Any advice on strengthening my core?

amakura · January 2

I suffer from lower back pain and sciatica, both caused by anterior and lateral pelvic tilt and due to a motorcycle accident and excess weight. I'm wanting to build the muscles required to hopefully fix the pelvic tilt, while I work on my weight loss.

The problem is, I'm new to weight training. I am quite strong anyway, particularly in the legs due to a physical job, but I'm a novice with weight training. I have access to a gym with both machines and free weights.

What exercises do you guys suggest to work on building strength in my abs, and my glutes? Also are there any other muscles I should be focusing on to try and reduce the amount of pain I'm in on a daily basis?

Retroguy2000 · January 2

How overweight are you?

Will you be using a gym, or what do you have at home?

Theoldguy1 · January 2

Try these two to strengthen the core:

Bear Crawl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DzBvW9ZjzU

Get Back Ups:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_DoicHg2E

spiriteagle99 · January 3

Pilates is really good at strengthening your core. There are videos of floor exercises you can do at home, or go to a studio to use the equipment.

DancingMoosie · January 3

I did this workout today and it was focused on core and legs/glutes

https://youtu.be/RcciKBn_w80?si=l1TsHpHC6ZZIGajB
You can also look up PT for weak glutes on YouTube.
Sydney Cummings and growingannanas also have good core and glute workouts. Yoga might also be helpful.

sathishganeshpr · January 4

Ive had a l4 and l5 slip disk seven years back, sciatia and was on bed rest almost six months . Several doctors either said surgery or suggested physiotherapy while some suggested chiropractic.

What really worked for me was the following regime

1. Absolute rest for a few months.
2. No bending or lifting anything heavy
3. Started weight training slowly with a pt..thrice a week..
4. Reduce weight from 76 kg to 66 kg
6. Daily core exercises ( google for slip disk exercise on YouTube )
7. Starting challenging core such as planks after two months
7. High potent Vitamin D3, collagen, protein rich food, daily 10k steps
8. Consistently ensured I do not over stress the body by longer sitting on desks, car journey etc ..anytime your body shows a sign of even light pain aim to rest for a while as the sciatia indicator often progresses worse before you build above routine

It took me close to two years to get back to normal.. infact after consistent weight training I've been back to normal in last 4 years.. last scan a year back showed the slip disk still there but no signs of any pain or sciatia.

Key thing is anything related to back pain or injury takes time to heal. Our body is amazing at self healing if supported by good nutrition and workouts. I also suggest blood work + MRI scan to analyse the impact and talking to a orthopedic.

Ps: this is my personal experience. And also taking the views from those who have gone through same journey is always better

Theoldguy1 · January 4

sathishganeshpr wrote: »

Ive had a l4 and l5 slip disk seven years back, sciatia and was on bed rest almost six months . Several doctors either said surgery or suggested physiotherapy while some suggested chiropractic.

What really worked for me was the following regime

1. Absolute rest for a few months.
2. No bending or lifting anything heavy
3. Started weight training slowly with a pt..thrice a week..
4. Reduce weight from 76 kg to 66 kg
6. Daily core exercises ( google for slip disk exercise on YouTube )
7. Starting challenging core such as planks after two months
7. High potent Vitamin D3, collagen, protein rich food, daily 10k steps
8. Consistently ensured I do not over stress the body by longer sitting on desks, car journey etc ..anytime your body shows a sign of even light pain aim to rest for a while as the sciatia indicator often progresses worse before you build above routine

It took me close to two years to get back to normal.. infact after consistent weight training I've been back to normal in last 4 years.. last scan a year back showed the slip disk still there but no signs of any pain or sciatia.

Key thing is anything related to back pain or injury takes time to heal. Our body is amazing at self healing if supported by good nutrition and workouts. I also suggest blood work + MRI scan to analyse the impact and talking to a orthopedic.

Ps: this is my personal experience. And also taking the views from those who have gone through same journey is always better

You apparently had a very bad situation. From my experience, which as included bouts of needing to crawl to the bathroom, absolute rest is not a normal course of treatment. I had a steroid shot to calm inflammation and was in PT in a week or so.

sathishganeshpr · January 4

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

sathishganeshpr wrote: »

Ive had a l4 and l5 slip disk seven years back, sciatia and was on bed rest almost six months . Several doctors either said surgery or suggested physiotherapy while some suggested chiropractic.

What really worked for me was the following regime

1. Absolute rest for a few months.
2. No bending or lifting anything heavy
3. Started weight training slowly with a pt..thrice a week..
4. Reduce weight from 76 kg to 66 kg
6. Daily core exercises ( google for slip disk exercise on YouTube )
7. Starting challenging core such as planks after two months
7. High potent Vitamin D3, collagen, protein rich food, daily 10k steps
8. Consistently ensured I do not over stress the body by longer sitting on desks, car journey etc ..anytime your body shows a sign of even light pain aim to rest for a while as the sciatia indicator often progresses worse before you build above routine

It took me close to two years to get back to normal.. infact after consistent weight training I've been back to normal in last 4 years.. last scan a year back showed the slip disk still there but no signs of any pain or sciatia.

Key thing is anything related to back pain or injury takes time to heal. Our body is amazing at self healing if supported by good nutrition and workouts. I also suggest blood work + MRI scan to analyse the impact and talking to a orthopedic.

Ps: this is my personal experience. And also taking the views from those who have gone through same journey is always better

You apparently had a very bad situation. From my experience, which as included bouts of needing to crawl to the bathroom, absolute rest is not a normal course of treatment. I had a steroid shot to calm inflammation and was in PT in a week or so.

Yup mine was due to a 12+ years of sitting on desktop with very little active lifestyle..mostly sedentry.. and also triggered by one event of an accident .

But ultimately I managed to recover back to normal without any medication. I believe strengthening your core with the right nutirition is the key for long term sustainable results . Also most modern medicine doe not treat the root cause instead acts as a band aid for short term pain management.

claireychn074 · January 4

amakura wrote: »

I suffer from lower back pain and sciatica, both caused by anterior and lateral pelvic tilt and due to a motorcycle accident and excess weight. I'm wanting to build the muscles required to hopefully fix the pelvic tilt, while I work on my weight loss.

The problem is, I'm new to weight training. I am quite strong anyway, particularly in the legs due to a physical job, but I'm a novice with weight training. I have access to a gym with both machines and free weights.

What exercises do you guys suggest to work on building strength in my abs, and my glutes? Also are there any other muscles I should be focusing on to try and reduce the amount of pain I'm in on a daily basis?

You’ll get lots of different exercises and personal anecdotes on here, and you can google tonnes of exercises which focus on certain areas. My only piece of advice is to think of your core as the WHOLE area from your chest around your back and down to your hips i.e. exercises which help the sides and back are just as important as those targeting the front abs.

I do tonnes of core work as I had surgery a while back, so my personal exercises include (just so that you can look them up, if you want to), ab wheel roll outs, farmers’ carries and holds, hanging leg raises, bench leg raises, back hypertensions, deadbugs, prone incline holds in hollow hold, hollow holds during chin ups, overhead band work, light but very slow tempo overhead squats (have to work hard to keep the core tight), tempo squats and push press (again working hard to stabilise the core)… there are tonnes out there but don’t neglect your back and obliques!

Any advice on strengthening my core?

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