Ready to go to work

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

Each of my four workouts during the week prior to leaving for last week’s silent marriage retreat with my wife included exercises that really worked my posterior chain muscles with lots of barbell squats and kettlebell swings.

After the last of these workouts, my lower back muscles were very fatigued so the timing was great for the fitness training rest awaiting them during the retreat.

The retreat began last Wednesday evening and ended Saturday evening. Besides the fitness training respite, it gave me a wonderful and overdue opportunity to catch up on my sleep. I averaged nine hours of nighttime sleep and one hour of afternoon nap time during my stay. I slept on a small bed with a low-quality mattress in a Spartan room separate from my wife as this silent retreat demanded that we devote lots of quiet time to reflect and meditate on the sanctity of our marriage after each conference we attended.

Put it all together – the workouts that placed a lot of demand on my posterior chain muscles + lots of sleeping time + a low-quality mattress = several days of lower back pain, spasms and stiffness that, thank God, have finally gone away now that I’ve returned to my normal environment.

Whenever lower back muscle discomforts strike – and it occasionally does with this middle-age man fitness warrior - I always return to an article in my fitness literature archives written by Dr. Stuart McGill. Dr. McGill is a university professor and a world renowned lecturer and expert in spine function and injury prevention and rehabilitation. Here’s an article written by him that includes photo illustrations for enhancing lower back health through stabilization exercise:

"Enhanging Lower Back Health Through Stabilization Exercise" by Doctor Stuart McGill

I’m back on the fitness saddle again with a lower back that feels great and ready to go to work.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum