Strengthening lower back...?

Paul Rudin said:

Jeremy Collins said:

OK, that's good. I only ever "feel the effects" of crunches
in my stomach muscles;

You're probably not doing them correctly, or not doing enough of them
then. See e.g.
<http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Crunches.htm?news>

You're right; I'm not doing the "hold & squeeze" bit at the
top of the crunch. Thanks for the link.

--
jc

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Jeremy Collins said:

Hi all,

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

If you can afford it, arrange a session with a postural physio (not a
personal trainer).

They'll assess if your doing something untoward to make your back hurt and
also give you exercises appropriate to your needs.

In my case it's worked wonders - had been seeing chiro every 6 weeks - now
haven't needed to go in 4 months mainly due to improving core strength,
learning new ways to do common things and having a differnt attitude towards
posture and the way I sit/ride and walk.

I found riding a 'bent help strengthen my lower back and abs

Jeremy Collins said:

Hi all,

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week and I'm wondering
if there's anything I can do while I'm there to help that
post-ride, slightly painful, stiffness?

I pretty sure my riding position is OK, I just have a
dodgy lower back!

Cheers,

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 14:22:02 GMT, Jeremy Collins
<[email hidden]> wrote (more or less):

Quoted message said:

Arthur Clune said:

Roos Eisma <[email hidden]> wrote:

: And keep in mind that a lot of back problems are caused by weak
: abdominals.

Very good point. I should have said "do sit ups" as well

That's interesting. I've been avoiding sit ups as I was
worried they'd make my back worse (I do crunches instead
when I have to, at my Tae Kwon Do class).

I'll do a few and see how it feels.

The key thing is to do leg raises or 'Superman's to balance your
situps or crunches.

You need to develop the lower back muscles in tandem with your
abdominals, or back problems lie ahead.

--
Cheers,
Euan
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Jeremy Collins said:

Hi all,

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week and I'm wondering
if there's anything I can do while I'm there to help that
post-ride, slightly painful, stiffness?

I pretty sure my riding position is OK, I just have a
dodgy lower back!

My wife had backpain a few years ago. It just came on.... So she was
given some exercises wherein you start on all fours with your knees
apart, arms straight. Bear with me.

You then rotate your hips to arch your back, keeping your neck in
line. Hold for 5s. Then rotate your hips the other way (as if you're
pushing your belly to the floor).

She does it fairly regularly and since then she's had no back pain at
all despite having a baby.

HTH

G

My lower back felt like its was going to snap last night while climbing hills, definanataly a weakness there. After a good 50 mins of climbing the hills local to my area i had to give up the ride, not due to being shattered but more to save my back from crippling me to death.

crees22 said:

My lower back felt like its was going to snap last night while climbing
hills, definanataly a weakness there. After a good 50 mins of climbing
the hills local to my area i had to give up the ride, not due to being
shattered but more to save my back from crippling me to death.

It's a similar thing with me. If I do a gentle ride (av 12mph)
I can ride all day with no back pain. If I push it (for me
that's about 16-17mph average), I'll start getting pain before
20 miles. Attacking hills hard seems to be the biggest contributor.

I'm getting some great advice in this thread, BTW; thanks to
everyone who's contributed so far.

--
jc

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Jeremy Collins said:

Jeremy Collins said:

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

Thanks to everybody for the useful responses. I've started
with the "superman" exercise, and I'm now doing proper
crunches. I'm going to try Lardychaps' doggy style back-arch
thing too.

That doggy stylee thing of lardychaps is actually from yoga, iirc.
Something to do with the sun, or a lion, or something. Maybe a cat, but
I think the cat pose is different.

Used to be my favourite pose when I was a kid and did yoga regularly.
Don't overdo the dishing though, you can put a really harsh bend on the
back if you're not careful, and as with most yoga, it's best done slowly.

--

Velvet

Jeremy Collins said:

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

Thanks to everybody for the useful responses. I've started
with the "superman" exercise, and I'm now doing proper
crunches. I'm going to try Lardychaps' doggy style back-arch
thing too.

I'll have a go Arthur's reverse extensions when a) I find
the right bench at the gym (didn't see one this lunchtime),
and b) my training partner is with me. (Yes I'm a coward ;-)

On the subject of Pilates - we have an instructional
video already, and I do know of one person who thought it
was fantastic after a back injury. The problem at this time
of year is that I'd much rather go out cycling than spend
an hour in front of a workout tape. Maybe in the winter...

Cheers everyone.

--
jc

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Velvet said:

That doggy stylee thing of lardychaps is actually from yoga, iirc.
Something to do with the sun, or a lion, or something. Maybe a cat, but
I think the cat pose is different.

I know them as cat dips. I think I learnt them from a karate book.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

"Lardychap" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jeremy Collins said:

Hi all,

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week and I'm wondering
if there's anything I can do while I'm there to help that
post-ride, slightly painful, stiffness?

I pretty sure my riding position is OK, I just have a
dodgy lower back!

My wife had backpain a few years ago. It just came on.... So she was
given some exercises wherein you start on all fours with your knees
apart, arms straight. Bear with me.

You then rotate your hips to arch your back, keeping your neck in
line. Hold for 5s. Then rotate your hips the other way (as if you're
pushing your belly to the floor).

She does it fairly regularly and since then she's had no back pain at
all despite having a baby.

Hmm, I suspect the position you describe and her getting pregnant may be
closely related!
--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

Jeremy Collins said:

Jeremy Collins wrote:

Thanks to everybody for the useful responses. I've started
with the "superman" exercise, and I'm now doing proper
crunches. I'm going to try Lardychaps' doggy style back-arch
thing too.

This from the NHS Pregnancy book (p 16) (so it's going to be gentle)

1) Start in a box position (on all fourse) with knees under hips,
hands under shoulders with fingers facing forward and keep the
abdominals lifted to keep the back straight;

2) pull in the abs and raise the back up towards the ceiling, curling
the trunk and allowing the head to relax gently forward. Don't
allow elbows to lock out

3) Hold for a few seconds then slowly return to the box position;

Repeat 10 times

It does recommend not hollowing the back but this if for exercises for
pregnancy. Ly was told to do these years before she needed the
pregnancy book.

Good luck

G

Jeremy Collins said:

Quoted message said:

I'm wondering if pro cyclists do workouts to strengthen
their lower backs? If so, does anyone know what exercises
in particular?

Sorry, I'm coming into this thread late.

I dunno about pro cyclists, but ten years ago or so I had bad sciatica.
The physio that I was referred to (to whom I was referred?) said I
had an unusually weak set of lower back muscles, and pointed me in the
direction of the gym and, amongst other general things, a rather strange
device. It was a padded horizontal bar about three feet off the
ground, with, about half a body's length away, a pair of padded bars at
the same height but one above the other, maybe eight inches apart. You
lay on the first bar, face down, stomach on it, and put your feet up
with your ankles between the other two. So essentially your lower body
was horizontal and your upper body sagged down. Then you locked your
hands behind your head and did, I can only describe them as reverse
situps, to bring your upper body horizontal, then down again. Painful,
but effective.

Ricardo said:

The physio that I was referred to (to whom I was referred?) said I
had an unusually weak set of lower back muscles, and pointed me in the
direction of the gym and, amongst other general things, a rather strange
device. It was a padded horizontal bar about three feet off the
ground, with, about half a body's length away, a pair of padded bars at
the same height but one above the other, maybe eight inches apart. You
lay on the first bar, face down, stomach on it, and put your feet up
with your ankles between the other two. So essentially your lower body
was horizontal and your upper body sagged down. Then you locked your
hands behind your head and did, I can only describe them as reverse
situps, to bring your upper body horizontal, then down again. Painful,
but effective.

This is similar to an exercise we did while rowing. The idea is that this
puts less stress on the lower back than bringing it up beyond the
horizontal (like in any exercise where you lie on the floor and then bring
up your back).

Roos

Roos Eisma said:

This is similar to an exercise we did while rowing.

This sounds rather wrong - we didn't do those in the boat, this was part
of circuit training on other days 🙂

Roos

Ricardo <[email hidden]> wrote:

: The physio that I was referred to (to whom I was referred?) said I
: had an unusually weak set of lower back muscles, and pointed me in the
: direction of the gym and, amongst other general things, a rather strange
: device.

This is exactly what I was trying to describe.

As you say, painful but effective.

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Tumbleweed said:

Quoted message said:

Hmm, I suspect the position you describe and her getting pregnant may be
closely related!

According to the literature, I believe this is not the best position
to adopt as what you're aiming to do is bathe her fallopian tubes with
your little soldiers.

There are more recommended positions.

this has gone VERY off topic.

G