Correct, straight posture – healthy back. Clearly, harmoniously and without interruption. Edgar Santrosyan, a personal trainer in the gym, will tell girls literally everything about a healthy back and an even spine. And journalist Irina Tseplova has already tested the benefits of this training on herself.
Most often, these are people of adolescence and college age. Back problems are different. Their main reason is lack of physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle. Someone spends a lot of time reading textbooks and school notebooks, someone at the computer, playing games. In both cases, this leads to a weakening of the core muscles that support our body. The consequences can be of varying degrees of complexity, as an example – the disease “kyphosis” and “scoliosis”. (Kyphosis is a curvature of the spine with a bulge in the back in the thoracic region. Scoliosis is a fixed deviation of the spine to the right or left relative to its axis – approx. Woman’s Day). To avoid problems with posture in adulthood, you need to start thinking about it as early as adolescence, or even better, if you start to devote time to your spine from 7-8 and continue to mature years. It is at such a young age that, with a prolonged incorrect position of the body at the study table and the lack of physical activity, the vertebrae begin to deform and the muscles of the body weaken.
Of course, anything is possible as long as we are alive. To correct posture, there is “kinesitherapy”. (Kinesitherapy – treatment of joints and spine with correct movements – approx. Woman’s Day).
Sure! Let’s get started! We’ll start with the “hyperextension” exercise (“Roman chair” or back extension machine – approx. Woman’s Day). Hyperextension is one of the basic exercises that strengthens the core muscles – the main carriers of our body – the so-called. “Bridges” on which all major muscle groups are attached. This exercise straightens the posture well, helps to keep the body straight and this becomes the basis for working out already smaller muscle groups.
Irina, in fact it depends on the position of the legs and on the position of the bench for “hyperextension”. If it is tilted, then, of course, the gluteal muscles turn on more, but if it is straight, then the back muscles take on a greater load.
In this case, I recommend placing more emphasis on the heels, thereby stretching the back of the thighs, gluteal muscles, and lumbar muscles. It is better to perform the exercise slowly in order to get a good feel for everything. At the same time, the body must be held in a “boat”, in order to avoid failures in the thoracic region, in order to more effectively affect exactly those muscles that we need. In other words, “hit the target”!
The good thing about this exercise is that it stretches the muscles of the back while lifting upward under the influence of the same gravity. It has a straightening, stretching effect, thus working out the area of the shoulder blades. And when we do a reverse pull to ourselves, then by doing so we contract the latissimus muscles, the interscapular muscles. That is, all the basic muscles are included, which play a large role in maintaining an upright posture.
Irina and Edgar don’t waste a minute
In this case, the impact is on the interscapular space, as you could feel. Incorporating this exercise into your workout routine will still have the same straightening effect on the back and help avoid or reduce curvature specifically in the thoracic region. The traction of the upper and lower pulleys must be included in the arsenal of exercises for straightening posture.
Irina, let me do this exercise and tell you how it will be useful in our training program. Pulling up is also one of the basic and most important exercises for straightening your back. On the street in the courtyard, at home, on school grounds – everywhere you can find some kind of crossbar, horizontal bar and practice. The “strength” of this exercise is that it trains a wide range of muscles, from the back muscles to the hands. The forearms and shoulders work, but, of course, the main load falls on the back. The wider the grip, the greater the impact on the “thickness” of the back.
Yes, Irina, maybe (laughs). Because the plank is a static exercise. It has an effect on the abdominal muscle groups (since it plays an important role in maintaining our core in a straight position), and on the muscles of the lower back (the back works very actively). Thus, we get a double effect. Especially if you have already developed kyphosis, doing the bar will help improve the situation. With weak and undeveloped muscles of the press, the abdomen protrudes forward, and the chest, on the contrary, falls into, falls through. It turns out that we need the press to maintain an even body. So that we can walk beautifully. By the way, we can arrange a small competition right now: someone will beat someone in the bar. (Edgar, like a true gentleman, surrendered to me – author’s note) Well, Irina, now stay alone on the rug …
Static tension in the “boat” awaits you. This exercise involves the main muscle group of the back, the press, the hamstrings are slightly involved.
No, Irina, there is still a stretch awaiting us. We use a wand or any other similar object that you find at home. The good thing about the stick is that it is light in weight and does not bear any load as such. We can stretch as much as possible without tension in “unnecessary” muscles and unnecessary energy consumption. When performing exercises with a stick, you can focus on the stretching effect as much as possible. In this case, the grip of the stick can be of different widths. Stretching capabilities and range are different for each person. Therefore, adapt the grip width to suit your body.
No, Irina. You “pumped” your back muscles, and now I will do a back stretch on this simulator. The “horizontal block” is a comprehensively developed “health machine”. When we stretch forward, we do a stretch; if we pull towards ourselves, the lumbar spine is “pumped”. In your case, there was a greater impact on the interscapular zone. And now, in my case, this simulator helps in the first phase to stretch the muscles of the back from the lower back to the shoulder blades. When I pull the “handles” of the block towards the stomach, I thereby straighten the lower back and all the load falls on it. I pull the weight of my lower back without using my hands. At the end point, you can “turn on” the work of the blades.
Of course, the exercise is interesting and specific. It is good because we stretch the back muscles from the shoulder area, i.e. in the shoulder joint, and then we “reach” the shoulder blades, we use both the small and large muscles of the back, which are also perfectly stretched. I refer this exercise to the category of preventive, because a sedentary lifestyle, or many hours of work “on our feet” leads to the fact that our muscles are constrained, they are constantly in tension. And with this exercise, we stretch them, relax and restore their tone. Irina, this is where our training is over. For prevention, I recommend doing these exercises regularly as part of a training program, and do not forget about stretching. And of course, always control your body position – how you stand and how you walk. It is very important.
Take care of your posture from a young age to feel healthy and happy for the rest of your life!