Introduction
In order to do an effective and intensive back training, a fitness studio equipment is not necessarily required. The back muscles can also be brought into shape solely by using your own body weight and gravity. For this purpose, sufficient space at home in the apartment or house, or a meadow outdoors for outdoor training is sufficient. You can find out here which back exercises you can easily do at home without any equipment: Back training at home – These are the exercises
What are the different training goals?
With the training goals, there are different priorities that can be set with the training of the back. Back training without equipment can be done for preventive reasons. This means that the muscles of the back should be strengthened with targeted exercises.
Functional exercises should strengthen all the muscles of the back. In addition, mobility and coordination should be improved in order to prevent injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Strength endurance training can be done to improve general strength endurance.
The aim is to maintain a certain strength over as long a period of time as possible. Furthermore, a muscle building training can be carried out, where the goal is to achieve the most voluminous muscles possible. Here, high weights are used and the number of repetitions is low compared to the other two variants.
A further goal can be the sport-specific training of the back muscles. In this case, exercises are used that the athlete also performs in the regular sport. Thus, the sequence of movements and the development of strength should be optimized. A back training without equipment can be of interest for amateur and mass sportsmen and women, but also for competitive athletes.
Which exercises are available without equipment?
Different exercises for back training without equipment follow. One exercise for deep-lying muscle strands of the spine is the “Lumbar spine mobilization in supine position”. In the supine position, the legs are raised and the arms rest on the floor at the sides of the body.
The spinal column is in its physiological position. Now the lumbar spine is started to be pressed on the floor and the navel is pulled inwards. In this position the tension is maintained and then the spine is returned to its normal position.
This is repeated about 15 times in three sets. In “Superman” you are in the prone position and stretch your arms out to the front. Arms and legs rest on the floor, the gaze is directed towards the floor.
Now arms and legs are lifted from the floor at the same time. The thighs and shoulder girdle can also be lifted, depending on the level of strength. Beginners can first lift only the arms or the legs to reduce the load for the beginning.
The exercise can be further intensified by moving the arms and legs. Here the entire musculature of the lower and upper back is strengthened. Especially for the stability of the spine this exercise is highly recommended.
“The Bridge” is an exercise that can be performed in many variations and levels of difficulty. The starting position is the supine position with feet up. The arms and head are placed on the floor.
From this position the pelvis is lifted off the floor and raised as high as possible. There it is held for one second before it is lowered again towards the floor. The pelvis is not laid down but is raised again just before the floor for the next repetition.
This can be done up to 20 times in three sets. One variation is that the arms are crossed on the chest instead of providing stability on the sides of the floor. This makes the exercise more intensive.
Furthermore, the exercise can also be performed with one leg. The free leg can either be placed on the training leg or held freely in the air. The “quadruped” stand is not an exercise in itself, but it can serve as a starting position for functional back exercises.
A slightly strengthening, but mainly mobilizing exercise is the “WS Mobilization”. From the quadruped position, the navel is pressed towards the floor. The spine is guided downwards and its position is similar to that of a suspension bridge.
The movement is carried out slowly and held briefly at the end point. Then the movement reverses, so that the spine is returned to the starting position. Instead of stopping in the starting position, the movement is continued so that the spine curves upwards and resembles a cat’s hump.This change of the two positions “cat hump and suspension bridge” is done up to 20 times.
This strengthens the muscles between the individual vertebrae and mobilizes the entire spine. Another exercise from the four-footed position is the “diagonal extension”. Here the spine is held in its neutral position and the gaze is directed towards the floor.
Now the right arm and the left leg, as well as the left arm and the right leg are alternately stretched forward and backward, respectively, and then brought together under the body so that elbows and knees slightly touch. In the same way, a rotation in the thoracic spine can be performed from the quadruped position. The right arm is released from the floor and guided under the body to the left as far as possible.
Then the movement is reversed and the right arm is returned under the body and now also moved as far as possible to the upper right. Ideally, the hand points roughly in the direction of the ceiling. The head is always turned so that the view is permanently directed towards the moving hand.
Since the upper back has to work mainly in this exercise, the next exercise is aimed more at the muscles in the lumbar vertebrae and hips. From the four-footed position, the right and left leg is alternately lifted and stretched backwards. Then the legs are brought back under the body to the starting position.
In doing so, the entire torso maintains stability, the gaze is once again directed towards the floor. A variant of this exercise is the “hydrant”. Here, the bent leg is lifted laterally so that an external rotation takes place in the hip joint.
The movement should be carried out evenly and up to the limit of movement. Again, it is mainly the trunk muscles that provide stability during the exercise. Exercises that are well suited for the upper back and shoulders are called “lateral and frontal lifting”.
The starting position is the hip-wide stance. The arms rest against the side of the body, the head is in an upright position. In “side lifting”, the arms are now lifted sideways and brought up to shoulder level.
There they can be held for up to three seconds. Then the arms are lowered in a controlled manner, slower than when they are raised. It is important that the arms are lifted in the plane of the shoulder axis.
They should point exactly to the left and right when viewed from above. When “front lifting” the stretched arms are not lifted sideways but frontally, i.e. in front of the body. In both versions, the head remains upright and the entire upper body is stabilized so that no compensating movements occur.
Another exercise is the “Kickbacks”. The starting position is similar to the quadruped stand. However, the knees are raised in the air.
This makes this exercise very intensive. Beginners can practice this exercise first with knees in place. From the starting position mentioned above, first the right leg is stretched backwards and then the left leg is stretched upwards.
On the way back, the knee is extended to below the chest. After about 15 repetitions the leg is changed until both legs have completed three passes. Back stretching” trains and strengthens the entire extensor muscles of the spine.
The starting position is the shoulder width stand, the knees are slightly bent and the pelvis is slightly tilted backwards. The buttocks go to the back and the arms are led upwards, next to the head. The upper body is then lowered to the front, keeping the spine straight.
The upper body is only tilted forward so that the spine is always in extension. Now the upper body is guided upwards again to the starting position. When the upper body is lowered, the patient exhales; when raised, the patient inhales again evenly.
This exercise can also be completed up to twenty times in three sets. The “forearm support” and the “side support” are exercises that are more associated with the straight and lateral abdominal muscles. However, the back muscles are also trained during these exercises.
The forearm support is similar to a push-up in a bridge position with the face turned towards the floor. What is different is rather the support surface, which is located on the feet and forearms in the forearm support. This support position is held as long as possible so that a nice line can be seen from heel to shoulder.
Variations to increase the intensity of both exercises can now be introduced. For the forearm support, the feet can be alternately lifted off the floor briefly and put back on again. This can also be done with the arms.Very advanced athletes can lift their arms and legs in a diagonal direction.
In the case of lateral support, the support surface is composed of the outside of the lower foot and lower forearm. The elbow should be directly under the shoulder and the head should be stabilized as an extension of the spine. Here too, the task is to hold the position as long as possible.
To increase the difficulty, the upper arm can now be extended upwards. It is also possible to lift the upper leg in the stretched position. The most difficult variant is to lift the upper arm and upper leg in stretched position. Now the elbows and knees of the upper extremities are brought to the middle so that they touch each other. In this way the exercise can also be performed with repetition numbers.
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