Back Pain and Your Workouts

We all know the benefits from exercise. Unfortunately, there may be times that your workouts may be leading to back pain. If you find your workouts are leading to back pain, then you can try these tips.

Let me first discuss back pain. If you are constantly in serious pain then please consult your physician. Back pain can be debilitating and make sure your back problem is not from a a condition that can only be treated by a physician, this is very important. The good news about back pain from your workout is there are some tips that you can follow that may help eliminate the back problem you may be having from your workouts.

Back Pain Tip 1: Improve Your Exercise Technique

Compound exercises (squats, dead lifts, bench press, standing shoulder press), are great for developing your body, but if you have improper exercise technique, then your compound exercise workouts will cause back pain. These are some great exercises but you should not perform them until you have the exercise technique down. Get all the information needed, watch videos, or ask a professional trainer show you the technique. I also recommend doing these exercises with a weight belt, especially when the weight starts increasing. A weight belt will help you with back stabilization during your workouts. It isn't until you feel comfortable with your technique that you should add these exercises to your workouts to avoid getting any back pain.

Back Pain Tip 2: Strengthen Your Core

You can performing all your exercises with perfect form and still develop back pain from your workouts. The problem is from having weak core muscles. The major muscles of the core include the transverse abdominals, external/internal obliques, rectus abdominals, and erector spinae.

The problem most people have is a lack of muscle balance. I see people everyday working hard on their abs, but the majority of them do not have any exercises in their workouts for their lower back. Muscle balance, for an example, is front and back. For example, biceps and triceps, hamstrings and quads, and your abs and lower back together to form the core. If you train just your abs then a back problem could eventually occur. You must perform exercises for your lower back in your workouts.

Something else in your workouts that may be causing back pain is your ab exercises itself. If you perform crunches, sit ups, or any other exercise with straight legs, then you could be causing back pain. A great way to avoid this is to use and exercise ball. Doing crunches on an exercise ball keeps your lower back in its natural state, so there is no unwanted tension as there is with crunches/sit-ups done on the floor. A complete core workout will help avoid back pain from your workouts.

Back pain Tip 3: Stretch

We all know we should do this but did you realize how important it is to avoiding back pain. The importance of doing stretches in your workouts will only help you avoid back pain. When doing stretching before your workouts remember, always warm up with some type of cardio exercise for 5-10 minutes before you actually stretch. You do not want to stretch a cold muscle. Stretching after your workouts is a good way to cool down and help to prevent some of the muscle soreness that can occur from workouts.

Conclusion

You can avoid back pain from your workouts by improving technique, strenghtening your core, and stretching. These three tips can help avoid back pain that workouts can sometimes give us and allow you to get results pain free!

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