Back training is becoming more and more important in our time, in which back pain has become a popular complaint. Nevertheless, compared to other muscle groups, the back is often neglected during training. Back training is very important for health and fitness – not only for our appearance or sports activities, but also for our everyday life. The spine is permanently exposed to pressure, shear and tensile stress. If these are not absorbed by trained back and abdominal muscles, overload syndromes, tension and bad posture quickly creep in.
Back training from home
Even though there are now a large number of fitness studios and back training courses, back training can also be done well at home. Back training is particularly effective and intensive with small equipment, such as dumbbells and barbells, Theraband, or gymnastics ball. For example, the following two exercises are suitable:1) The practitioner takes a Theraband and looks for the middle.
He stands on it about waist-wide. The two ends of the Theraband are crossed over and held at chest level with one hand each. The elbows are bent 90° so that upper and lower arms form a right angle.
The knees are slightly bent and the upper body with straight spine is slightly tilted forward. The task now is to stretch the arms upwards and thus straighten the spine against the resistance of the Therband. The maximum stretching should be held for 3 seconds before the user is allowed to lean forward again in a controlled and slow manner.
It is important for this exercise that the practitioner tenses the abdomen and avoids a hollow back. Therefore, it makes sense to do this exercise in front of a mirror. There are 3 sets of 10 repetitions each.
2) The practitioner sits on a gymnastic ball adapted to the body size. (The size of the ball is optimal if the practitioner can put both feet on the floor while sitting upright and the upper and lower legs can form a 90° angle) Now the practitioner slowly rolls backwards until both his shoulder blades are in contact with the Pezzi ball. The feet move forward so that the upper and lower legs form a right angle.
At first the practitioner tries to keep his balance in this position. It helps to tense the stomach and stretch the arms to the side. When the practitioner feels secure, he stretches his arms upwards in the air instead of to the sides.
Slowly the practitioner can then try to lower his arms behind his head and hold them in this position for 10 seconds. Afterwards, the hands should be brought forward again and stretched upwards over the head. Three sets of 10 repetitions are performed.
Back training can be done just as effectively at home without a machine. All that is needed is some space and a gymnastic mat. An exercise that exercises the entire back of the body and strengthens the lumbar spine is as follows: 1) The exerciser lies on his gymnastics mat in prone position.
The legs are stretched long backwards; the arms are stretched forward. Now it is the task to simultaneously lift arms, legs and head from the mat and hold this position for 5 x 15 seconds at first. The gaze is always directed towards the mat so that the cervical spine remains in extension of the spine and is not overstretched.
It is important that the practitioner breathes consistently and evenly and tenses the abdomen. If the exercise is too easy, the time can be extended or the arms and legs can be moved dynamically up and down. 2) Another very effective exercise for back training without equipment is the following full body exercise.
The exerciser stands up about hip-wide and knees slightly. It is important that the buttocks are pushed backwards and the spine is straight. The knees must not protrude over the tips of the toes.
In this position the arms are stretched forward and small up and down movements are made (=heeling). The cervical spine is stretched so that the gaze is directed forward and downwards. Practice for 30 seconds first, then take a break. If possible, perform 5 repetitions.
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