I spend 8-12 hours on my feet at work. I get through it just fine but can be awfully sore in the low back on my days off.

I’m terrible about stretching and strengthening so I need periodic painful reminders to keep it up. It only takes like 10 minutes a day to keep it good.

1. Lay flat on the floor until the low back eases up. It might hurt.

2. Three stretches. Knee to chest, straight leg perpendicular to the body twist, and figure 4 with the legs and bring it to toward the chest. Hold each stretch long enough to feel everything relax and give you a few more inches of stretch (45 seconds or so).

3. Standing with straight legs and a straight back, bend forward to 90 degrees and back up. 12-15 times. Start empty handed and progress to weights. I never go beyond 20lbs because it seems like beyond that, you’re playing with fire. My personal opinion anyway. 3 sets, and do what I describe in #4 in between.

4. Core. 3 sets - 20-30 crunches slow and in control, chin to the ceiling. Planks - 45 seconds to 2 minutes. You can mess around with lifting one leg or one arm during that time, I’m not strong enough to do that but most people are. Finally, 20 burpees.

That’s it. If I can remember to do that a few times a week, my back is golden. If not, I can ride fine but I can’t stand up straight after I get off the bike.