Whether you suffer from back pain or not, I recommend these some exercises to do daily.
It takes no more than five minutes and can prevent or cure pain.
I will constantly defend the idea that in bodybuilding, the most effective exercises are often the simplest .
Indeed, the simple exercises are "natural" and are close to the movements of everyday life. They help us to live better, without suffering.
They teach us to behave properly. Few people manage to maintain good posture.
Why ? Because good posture requires a solid abdominal strap, and few people make the effort to maintain it.
Let's look at the way a pre-teen holds himself. Standing and sitting, your pelvis, back, shoulders and head trace a perfect line .
This is what Alexander calls the "primary control" of posture. But this alignment deteriorates during adolescence:with age, lumbago appear.
Our goal is to reconnect with this primary control . Our tools? Simple and natural movements to build muscle while making us more flexible. Here we go!
1. Let's stand up. Let's stand in profile to a mirror and observe our posture :
- Is it straight?
- Does our pelvis move forward (arched back) or backward (round back)?
Let's try to answer these questions, without modifying anything for the moment.
2. Let's try to correct this posture by imagining that your head is hanging on an invisible thread , and the rest of the body hangs from this thread.
Let's make sure to find an alignment feet-pelvis-back-shoulders as perfect as possible.
This sometimes requires heavy muscular effort in the lower back and abdominals, but this is the price to pay to regain an irreproachable posture, without pain and incomparably more aesthetic.
Exercise duration:1 min
Once our stature is satisfactory, bend the legs very slightly and bring the hands to the temples.
Let's pull the elbows back slightly so that they are in the same plane as our bust.
Be careful not to arch.
Firmly tighten your abdominal strap (abdominal and lumbar) then very slowly lean our bust forward:
- Let's check in the ice that your back is not rounded , which would compromise the entire success of the exercise.
- In case of pain or if the exercise is too intense in the back, let's stop going down.
- If we can, let's continue until we have the bust at 45 degrees from the horizontal, or even horizontal.
Let's go up slowly while exhaling until standing, taking care not to arch your back at the end of the movement. Again, ice cream is our friend!
Depending on the sensations, repeat the movement five to twenty times, in two series.
In addition to strengthening the lumbar and abdominal muscles, this exercise works the glutes, the back of the thighs and the upper back (to keep the elbows pulled back).
Two sets of 5 to 20 reps
Exercise duration:1 to 3 min
From its Sanskrit name "uttanasana", this exercise allows a stretching of the entire dorsal chain :neck, back, lower back, buttocks, hamstrings and calves.
It relaxes the muscles used during standing and good morning.
1. Let's go back to the standing position as described above.
2. Let's gently release the cervical in order to tilt the head forward. Relax the top of the spine so as to tilt the shoulders forward, then gradually the middle and finally the lower back. The trunk, head and arms now hang in front of the thighs.
3. Let's keep the low position for about fifteen seconds.
4. Slightly bend the knees then, pushing on the legs and exhaling, straighten the bottom of the spine, then the middle and finally the top .
5. Finally, let's raise our head vertically. We thus find the standing position. Let's check in the ice that the pelvis, back and shoulders are always correctly placed, without arching.
Repeat this movement twice, holding 15 seconds in the down position
Exercise duration:1 min
The session is over.
It will have lasted less than 5 min and, after three to four days, we will feel certain benefits on our posture.
And above all, any pain will disappear.
Even when young and in the prime of life, it is important to invest in the future and to practice these movements at least three times a week.
You'll be thanking me in twenty years!
