Introduction
The most common form of back pain is in the area of the lumbar spine. Lack of exercise, incorrect posture, sedentary work and incorrect loads in sports lead to complaints in the lumbar spine area. Since these muscles are hardly used in everyday movements, they are underdeveloped in most cases.
One-sided strains in sports such as serve in tennis lead to muscular imbalances and put additional strain on the lumbar spine. Hyperextension is an optimal exercise for strengthening the lower back muscles in addition to cross lifting. Cross-lifting is not suitable for the area of fitness and health due to the high coordinative demands and the associated risks.
However, the broad back muscle (M. latissimus dorsi) cannot be trained with the exercise of hyperextension. The latissimus dorsi muscle is suitable for the muscles of the upper back. The athlete lies on the machine and the feet are fixed.
In order to ensure a favourable working angle of the upper body, the hip is closed with the device. In the starting position, the upper body and legs form a line. The hands are put on the ear.
The view is directed downwards. The upper body is held by the contraction of the lower back muscles and the ischiocrural muscles. In the yielding phase, the upper body is lowered until upper body and legs form an approximate right angle.
The tension of the muscles is maintained continuously. In the overcoming phase, the upper body is brought back into the starting position. The execution of the movement is slow.
In order to increase the load, a weight is often held with the hands on the chest. Due to overloading, however, this is not advisable. Note: during the contraction phase, the upper body is not moved upwards further than parallel to the floor.
In most gyms this can be easily controlled with the help of a mirror. As shown in the figure, the exercise can also be performed in static form. The athlete lies flat on the floor and lifts arms and legs in a controlled manner.
