Kettlebells. To stay or to quit?

[redsunbluesky]

I’ve been doing kettlebells for around 3 months now.
Really enjoy it and I’ve noticed my body shape has changed in a good way. I’ve lost about 7lb.
But since I’ve started I’ve had quite bad lower back ache, especially on one side.
It wakes me up in bed throughout the night, and hurts on and off all day, like sharp pains.
My kettlebell instructor is highly highly qualified and he said that kettlebells with strengthen my back so I won’t have this problem. I’ve trusted his judgement and have trained 3 times a week with a sore back (which does actually improve whilst I’m doing the classes)
Anyway, no improvement with back pain otherwise.
I’m coming to the end of a 2 week holiday so no kettlebell classes, and I’ve noticed my back is perfect. Not a single twinge or pain.
Should I go back to my classes next week?
Will this back pain improve as I get stronger or is it kettlebells aggravating it?
Confused!

No advice 😏
Was wondering if my kettlebell man was seeing ££ signs or if I should keep going and it will fix as I get stronger.
Seen a chiropractor and someone for a sports massage too who both just said kettlebells are good for strengthening but couldn’t advice whether to stop or persist.
Just don’t know how long to give it.

Some of the movements probably do put a lot of stress through the back. Do you do anything else? You should probably also be doing something to strengthen your core, like Pilates.

Have you got a diastasis? You might be doing more harm than good.

Not sure re diastatis?
Nothing has been diagnosed.
I do however have funny symptoms after a c-section. If I’m straining on the loo (Sorry tmi) or bending down to tie my shoes then sometimes I feel something pop out from under my rib. It takes my breath away and I have to stand up really slowly to pop it back in.
So this could be a possibility.

We do quite a bit of core work in the kettlebell class. Planks, press ups etc.
I am absolutely awful at them.
Ever since my c section I’ve struggled with core things.
Just put it down to being a stone heavier than pre baby weight to be honest.

Some kettlebell exercises do put stress on the lower back, especially those with the hip thrust movements. My instructor always stressed proper form, as she’s seen people get back strain from them. Has he checked your form?

I’d try again this week but if it comes back, do consider another form of exercise or get a session with another instructor.

Yep checked form repeatedly.
He’s really hot on proper form.
Says I’m doing everything correctly.
But yes sad to say I think I might have to quit if it comes back again.
Hoping that this 2 week rest was enough to heal anything that was niggling and that night be the end of the issue!

It sounds a lot like you have a diastasis. You don’t get it diagnosed professionally (although you can if you can find a decent women’s physiology), but rather you diagnose it yourself. I’ll find you a link.

It would be really good to think about doing the Mutu programme (www.mutusystem.com I think), which is a 12 week exercise programme to close the gap and to educate yourself about how to manage it in your day to day life. Your core strength would improve considerably and you might be able to go back to kettlebells after. But if you carry on the way you are now, you will be making it worse and could end up with incontinence issues and back problems.

Sorry, I meant physio, not physiology.

Here you go, here’s the test and some other useful info:

mutusystem.com/diastasis-recti-test

Thank you. Will look at that in depth tomorrow as can barely keep my eyes open this evening.
Sounds promising though.
Thanks for the advice.

Why don’t you go back and see what happens? If you do one class and your back starts hurting again you know it’s the kettlebells.

I'm doing kettlebell work with my PT. I'd double check everything with your technique, my PT will not let me use a kettlebell until I can perform the exercise correctly without one. It took 3 or 4 sessions getting everything correct before I even touched one.
Now I am doing some pretty tough sessions that leave me exhausted but I've not had any back issues. I can tell straight away now if I'm not performing an exercise correctly.
15 minutes at the beginning of each session is spent doing stretching and flexibility work as well.
If I said I had a sore back we would do something completely different. This week I did a session the day after a half marathon and I didn't use any weights as he didn't want me to put my body under any extra stress.