Last year, I went through a terrible bout of back pain that severely limited my movement and left me feeling quite low. It was lower back pain resulting from pushing myself too hard during workouts, driven by over confidence rather than caution. I trained 6 days a week – bro-split followed by a 20-40 mins of run on a treadmill. Well, doing a 120 KG deadlift and running after that within an hour was probably not a good combo and I ended up injuring my lower back.
Consequently I had problems with basic movements (getting up from the bed felt like a achievement) and sometimes it also hurt when I was breathing, I literally cursed myself for over training and due to the horrible pain I was going through. I went to doctor, and they did a basic diagnosis and a Xray which luckily didn’t show anything major, and I was sent back home with diagnosis of muscular tension and was advised to use ice and heat pack, and complete rest for 3 months. Though I tried to follow the advice for couple of days, but my resilient mind set didn’t allow me to be the slave of the situation. I said to myself that “I have had enough rest and now it is time to cure this, and only resting will not help”, same day I gathered some metal strength to put some work. I started looking for the exercise that can help me strengthen my back muscles and I was fortunate to find these 4 exercises on the internet.
It is necessary to have good rest after any injury, but mobility exercise followed by rest will help you recover faster
A note of caution – I am not a certified trainer but an experienced person who tries to learn by doing – so please don’t follow these exercises blindly – try to do your own math for reps and sets after testing it for a day or two and don’t forget to thank me in the comment if it does the magic for you.
1. Dead bug:
I found this exercise in one of the YouTube video and also there is a very informative blog on it by Cult fitness. Trust me this exercise works likes a miracle if done properly, I continued doing this exercise for 1 month and back pain started to alleviate right after 2 days of doing it and it just vanished after 15-20 days.
2. Superman:
This is another good exercise which stabilizes your core and back muscles, can help you a lot to cure your back pain. There are many different variations of it, but I would advise to start with basic version first, where you can lift both the hands and legs together and later you can do it with alternate legs which is bit advance version.
Be careful while doing it and don’t over do it, if your body can’t bear the tension in the beginning then do it for few seconds and gradually increase the time.
3. Glute bridges:
Glute bridge is another great exercise that can help you relieve the back pain, basically it engages your glute muscles and strengthens it with time and thus reducing the stress and tension in the back muscles. Engage your core and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips toward the ceiling, creating a straight line from shoulders to knees. Hold for a few seconds, then lower slowly. Consistent practice can improve hip mobility and reduce strain on the lower back.
4. Bird dog:
Bird dog is a joint friendly exercise, and it is suitable for various fitness levels. It enhances core stability and strength, which is crucial for back support. And it also Strengthens lower back muscles, reducing pain while improving overall balance and coordination.
Apart from this I started doing plank, split squats, back extension and hip mobility exercise regularly after this injury, and never did I have back pain again. In most cases back pain is caused by the weak core and hip muscles which puts more strain on back muscle, during the weightlifting exercises, so be careful and follow this pro tips to stay fit and prevent injuries.
Some pro tip to avoid back pain in general.
1. Do only one heavy compound lift in a day, unless you are preparing for some competition with deadly supplements and steroids.
2. Listen to your body and take rest between the workout or sport days, Sport is also a kind of workout.
3. Work on your core, do core exercises at least once or twice a week. Core exercises are not only for building abs, but they are also required for strengthening the core.
4. Stop exercising for couple of days, when you feel strain on muscles, and apply warm pad or try icing to increase the blood circulation at the affected muscles.
I have spent significant amount of time to bring you this article, I would be grateful if you can share your feedback on this article and also share it with needy ones. Please feel free to add any other exercise in comment section that has worked for you to cure the back pain.
Pingback: Got a back pain? Here are few simple tips to cure it. – JavikQuest