Strengthening your back exercises
Whether you have just had back surgery and need to strengthen your back or you have always had a weak back you may need to do some exercises. Some people just normally have a bad back and strengthening those muscles will go a long way in helping you fix them. Most exercises for strengthening your back will deal with your lower back because it has the most pressure put on it during the day. Here is some great advice on different exercises to do in order to strengthen your back.
There are many ways to use an exercise program to strengthen your lower back muscles. The best way is to try and simulate the many positions we use during the day for regular activities. Some of these daily activities include sports, gardening, cooking, cleaning and lifting children. These are just some of the many daily activities where your back muscles are needed. Strengthening your back muscles will help you do these activities with a minimal risk for an injury. Jobs that require you to stand or sit for most of the day will put pressure on the lower back causing your back to become tired and sore at the end of the day. Doing exercises that use both abdominal muscles and lower back muscles will help relieve this soreness.
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Pilates is one of the best types of exercise that you can use to strengthen your back. Pilates will work to strengthen the abdomen and the back while also stretching and strengthening the muscles and joints that can cause the back pain. Pilates will help you avoid chiropractors because you are exercising to keep all those muscles in balance keeping everything in alignment. Pilates will help you balance these muscles permanently or adjusting your back yourself. You can find Pilates classes at your local gym or you can use DVD's at home on your own time.
Here are some other exercises that will help strengthen your back. There is a mix of yoga and Pilates in many of these exercises. The main objective is to get 20-30 minutes a day of back strengthening exercises into your daily routine.
- Sun salutation: You begin in a standing position and exhale as you sweep your arms up and over your head. Exhale and tighten your abs as you lower yourself into a forward bend with your hands resting on the floor, you can bend your knees if needed. Inhale and come back up while sweeping the arms overhead until the palms touch. Repeat this 4-8 times.
- Torso twists: Stand with your feet wide and knees bent. Bring your arms up in from of your chest. Slowly twist your torso to the right while squeezing your abs and then twist to the left. Repeat this move for 15 reps on each side. Keep the move slow and controlled, remember to only twist as far as your flexibility will allow.
- Pelvic tilt with a ball: You should lie at an inclined position on the ball with hips down. Your head should be supported by the ball while feeling a stretch in the abs. Without rolling on the ball you need to squeeze the hips up then lower the hips. Repeat this for 15 reps.
- Crunch on the ball: You will need to lie on the ball and place hands behind the head. Lift the shoulder blades off the ball as you crunch up, squeezing your abs. Repeat this for 15 reps.
- Bridge: You need to lie face up with knees bent and your hands at your sides. Slowly uncurl your spine off the mat. One vertebra, or back bone at a time until you are in a bridge position. Your body should be in a straight line from knees to head. Arch up as high as possible while squeezing the back, then lower back down by slowly uncurling your spine onto the mat. Repeat for 5 reps.
