Brendan is the founder of Low Back Ability and the creator of the Long Game approach. After years of dealing with severe chronic back pain, failed treatments, and being told he was “out of options,” he rebuilt his back through simple, consistent movement and a deep understanding of tissue tolerance. LBA was born from that recovery. With work focusing on helping people rebuild confidence in their bodies, understand their pain, and create long-term strength through accessible daily training.

If you want a better feel for who he is, his story, and the way he teaches, you can explore any of the LBA channels: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. These give a real glimpse into his philosophy and the community behind LBA.

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Most importantly, I will guide you to the most fundamental goal of LBA…

Learning & applying the non-discriminatory training opportunity that would benefit everyone with a spine. The largest contribution I could ever make is to show you that:

1.) The spine is meant to be stimulated & trained NOT just protected & avoided.

2.) The spinal tissue can be rebuilt to improved strength, function & mobility…regardless of injury or surgical history.

The reason this can be true for everyone is that LBA is simply a DIRECTIONAL tool, not an absolute framework. EVERYONE has their own level of stimulus to the spine that is productive. I am attempting to help you find YOUR productive level.

Legally & morally, I cannot go beyond my role to diagnosis or “treat” any specific ailments in particular. This is not just a formality response for legal protection. Truly my role feels potentially even more important.

MY OPINION: Diagnosis is almost never the most important aspect of your back situation. In dire emergency circumstances, this is not true. However in the large majority of cases your focus is better spent on something more fundamental…

I am here to help YOU become equipped to become your OWN back expert. I will help you become educated on the fundamental components of the spine. There is more to learn than just how it breaks down. Learning your own back anatomy, what the diagnosis are referring to, which structures are affected, what relevant qualities can be trained to support this. This is not just medical matters, this is important knowledge for EVERYONE to know.

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You’re stimulating the spinal tissues, large and small!

Thats retraining the nervous system and “gamma motor neurons” which control how intensely muscles should fire. This is important post injury when many people experience inhibition (inability to fire the muscle) or spasming (excessive contraction as a protective mechanism). The iso holds are long duration training to recalibrate this delicate mechanism in the neuromuscular action of muscles.

The pump is the evidence of bloodflow coming through the vascular muscle tissue in the area. This is obviously very important in supporting healing. The isometric holds also put tension on the joints of the spine which causes build up of metabolites that support joint restoration once it flushes out. Bringing “microcirculation” deeper in close to the joints, bones, cartilage.

Any temporary loss will be worth the deeper gain. We are building in a new way, opening up the door for new gains. Strengthening all the supporting tissues, muscles, ligaments and etc will enhance your overall performance if/and when you return to traditional training. Any raw strength/size decrease will come back within weeks. In fact, I have hit squat and deadlift PRs without training them traditionally by sticking to the LBA principle of “you are only as strong as your weakest link”. Find more information about Tissue Tolerance here on the Sensitive Low Back? What I WISH I knew years ago video

The most honest answer is…it depends.

It depends on your body & current sensitivity. It also depends on the other training and the potential overlap & contribution to the accumulative low back fatigue.

Since it truly is case by case I will give these general guidelines as a tool:

1.) Do your best to limit any other major training stimulus directed at the hips & low back. We want to be scientists with the methodical & measured stimulus we are testing with each session, week after week.

2.) If your low back is the biggest aspect of your life at the moment, then it is well worth training exclusively the LBA program for now. Beyond taking out outside variables, there is plenty to focus & learn about with regards to this entire process.

If the your low back is NOT consuming your entire life, then your balance of implementing LBA has more leeway. Just make sure to be observant & methodical with anything you add.

3.) Remember that rebuilding the low back also requires some days of true rest from serious activity. It’s not just the days of training that count, but also the in-between days where adaptation occurs. So make sure that regardless of what training you are fitting in, that you aren’t putting your system under strain, 7 days a week.

You are your own back expert with the best feel for how things are going. Listen closely to your body, trust yourself and adjust accordingly.

This is the tough reality of beginning the back rebuild journey. Your first job is to truly learn your current low back CAPACITY, meaning how much can you handle without flare up or symptoms. Often times, it requires crossing the line to know where the line is. So while the temporary pain of the flare up is tough, there is some good personal insight from it.

Now your job to getting back is dependent on how you feel! If you are just feeling a rise of some discomfort & sensitivity, it is recommended to keep training all the steps of the Flow that don’t irritate the area. Even if that is just a good sled warm up and lower leg, knee and upper back training. This is still helpful to be working on.

However, if you are in a seriously painful spot where walking is difficult, then I would give a couple days to just active rest. Keep moving around as you can and allow light movement. Once 2-3 days have passed, even if you are not 100% back, it can be extremely helpful to PUSH a light sled for 10 minutes. There is something about the ground up circulation & contraction all the way up to the glutes, plus the gentle compression & stability of the spine, that often leads to a complete “disarming” effect to the protective mechanism that is a flare up. A little evidence in this way can turn of the alarm system, and relief is often found soon after. Each case is unique but this has helped LOTS of people get past their flare up.

Then next time going into the Flow session, proceed with extra caution and aim to UNDERWHELMINGLY train the area and see how you respond. The goal is to learn how to work right up to that CAPACITY threshold, but not exceed it. It’s all apart of the non-linear process!

SI Joint Pain plagued me. It was the most long lasting & confusing aspect of my back recovery journey. Mainly because there is little to no helpful information online about this structure of the body & how to progressively rebuild it. The first step is understanding what is the SI Joint?

By definition, the Sacroiliac(SI) Joint is where the Sacrum (base of spine) connects to the Iliam (top of pelvis). This is a Spine AND Hip joint. When you google “SI Joint”, you will likely only find pictures of just the bones, leading you to believe that’s all there is there. That leaves very little intuitive clue on how to rebuild the area.

It was a huge surprise to me when I saw the serious layers of ligaments at the SI Joint. And an even bigger surprise when I saw all the layers of MUSCLE tissue along this SI Joint area. So it turned out there is more potential to bring EVIDENCE (pain-free circulation & contraction) to the area. There is adaptable tissue here that can heal!

Our goal is to gradually train the muscle tissue as close as we can to this area as possible. Bring healing through the pump. While also improving relevant mobility, at the inner thighs, that reduces compensation & strain on this joint. Then overtime, gradually build tolerance to more tension & pull to the connective tissue of the SI Joint. Here’s the training protocol for the SI Joint:

Upper & Outer Glute Stimulus

1.) Single Leg Reverse Hyper 2 x 30 reps each leg (video here)

2.) Abductor Machine 2 x 30 reps (or Outer Hip Circuit)

3.) Back Extension Iso Hold 2 x 1-2 Min

Relavent Mobility

1.) Loaded Butterfly 2 x 30 reps

2.) Couch Stretch 2 x 1 min each leg

Every bit tighter the pull on the lower/front side of the pelvis, the more strain goes to the opposite. The upper/backside of the pelvis, aka SI Joint.

Further Resilience

1.) Elephant Walk 2 x 20 reps (starting at 2 leg lock out at a time, over weeks getting to single leg lock out at a time)

2.) Pigeon Strength 2 x 20 Pulses

This is not a perfect protocol but it is giving direct stimulus to the very upper glutes & very lower back, right where the SI Joint meets. You will learn more from trying these potent exercises, than just from resting waiting for the pain to subside.

It makes intuitive sense to give the body time to rest until all the pain & discomfort clears up, before starting this delicate journey of rebuilding the low back. Unfortunately, once the back problems have become a true pattern over time…rest alone is unlikely to ever resolve your issue 100%. There is nuance here though. If you are coming back from a recent injury or “flare up”, you want to let the pain level settle back down to a constant level.

Meaning if you are always in a 3/10 pain and the flare up temporarily brings you to a 6/10 pain, it may be smart to just stay gently active until the pain comes back down to your “normal” of 3/10.

Waiting for the pain to be at 0/10 to start this program is unfortunately not possible for many of us. If 3/10 is your normal existence right now, this is your baseline. This is the number that you will use as reference when seeing how well you respond to the training sessions. If you pain remains at a 3/10, but you are finding measurable progress on your back extension progression…then this IS progress. Carry on steadily.

You are free to start with just steps 1-4 of the LBA Flow for a couple weeks to be extra cautious. You can then add steps 5-7 and see how you respond to this. Then the final 3 steps of the direct hips/low back training.

One thing I WOULD make sure that you do is reduce the outside training for the first couple of months. This is to allow for the most accurate data as to how you are responding to the training. We don’t want the very specific spinal loading of iso holds mixed in with less specific accumulative load from things like biking, running, traditional lifting. Everyone’s journey is their own, and the balance is up to them to find. Howeever I do recommend at least a few weeks of JUST LBA training to give it a fair shot!

Unfortunately, there isn’t a true alternative to back extensions, as back extension is the most scalable method for training the lower back. I have tested alternatives but have yet to find one that would guarantee progress

Rebuilding the low back is a full body process. This is because of how closely interconnected the spine is to other structures in the system. So fortunately, even if you have multiple known imbalances & compensations at the low back, hips, etc…our approach covers each major zone thoroughly.

The steady spine stimulus of the trap-3 raise and back extension progression will promote constant remodeling at the spinal tissue. Now for the lateral hip shift, this will be addressed with other steps of the LBA/Mobility Flow.

The major sides of hip mobility that helped me rebalance my laterally shifted hips were:

1.) The front of the hips, deep and more superficially. So the Full Range Split Squat (or holds) for the deep Psoas muslce, and the Couch Stretch for the Rectus Femoris muscle. An imbalance of tension left to right at the front of the hips can influence the pelvis’ lateral position.

2.) The Outside of the hips. The Pigeon Strength Pulse (or holds) for the outer glute muscles. Some of these outer glute muscles attach right at the iliac crest. The iliac crest attaches to the deep QL spinal muscles.

Addressing an imbalance of tension at the outer glutes allows for you to better train the Side Bend Progression. The side bend progression is where you will begin opening up laterally EXACTLY at the spine & pelvis. If you have held a lateral hip shift at the pelvis, then there is likely a big different at how the left & right QL will feel. The side bend progression is the long term route for building lasting strength & balance between the spine & hips laterally.

The back extension uses muscles all from the calves to the mid back, so the work load & feel will always be shared. However, depending on your body & injury history you may struggle to feel the low back properly in a good position & contraction.

My general recommendation is to contract the glutes, but not in excess. As well as contracting your upper back by squeezing the shoulder blades, but not in excess. It is easy with a fearful low back for it to stay hidden & avoidant by over relying on the glutes & mid back…leading to a “sagging” low back sensation. One cue to combat this is to also keep the core lightly braced, contracting the abs and keeping the ribs locked down. Raising the pad higher can also help encourage the proper low back contraction.

At the end of the day, this may just be a matter of time & practice. Do your best during the set to intentionally focus on the low back muscles. Encourage calm and consistent firing of these muscles. The mind-muscle connection is real, even if just as an awareness tool.

This is a process. PLAY THE LONG GAME.

The short answer is, when done correctly, yes it is safe. I understand the concern here, I used to share the same concern. Let’s explore why.

This question brings us to one of Sports Medicine’s most fundamental misunderstandings about the spine. The unskilled determination of what is “safe” and what is “unsafe” for the spine, especially once there are injuries present to the vertebrae, joints, & ligaments.

Leading spine experts have determined that the “Roman Chair” or Back Extension Machine exposes the spine to excessive shear forces that are detrimental. They have deemed it as bad.

The problem with this absolute statement is that it completely disregards the scalability of this exercise.

Which level of Back Extension is too much force? Maybe full range reps with 100lbs is too much for someone’s spine. But is an isometric hold too much force? What about an assisted isometric hold with the pad set to the chest, where the spinal force is slightly more than simply standing? This is a level so gentle that most people wouldn’t even consider as an exercise.

Is this too much force?

A lack of skill was exposed when this exercise was tested & researched. They did not properly examine or apply the Back Extension methodically, with the right starting point or gradient.

You cannot start someone on level 5 of an activity and then deem the entire activity as inherently harmful when the person responds poorly.

Please understand, shear force is not inherently bad. Too much shear force has the potential to harm. The right amount of shear force has the potential to heal. It requires a patient & skilled approach to get this dosage of spinal loading correctly. This is why we move slow and steady through this progression.

This is exceptionally true for anyone already experiencing degeneration, breakdown and other changes to the vertebral structures/alignment.

If you have a spine, then appropriate levels of spine stimulus is not just safe, but necessary. The Back Extension is one of the most potent & scalable ways to do so.

Perform each exercises up to 2 sets before moving on to the next, unless a “superset” is specified. Some exercises are to be done minimum of 1 set, and some exercises minimum 2 sets

First, I will say that there is no perfect route of progression here. Simply due to the fact that we all have our own unique sensitivities & weak points at the spine.

For MOST people, the following progression seems to adhere to most people’s developing “tissue tolerance” :

When you have reached a strong & comfortable tolerance to isometric holds on the back extension, there are a number of ways to start working reps. We have found the best success from changing the least amount of elements of an exercise at a time.

The iso holds are training the back as one combined structure, all vertebral levels working together with large & small musculature involved. This is also done with NO motion, so it’s a very constant tension during the holds.

So the most gradual way to progress to reps is with assisted hinge reps, only lowering half way down. This is maintaining roughly the same spinal alignment as holds, training the entire back as a combined structure still. Just now with the added element of motion at the hips. Allowing a few weeks to train this style of reps is a smart way to further test & build your tissue tolerance. The motion changes the peak force due to the varying momentum & bodily position.

If this causes no issues for weeks of training, then the next step is to finally introduce small amounts of flexion to the spine. Using assistance of the hands, you can now control the lowering of the reps with gentle rounding of the vertebrae. There is no range too small, or reps too little in this process. This process uses a bit of survivorship bias to know when you haven’t overdone it. If you start having an increase of symptoms following your sessions, then that is a sign to scale back.

Over the likley span of months, you will increase the reps within you 1-2 sets each session. While also working to increase the controlled spinal flexion until you reach the final goal of full inversion with spinal decompression at the bottom. Even once you “unlock” this tolerance, you can always make deposits of shorter range reps with less flexion.

The long term goal is 30 slow & controlled full range reps. The best way to reach this is disciplined patience.

The sensation experienced during any given exercise can vary depending on your starting point, tissue tolerance, and level of mobility. For example, during Calf Raise, you might initially feel the exercise in your knee(s), especially if they haven’t been engaged for some time. However, with consistent practice, your knee strength will improve, and you’ll begin to feel the contraction/stretch primarily in your calf. It’s important to note that it can take months of consistent effort to feel the exercise in the intended place, especially as your range of motion improves

Typically, exercises within FLOW and Mobility FLOW don’t require much rest between sets, as indicated by their flow nature. However, if you’re progressing further in an exercise that day, it’s advisable to take 1-2 minutes of rest between sets to tune into your body’s sensations. Pay attention to your body’s cues

Rebuilding the low back is a full body process, due to it’s inevitable influence on all nearby structures. Once you have a serious low back injury, your body works hard via compensations to avoid spinal irritation over the following months. Every step changes slightly, the weight distribution of how you sit changes.

This keeps the spine out of immediate pain but can lead to imbalance at nearby muscles of the hip. One of the most common places to see this is at the glutes. I view the glutes like the calf, where the low back is the hamstring. The tightness of one closely affects the other.

So to support the glutes back to full function & health without sensitivity, we’re going to use the same approach of building “evidence” before “testing” the tissue.

Most approaches focus on stretching, massage, other “release” techniques to relieve the glutes. However the intolerance to stretching will only get worse if you don’t build evidence. Stretching is more of a test, than a means to healing.

If you are experiencing pain in the pigeon & butterfly position, I would take weeks off from all stretching of the glutes. Your job is to work this tissue in the SHORT range, going for a pump and good contraction there without worsening symptoms.

So really focus on Outer Hip Circuit, and/or abductor machine.

After about a month of pain-free circulation & contraction to the area, then we will restart a VERY light stretch of the area with a super regressed incline pigeon hold (high bench angle). Then steadily build the tolerance stretch from there.

If you are dealing with persistent sensitivity & tightness at the deep psoas muscle, the intuitive solution is usually to try to “release” it.

This has been taught to us as the solution, but it is actually FIGHTING the body not working with it. What does this mean?

Instead of fighting the symptoms, we need to ask WHY?

Why is the Psoas remaining tight, sensitive, achy?

Remember tightness is a bodily response. Local inflammation is a bodily response. Pain is a bodily response. These are all effects, not the cause. The effects are what we feel, so it’s what we try to solve. But lasting resolution is found at addressing the root cause.

So back to the question of why is the Psoas having this response? It’s not easy as there’s lots of potential factors.

Excess sitting (passive, shorten position of Psoas)?

“Recalibration” process from recently strengthening the improved low back muscles? The Psoas resists the posterior pull of these muscles. Psoas & spinal erectors are in a push/pull relationship.

Constant stretching of Psoas, without adequate evidence (pain-free contraction/circulation) in the short range?

Deeper core dysfunction…pelvic floor(bottom of core)? Diaphragm & breath? (ceiling of core)

Psychosomatic? Serious stressed induced reaction causing constant tension?

It’s a lot. The good news is that we don’t usually have to pinpoint the exact cause. Just by asking questions in this direction sets up closer to healing, versus questions of relief.

A good checklist to start with is as follows:

1.) Are you deliberately training the psoas beyond just stretching/massage/etc? You can train a single leg cable hip flexor raise to focus more on this deeper hip flexor. 2 x 20 each side (replace hip flexor kickout) https://youtube.com/shorts/tsA5i0iPe5U?si=y3T2vXIYhlVWHkZ8

2.) Are you gradually & progressively working on the tissue length & tolerance to stretch. Training the elevated split squat (or holds) with a strong squeeze of the back glute? Looking for month by month progress, not immediate relief.

3.) Are you working on relevant mobility like the outer hips? Training the squeeze (outer hip circuit or abductor machine) then the stretch (pigeon strength). Are you training side bending, working on the other muscles pulling on the spine?

4.) Have you put any time towards deep diaphragmatic breath work? This could be just 20 intentional slow breaths to start. You could look into something more specific on youtube like Wim Hof to try. I highly recommend for many other reasons as well.

5.) Are you taking breaks throughout the day from the sedentary life? A 5 minute walk every couple hours can really make a difference.

This Psoas is one of the more highly debated muscles int he body. We are learning more about it every year. I would cover these basics first and see how you feel over the next month. Sometimes it’s just a “recalibration” process of your core getting adjusted to new use and strength of the spinal erector muscles.

This is normal. (but can be improved)

Our workouts always feel a bit better with a good warm up. This is completely natural. Well, the mornings can be thought of as the “warm up” to our day! If you experiencing some stiffness & discomfort in the mornings, this ISN’T a sign of a problem. It’s just a measure of your current capacity. As you improve the health & ability of the sensitive areas in the body, you will need less warm up. Less warm up for your workouts and less “warm up” aka time in your mornings to feel ready for the day.

We will ALWAYS feel better when warmed up. If I travel for 6 hours in a tight low-budget airline seat…my knees feel achy for 10 mins of the plan. This is with above average knee health now. However, when I had SERIOUS chronic knee issues & surgery…it only took 30 minutes in a car for my knees to feel destroyed.

Sitting completely still for hours at a time, is always a toll on our body to some degree. Not a “problem”, we are just designed for consistent movement. As the trainable capacity of the body part improves, the less punishing this fact is. (just like aging)