I have a weak lower back and it had bothered me during football, so now I'm trying to strengthen it up, can anyone give me some things I can do to strengthen it up so I'm not sitting out with an injury this year?

I have a weak lower back and it had bothered me during football, so now I'm trying to strengthen it up, can anyone give me some things I can do to strengthen it up so I'm not sitting out with an injury this year?

 

Back Extensions, SLDL's, and overhead squats are all great for the back, but working your core helps a lot too.

SQUATS!

Back extensions for sure, and also deadlifts, starting with very little weight and building up as you feel comfortable. with back extensions I like to hold a medicine ball then as you come up throw it fast to your partner. Really awesome exercise!

I'm a fan of the "back-up" it's a sit-up, but you lie on your stomach lifting your upper body off the ground. Along with diagonal back-ups you strengthen basically every muscle in your core, primarily the back.

I'm a fan of the "back-up" it's a sit-up, but you lie on your stomach lifting your upper body off the ground. Along with diagonal back-ups you strengthen basically every muscle in your core, primarily the back.

 

This.

 

Try four sets of six reps while holding a 35-lb plate. When you can do that, move it up to a 40 lb dumbbell next week, and each week you can do four sets of six, increase the weight by 5 lbs the next week

Be VERY gentle if you do any deadlifts, I'd probably avoid them for a while until you feel it's a bit stronger. What everyone else has recommended is probably what I'd recommend too. Don't worry about weighting any of the exercises until you find them easy though, they're not muscle building movements and you don't want to injure anything. Daily stretches would also be good.

Be VERY gentle if you do any deadlifts, I'd probably avoid them for a while until you feel it's a bit stronger. What everyone else has recommended is probably what I'd recommend too. Don't worry about weighting any of the exercises until you find them easy though, they're not muscle building movements and you don't want to injure anything. Daily stretches would also be good.

 

I can do dead lifts quite well (i.e 305lbs 3 times just did 205lbs 15 times with a lot to spare)

 

Other then that it seems to me that I'm doing everything that's been mentioned so that's a good thing :thumbsup:

BUT what are SLDLs? and how to squats help you?

Lower back? You could mess around with a lot of the stuff mentioned here and see some results but seriously... just Deadlift, that is all you need.

 

Start off with a relatively low weight (recommend doing literally just the olympic bar (25lbs) until you work out which grip and style (eg: overhand, romanian) and your form is good. If your form is bad then don't even bother, not worth injuring yourself over.

 

After that start to add about 10-15lbs per session, you should be able to increase like this for about 6 weeks then just add about 5lbs per session.

 

As for reps? Most people here seem to like the 3x8 or 3x10, personally i find it dull and boring, and relatively ineffective. Since deadlifts are such a tiring exercise i would recommend doing 5x5 or something similar.

Be VERY gentle if you do any deadlifts, I'd probably avoid them for a while until you feel it's a bit stronger. What everyone else has recommended is probably what I'd recommend too. Don't worry about weighting any of the exercises until you find them easy though, they're not muscle building movements and you don't want to injure anything. Daily stretches would also be good.

 

I can do dead lifts quite well (i.e 305lbs 3 times just did 205lbs 15 times with a lot to spare)

 

Other then that it seems to me that I'm doing everything that's been mentioned so that's a good thing :thumbsup:

BUT what are SLDLs? and how to squats help you?

 

SLDL stands for Stiff Legged Dead Lift.

Regular Squats require a strong back to maintain form, Overhead squats are less for strength and more for flexibility, which is very important as well. Just make sure to use low weight for OH squats.

Try and strengthen your overall body, your abs for example are hugely important to your posture and thus your back. Quads and hamstrings are important to keep strong, particulary if you have a bad back. My message: don't just concentrate on improving your back muscles, improve the whole body. Swimming is great for this, less weights, more fun whilst still improving your cardio as well as "muscle"

I'm a fan of the "back-up" it's a sit-up, but you lie on your stomach lifting your upper body off the ground. Along with diagonal back-ups you strengthen basically every muscle in your core, primarily the back.

 

This.

 

Try four sets of six reps while holding a 35-lb plate. When you can do that, move it up to a 40 lb dumbbell next week, and each week you can do four sets of six, increase the weight by 5 lbs the next week

You do it on the floor? I use an inclined bench to do my lower back... I don't see how doing it on a floor could even work anyways. :blink:

Be VERY gentle if you do any deadlifts, I'd probably avoid them for a while until you feel it's a bit stronger. What everyone else has recommended is probably what I'd recommend too. Don't worry about weighting any of the exercises until you find them easy though, they're not muscle building movements and you don't want to injure anything. Daily stretches would also be good.

 

I can do dead lifts quite well (i.e 305lbs 3 times just did 205lbs 15 times with a lot to spare.

 

Well that's great but if you're lifting heavy with a weak lower back you risk injuring it if you accidentally brought it in too much into the lift. I'm not saying don't deadlift, I'm just saying strengthen your lower back more with core stuff before trying to deadlift like Andy Bolton.

Be VERY gentle if you do any deadlifts, I'd probably avoid them for a while until you feel it's a bit stronger. What everyone else has recommended is probably what I'd recommend too. Don't worry about weighting any of the exercises until you find them easy though, they're not muscle building movements and you don't want to injure anything. Daily stretches would also be good.

 

I can do dead lifts quite well (i.e 305lbs 3 times just did 205lbs 15 times with a lot to spare.

 

Well that's great but if you're lifting heavy with a weak lower back you risk injuring it if you accidentally brought it in too much into the lift. I'm not saying don't deadlift, I'm just saying strengthen your lower back more with core stuff before trying to deadlift like Andy Bolton.

 

I'm doing it properly so oh well, it seems to be getting aalot better, doing stuff my coach has said

Squats, or working on your core using planks or Russian twists should probably help, depending on the particular injury.