Healthy Back Exercises
“The percentage of adults with back pain increased with age, from 28.4% for those aged 18–29 and 35.2% for those aged 30–44 to 44.3% for those aged 45–64 and 45.6% for those aged 65 and over. Women (40.6%) were more likely to experience back pain than men (37.2%) source: NCHS data brief 2021
So aging and being female increase your likelihood of back pain which is why a strong back routine is essential. Below is a fairly simple healthy back routine that is focused on 1. Releasing 2. Activating and 3. Strengthening.
Workout Instructions: Start with 1-2 rounds of each prep move as explained in video then continue with 1-2 rounds of the activation and strength moves. 1 round of everything takes 8 min. and 2 rounds takes 15 min.
Why Releasing Facilitated Muscles Is Key
Your body is incredibly smart at stabilizing the spine even under the most abusive conditions such as sports injuries, accidents, falls, posture issues due to sedentary lifestyle, as well as surgeries, disease and disorders that weaken the back and core. Your body will recruit any muscles it needs to recruit to stabilize the spine. This can include your glutes, upper back, shoulders, legs, even your neck if it must.
And when muscles that are not meant to stabilize the back become facilitated this causes all kinds of tension on the body and prevents you from training the muscles of the low back and core effectively. So be sure to do the prep moves in the video if you want the best results.
Activating After Releasing Is A MUST!!!
When you release facilitated muscles your body is like a clean slate. It is prepped for work but you must start by activating the core which is the main stabilizer of the spine. If you skip this part then you are working the back with weak or faulty stabilizing patterns which can lead to more injury and pain.
How much core activation do you need? This depends on your back situation so be sure to know exactly what is going on with your body and how much rehab you need. In the video here we do one very effective activation exercise that I modified from a Scientific Core Training course I took years ago BUT this may not be enough for you in which case some of the moves from my core stability video below would be a great add on to this workout.
Strengthen The Smart Way
Once you have released facilitated muscles and activated your spine’s support system it’s time to strengthen your back but you must do this with functional exercises that are similar to what you do in real life. So skip sitting in machines that support all your body weight and do all the stabilizing for you.
The goal is to strengthen the back as the core supports all that movement and some other areas of the body work a bit as well. This is how the body was intended to move and will get you the strongest back. The last 2 moves in the main video focus on this big time!
Got pain back issues? Need to release, activate and strengthen the back? Be sure to set up a consultation with me here.
