Old Forum Mild back pain after swings

[Spitfire]

Hello - I'm new to the forum, and I've been doing the S&S plan for about 4 weeks now, after finishing another 12 week Kettlebell program.  I'm 41 years old, and started with kettlebells as a way to get in shape.   That is happening gradually, and I have to say I enjoy using kettlebells more than anything I have ever done for fitness in the past.

Starting S&S, I went straight to the 50lb swing x 100 per day, and found the extra weight to be an eye-opener.  I had much better core activation and bracing for the entire set.   I love it, and the get up is awesome.   I started at 25lbs for the get up just to get the hang of things, and went to 35lbs once I got the movements down reasonably well.   I will be moving up from 35lbs to a heavier bell soon.  Not sure if I can go straight to 50lbs but we'll see how it goes with a graduated increase.

To my question...But about a week ago I seemed to have more difficulty with the core activation on the swings, and I noticed a very slight soreness in the centre of my lower back afterwards.   Same thing happened a couple of days ago and found myself getting slight increase in pain this time.  That lasted a couple of days, and don't plan to do more swings until all sign of the pain is gone.   I deviated from the S&S plan slightly in that I started doing 4x25 reps to get to the 100 reps.   Perhaps not a good idea and got over tired.   Also, I am required to travel several days out of every 3 to 4 weeks and I wondered if taking a few days off from kettlebells about a week and a half ago might have got me out of the swing of things, mind the pun.

So I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on how to make sure I avoid repeat problems with my lower back...perhaps I should scale back on the weight?   Less rep's or structure them differently?   And also any exercises I can do while traveling to keep things going while away from my kettlebells?

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

 

 

[TravisS]

I would assume your form suffered a little bit doing the longer sets and you tweaked a muscle in your back.  I'd give it a few days and see how you feel.  Stick with sets of 10.

I made the same mistake you did....I'm now doing sets of 10.

 

[AndyMcL]

Take a video. Hard to tell what is wrong without getting eyes on.

 

[Steve Freides]

I deviated from the S&S plan slightly in that I started doing 4×25 reps to get to the 100 reps.   Perhaps not a good idea and got over tired.

Definitely not a good idea. You can reread the section of the book where it explains why you shouldn't do more than 10 reps at a time - I don't think safety is mentioned but that's certainly another reason to avoid longer sets unless your form is 100% solid and the weight light to moderate. More to the point, your goal should be to _notice_ when your form starts to degrade and stop immediately at that point. Since degradation of form can happen at any rep count, it's a very good thing for you to try to be more mindful of.

Also, I am required to travel several days out of every 3 to 4 weeks and I wondered if taking a few days off from kettlebells about a week and a half ago might have got me out of the swing of things, mind the pun.

Possibly, yes. Please look into learning some bodyweight exercises that you can do on the road. Pavel's book/DVD, "Naked Warrior" would be where to start, and also consider taking a StrongFirst Bodyweight Exercise User Course.

-S-

 

[PeteMachin]

I used to have this problem and it was due to rounding my back slightly when swinging, instead of keeping the arc at the base of the back.

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks everyone for the feedback...very helpful...I will be sure to stick to the plan like glue.  Lesson learned.

Daniel