If you have ever dealt with your lower back bothering you every morning after waking up, or find your self walking stiffly after sitting for a while, then you know how bothersome an unhappy lower back can be.
We are often advised to stretch or to strengthen your core. This is good advice, but there is more to it than just strengthening your core.
Here is a quick three-step process to a happier lower back.
1. Relax
The first step is to relax and try to turn off overactive muscles. Check out these two videos for some simple exercises to relax:
Standing Supported Wall Breathing
These two exercises are very similar. Both accomplish the goal of getting the lower back out of extension and breathing to turn off overactive muscles.
2. Reset
Once you have relaxed, now we can try to find your neutral position. Here is a quick video on how to:
Strengthen
The last step is to strengthen the core, once you know where neutral is. If we were to hop right to strength but not know where to find a healthy lower back posture, all you would be doing is strengthening your core in a wrong postural position leading to many hours of side planks and planks all for nothing to show (other than you now can hold a really long plank, which is cool); it just does nothing to keep your lower back from getting aggravated at you.
Here are some core strengthening tips:
Coach Josh