Stretching causes Low Back Pain

I am a little over 50 and come from a kettlebell and barbell perspective into the GB world.  My mobility is fairly dismal and is what drove me to start the GB courses.  I am on F1 along with the stretching, mobility, and handstand.  I have stopped my weight work and am trying to focus on getting mobile.  My low back has not bugged me in years and I attribute that to consistent deadlifting.  Doing the side split stretch routine is very difficult for me and I am trying to figure out how to do it with progressions like the rest of the program.  Since starting the GB courses my back has started to hurt more and more until I tweaked it doing a fairly simple move similar to a burpee.  Now I can't train till it calms down.  I thought my work rate and effort were reasonable and am very frustrated with the stretching routine as well as confused as how to proceed.  If the stretching hurts my back, how can I hope to improve? I have been perusing the forums looking for wisdom but thought I would throw a rope out and hope for some help.

Hi Gerald, welcome to GB. my personal suggestion it is first see a physio, tell him the type of training you are following, and where do you feel pain.It is practically impossible to give an accurate suggestion behind a monitor, specific tests must be done face to face to understand the problem.

Hey Gerald once your healthy and back to training post some form checks videos.  The coaches will help you figure out progressions.  Make sure you are doing it with APT rather than rounding your low back.

Gerald, I can relate. I'm 56 and used to kettlebells, where the training emphasized keeping a neutral spine. Now with GST, I'm getting all these formerly rigid parts to move. I experienced some tweaks as I got started too. And as strong as I was, I found I needed to eat humble pie and dial it back in every department until my connective tissue caught up with my strength. In my case, I slowed down, took it much slower than I wanted, too. Coach says it takes months for the connective tissue to strengthen -- especially for us older guys. I am pleased to say I am finally getting my spine to flex and extend without pain. I didn't think I'd ever make progress with Middle Split, but I just kept plugging away. And, sure enough, one day I could do things I never believed possible. It is really exciting when these stiff parts get moving. I'm learning the true meaning of patience. I hope you can hang in there and trust the process. Best regards.

Hey Michael, thanks for the words of encouragement.  I am committed to a year and see where I am.  I just hate taking two steps forward and one back.  How long have you been at this game?  I am sticking in there since the alternative is getting stiffer and stiffer!

Hi Gerald,

Experiencing pain is indicative that you are either stretching improperly, with too much intensity or both.  

My recommendation is to back off of the intensity and also submit form check videos so that the forum coaches can ensure that your form and technique are correct.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks coach,

I will do just that.  Once I figure out how to upload video!  It is encouraging to get some feedback from the community.  How does that go ... consistency is more important than intensity.  

7 hours ago, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Gerald,

Experiencing pain is indicative that you are either stretching improperly, with too much intensity or both.  

My recommendation is to back off of the intensity and also submit form check videos so that the forum coaches can ensure that your form and technique are correct.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hi Gerald,

You can upload the video to either YouTube or Dropbox and provide the link. Please ensure that the privacy settings on Youtube are set to 'Unlisted'. Looking forward to the video!