Low Back Strengthening

LOW BACK TRAINING || One of favorite exercises for increasing the strength of the low back are Seated Good Mornings. Now you may think that doing anything seated makes the exercise a lot easier, but sometimes we use seated positions for a purpose.

For Good Mornings, the seated position takes out a major player → hamstrings + glutes. So when you sit the exercises focuses more on your low back & middle + lower traps. We will still use the glutes & hamstrings to create stability.

Use a bench/box to sit on & grab a barbell (BB) → in my case a fishing pole. Place the BB near the base of the neck, on the meaty part on top of your shoulders. You will need appropriate shoulder + thoracic mobility to hold the BB. If you don’t you can hold a plate on your chest, but this changes your center of gravity. Place your heels directly under your knees, shins perpendicular to ground. These are your pillars of strength + stability.

Lower your chest down to hover above your knees by hinging at your hips, not your middle or low back! Use your middle + lower traps to retract & depress your shoulder blades to stabilize your upper half. No lower rib flare! Drive heels into ground to activate lower abs + hamstrings. Inhale while lowering down & exhale will coming up. Return to upright starting position, no leaning backwards.

Avoid → Rounding upper or lower back, losing activation in core, and not breathing!