Extremely Weak Back Muscle

Over the past year I have been struggling with lower back pain, and it got to the point that it was constant, and I had days that I simply could not find relief - sitting, standing, lying down, all was painful. What I found helpful was what many others have mentioned - you need to gently, gradually, build up your core and back muscles. I also cannot afford a gym right now, so I found an excellent short (15 minutes) yoga routine online specifically designed for the lower back, and I do it daily. It's been two weeks, and I now I notice pain only very intermittently, and I notice it is much easier to sit up straight. Yoga Today has a large selection of free videos on You Tube, and your local library might have back yoga dvd's you can check out. Good luck with it!

you should think about teh book, " New Rules of lifting for women"

you need to build your core slowly and get it healthy. Your abs and back work together, it will take time as other posters said, Baby steps.

and go to a gym get a trainer for a short period of time and learn how to do certain exercises correctly, bad form is a no no, light weigh and good form, then build yourself up


good luck.

I usually don't like to be too autobiographical, but I'll offer you this as encouragement.

Eight months ago, it took me 5 minutes to get out of bed. I couldn't do a single jumping jack because my back pain was so bad. I couldn't do more than 2 push-ups because I was so heavy.

Today, I deadlifted 300 lbs. for 5 reps, benched 225 for 8 reps, and last week, ran a 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds, just 0.2 seconds slower than I ran in high school -- 30 years ago.

You can do it. Take baby steps.

I started by doing "Jacks" -- those are jumping jacks sans the jumping.

Amazing example! You should tell us more. I'd love to read what the baby steps were for encouragement.

Thank you, Phaedra. Here's an abridged backstory.

Beginning in December 2011, when I could barely stand without pain, I'd tap alternating feet out in front of me as I raised my arms into a jumping jack position. I'd repeat this "Jack" movement for as long as I could stand – just 10 minutes at first.

After two weeks or so of doing this simple movement, I added a standard red brick (5 lbs. each) to each hand and began moving my arms in different ways. Within a short time, I saw my traps and deltoids starting to develop nicely. Most important, my back began to gain a bit of strength, although it was still very sore. This small progress inspired me and I began to eat more responsibly.

In late January, I started walking outside. I couldn't walk more than 300 yards without having an exercise-induced asthma attack. One day, it got so bad, I feared for my life. I ran into the bathroom, turned on the hot shower, and shut the door behind me, hoping my bronchial tubes would dilate, but it didn't work. As I continued to gasp for air, I put some water in the microwave, thinking that if I drank a hot liquid, it might help; it did, thankfully, and the attack ended.

Over the next month, I continued to do the “Jack” movement, walk at a very slow pace, and perform a few bodyweight squats -- chair assisted. I also found a 26 lb. cinder block in the yard and decided to use it for some seated strength training -- military press, tricep extensions, and curls.

By the third week of March, my back pain had decreased significantly, and I started walking outside for one hour a day at an average pace of 2.8 mph. I also continued to work out with the cinder block for an hour or so at night.

By Easter, four months into my journey, I had lost 72 lbs., reducing my weight to 236. Many of my family members made encouraging statements at Easter dinner, like: “Glad to have you back,” and things along those lines, all of which inspired me to try to do something even more significant.

Beginning in mid-April, I decided to cut an exercise path through the heavily-wooded lot on which I live. As I became more inspired, I added all sorts of hidden strength training stations throughout the woods: log lifting, tree pull-ups, galvanized pipes and cinder blocks, and a giant tire for flipping and sledgehammering. I now practically live in my outdoor gym. It brings me more peace than I've ever known in my entire life.

Since Easter, I've continued to take baby steps with both my strength training and cardio, the cumulative effect of which has been substantial. As I more or less wrote in my previous post, I'm now as strong and almost as fast as when I was a teenage athlete in the 1980s. My weight, as of this morning, is 207.8, 100 lbs. from my starting weight eight months ago.

By my one-year fitness anniversary in December 2012, I've set a goal to deadlift 450 lbs., squat 350 lbs., and bench press 325 lbs., all previously unfathomable. I'd also like to reduce my body fat % to less than 13% by then -- a long way from 41.7% at the start.

If there is one obvious takeaway from the whole experience, it's that the human body can be very resilient and compliant if it's brought along slowly and challenged within reason. My ultimate bit of advice is to eat reasonably and continually challenge ourselves athletically. Good health and aesthetic beauty are a natural consequence.