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People are suffering from back pain and back injuries at a much younger age than in the past. Many things adults my age did as kids are coming back to haunt us in our adult life. Simple things like spending countless hours on a trampoline were not things we ever thought could land us in a surgical suite a few years down the line. For instance, jumping on a trampoline places a lot of compression on your spine every time you land. This compressive force is not that good for our spine health and can lead to herniated discs that can cause nerve pain or permanent damage. I myself have had to have surgery on my back in my early 30s due to a huge herniated disc that unfortunately led to some mild lingering nerve damage in my left leg. This herniated disc was not due to an acute injury, but due to years of unknown abuse to my spine as a child and adult.
Some things to avoid if you already have back pain/problems
Your going to want to avoid putting a heavy load on your spine. This means ANYTHING that places a compressive vertical load on your spine such as simply standing with heavy dumbbells or placing a heavy barbell on your shoulders for squats. This is why I don’t recommend heavy squats, deadlifts or bent over rows. It is ok to perform these exercises (unless you’ve had back surgery like myself), just don’t go crazy with the weight and make sure you are using PERFECT form! I can’t stress perfect form enough. If you aren’t sure if your form is perfect or not, grab a physical therapist or trainer at your gym, or just google it.
You also want to avoid loading your spine with bending or twisting movements as these place unnecessary stress on the spine as well. Things like weighted back extensions, machines that work your obliques in a twisting motion or simple abdominal crunches. In fact, if you’re still doing crunches or any version of crunches, you should read up because I will explain why these exercises are not only outdated, they are wasting your time and are detrimental to your spine health.
There are ways to work EVERY muscle in your body without placing an excessive load on your spine. I do back safe exercises whenever I work out and make sure my back is stable when performing non-back exercises. It may take some work and discovery on your part, but you can find something that you like and isn’t going to bother your back or land you on a surgeons table.
How to prevent back pain/problems
As above, make sure you are using perfect form at all times. Many of you probably read that top section and thought “I thought pretty much all the exercises he just warned me about were good for my back?”. When done properly, with perfect form, and moderate weight (not HEAVY) in someone who doesn’t already have back issues, yes, they can be very beneficial. You will, however, see some controversial studies on some of the exercises in regards to spinal health and longevity. A good example is the back extension. It places a load on your spine unnecessarily and actually teaches you HORRIBLE form. It is good to strengthen the paraspinal muscles (small muscles around the spine that can help stabilize it and bring it to an erect position), but this particular exercise is exactly how you DON’T want to pick something up from the floor for example (legs straight and bending at the back). You’ve always heard “lift with your legs” and you’ve heard correctly. So strengthening these muscles with this particular exercise sometimes leads people to subconsciously use this horrible form when bending over and picking up objects (or just bending over period). Squats, however, teach you good form and are a great exercise, but placing a load on your spine to do them is not advised (I recommend body weight variations).
Another huge area that I see people failing at all the time in regards to spine health is their abdominal workouts. Crunches, and most of their variations, are an outdated and bad exercise for many reasons. You’re bending your spine just how we discussed not to (repetitively) and sometimes under a load (weighted crunches for instance). This particular exercise only works the rectus anyway (commonly known as the sick/eight pack). These muscles are tiny and contribute little to core strength or stability of the trunk/spine. You can do 10,000 crunches a day and still not see your abs if you have too much body fat or if the underlying musculature is poor (i.e. the transverse muscles and others). The rectus sits on top of the transverse abdominals, which are one of the major trunk stabilizers in the body and a great contributor to core strength. Increased core strength and stability has a direct correlation with your lifespan and even your ability to survive a car accident (seriously). You don’t gain core strength from crunches. You gain core strength from stabilization exercises like the plank. If the core is strong (especially transverse abs), it will “push out” the rectus, making your abs really pop and look amazing. Leg lifts can train the rectus without placing an improper curvature on your spine (if done correctly with the pelvic tilt). Exercises like the plank also train the paraspinal muscles and the muscles of the low back and can help stave off back pain and also contribute to core strength.
I do a variation of plank that I made up by combining multiple exercises and I only do this exercise once per week. You don’t need to train your abdominals any more than once (4-6 sets) per week if you do it right. EMG data suggests that a hyperextension plank offers the most abdominal muscle activation (more muscle activation is what we are after with any exercise) but the jury is still out regarding the efficacy or accuracy (how effective) of the data we gather from EMG is in regards to building muscle and muscle activation. I am hoping to possibly do a video showing exactly how I do my plank variation in the near future.
In summary
If you want to prevent or not worsen back pain issues here are a few pointers regarding your workouts.
- Avoid placing a load/weight on your spine
- If you do place a load on your spine, use PERFECT FORM and use a moderate or light weight (bodyweight is preferred as this doesn’t place a load on your spine)
- Avoid bending/twisting movements under tension (such as some oblique machines)
- Ditch the old, injury prone and simply ineffective crunches and focus on exercises that build legitimate core strength
- Don’t overwork your abdominals, they are a small muscle group and overworking them will not increase their size/strength, but will place unnecessary stress on your spine