Weird Back Pain During Weighted Pike

After doing a weighted pike with around 35lbs, with a flat back, I felt that my back was a little worn out, as in a dull pain at the very bottom of my vertebrate. I just want to ask is this normal? If isn't a sharp pain at all, but more of a mild/dull one. Is this typical for all weighted pike stretches? However after I did a few unweighted pikes, the dull pain almost completely diminished. Perhaps it could be because of trying to hard to keep a straight back?

 

I'll post a video tomorrow showing my form.

check comments in the youtube video:

"No, you should not keep the back flat on this particular exercise.
Yours in Fitness,
Coach Sommer"

Fluidity said:

After doing a weighted pike with around 35lbs, with a flat back, I felt that my back was a little worn out, as in a dull pain at the very bottom of my vertebrate. I just want to ask is this normal? If isn't a sharp pain at all, but more of a mild/dull one. Is this typical for all weighted pike stretches? However after I did a few unweighted pikes, the dull pain almost completely diminished. Perhaps it could be because of trying to hard to keep a straight back?

 

I'll post a video tomorrow showing my form.

You probably tired out some of your deep spinal muscles, but you may also have had bad form. You have to give your spinal muscles time to adjust. Work into this just like any other exercise.

 

There's a big difference between keeping a perfectly flat back, which forces pure hip flexibility, and the true pike shape, which should be a fairly gentle curve evenly along the spine.

 

Look at the 15 second mark. That is the back shape you're looking for in the end. A gentle curve, with no one part of the spine looking particularly different than another.

 

You won't be there in the beginning, or for a long time, but that is what you want in the end. The key is to make sure you always feel the stretch in the hips and legs, but not much or at all in the spine. You may get TIRED in the spine at first, especially if you aren't all that flexible (or relying on spinal flexibility, or both), but that's not the same as feeling the stretch there. You will be able to tell the difference.

 

You can see from the first 14 seconds that this athlete may have some work to do in specific hamstring (and perhaps calf as well, since they are connected to the hamstrings) flexibility. There is a noticeable lumbar curve, but it isn't hugely different from the rest of the spinal shape. Nonetheless, there is a noticeable difference in shape between the bent knee and straight knee position, and a truly perfect pike does not exhibit this difference.

 

The athlete in the video is clearly doing good work and working hard to maintain good form. Not everyone will get more flexible than what is shown in the video without quite a bit of specific work, and what you see in a weighted pike will not always be as deep as your unweighted stretch. Therefore it is very possible that this athlete is capable of compressing into a better position than what is shown, but I do not know.

 

When you are supporting extra weight, you will almost never be at full stretch, but you will be more than deep enough to cause muscle lengthening and tissue strengthening.