For the first time in my 32 years of life, I started trainning core. I never had previously, even though I had done weightlifting for over 10 years. I come to findout my back issues can improve by building it. So, I’m now 10-months into it and it is the most difficult part of my body that I’ve ever had to train. I’m still at the basics in most regards, and it’s very hard to progress. I just got my bird dog pose somewhat perfected, and deadbugs I have no idea if I’ll be able to do fully. So with trying to progress, at times Either my back begins to hurt from my disc I’m healing or my upper abdomen has the most annoying/sore pain. So my question is to you guys who’ve started trainning core later in life, how long did it take you to build yours, and did you have a lot of setbacks? What do you do for soreness/pain?
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Commenting so I can Come back later, this is a huge issue to me as well
It’s so hard man. Another thing a lot of us screw up is gaining too much weight, so I try to stay as lean as possible while I work on strengthening my core. It’s not that I have any specific injuries but I manage to throw my back out like once every 6-9 months over the past couple years. I am the same age as you. I wish I had a silver bullet here.
You guys don’t do squats? I stopped lifting for almost 2 years, but I def feel my core and back weakening. Started again last week and already feel better.
Core training shouldn’t take too long to build up, but areas that don’t get activated from compound exercises usually hurt a lot while building. Shouldn’t feel that way after a month.
I trained pretty heavily right out of high school, through college, and into military school. But after I stopped, I got really out of shape in my late 20s and early 30s. I even had weight loss surgery back in 2021. That was obviously an extreme step, but it helped. Since then, I’ve maintained most of that weight loss, and I’m regularly going to a strength gym now.
One thing I’ve noticed is how much of a difference it’s made in everyday life. For example, when I used to ride my motorcycle, my back would hurt after almost every ride. I’ve had that bike for years, and it was always the same issue. Since I started swimming and strength training, especially focusing on core and lower back, that pain has gone away.
It’s just a reminder of how important those stabilizing muscles are. You don’t think about them, but they impact so many things. Everyone’s recovery rate is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all plan, but one constant is that progress comes from consistency. Incremental improvement is really the key.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, I’d suggest reading or listening to Atomic Habits. It’s a great book on building sustainable routines and habits.
I wouldn’t say I have a lot of setbacks, but I do train in small group sessions with a personal trainer. It gives me a chance to ask questions and get guidance without the cost of one-on-one training. It also adds accountability, and it’s turned into a bit of a social outlet too. If you’re able to do something like that, I’d highly recommend it.
Core training is crucial, but doesn’t require a lot of effort. People think core means training abs, but it’s so much more than that.
I started getting back pain after a motorcycle incident. And after years, I eventually found out that my stabilizers underneath the spinor Erectus were weak. So I implemented unstable weighted farm carry, and it fixed things for me. Now I know that this is just part of my training regimen.
The name of the game is stability. Put your body under load either on an unstable surface (to train the ankles, knees and hips) or with an unstable load moving through space (to train the core). Unstable load is a load dangling from a band, either on your hand or at the end of a stick.
I swear by Pilates. At 35 – I started to have some real serious back and sciatica issues. They came on real quick. The MRI showed Spinal Stenosis and heavy herniated discs at L4 & L5(lower back). Tried everything from PT, hydrotherapy, cannabis, acupuncture, epidurals in the back – nothing seemed to treat the chronic sciatic pain. The doctors all said I needed to have surgery – but honestly expecting my first kid and with no guarantees of relief – the last thing i wanted to do is play jenga with my spine. Hail Mary attempt was from an article I read late one night around Stott Pilates. Literally remember hunched over in pain practically crawling to my first session. Since then I’ve been doing pilates consistently for 7 years – no extreme back pain(Sometimes a mild discomfort) – more importantly have two young daughters that I’m able to keep up with physically. I’ve never been more flexible or core stable in my life. Ironically my MRIs now actually show my discs are more herniated than initially scanned. Pilates gets a bad reputation for men workouts but honestly it saved my life. When anyone I know mentions back pain – I always recommend it.
The McKenzie exercises fixed my back. Had a strong core (deadlifting over 500lbs, decent plank and side plank) but kept tweaking my lower back periodically. Finally, I tweaked it once and it never got better. Got to the point I couldn’t sit in my favorite chair for more than 10 minutes due to back pain.
Found the McKenzie method, strictly followed the plan (doing a set of extension exercises every two hours) and in 5 weeks my back was completely pain free for the first time in years. That was almost 6 years ago now and back is still good. Only do the exercise occasionally now if I notice my back starting to stiffen up.
Deadlifted 390×10 with a trap bar a couple days ago without issue.
Get an ab wheel, and train with it every other day.
I’ve usually heard from personal trainers that core doesn’t have to be trained in isolation if you’re doing compound lifts already. When I isolated core, I ended up with terrible cramps, probably from overdoing it.
But if you need to strengthen your core, do so with low rep training spread out, and not all the sets at once. My core is sensitive to cramps so I just take it slow, with plenty of recovery time between sets. Heck it can be an all day thing, where you do a few sit ups here and there. Builds strength without barely any effort compared to failure training.
I was overweight/obese my whole life, decided to finally work at losing weight awhile ago. I started going to the gym seriously about a year ago, and started doing a core day maybe 6 months ago.
My routine is:
Roman Chair, Ab crunch, Oblique Lean, Woodchopper Low High, Oblique Twist, Woodchopper High Low, Scrunch
I feel like my core is much stronger, my back never hurts anymore and I feel more stable when carrying heavy things with one hand.