“James, when I was sparring with Tay [a towering heavyweight who does not go easy in the ring, especially with his midget cousin] and I felt that pull in my low back on the left side after throwing a hook. I’ve been doing the stretches and exercises for the back. What else should I do? Do you think all of the driving I do for work could affect this?”

-Oliver

Actually, Bro, that was the needle I stuck in your doll for spearing me in the solar plexus with that motorcycle helmet you call a head …

Seriously, Oliver. You need Tay’s experience and stature to round out in sparring. But I was afraid you two would go to hard. You should spar him under supervision. If not, put a lid on your ego and take it easy while he Ts off on you. Seriously, since you guys are not trying to KO each other, just going quick, your ego is kind of in the karate point fighting zone. Get rid of that and only score shots that you not have to reach for. Reaching in sparring is the #1 cause of fighter injuries and account for all of my worst injuries.

When dealing with long strong fighters you will tend to get “hurky-jerky” and lurch and reach for each other unless you dial the ego down. Since he has the wing span and he’s not as smart as you don’t expect him to do it. Let him wing and reach, lurch and jerk and you work smooth and methodical. He will “win” the round but you will get more out of it.

Since this is a simple use injury, continue sparring but use discipline and do not throw that hook until the pain goes away. This is a chance to get good with the jab. I never developed a good jab until I had to after I hurt my back and could only jab.

Work on moving in out and two both sides with the jab.

Throw the right, but mostly drop it to the body and do not each with it. Throwing the right will stretch the left lumbar so don’t throw it hard but gently.

Introduce shovel hooks after the pain goes away.

Do throw light hooks shadow boxing.

Do not stretch aggressively at this point as you could tear something.

After injury male more of the stretches plyometric rather than static but gentle.

You have not yet experienced real back pain and you do not want to, it is paralyzing

Occupational stress, especially driving, can be a problem. Sitting is not good for your back. After you get out of the car do some slow, deep knee bends and then sink down into that sacral stretch.