Back InAction, get it?

My back is sore and Pittsburgh is covered in ice; not the ideal situation for a homecoming. I blame the back largely on travel, as it started aching after staying with my parents for 2 nights on their old basement couch, and became extreme pain during the long wait in the airport (my flight was delayed) and subsequent flight. I used my neck pillow as a back support, and must have squirmed and looked rightly pitiful, because the guy behind me insisted on grabbing my suitcase for me from the overhead compartment (thanks, guy).

For those of you who have back pain, some stretches that work for me are:

Feet shoulder width apart, reach towards the floor without forcing your hands further than they can naturally go. Relieve the back by coming up halfway, resting hands near below the knees for support, then come back down. Repeat a few times.

Keeping feet pointed straight and apart, walk hands towards the right, then back to center. Relieve the back by coming halfway up, then down again. Repeat on the left side.

Coming up, it's hard on the back (mine, anyway) to use my core to come upright, so I use the lifting method of lifting with my legs, bending my knees, bringing my chest up first and then coming up to standing position.

I also have Back Care Yoga with Rodney Yee to fall back on.

Between these mild stretches and use of the foam roller, I feel a little better today than I did yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better. I want to go— I want to go punch things!

In the meantime, though, I've joined up with 90/10 Nutrition to take part in a monthlong nutrition challenge. Their system is simple: Here's a bunch of food that's good for you and you can eat basically as much of this stuff as you want. Here's some other stuff that's not so stellar and you can have it sometimes but don't like go crazy, and here's some other food that you should just totally avoid. I think I eat pretty well, in fact I know I do, but coming back from the Vermont Studio Center after a month of delectable food I didn't have to think about making will surely prove challenging, and having some group motivation will help me keep healthy.

They have close ties to Beach Body as well, which means my bro Tony Horton may be making an appearance here again, depending on how my back heals up.

I don't weigh myself, so I don't have a clear idea of how much weight I gained, if I lost muscle mass from lack of weight training and am just doughier than usual, or if it's all in my head. But I am going on a challenging 80-mile hike in August and need to start taking my fitness seriously again so I'm not carrying around extra weight.

I also need to (gulp) go back to the doctor to yet again have my back looked at. All things in due time, I suppose.

It's probably fine.

I'll rub some dirt on it, take a lap, and check back in a month.