Anybody that knows me knows I love Ring Dings, although I only vaguely remember what they taste like (notice that big ol' bloated melon in the pic). I used to go through boxes all the time. Because of the sheer volume I ate, I'm pretty sure I was made a shareholder in Drake's Cakes.

Ring Dings were actually my preferred post-workout meal. I always kept a box in my workout bag. I'd rip through eight of the delightful morsels and a couple servings of milk. Protein and carbs right. Perhaps slightly high on the saturated fat, but I was on a perma bulk. Back in the day, there were lots of fat powerlifters, it was fun.

Now we can get on to the Stuart McGill part and why I love him more than Ring Dings. If you don't know who McGill is, get out from under the rock you are living under. To sum it up, he's known as the Back Mechanic. He's a professor of spine biomechanics with 30 years of knowledge who helps athletes and people from around the world who have back issues.

Like so many of us, I am one of the unfortunate people who fall under the bad back category. My feet started getting tingly and then a little numb. Then sciatica pain started kicking in. Usually I have been able to work through this, but it was getting progressively worse. I went to see my amazing physical therapist and I could not even walk on my toes when asked. He was very concerned about potential nerve issues and told me to see a dr right away.

Unfortunately, my amazing sports doctor who kept me in great working order while competing had retired. I ended up getting referred to an orthopedist/neurologist globo group. Treatment started conservatively with corticosteroids and their physical therapist. Things got worse and after the better part of two months, I was finally sent for an mri.

While I was going through this I figured it was finally time to purchase one of Stuart McGill's books instead of trying to piece together his information from different places on the internet. He has a number of books on his site. I decided to go with his Back Mechanic book along with the video modules.

The book actually came in the day I went for my mri. Because the mri was on a Friday, I would not be able to get the results until Monday. During that time I went through McGill's assessment in the book. It was pretty wild to find that through this $30 book I was able to come up with the same diagnosis myself that a couple of thousand dollar machine and the dr who reported it reached.

There was a little over two weeks between when I had the mri and when I'd be able to see the dr. It sure was longer than I would have expected, but that's the new Mchealthcare most of us are subjected to nowadays. In there interim, I received a call to stop going to physical therapy. Then I got another call to see if I needed to come in sooner to see the physician's assistant. I guess they were concerned with what they saw. No offense to the PA I had been seeing with no success, I told them I'd just wait to see the dr. Yep, it took me over two months to see the dr for the first time.

It turns out this was the best thing that could have happened. Feeling helpless for a few weeks was not for me. I devoured the Back Mechanic book. I was astonished at what I had learned. So many of the things that the physical therapist had me doing were wrong. So were most of the jackwagons I saw on social media and the internet.

An important point in Stuart McGill's book is and I'm loosely paraphrasing, everyone's back issue is going to be unique and the treatment will be also. Even though most people have heard of his "Big 3" there's a lot more to it.

I have a couple of issues. Through the diagnosis I reached in the book I started up on my plan. The one thing I learned right away was that with my condition I should not be doing any stretching or twisting. Again, this is a far cry from those contorted movements so many "experts" recommend.

I'm not going to go into detail regarding my plan because again, every low back issue is not the same. I will tell you this, however, with only using one of McGill's movements the tingling and numbness in my feet along with the pain in my glutes started improving immediately. That coupled with following good back hygiene which is emphasized in the book.

By the time I came around to my dr's visit I was feeling so much better.  To his credit, he knew who McGill was and told me to just keep doing what I was doing and scheduled me for a follow up in a couple of months.

This blog comes a few weeks after that visit and I continue to make vast improvements. For the first time in a while, I feel a complete recovery is possible and that is why I love Stuart McGill more than my beloved Ring Dings.

I strongly encourage those with back issues to "BUY" his material. The difference for me was miraculous. Now I just need to be patient and smart enough not to f@ck myself up.

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