How to get a stronger back

JUST as how a structure built with a good foundation can support a heavy load, a strong back can support your body weight as well as day-to-day activities.

Rohan Gordon, personal trainer at Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa, said a good and strong back can help and protect the spine better than a back that has not been conditioned through exercise.

He explained that exercises tailored for the back can be done by flexibility and strength training, which help to avoid or minimise back injury.

“It also helps with the severity of injury and if the spine is traumatised the exercises provide back pain relief in many cases. There are back exercises that can help to create support and strengthen the spinal column, supporting muscle groups, ligaments, and tendons,” he said.

Gordon added that the exercises also work the abdominal (stomach) muscles, gluteus (buttocks) and hip muscles and help to align the spine, while facilitating movements that extend or twist the spine.

According to the personal trainer, exercises for the back can be done using an exercise ball which is designed to strengthen the muscles that support the spine.

Exercises suited for strengthening the back include:

Front walkout

Gordon said this exercise must be done by placing the chest on the exercise ball and walking forward on hands as far as possible, while rolling the exercise ball from chest towards feet and keeping the stomach muscles tight to keep the lower back flat. “Move the exercise ball to the knees then the feet, while walking with your hands out and back to the starting position. Do four sets of 10 walk hands back to starting position,” he said.

Barbell deadlift

“It’s as much of a leg as a back exercise, but no matter — the deadlift puts the body in prime position to move maximum weight, engaging the strong muscles of the back, glutes and thighs, all in a straightforward effort to lift the barbell from the floor until you reach a standing position,” Gordon said. The personal trainer said you can do four sets of 10 with a weight that you can manage. He said the main areas targeted include upper, middle and lower back.

Seated cable row

The personal trainer said your back serves another notable function — to pull your shoulders backward, pinching your shoulder blades closer together in the process. He said a seated row is a quintessential method of performing this basic action versus resistance. “With the four sets of 10 with a weight you can manage, the main area this will work is the middle back,” Gordon said.

One-arm dumbbell row

“As indicated above, any number of rowing movements help with back training. With this exercise do four sets of 10 with a weight you can manage and work your mid-back,” he said.

Pulldown

Gordon said the pulldown machine pinpoints the lats (broadest muscle of the back), helping forge width and depth that make the very best developed backs visible from the front. “As usual do four sets of 10 with a weight that you can manage. This targets the outer back.”

Bent-over barbell row

“Give a man nothing but a barbell, weights and plenty of protein, water and veggies, and you can build a world-class bodybuilding physique. One of the exercises he’ll surely do is the bent-over barbell row, which will expand the back in every direction, from the inner musculature out to the edge of the lats. It’s a can’t-miss, all-in-one powerhouse of a motion, which targets the mid-back. Do four sets of 10 with a weight you can manage,” Gordon said.

Gordon said these exercises can be very difficult to perform and should be guided with the help of an appropriately trained physical trainer, wellness officer, therapist, chiropractor, certified athletic trainer, exercise physiologist or physiatrist, after you have consulted a physician.