Regardless of whether you’re a fitness newbie or a seasoned athlete, sooner or later, you will tweak your back. MAXIM fitness guru ALEXA TOWERSEY gives us the lowdown on how to bulletproof your rear side…
If you’re familiar with fitness mags, you will have seen your fair share of the same 1,000-word odes to body-part training, complete with titles like “Pump Those Pecs”, “Add Inches to Your Arms” and everyone’s favourite rhyming simile “Build Shoulders Like Boulders!” I know I’ve written a fair few, and you’ve probably read them, because let’s be honest – this is the sexy stuff that promises you a flock of beautiful babes at the beach. What’s not as sexy, and therefore rarely written about, is the lower back – even though it’s often the weakest link.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The lower back is like any other muscle – if it’s being worked, it gets tired. If you do a bunch of lunges, chances are your legs will feel fatigued and sore. You’ll likely even suffer through DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) the next day, but you won’t panic because it’s just your legs. And when it comes to legs, it’s much easier to “embrace the pain”. Not so much when it comes to the lower back, where even the concept of experiencing muscular fatigue can be scary and uncomfortable, hence why most people avoid it like the plague. The trick here is to understand the difference between the dull aching pain and discomfort of a “working muscle” and the often sharp and acute pain that can signify injury.
No matter what your fitness level is, sooner or later you will tweak your back, even with perfect form, ideal warm-ups, smart programming and appropriate load selection. And the hardest thing to get your head around when you’re experiencing back pain is that movement can often be the medicine. Movement promotes circulation and increased blood flow delivers more oxygen, white blood cells, platelets, and essential nutrients – all of which help repair damaged tissues heal. In saying that, this doesn’t mean you go all Hardcore Harry like nothing is wrong – modification is the name of the game.
BULLETPROOFING YOUR BACK
Here’s the kind of strategy I would suggest…
STEP ONE: Stretch
What doesn’t bend, breaks. In my experience, the most common lower back issues or injuries stem from tightness or weakness elsewhere in the body. Renowned physiotherapist and functional movement specialist Gray Cook talks about a joint by joint approach in which each joint complex has a specific role – either stability or mobility – and if this role is compromised, then the joint complex above or below is directly affected. In the case of the lower back, both the upper spine (thoracic) and the hips are designed to be mobile so that the lower back can be stable. If either/both are too tight, the lower back is forced to step in and compensate for the lack of movement. Here are a few of the mobility drills/stretches I find most useful.
- Upper Back: Foam Roller T Spine Extension, Bench Pull Overs, Thread the Needle, Quadruped Lateral Hip Drops.
- Hip Flexors: Trigger Point, Couch Stretch.
- Glutes: Trigger point, Prone Figure 8, Standing Pigeon.
TOP TIP
Focus on soft tissue work (foam rolling, trigger pointing, etc…) and mobility drills (only holding stretch positions for 3-5 seconds) at the beginning of your workout to prime the body for movement, and leave the flexibility/static stretching for the end of your workout to let the nervous system it’s ok to wind down.
STEP TWO: Stabilise
The core is not just the abdominals. It also comprises the lower back and the entire hip complex. In order to support the lower back you need to strengthen all the muscles surrounding it. Think of the core like a tower held up by guy wires – in order to stay up straight, the wires need to be pulling evenly from the front, the sides and the back. I like “anti-movement” exercises for this – i.e. keeping the spine in neutral while the arms and legs are moving. Learning how to brace effectively won’t just improve your performance in the gym, but it will also translate through into real life situations.
- Transverse Abdominis (deep anterior abs) – think vacuums, dead bugs, hollow rocks and planks.
- Internal and External Obliques – Side Plank variations, Pallof Press variations & single arm carries.
- Glutes and hamstrings – sidelying clams, banded crab walks, bird dogs, glute bridges, hamstring bridges and hamstring curls.
STRENGTHEN
Not only is the lower back part of the entire “core”, but it is also part of the posterior chain – the back of the body. This means that when you do exercises that target the back chain i.e. deadlift variations, you might feel your lower back along with your glutes and hamstrings, especially if it’s your weakest link. This is normal BUT if it’s the only thing you feel at the expense of everything else, then you might need to reassess your body positioning and/or weight.
In regards to exercise selection, the lower back is an integral part of your more compound lifts like the squat and deadlift, but you also NEED to do some direct accessory work. Standing Good Mornings, Back Extensions and Reverse Hypers are all great for loading, with reverse hyper holds and Sorenson holds fantastic as low impact yet incredibly effective options.
If your lower back complains during training, there are a couple of ways in which you can work around the pain instead of through it. The first way is to substitute specific movements out for safer alternatives – the Trap Bar Deadlift is a good replacement for the traditional Deadlift given that the handles are beside the body which puts less strain on the lower back, and Split Squats or Lunges are able to take the place of squats as they allow the spine to stay in neutral. The second way is to use your “Active Rest” between sets to do some release work – try dead hanging to traction the spine.
TOP TIP
One of the biggest mistakes I see when it comes to lifting is excessive arching through the lower back (lumbar spine). This can often be a major cause of lower back pain. Cueing rib-hip connection to maintain a neutral spine can often alleviate this.
For the full article grab the March 2022 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
