Lower back pain and kettle bell excercisers

Training
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I am a fit 62 veteran racer , weight 146lb, and 5 foot 10 high with a w/kg of 3.55, training 8 to 12 hours a week for road and CX.
I’ve had to miss an A race today due to acute lower back pain, which is more frustrating as I was getting good form and won my age category in a crit last weekend.
I go to the gym twice a week and include core exercisers like press ups and leg curls using an exercise ball, bird dog extensions and plank TT roll outs using the ball, moving onto kettle bell swings and front squats lifting to chin. I then use machines for arm curls, lats and triceps. This has been my routine for over 6 months and my core is defintely stronger.
I tend to go from one exercise onto the next with little or no rest as apart from a little muscle burn, there is no other discomfort.
However during the workout, my lower back gets progressively more uncomfortable. I finish off with about 10 minutes swimming, steam and a jacuzzi.
Despite spending 1.5 hours a week on core work, I’ve had two occasions in the last couple of motnths where I’ve experienced acute lower back pain in the days following either a hilly or interval session where out of the saddle efforts have been carried out. The last occasion was this Wednesday and the pain started the day after. The last two days have been the worst i’ve experienced, being really painful getting out of bed. So its ibuprufen gel and pain killers for treatment.

I dont do squats or bench presses or any heavy weights as i feel my on the bike work is sufficient.

Before going to the gym, i very rarely suffered anything more than general aching from riding in my back.

Should I omit the kettle bell exercises when I feel up to returning to the gym as they are more strenuous on the back than the mat core work with rests in between the excercises, or else what do you recommend.

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…and…

Stop doing those things would be my recommendation. They are causing discomfort while you’re doing them. You’ve started to have discomfort on the bike since doing them. So stop doing them.

Give it two or three weeks. If your discomfort on the bike subsides…well…that’s good. If you want to re-introduce some core exercises concentrate on planks and leg lifts. I’d pick these because they don’t really compess or torque the spine appreciably but still give you a good core workout. If those aren’t causing any discomfort after a few weeks, try adding in one exercise from your previous routine…give it a few weeks…continue in that fashion until you identify the culprit(s).

You could also go to the doc and get things checked out, but, honestly, a lot of folks have back/spine ‘features’ that would alarm a doc but don’t seem to cause the patient any discomfort. I’m a bigger fan of finding your own way to deal with it rather than trying to seek a medical solution.

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Thank you @Brennus . The pain is subsiding in bed and when resting. The challenge is not jumping back to training too quickly. Sometimes someone needs to tell you the bleeding obvious.

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Just in case, and not wanting to sound like I’m lecturing… make sure your form is 100% before adding weight. If you’ve never done hip hinges, start with that and nail your form before adding weight.

Hope you feel better soon!!

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