Excercises to Improve Back Strength

WizZard

I've got a bit of a bad back from years of abusing it when younger

I've let myself go in recent years and thus suffer more than when I was fully fit, with good supporting muscles.
What would the best excercises be to strengthen it up. I've just joined a gym with a pool and plan on swimming 3 times a week.

I understand that strong abs and obliques will also keep my back safer when weight training.
Are there any particular stretches or excercises that anyone can recommend to build a stronger back?

Thanks

Dragan

Swimming will be great, but you should also check out hyperextensions and your spot on, work on your abs, obliques and lower back.

D-Generate

Do Supermans to strengthen your lower back.

t-ha

What bits of your back specifically need work, I guess it's generally the spinal erectors/glutes that need work so I'll base it on that.

Strength;
1] Any deadlift variation will strengthen the lower backand entire core generally, particularly the stiff-legged and straight-legged deadlifts.
2] Good mornings.
3] Another one you don't see every day; the rounded back deadlift - obviously performed with teeny tiny weights, this really strengthens up the spinal erectors and can help prevent injury in bigger conventional deadlifts.
4] Like Dragan said any back extension exercises or hyperextensions. You can sort of do them on swiss balls if your gym doesn't have the right equipment.
5] Edit: D-Generate beat me to it: The 'superman' - lie on your belly and lift your arms and feet up in a superman position. Or lift your left arm & right leg, then your right arm & left leg etc.

Stretches for the back;
1]The cat: Get on all fours and hump up your back like a pissed of cat, then lunge forward so your back makes an arch. The motion is more important here than how far to either extreme you can 'stretch'.
2] Lie down on your back and pull your kness up towards your chest - once they're close enough, grab them with your hands and pull further. That should stretch the back.
3] The Plow: Same as [2] except you come right up so your hips come up off the ground as well and your knees land down beside your ears, and your feet end up down behind your head somewhere - it's a bit ambitious, especially if you have an existing back problem ...or short shorts.
4] Sitting back stretch, just sit down with normal relaxed (bent) legs and your feet on the ground (about shoulder width apart) and put your upper arms on your shins and try and put your hands on your feet.
5] Squat - hold a railing or ledge infront of you (hip height works but it's not set in stone) with both hands and while still holding it squat down for the full stretch.

Obviously, as mentioned already, it's not just the spinal erectors that need to be strong, it's the whole core. I concentrated on them because people have this habit of forgetting about the parts of their core that they can't see in the mirror.

Supermans are very good. Wouldn't be all that sure about deadlifts if you had a bad back.

WizZard

Thanks for all the advice.

What exactly constitutes a "dead-lift". If it's what I think it is couldn't it over-extend my back (being soft ) and cause more stress instead?

Also, what's a "good morning"? No smart replies

/me goes off to Google "hyperextensions".

Transform

Stretch more as most back problems are linked to poor flexibility e.g. can you touch your toes with legs straight? (Note - very general test)

Reyman

The 'Good Morning' exercise involves leaning forward with a barbell on your neck and then coming back up again. As far as I remember you do it with the legs straight - but somebody correct me if i'm wrong here

The GM and the deadlift are pretty severe if you have a bad back.
Go very light for the first couple of months.

The back extensions mentioned by the other guys are a lot safer for a beginner

Dragan

Can i just point out that it was the Good Morning that broke Bruce Lee, so go light and go easy.

WizZard

Dragan wrote:

Can i just point out that it was the Good Morning that broke Bruce Lee, so go light and go easy.

Considering that I have nowhere near the physique of Bruce Lee, nor never have had, I think I might stay away from them for a while so

Transform wrote:

Stretch more as most back problems are linked to poor flexibility e.g. can you touch your toes with legs straight? (Note - very general test)

I used to be able to put most of my palms on the ground with my legs straight, now I can barely touch my fingertips off it

t-ha

Sorry, just back to point out, because I can see how my post could be read entirely the wrong way, that I was giving examples of 'movements' that will strengthen the back. I'm assuming that you will use either very light-weights or even no weights depending on how you feel yourself. The full back hyperextension can be more severe than a good morning depending on weight selection, as you are limited to a minimum weight by your bodyweight, whereas a 'good morning' done with about 5kg total (for example) is quite a gentle exercise. The good morning can be done with straight-legs or slightly bent legs (I prefer this way) by the way.

Also, if you work sitting down like I do, make sure you get a walk about every now and then, and make sure you sit with your butt right to the back of the chair. I roll up my jumper and stick it behind my lumber to keep myself upright when working. Believe it or not, sitting down (especially without your spinal erectors activated - i.e. slumped) puts more pressure on your spinal disks than standing (when your musculature helps hold your spinal integrity).