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I can't seem to target my lower back with anything. Granted, my lower body is one big tight knot because of sitting/standing job daily, even on weekends mostly. So most stretches like downward dog hit my legs a lot, painfully lot. Especially calves. I do stretch them almost daily, but they just don't seem to open up. As i'm writing this, my calves again hurt/feel really unpleasant, feeling like they'd need some extreme violent stretch. I was deadlifting again today, and it felt bad on my lower back. I warmed up, but couldn't get my lower back to "open" in a way. It felt like i seriously needed some good stretch to open it before i started lifting, but didn't, and now it's even worse. I tried different things, but didn't find anything that targets the right spot. Do you guys have any tips for stubbornly tight calves/lower back?

Hi everyone, I started new post because of my problem with lower back arching, just when sitting only on the ground with straight legs. I have no lower back pain, rather upper back tension when I try my best to sit straight. I also have problem with archer lower back while deadliftin and squating too (while going ass to grass) - so I suppose all of my problems, which I listed, could be caused by my tight hamstrings, but I rather enclose photos and believe here is huge amount of people with experiences and advices :-) Thank you!

Hello !!! ----------------- I need help guys... Well honestly I have strong arms and I can lean forward so much...But can't move my legs from the floor. Even when I raise my legs from the tuck planche...I can't keep them !!! I think my problem is in my lower back , I can do a very clean Front lever...But can't do a Back lever. Is there any training or something to move my legs from the floor when I lean forward ? Do I need to master the back lever ? Thanks and sorry for my bad english =)

So during my workouts I've been getting some soreness in my lower back. Sometimes when doing front lever work and sometimes from doing leg work on other days. I should add that in addition to Foundation I also do leg press, leg curl, and leg extensions for my leg workouts. After the workout I put some IcyHot or something on and it's ok later that night and the next day. So it's not a lingering pain, just soreness. I stretch before and after the workout. This only started happening in the last few weeks, could it be due to using too much weight on the leg exercises? And really I could use some reccomendations on what to do before/during/after a workout for your lower back mobility and health. Thanks.

Hello everyone! First of all you need to know that I'm new on this site. Well, I have some questions relating to the back lever. I started practicing the back lever on Monday. The first thing that I noticed was pressure in my chest. So i guess this kind of pressure will disappear after some time. Well, I can hold a tuck planche for like 20 seconds and the tucked back lever for like 15 seconds. In both movements I can't straighten my lower back and I don't know why.. Why I can't straighten my back? It is due to lack of strength or something else? Is there any workout to strengthen my lower back? In the end I have to say that I am only training with my bodyweight. It would be nice, if anyone replies to my question! Sincerely Julian By the way I am not a native english speeker, so I apologize for my english

A couple of days ago I joined my brother in a traditional gym to do some deadlifts. And I can only conclude that this is one of the best exercises I have ever tried. I have trained calisthenics and gymnastics for about 1.5 year now, and so far I have had the attitude that anything you can train with weights, we can do equally good or better with bodyweight…. However do we really have anything to match deadlifts? It seems to activate so many muscles in the posterior chain, and more specific it really hits the lower back brutally, something that seems to lack in my bodyweight training. I have not followed the Foundation programme, so it might be my specific training, but compared to my friends that train weights, my lower back does not seem very strong. From my training, the exercises that targets the lower back the most I think is arch holds, arch raises, headstand leg lifts and the back lever. If you have any other execises that hits the lower back hard, let me know!

I posted this in another thread but the issues on that thread were already resolved and it seemed like I was starting a new thread within a thread, so I just decided to post it as a new topic again instead. Whenever I used to do exercises that involved hyperextension of the back, my "Lower/side" back would cramp up. The thing is though, my erector spinae wasn't what was cramping. The way I figured it out was doing Iliopsoas stretches directly after, which soothed the low back pain but not the deep dull side pain, which remained for days on end. Did a bit of research and figured that it had to be my Quadratus Lumborum, a muscle for which I haven't yet found a stretch that could be performed without a partner and that actually targets this muscle. Even foam rolling or using a tennis ball fails at successfully reaching this region. As a way to deal with this issue, I try to always perform exercises with a "stacked" spine or at the bare minimum to be mindful of my coccyx being "tucked", which reduces pulling tension on my Iliopsoas and to some degree on my QL. 1)Are there holds/exercises where the back shouldn't be tucked? (in martial arts, tennis, swimming, and many other sports they teach you that being stacked is how you control your body as one single unit) 2)Is the QL involved in hyperextending the back? or in anterior pelvic tilt? 3)Are there any good solo QL stretching exercises out there? 4) Say you have tight hip flexors, hamstrings or any muscle you want. It's tight and you can also feel a pain that resulted from this tightness. Do you recommend stretching?(I assume yes) BUT do you recommend strengthening: -after the pain has gone away? -while there's pain, but to train the muscle within the confines of what one would consider tolerable pain/not debilitating pain? -what if you haven't been strengthening the muscle, but kept stretching it correctly for a number of months and there is an increased range of motion and flexibility but still some residual pain. Could this be because of a lack of training this muscle? Should you start strengthening it? I would really appreciate Kitlaughlin's input on this(as well as anyone else that wants to shed some light on this issue)

Hey everyone. I've been experiencing this problem with the front lever quite some time now. It appears to be that every time i try to get into the front lever, I feel like the only thing stopping me is this pain i get in my lower back. When i try to hold the position, thats when it hurts. There is no pain when I'm doing front lever pulls, only when i try to hold it. If anyone has any input or any information to why this may be, and how I could fix it, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Hi everybody, I have been doing gymnastics/calisthenics for about half a year now. I have been focussing on mobilty from the start. Despite the fact that I haven't really put any kind of pike stretches in my schedule I actually got quite a pike flexibility. So my question is: Do stretches like shoulder bridge increase your pike flexibility? Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, What are your favorite (bodyweight) lower back exercises? I don’t have access to a gym during the summer, so I need some good bodyweight options. -Sinom-