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Many faithful readers know that I've had my share of back pain over the years. In fact, I've experienced on-and-off back problems since I was 14. I remember exactly how I hurt my back the first time. I was doing hack squats the "old-fashioned" way – straddling a barbell with one arm in front and one arm behind.

I read in a bodybuilding magazine of this fantastic way to build front thigh mass called the hack squat. Because I was 14, didn't (and probably couldn't) belong to a gym (this was nearly 30 years ago), and didn't have the money or space to buy my own hack squat machine, I fashioned one myself.

Needless to say, you know the outcome. I tweaked my back to the point where I had severe pain in my lower back area and had a really hard time participating in sports. I remember at the time that I was in PE class (back when Physical Education was thought of as an integral part of a young person's education); it was winter so it was football season. Because I was fast, my team relied on me to run streaks, posts, corners, and other speed routes.

The pain really hampered my ability to get open. To this day, I do not know how I ran at all. The pain was quite severe. But being the stubborn fool, I "toughed" it out.

That episode lasted for a month or so.

I didn't have any more issues for several years. After college, I got a retail job at a sporting goods store. There was the normal selling, stocking, and administrative stuff. The stocking is what got me this time. I was moving a case of shoes. Rather than pick it up, I decided to push it across the floor. The bent position I took put my lower back in a compromised posture, exposing it to a shear force that was, looking back now, probably quite severe.

Again, the back went pop and I momentarily lost some feeling. I was in pretty severe discomfort for many months this time around. In fact, the excruciating pain did subside, but it never went away, fading into a dull ache that ranged in severity from a pain level of 1 to about 5, depending on seemingly random factors. In other words, I was always conscious of my lower back; it never let me forget or give me any relief from pain.

Fast forward 10 years. I had one last bout with tremendous back pain. I was doing really heavy leg presses and let myself do them in poor form, rounding my back at the bottom of the movement so that I could get the maximum range of motion and – my hope – getting the best leg stimulation possible.

That worked! My legs blew up in size and my lower back again got tweaked. This time, really badly. To the point that I became almost totally immobile. This time, the episode lasted 8 months. I was on Vallium, cortisone, heavy doses of Aleve; I saw a chiropractor (who only made it worse), an accupuncturist (minimal short-lived pain relief), even an orthopedic surgeon.

Yes, I almost succumbed to surgery! I was in a shambles. At the time, I ran a consulting business. I couldn't make appointments so my income dried up. It was the most dire time of my life.

I never contemplated suicide, but I came to understand why someone might end it all. Life was simply miserable.

What made it worse is that I had just met a woman that I fell in love with. I was such a miserable trainwreck that I felt this relationship slipping away, too. This made life even more desperate.

I literally tried everything short of the knife. I bought an inversion table and practiced inversion therapy religiously. I began using DMSO along with several over-the-counter medications. I stopped taking Vallium (now I knew what being a drug addict felt like and I certainly did not enjoy it).

I found a great physical therapist.

After several months of PT (both professionally-administered and on my own), I emerged with 80 percent less pain. More importantly, I became a functioning human being again.

Turns out, after having an MRI, that I had a slight bulge in a disk, but my physiology being what it was, that tiny bulge was pressing hard on my sciatic nerve.

Fast forward to about 7 months ago. I began taking heavy doses of supplements: Calcium, condroitin, glucosamine, fish oils, MSM. I began drinking a ton of water. I cut out soda (caffeine and sugar are inflammatory).

Most interesting thing: I began doing heavy deadlifts! I think all along that my core was in an out-of-balance situation (my abs were way stronger than my lower back), made worse because I had back pain, so I didn't do any lower back work.

Now that I've balanced my core strength and give my body plenty of nourishment without the inflammatory chemicals, I am now pain-free.

The weirdest thing is, I start to develop pain in my low back with even a single soda!

I am certainly no back expert. Nor am I a chronic pain expert. I know what works for me. I have no idea what works for you. However, I do know that Eric Wong, author of Bulletproof Back, is an expert at healing bad backs. He has the scars to prove it! A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Eric has the perfect program for making your back stronger than ever and removing pain forever.

It's called Bulletproof Back. If I'd have had this program 10, 20, or 30 years ago, I'd have had a much more productive and happy life.

In the recent past, I've been lax on being consistent with my supplementation. I could make excuses: Work, vacation, kids, etc. Those all come into play, but it's really just laziness. And my back paid for it. I have been experiencing some pretty severe discomfort in my lower back (from numerous injuries, poor posture at work, sitting at the computer for 12-15 hours per day sometimes).

So I got consistent for a week. And my back pain vanished. The back pain resurfaced (because that's just what my back does — it's a real bitch sometimes), but it never got to the point of bothering me. That discomfort comes and goes, and I'm okay with that. I've lived with pain for many years; hours or even minutes without pain are incredible.

In all honesty, my back feels better now at 43 than it has for the last 30 years. My first memory of really bad back pain was at the age of 12. Then it got worse at 14. So, I've dealt with it for over 30 years. Trust me when I say that any amount of time that passes without pain or even discomfort is simply AWESOME. So you might be wondering what I am taking.

Zero medication. All supplements. Here's the list, all bought at GNC and/or Costco. Each dose is per MAJOR meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)

• Men's Multi-vitamin/mineral – 1 tablet
• Calcium complex – 2 tablets
• Fish Oil capsules – 2 capsules
• Ginko Biloba – 1 capsule
• TripleFlex (glucosamin, condroitin, MSM) – 2 capsules
• Vitamin C – 1 tablet

NOTE: These are 2-3 times the recommended dosages per the manufacturer's recommendations, and about 50x the RDA. Please don't construe this as medical advice and certainly don't try this without your doctor's approval. I am not a doctor, just a guy who's experimented a LOT with supplements over the past 20-25 years and knows what works for him. I could die tomorrow, too, so what the heck do I know?

Here's a funny video about how squats can cure cancer, as told to a young man by a powerlifting robot.

WARNING: Contains potentially offensive language and is somewhat negative towards bodybuilders and powerlifters at the same time (which I didn't think was possible).

back pain relief

If you’ve ever suffered from back pain – any pain, really - then you’ve got to hear this:

Back Pain Audio

It normally sells for $79, but you can get the recording here for free.

Is it possible to cure back pain in 7 days? As a long-time sufferer of chronic low back pain, I was curious when I read about the 7 Day Back Pain Cure. Once I got the book, though, I was a believer. After only a few days, I have seriously less back pain than I’ve had in years.

Really.

As you may guess, especially if you’ve been here before, I like to lift weights. I’ve recently gotten the “heavy bug” too, so having lower back pain has really put a damper on my enthusiasm for lifting heavy. Especially my newly beloved deadlifts.

But now I can.

When I was 12, I strained my back doing some hokey homemade hack squats. When I was 14, I could barely walk after a flare up. I distinctly remember gym class, trying to run pass routes during football games. It was horrible.

About 10 years ago I had a bad injury from poor form on some really heavy leg presses. In fact, I was nearly off my feet for 8 months. I was diagnosed with a bulging disk and spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal column). Short of surgery, there was no cure. At least according to the “experts.”

I’ve had quite a few bouts with these types of painful episodes over the past 30 years that I cannot remember a day without back pain. Until yesterday.

I am so pissed, actually, that I didn’t seek out this book sooner. But I guess I couldn’t, since it was just published this year. The author, Jesse Cannone, gives a complete analysis of all the things that could be wrong with your body, mind, and diet. And then he tells you how to deal with very specific back problems.

This book is literally worth its weight in gold. Actually, that’s way off the mark. It’s a paperback, so it doesn’t weigh much, but it sure is worth a ton of money. But by clicking this “back pain cure” link, it’s free (you pay for shipping and handling).

I really dig this book. It simply talks about the issues, the causes, and the cures. Stuff you won’t get from your doctor, therapist, or chiropractor.

NOTE: The links above are MY affiliate links. I liked the product so much because of what it did for me that I became an affiliate. I simply want to pass this information onto as many people as I can. Buy it from me or don’t. But buy it.