Welcome back to our last installment on Back Pain and How to Fix It. If you have read and tried the mobility and core exercises from part 1 & 2, shoot me a message on Instagram or facebook to let me know the results, good or bad I want to hear it all! Now, let’s dive into part three!
So, we stretched it out to aleve that annoying tightness pulling on our hips and low back causing the irritating ache throughout the day, then we worked on our core to build support around those muscles to generate stronger posture and better spinal mechanics. So where do we go from here…? Well, our last step is to strengthen the back! It’s a wide misconception that when you have back pain you should stay away from doing amazing back exercises like the “Good Morning” and the “Deadlift” that have tremendous benefit to our bodies natural way of movement. The “Hip Hinge” is a fundamental human movement that is ingrained into our DNA, and taking that movement away completely can have huge detrimental side-effects, but more on that another day perhaps.
So, back to strengthening our backs for a stronger, better back. We want to build the muscles around the core and spin to so that the muscles of these areas start to do their jobs and take over supporting our spine and our posture instead of relying on our joints to do so.
So here are four great back exercises that when done properly will strengthen your back and stop the pain in its track.
First off the KING of all lifts, the DEADLIFT! This exercise can be done with so many different tools to help modify the range of motion, torque, and load. Barbell, Kettlebell, Dumbbell and even the steel mace for a challenging offset pull. My personal favorite are the barbell & kettlebell, Examples below.
How To Properly Conventional Deadlift Part 1 & 2
Single Kettlebell Deadlift
Hyperextensions/ Prone Cobras are a great light weight exercise to strengthen the low traps and erector spinae muscles of the back. Big supporters of the lumbar spine and can be done with or without weight. I personally use prone cobras in every warm up I do. Here’s the video.
Prone Cobra
Hyperextensions
Pull-A-Parts- Prefect exercise to help correct the upper body posture and to fix the upper cross syndrome of forward drooping shoulders and your neck sticking way out in front of you. Another staple exercise in my warm-ups to help prime my body for the work to be done.
Band Pull-A-Parts
Our last one today is going to be a full body isometric hold from your fingers to your toes.
The Dead Hang. This is a great one that I use at the end of every workout. It strengthens my core, hip and spine connection as well as helps my body decompress my joints and stretches my muscles after a heavy gym session. It’s a personal favorite and feels great! Let’s check it out.
What I Learned From Hanging on A bar
