Back pain can dampen your workout efforts and ability to exercise properly, so why not introduce the “gut smash” into your mobility routine? Granted, it doesn’t exactly sound inviting, but the simple exercise, performed with a ball, can help relieve lower back pain and reduce tension in your psoas (hip flexor muscles) and low back.
Demonstrated by Scott James Bailey, a mobility and functional training coach who runs twstraining, the move “really fixes low back stiffness.” Despite the offputting name, gut smashing involves laying prone (stomach down) on a firm ball (think soccer, medicine, or basketballs as options) and allowing the ball to massage the abdominal muscles and hip flexors. Done safely, the effects can be a game changer.
