How to avoid lower back injuries in the gym

Weight training is good for your health. It has great benefits for your wellbeing and is considered a rather safe sport with few injuries. But sometimes injuries happens and the most common ones are low back injuries.

It's quite common for fitness enthusiast to complain about lower back pain after training. Always  assuring how they did the exercises properly with good form. And indeed when you watch them doing deadlifts and squats it looks pretty good. The technique seems right, but why do they get back pain after the training? 

As mentioned in my previous blog "How to prevent injuries in the gym". The most injuries happens by lifting weights from the ground or out of a lower rack with a round back. Most people forget that when preparing their training "apparatus" (barbells, dumbbells, machines e.g.) it's already part of the strength training and requires the same kind of attention to form and execution as the main exercise. Because moving any weights against gravity requires your muscles to work. Your body doesn't care what you do, as soon as you start lifting or moving weights the muscles are working the same way as when you do "your" specific exercise.

Taking the weights and putting it back, is part of the strength training!

And there lies the problem. Most people in the gym are focused on their exercise, they pay a lot of attention to good form and technique. But hardly anyone pays attention to how to pick up the weights from the ground and put it on the barbell, so they can do some deadlifts. The same goes for picking up heavy dumbbells which are usually in a lower row of a weight rack. Most of the time these weights will be lifted with a rounded back over and over again. This is a phenomenon not only seen in beginners but also among pro athletes. 

Why lifting with a rounded back is a problem is nicely illustrated in the video below.

The Solution
Try to have a good set up before you lift any weights with following bracing sequences:
You can try to do following bracing sequence by:

1. activate your gluts (squeeze your butt as hard as you can). Contracting the glutes tilts your pelvis in a neutral position and at the same time makes a outward rotation of the hips.
2. Tighten your belly. This helps to solidify the lower back.
3. Pull your ribcage down (NOT Chest out!)
4. Bring your shoulder blades together and down, without pushing the chest forward. This helps to stabilise the upper back.
5. Set your head in a neutral position (as if your head is hanging on a string)

As soon you are start lifting, don't change anything in your posture, especially not in your spine. Keep it as tight as you can during the whole lift. 

Lift any weights like its super heavy, this creates a habit of always having a good form.

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To be able to lift and move weights in a less perfect way requires good functioning and working back muscle and joint movements. To achieve this you need to train your back and all the back supporting muscle systems. ​

At Swiss Health Coaching we teach you how to train to prevent back pain and getting rid of it.