There is this joke:

"87% of young people suffer from back problems ... It's just that the remaining 13% do not have a computer at home"

Whatever humor tells us, back problems occur at any age. Let's try to avoid them, or at least push them back to that late age when the need for physical activity will disappear by itself.

Just four easy back exercises will add confidence to your gait and save you from serious injury.

These exercises were developed by Roberta Lenard, a personal trainer at the Massachusetts Fitness Center in Somerville, USA.

Exercises to strengthen the back at home

Exercise one - hip bridge

How? Lay on your back, bend your legs. Feet pressed to the floor, are at a distance equal to the width of your hips. Hands are relaxed, lie along the body. Tighten your gluteal muscles and, lifting your pelvis off the floor, lift your hips up. Be careful to keep your body in a perfectly straight line between your knees and shoulders. Hold the position for a few seconds and slowly lower yourself back to the floor. The bridge is performed 12-13 times.

Why is this needed? This exercise is a counterbalance to the sitting position (which is very relevant in our time), which puts too much pressure on the spine. We stretch the muscles of the thighs, stabilizing both the spine (mostly in the lumbar region) and the muscles of the abs and abdomen (by the way, the exercise helps to get rid of the hated protruding tummy).

How to make the exercise more difficult? Lift one leg and stretch it up towards the ceiling. The foot remains in a bent position, there is no need to “pull the toes”. Make sure both thighs are at the same level. This is much more difficult - try to hold on like this for a few seconds, slowly lower yourself to the floor and repeat the same 5-8 times with the second leg.

Exercise two - "Dog and Bird"

We start like a dog - on all fours. Knees hip-width apart, hands palms fully pressed to the floor, shoulder-width apart. Tighten your abdominal muscles and pull your stomach in so that your back does not bend and your hips do not move.

Now we stand in the “bird” position - we stretch the right leg back and the left arm forward. Hold this for 2-3 seconds, or more if you are still able to stand still. Change your leg and arm. Repeat five or six times.

Why is this needed? This exercise maintains muscle tone and improves coordination, which strengthens the spine, makes the gait firmer and stabilizes the work of the back muscles in case you lead an active lifestyle every day and cause your spine to overexert themselves without noticing it - dancing, walking, running, caring for a small , mobile child.

How to make the exercise more difficult? Gradually increase the time of "holding" the position of the "bird" to 10-12 seconds. Add load, periodically slowly raising and lowering the leg and arm.

Exercise three - plank on the side

How? We lay down on the right side, stretch the body in one straight line. We rest our elbows on the floor. Make sure your elbow is directly under your shoulder. Slightly straining the abdominal muscles, we tear off the hips from the floor. The neck is extended in line with the spine. You need to hold this position for 20-40 seconds. Then, turn over and repeat the same on the other side.

Why is this needed? This exercise increases endurance, strengthens muscles and stabilizes the lower vertebrae, and protects you from daily physical overload (especially if you spend all day on your feet).

How to make the exercise more difficult? While holding the basic position described above, slowly lift your leg up and down for 5-6 counts. Tip for those who are especially patient - keep your body not on your elbow, but resting on the floor with your palm. We do not bend the arm at the elbow, the palm is strictly under the shoulder.

Exercise four - lunges

How? Slightly tensing your abdominal muscles, step forward with your right foot. Hands on hips. The step should be large enough. The leg is bent at an angle of 90 degrees and the thigh is parallel to the floor. Do the exercise 8-10 times.

After lunging with your right leg, return to a standing position and do the same with your left leg.

Why is this needed? Lunges improve coordination, which is key to spinal health while walking, running, climbing stairs, and standing for long periods of time. Also, the exercise stabilizes the muscles of the buttocks, which is also good news.

How to make the exercise more difficult? Try immediately after the classic straight lunges to do diagonal lunges. What for? This change in leg position will force you to put in more effort to keep your balance.

After a few hard workouts, try holding your hands behind your head while lunging, or holding dumbbells in your hands to increase resistance.

The main thing is to remember that without an elastic and strong muscle corset, our spine is daily subjected to monstrous loads. This is not immediately noticeable, but by adulthood, ligaments, cartilage, and intervertebral discs are seriously worn out. From this, an ugly hump arises in old age. Any "interruptions" in the work of the back drag along a whole bunch of diseases - from arthritis to poor vision.

A beautiful back and a healthy spine are grace, a thin, well-defined, toned silhouette and a confident gait. So, let your back not experience technical difficulties - it still has to endure you until old age! And daily 15-20 minutes of light exercise will save you from any painful surprises up to old age!

Performing the above exercises will be enough to strengthen the back muscles and relieve pain, but for the most active I will show 15 more interesting exercises for the back muscles. It will be very useful for office workers.

A set of exercises to strengthen the muscles of the back, helping to get rid of pain

Regardless of your age, you can experience discomfort in the lower back if you spend a lot of time in a sitting position. I also had this problem, and I decided to find simple but effective exercises to strengthen the back muscles.

At first I bought a horizontal bar for the office, I thought hanging on the crossbar would help solve the problem, but this did not help. To be honest, it became easier for me when I started deadlifting a barbell with a weight of 100 kg, only then I was let go. But after a long break, I immediately took 140 kg and started to hurt my back again. Therefore, you should not immediately take large weights and give a load without prior preparation. Below you will learn how to deal with pain in an easier way and strengthen your back muscles.

I must say right away that with increased pain every day, it is better to immediately go to the doctor. And with stable discomfort, strengthening the back muscles may well help.

Simple back exercises

Sarpasana

Another name for the exercise is snake pose. This is a good preventative yoga exercise for the back. Keep your legs together and stretch your shoulders up as much as possible.

The exercises are similar to those used by chiropractors in their practice, but it is safer and performed without effort from the outside. When performing, you should try not to tear your shoulders off the floor, but touch the opposite side with your knee.

Lying with your back on the floor, clasp your knees with your hands and pull them to your chest, while you can tear off the lower back from the floor. In this position, you need to freeze for 15-30 seconds.

Fitball stretches

This is a more exotic exercise, due to the fact that you need equipment in the form of a fitball. Everything is simple here, you need to lie with your stomach on the ball and relax your back muscles. You can lie in this position as long as you like.

This is an even simpler exercise. Here you need to place the legs above the back to supply blood to the lower back and reduce pain.

Hyperextension stretches

Hyperextension exercises will help strengthen the erectors of the back. Raise your torso up so that it forms a straight line with your legs and stay in this position for 15-30 seconds. You can also do this exercise dynamically.

Hip stretch

In the starting position, lying on your back, bend one leg at the knee and place the other under it. Pull your legs towards your chest to stretch your hips and back muscles.

Deadlift

This exercise is suitable for the more advanced who visit the gym and do not have back problems. This exercise is great for developing back straighteners. But it must be done before the back pain appears, that is, it must be used as a preventive, not therapeutic.

Exercise "prayer"

To avoid back pain, it is necessary to keep in good shape not only the back muscles, but also the press. With the help of the “prayer” exercise, you can strengthen the abdominal muscles with almost no load on the back.

Hyperextension on fitball

And again exercise with the ball. If you have a fitball and you don’t like to visit the gym, then you are lucky again, there is an opportunity to replace hyperextension and strengthen the back straighteners. Everything is simple here, in the initial position of the hand behind the head, bend down, stretching the muscles of the back, then rise up and so on for several repetitions.

The exercise is very similar to the previous ones, but we change the angle of inclination a little. By changing the angle of inclination, the pros are able to shift the load on different muscle groups. You can accept it as a choice of a convenient option. Most likely there is no such simulator at home, but it can be found in any gym. And at home, you can do it lying on the floor. The dynamics will be less but you will still be able to work out the back muscles.

Pelvic lift

And again, the rise of the pelvis, I already talked about it at the beginning of the article. From a supine position, push your pelvis up and hold in this position. If everything is in order with the back and there is a desire to progress, then you can put weight on the stomach to complicate the exercise.

Breaks at work

And here we come to the most important advice in the fight against back pain in office workers. Be sure to take breaks every hour. Get up out of your chair and do some stretching. You can do inclinations, squat with arms extended forward. You can just get up, walk around and back to work if you are afraid that colleagues will look askance at you. But, on the other hand, do you want to avoid back pain or do you need colleagues not to look at you with a smile? Here the choice is yours, but remember that you and your colleagues will feel back pain. Recommended: . Good luck!