Back Workouts
A Look At Different Types Of Back Workouts
There are various back workouts you can experiment with and depending upon what your goal is you may eventually settle on a specific workout routine or alternate between two or more types of workouts. We'll take a look at two goals and the workouts associated with working towards those goals. One goal is working to promote a healthy back and avoiding back pain, the second goal is developing the back muscles, in other words, strength training and/or bodybuilding. Before getting into either of these topics, let's take a look at the anatomy of the back to better understand what we're dealing with.
The Anatomy Of The Back - The Spine- An understanding of the back's anatomy is helpful in understanding the benefits to be gained from various exercises, be they stretching, relaxation, or working with weights. The primary anatomical feature of the back is the spinal column. The spinal column has two major functions, one being to protect the spinal cord, which runs down its center, the other being to support the upper weight of the body. The spinal column consists of a stack of over 30 bones, called the vertebrae, which are separated by structures of cartilage called inter vertebral discs, or simply spinal discs. These discs help make our back flexible in movement. Ligaments and tendons keep everything in place and also serve to attach various muscles to the spinal column.
The spine has 7 vertebrae in the neck (the cervical vertebrae), 12 in the upper back (thoracic vertebrae) and 5 in the lower back (the lumbar vertebrae). The lumbar vertebrae do most of the work in supporting the weight of the upper body, so are those receiving the greatest stress, and also those contributing to most episodes of back pain.
Pilates Back Workouts - There are three relatively simple Pilates back workouts designed to stretch and strengthen the back muscles. Breathing is an important part of these exercises. The Cat Stretch and Upper Back Extension are performed with 4 breaths, while the Opposite Arm and Leg Reaches are performed using 2 breaths.
The Cat Stretch is sometimes called the "Angry Cat" as, starting on your hands and knees, you arch your back as an angry cat would. You begin with an inhale, tighten your abdominal muscles and curl your back upwards, with an exhale, inhale and hold the position, then exhale and reverse the movement, ending with a horizontal back. This exercise is usually repeated at lest 4 times.
Straightening of the spine is worked on with Opposite Arm and Leg Reaches. Still on all fours, inhale, and then as you exhale extend one arm and the opposite leg straight out, lifting g them slightly. Inhale and return to all fours and on the next exhale, lift the other arm and opposing leg and reach out with your fingers and toes. Do this 3 times on each side.
For the Upper Back Extension you get to relax (for a moment anyway) and lie face down. Placing your feet together and at the sides of your shoulders, inhale, then with your exhale draw your shoulders up and towards your back, extending your upper body and neck off the floor. Inhale and hold the position and with the next exhale, return to the original position. You want to keep your abs tight during the entire exercise, which should be performed at least 4 times. These are great back workouts for the upper back and shoulders.
Yoga Back Workouts - Through various and sometimes complex poses and breathing techniques, the goal here is to provide physical and mental benefits, but in this case, specifically benefits to the back. In most exercises both back muscles and abdominal muscles are worked as they complement one another in the workings of the spinal muscular groups. Back pain is often avoided when these muscle groups are well conditioned through stretching. Not only the back and abdominal muscles are necessarily involved. Stretching the hamstring muscles helps to decrease stress across the lower back.
Three yoga poses are designed specifically to address the back and should be considered in any regimen of back workouts. Examined closely, these exercises closely resemble the Pilates exercises described above, but with a bit of a twist. For one thing, the positions are usually held somewhat longer in a yoga workout.
The Cat Pose is identical to the Cat Stretch in Pilates, with special attention played to breathing and holding the pose a bit longer. The Cobra Pose is similar to the Upper Back Extension exercise in Pilates. The third yoga exercise, the Knee To Chest Pose is done by lying on the back and relaxing. Then slowly bring one knee up to the chest, grip the back of the leg with both hands, and pull the knee closer to the chest, holding for 15 seconds. This stretches the hamstring and also works the lower back muscles. Doing the Knee To Chest Pose to supplement the 3 Pilates exercises will give you a good back workout. (continued...)