aka Core test)
• Push Up test (aka Upper Body Strength and Endurance test)

Sounds nice, right?

After all, we test all the important aspects of fitness: flexibility, core and upper body strength and endurance. There is something missing in the list.

Back strength!

I know, I know.. I may sound like a crazy old man but back strength is critical to our health and not enough time is spent educating, testing and developing back strength.

“You shouldn’t be lifting that”, “It’s too heavy for you”, “stop it, you going to hurt your back”, mothers around the world scream in unison. From the very beginning we believe (most of us, anyway. I was kind of a ‘thick’ child when it came to lifting things and never listened to my mother) that our backs are as fragile as peace in Middle East.

Our Physical Ed teachers are not helping either. You are considered strong if you can press much weight above your head, bench press a lot (or do a bazillion push-ups) or climb a rope well, although most schools can’t even afford a rope these days. So we are stuck with push-ups/bench presses, crunches and touching toes.

As we go through college, we repeat same mantras that our school teachers, magazine workouts and ‘buff’ friends told us. Bench press, leg press (occasionally), pull-ups, lots of bicep curls (if you are a guy) and hours of treadmill walking/running if you a girl.

As a result of such disjointed exercises, back muscles are engaged only partially at best. Back muscles become the weak link, making it difficult to walk, sit or stand for very long without discomfort and pain.

Those who are considered ‘strong’, suffer even more and are prone to more back injuries.

Why?

They believe that they are strong and thus far more likely to lift something heavy. Since lifting a heavy object (be it a couch, mattress, or a pony) heavily involves back muscles (even if you ‘lift with your legs’) these ‘strong man’ break in half from pain.

If I had a dollar for every time a ‘buff’ guy came to me with a complaint that when he walks around a mall with his girlfriend his back is killing him, I could pay for college for both of my kids with that money.

As a result of such misguided effort, back pain is more common than ever.

Strong back muscles are critical to our health, vitality, function and quality of life. Those muscles are responsible not only for bending and flexing of the spine but also for spinal stabilization and support.

How to reclaim back strength:

• Start Russian Kettlebell training
• Do yoga and pilates
• Do deadlifts and squats
• Walk and hike regularly
• Stop going to the gym and enjoy more natural movements

Russian kettlebells are very effective at creating a bullet proof back.

Without getting in further details, training with kettlebells involves much bending, directly engaging lower, mid and upper back muscles. Through out an average training session, kettlebell lifters do 400-600 bends without realizing it.

How did kettlebells help you with your back strength? What back problems did it address and solve?

What’s next?

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