How to Prevent Back Pain With Joint Mobility Training & Yoga (Q+A)

Question: John, About 6 weeks ago, I suffered a muscle sprain in my back. Seems to happen every October. Weird. My chiropractor has been working on ‘balancing’ me and things are getting better. So…I’m looking forward to what else I can do to stay strong, get stronger (in every way), and NOT keep having this stupid back thing once or twice a year. And so I start thinking of you, Scott Sonnon, and the whole flow yoga thing. So, my question…best place to start? Whaddya think? – David Denis

Answer:

Note: David is a local friend of mine who is in his 50s and has been into serious training for many years.

Hi Dave, Sorry to hear about your back!

I’d start with Intu-Flow done daily. Can’t remember if you’ve gotten into this yet. So, here’s a free beginner-level routine: Intu-Flow Beginner-Level (Follow Along Videos).

Learn all of the exercises and then consolidate your mobility practice into a 5-15 minute session done daily (here’s an example I filmed years ago: 5 minute joint mobility session). It can be done for longer, of course, for additional benefits. But it’s the consistent practice that’s important – the habit! That in-and-of-itself will go a long way.

Note: eventually, you’ll want to progress beyond the beginner level exercises (there are four levels of sophistication in the Intu-Flow program). This will not only provide additional physical benefits, it’ll also be a more efficient use of your training time.

After a few weeks of working with the beginner level movements, learn the mobility exercises in Recuper8 (free download here), which will go a little bit deeper into many of the different ranges of motion. In some cases, the ground-based drills like the ones in Recuper8 are more effective, but it’s still good to start with the standing, open-chain exercises in Intu-Flow to get your bearings. After you learn the Recuper8 routine, plug the exercises that help you the most into your daily mobility practice. You’ll know the ones.

You could spend several months with just these free materials and make excellent progress. But when you’re ready to go a little deeper and start the yoga, which will be considerably more intense than the aforementioned routines, I’d recommend starting with one of the following options.

Six Degree Flow

First, I’d recommend Six Degree Flow, which is one of Sonnon’s latest yoga programs, and is a great introduction to Prasara Yoga, in my opinion – and particularly for those already experienced with other training disciplines. This is basically a yoga program that doesn’t seem like yoga, but works better than most other yoga. And it will do wonders for your body.

My review is here: Six Degree Flow Review – First Impressions.

I consider 6DF more of an intermediate introductory program to yoga, which is more suitable for trained persons, like yourself. So, I think you’ll be just fine using it. But if the workouts seem totally inaccessible to you, the FlowFit program (which is included as an added bonus) would be great ramp-up routine for Six Degree Flow.

Note: FlowFit is another great entry point into CST/TACFIT/Prasara Yoga in its own right. I’ve been using that material for many years now.

So, that’s the first option. Here’s the second, more budget-friendly option…

Ageless Mobility

For a best-bang-for-your-buck option, start with the free programs (linked above), and then invest in the Ageless Mobility package (~$50), which includes a number of great mobility/yoga resources – the full Intu-Flow program being one of them.

Going through the Ageless Mobility program once or twice a week will work wonders for your hips and spine. It’s a deep joint mobility program. In fact, Intu-Flow and Ageless Mobility would make a very well-rounded basic mobility/yoga combination.

This is one of the few fitness products that I’ve given my full, enthusiastic endorsement for: Joint Mobility and Yoga Package.

It’s a must-have for people going down this road, in my opinion.

Wrap-Up

The underlying key beneath all of this is movement. As you know, movement is medicine. And movement that is systematic, progressive, and comprehensive – in the right dose – usually works best for improving health, fitness, and mobility, among other things.

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