Lower back doesn't recover the way it used to. Tips and suggestions?
I'm 38 and I’ve been lifting consistently for about 4 years. Squats and deadlifts are my bread and butter and I've made solid progress but in the last year or so my lower back is feeling progressively worse from session to session. I didn’t injure myself, it's more like deep stiffness that doesn’t go away in time before I hit squats again.
I stretch before and after every session and I sleep 7-8 hours most nights. I would say my nutrition is solid so I’m covering the basics. I’ve tried foam rolling but I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong or if I need to do it longer but it doesn’t seem to help much. I also tried a heating pad which helped a little but not enough.
I've been thinking about trying cupping after seeing it mentioned a few times in recovery threads. Any thoughts on that? Is it expensive and how often do you do it? Also open to anything else that's genuinely helped you. I’m learning that I need to get smareter about recovery so any help is appreciated.