A strong back is primarily a healthy spine, and therefore the entire system of our body. It is very important to maintain this large anatomical group in good condition. Performing simple exercises to strengthen the back at home, we can minimize the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle and correct violations of posture.
What does the back muscles suffer from?
According to statistics, 86% of young people have certain problems with their backs, the remaining 16%, most likely, do not have a computer at home. One way or another, but it is sedentary work and constant spending time at the computer in the wrong positions that are the main causes of serious problems with the spine. It is worth highlighting women who have given birth to a separate category; after pregnancy, many suffer from lower back pain. This is not only the consequences of bearing a child, but also medical errors during anesthesia. Another risk group is students and schoolchildren who spend a lot of time at the desk in completely non-physiological poses. All these factors negatively affect the work of muscles and the condition of the vertebral discs. Performing special exercises to strengthen the back, you can avoid big health problems in the future. The main thing is to approach the issue thoroughly and comprehensively. After all, all issues related to health require a special approach.
Basic principles of home training
Can I do exercises to strengthen my back at home? Will they be as effective as exercise in the gym? Both questions can be answered absolutely positively. Even home workouts can involve all the necessary muscle groups. All that is required of you is a bit of sports equipment and strict adherence to the principles of home training:
- Exercise regularly at least twice a week. Less often it just doesn't make sense. The back is a rather large muscle group, which means it requires more time to relax, but do not interrupt your workout for longer than three days.
- Exercises to strengthen the back at home should be performed with a maximum of 4 approaches. The number of repetitions can be kept in the range of 8-12 pieces. With experience, you will be able to feel the muscles that are included in the work, which means that you can perform the exercises until the work group is completely “refused”. The longer and more often we train muscles, the faster their neural connection with the brain is established.
- Joint and tendon development is an integral part of every workout. If you don’t want to get injured, take a couple of tens of minutes to warm up lightly.
- Sometimes you need to change the training system and make adjustments to the program. Muscles are a fairly intelligent substance, they quickly adapt to various types of load, which means that you need to learn how to incorporate them into work in a new way.
- Any training should begin with complex basic exercises, in which more than two joints are involved. Finishing the lesson is better with isolated pumping of the target muscles.
Now consider the working set of exercises for the back.
Good old buttock bridge
Great exercise to strengthen the back and buttocks. This position is an excellent antagonist of the notorious sitting position, which is very important for most professions. Due to the stretching of the thigh muscles and contraction of the buttocks, we stabilize the spine and remove the entire load from it, this will increase the intervertebral distance and give the joints a little "rest".
Technics:
- The exercise is performed from a prone position, the legs are bent at the knees, the heels are pressed to the floor. Hands can be extended along the body and crossed on the chest.
- Your task is to tear the pelvis from the floor and hold the body, leaning on the shoulder blades. The back should be without a hint of deflection or rounding of the spine.
- Hold in this position for a couple of minutes and lower the pelvis back. Follow several approaches to consolidate the result.
Yoga Exercise: Dog and Bird
A good exercise to strengthen the back, borrowed from yoga. This type of training primarily works to tone and strengthen muscles. In addition, such exercises well develop a sense of balance and coordination. If you lead a fairly active lifestyle, you need to stabilize your spine from time to time, strengthening the muscle pillars around it.
Technics:
- Start with the dog pose. To do this, stand on all fours in an average setting of arms and legs. Pull in the stomach, empty the diaphragm from the air and tighten the press.
- Connect the right elbow and the left knee, while trying not to hunch your back, keep it straight due to the tension of the muscles of the press.
- We pass to a pose of "bird". To do this, stretch your arm forward, and take your leg back. Try to keep your limbs flush with your back. Pause and only then return to your original position on all fours.
Perform exercise 7-8 times. You can complicate the technique a little, for this, put special weighting agents on the hands and ankles, which will make the lesson more effective.
Static load: side bar
A good static exercise to strengthen the back, it is especially suitable for those who spend a lot of time on their feet and need to unload the spine. In addition, the side bar works great for endurance, and also strengthens and stabilizes the extensor muscles in the lumbar spine.
Technics:
- Exercise starts from a side position.
- Your task is to straighten the body in one line, while relying on the elbow and the outer part of the foot. Make sure your hand is exactly under your shoulder.
- Do not tumble back or forward, keep the whole body in tension - keep balance with stabilizer muscles.
- If you want to complicate the training a little, then you can diversify it with leg lifts. And for a very advanced version of the exercise, hold the body not on the elbow, but on the straight arm, resting on the palm of the hand.
Dynamic training: lunges
Any set of exercises to strengthen the back should include both a static and a dynamic load. The key to a healthy state of the spine is constant physical activity: whether it's running, walking, climbing a step or the same lunges. Girls will especially appreciate this type of training, because this exercise perfectly shakes the buttocks and the back of the thighs.
Technics:
- You can step forward, backward and sideways. The spine and back are equally involved in all cases; the load changes only for the legs and buttocks.
- The back should be kept straight, maintaining a physiological deflection in the lower back, it will act as a shock absorber.
- At the bottom of the exercise, the angle in the knee joint should be straight.
- To complicate the training, do it in movement and with extra weight, so you connect even more stabilizers and unload the back.
Getting Rid of Pain: Fitball Exercises
These are excellent exercises to strengthen the back for women who already knew the joy of motherhood and felt all its "charms" on their backs. The constant pain from dragging the baby in the arms can be slightly relieved; for this, you can perform several simple exercises on the fitball:
- Rolling the ball on the back. Lie on the ball and try to fix it at the level of the shoulder blades, in one motion roll the ball to the buttocks, then go back.
- Squats with the ball against the wall. Perform classic squats, only at the same time hold the fitball between the back and the wall. Depreciation in the form of a ball will allow to remove all the load from the spine.
- "Jumping" on the ball. Lie on the fitball, try to spring a little on it. It will perfectly relax your muscles.
- Stretching with a fitball. You need to lie down on the ball and try to stretch your spine as much as possible. To do this, pull the crown straight to the heels. Your body should "hug" the ball from the outside.
Targeted training: hyperextension from the floor
In the gym, you must have come across this exercise to strengthen your back and lower back. However, it can be performed at home even without a special machine. A good option is lifting the case from the floor, the amplitude will be much shorter, but the training efficiency does not suffer from this at all, because even in a short trajectory the biomechanics remain the same.
There are two options for hyperextension:
- From the floor. To do this, lie on your stomach, hands need to put behind his head. Your task is to try to tear the body off the floor, due to the extensors of the back. Try to lift not only the chest, but also part of the abdomen. The higher the rises, the more effective the exercise. To make the task a little easier, you can fix your legs under the battery or, for example, a cabinet.
- Off the bench. If there is no bench at home, then as a support you can use several stools, a coffee table and even a sofa. The technique remains the same, the amplitude simply increases due to the additional height, which means that the back muscles will not only contract, but also stretch.
Strengthening the muscle corset: deadlift
An excellent strength exercise to strengthen the back muscles for women, because, in addition to the lower back, the buttocks and biceps of the hips are excellently pumped here. This exercise is quite controversial, you must strictly adhere to the technique, otherwise you can not strengthen the back, but significantly damage it, especially if you work with a decent weight.
Technics:
- Deadlift is performed on slightly bent or completely straight legs.
- The back should remain straight, shoulders straightened, and shoulder blades brought together.
- When moving the hands should slide over the legs, in no case do not take them forward, this will overload the cervical spine.
- The pelvis is better to take back, this will help relax the skeleton and perform the exercise only at the expense of the extensor muscles of the back.
Stretching the spine: horizontal bar exercises
Exercises to strengthen the back for children can be performed on a regular horizontal bar. After all, a growing body is contraindicated in heavy physical exertion. However, this complex can be useful to adults as well. Through exercises on the horizontal bar, we can increase the intervertebral distance, get rid of stagnation of blood and relieve our spine. It is best to carry out the following types of training:
- Just hang a little on the horizontal bar. Under the weight of your body, the spine will relax a bit and relax.
- Pullups All kinds of variations of this exercise allow not only to develop joints and strengthen the spine, but also to increase the volume of back muscles.
- Leg raises. This type of training strengthens the lower part of the spine and lower back, plus the press works excellently for everything.
Simple exercises for the muscles of the back and lower back
If you have absolutely no time for training, and also there is no way to purchase at least a couple of dumbbells and other simple equipment, you can perform simple, but very useful exercises to strengthen the muscles of the back and lower back:
- Some yoga asanas, such as Snake Pose, Dog Face Up / Down, Kitty and Camel.
- Exercise "Pose baby." Sometimes it’s just useful to lie down a little in this position.
- Exercise "Birch", or stand on the shoulder blades.
A few tricks for those who want to achieve a quick result.
Even performing exercises to strengthen the back muscles at home, I want to see the results of my work faster. So that training is not wasted, but is sure to bring maximum benefit, you need to follow a few simple, but very important rules:
- Always leave some time in reserve for a good stretch and hitch, even if you exercise at home with minimal weights. So you will more actively start the processes of muscle recovery and significantly alleviate your condition the day after training.
- If the exercise has become too easy for you, then complicate the technique not by increasing the number of repetitions, but by adding working weight.
- Always remember about proper nutrition: working muscles must always be supported by a huge amount of protein, which means that lean on red fish, chicken breasts and cottage cheese.
Now you know everything about back training at home. Conduct classes regularly and clearly follow the exercise technique, then the result will not be long in coming.