Keeping in shape is critically important. Most of us focus on keeping our legs, arms, and core healthy and fit, but there is one key area we always seem to forget to work on–our back. Our back needs just as much exercise and attention as the other parts of our bodies do. A number of different exercises strengthen our backs, but the following two workouts are the best exercises to show the quickest results when you want to strengthen your back.
How to Strengthen Your Back Through Gentle Exercise
Your back is half of your entire core and making sure you work on strengthening those muscles is important to overall balance and wellness, but also injury prevention. Moreover, if you have previously suffered an injury and are rebuilding your overall strength, the right exercises will make all the difference.
It’s important to choose gentle exercise to strengthen your back. This is particularly true at first. However, you can build up from the basics as you get stronger. The key is to progress gradually and safely. It’s always a good idea to speak with your doctor before getting started. That way, you’ll know exactly what is safe for you and at what pace you can progress.
Exercises to Strengthen Your Back
The following are some basic exercises to strengthen your back in a gentle and gradual way. Remember to start slow and make sure that they are appropriate for you even before you get going.
The Hip Bridge
The hip bridge is one of the easier and most effective exercises for your back. No matter if you are a novice or a newbie, you can do this exercise with little to no trouble at all. This exercise focuses on your hips as well as your lower-, middle-, and even your upper-back muscles. To do this exercise, you just keep your arms at your sides, your legs apart at hips’ width, and your feet flat. With your knees bent, lift up and squeeze your buttocks and hold this for 30 seconds. This can be repeated five or ten times and can gradually be extended up to one minute.
Bird Dog
This is another great exercise to do and can also be performed whether you are new or a veteran at exercising. This exercise targets your back down to your buttocks. To do this simple workout, you just get on your hands and knees. Keep your knees spread apart at hips’ width and underneath your hips. You must have your hands flat on the floor and at shoulders’ width apart. Next, squeeze your abdomen and pull your belly up to your spine. Do not arch your back or rotate your hips. Now you extend your right leg back and your left arm straight up. Repeat this with your other arm and leg. This can be repeated three times each.
Caring for Yourself
If you want a strong back, you always need to make sure to do your back-strengthening exercises. Our backs endure the same amount of stress and endurance as the rest of our body, so we should focus some TLC on our backs as well.
Get ready to see the results quickly when you do these two effective back-strengthening exercises. Still, try not to rush things, as you might be inclined to do as you see your results moving fast. Pace yourself. Remember that it’s better to slow your progress just slightly in favor of avoiding injury that would greatly reduce your progress overall. Give these top exercises that strengthen your back a try and see how you feel after your first workout!