Why Your Lower Back Hurts (And Why Kettlebells Might Be the Fix)

NOTE: This is a “red flag” to the FTC. This is a medical diagnosis. I’m not a doctor. I cannot diagnose nor treat pain. Furthermore, they would push back because it’s speaking in broad strokes and applying this diagnosis to all back pain. Back pain can be mechanics. I can also be a bulging disc. It can be purely muscular. It can be a tumor. See what I’m getting at here? In the health space this is the equivalent of making income claims.

Many guys over 40 have lower back issues – stiffness, tightness, soreness, even pain. The good news is, for many, kettlebell training can help get rid of it.

Millions of men over 40 wake up every day thinking lower back issue is just part of getting older. For many, it’s not.

First, a disclaimer. If you have active lower back pain, make sure you see your physician for a medical diagnosis, and then get cleared to exercise.

Second, I’m going to show you why lower back pain can be purely mechanical, why traditional workouts most guys over 40 do make it worse, and why the kettlebell, used correctly, can be the single best tool to rebuild your strength, your power, and your physical confidence again.

Let’s get into it.

Why Your Back Hurts (And Why “Age” Isn’t the Problem)

If you ask most men over 40 why their back hurts, they’ll shrug and say:

“Eh… I’m just getting older.”

No, assuming your doc cleared you, here’s what’s actually happening:

1. You’ve been driving a desk for nearly 20 years – or more – and your body has adapted accordingly.

As humans, we’re made to move – to walk upright, not to sit on our keysters for hours on end. Your glutes – your butt muscles, are the biggest muscles in your body for a reason.

Sitting all day makes them weak from disuse.

Worse, your hips actually tighten up – in all 360 degrees.

So those big strong glutes no longer do the work they’re supposed to. Instead, your lower back does.

Your glutes underwork. And your lower back overworks.

Worse, sitting makes your deep abdominal musculature “go to sleep.” So those muscles no longer do their main job:

Stabilize (protect) the spine and its surrounding muscles from overwork.

Lower back stiffness, tightness, soreness, even pain results.

In other words…

2. You’re tight where you should be mobile — and mobile where you should be stable.

Tight hips, weak glutes, “sleepy” deep core muscles, undertrained and tight hamstrings…

All roads lead to one thing:

Your lower back working overtime.

And as a result…

3. You’re not hinging, you’re rounding.

When your hips and deep core muscles don’t work properly, you can no longer access your normal hip function and strength.

So, you don’t use your hips to pick things up like you were designed to.

Instead, you use your lower back and round over like a question mark.

This places undue stress on your spine and your lower back barks at you as a result.

So, learn how to use your hips – to “hinge” – to use your hips and your hamstrings to lift.

Which really means –

“Your lower back isn’t the problem, your back is the victim.”

Why Most Traditional Training Makes Back Pain Issues Worse

Let’s talk about the gym advice most men over 40 still follow:

The “lift heavier” approach

If your hinge is off, adding weight doesn’t fix anything, it just magnifies the problem.

The “more reps will fix it” approach

More reps of a bad movement pattern (flexing at the spine like a question mark instead of hinging at your hips) just drive that pattern deeper into your nervous system.

The “just stretch your back” approach

Your back doesn’t need stretching — it needs better mechanics.

The muscles around your spine need to trust your hips again.

The “more core workouts” approach

“Core workouts” have turned into a junk term these days. Depending on which coach or researcher you talk to, there are at least 27 different muscles in your “core,” and at least 2 different “cores.”

And both of those are made up of very specific muscle groups that do distinctly different things. For example, your “deep core,” also known as your “Inner Unit” – stabilizes your spine and your pelvis, so your hips can move.

Training your “Inner Unit” is much different than just doing some “core work.”

If your hips aren’t doing their job, no amount of planks will save you.

So the reason your back pain keeps coming back is not:

Age

Weakness

Bad luck

It’s pattern overload – constantly repeating the same pattern of motion which places undue stresses on your body. As a result, you experience muscle imbalances and movement compensations which create stiffness, tightness, soreness and even pain. In other words –

“You strengthened the wrong muscles and overloaded the wrong areas and your back paid for it.”