If you've ever dealt with back pain at the gym, or been told to stop training because of it, this is for you. I lived with serious lower back pain for almost a year. I understand the frustration of not being able to train the way you used to, and the fear that every movement might make things worse. But what I learned is that, in most cases, the answer is not to stop training completely. The answer is to learn how to move properly.
Why your back hurts (it's probably not what you think)
Most lower back pain in people who train is not caused by one dramatic injury. It usually comes from repetitive poor movement under load over time.
Some of the most common issues I see are:
Lumbar flexion under load: rounding your lower back during deadlifts, squats, rows, or hinging movements. When this happens repeatedly under load, your lower back starts taking stress it was never meant to handle.
No proper hip hinge pattern: if you do not know how to hinge through the hips properly, your lower back starts compensating for movements your glutes and hamstrings should be handling.
Weak glutes and poor posterior chain strength: your glutes, hamstrings, and spinal stabilizers help protect your lower back. If they are weak or undertrained, your body will compensate somewhere else.
No warm-up or mobility work: going from sitting all day straight into loaded training without preparing your hips, core, and thoracic spine is one of the fastest ways to irritate your back.
The movements that help (not hurt)
When rebuilding from back pain, these are some of the movements that helped me the most and that I now use constantly with clients:
Dead bug: teaches core stability and anti-extension strength without loading the spine.
Bird dog: helps build spinal stability while teaching your body to resist rotation and maintain control.
Glute bridge and hip thrust: some of the best exercises for rebuilding glute strength without compressing the spine heavily.
Pallof press: incredible for anti-rotation core stability and teaching your core to resist movement instead of constantly creating it.
Farmer's carry: one of the most underrated exercises for full-body stability, posture, grip strength, and core control.
What to avoid (temporarily, not forever)
When your back is flared up or irritated, this usually is not the time to ego lift. Some things that often need to be reduced temporarily:
Heavy spinal loading: heavy barbell squats and deadlifts are not always the best choice when movement quality is poor and your back is irritated. That does not mean you stop training completely. It just means you find smarter variations temporarily.
Exercises where you feel your lower back more than the target muscle: if every glute exercise turns into a lower back exercise, your body is compensating somewhere.
High-volume explosive training: very high-rep, ballistic, or explosive movements can create even more irritation when your back is already inflamed.
My experience
I spent almost a year unable to train the way I wanted. Not because my injury was catastrophic, but because I did not understand what was actually causing the pain. My hip hinge was poor, my glutes were weak, I had almost no stability work in my programming, and I kept trying to push harder instead of fixing the foundation first.
Once I rebuilt my movement properly, everything changed.
I have trained consistently without back pain since, and honestly, that experience completely changed the way I look at fitness and programming.
It is also a huge part of why Training Foundations is built the way it is. Every module focuses on movement quality, stability, proper progression, and building the kind of strength that actually supports your body long term.
Lisa McPherson
Certified Personal Trainer · Lisa Fit Method