How to protect your lower back when lifting

I have had tight hamstrings and glutes ever since I can remember.

This resulted in a lot of discomfort when I was doing, well, everything!!

I love to deadlift. Lifting heavy things off the floor feels good for some reason. However, I used to suffer for a few days after.

Over the years I have tried yoga, physio, and pilates to try and improve my pathetic hip mobility but I had very little improvement. Probably because I never actually stuck to any of them!

Last year I decided to have another crack at sorting this weakness out.

Whatever the plan was it needed it to be a realistic one. Something I would do regularly and stick to otherwise it would just end up as successful as my attempts at pilates and yoga.

A simple warm up to protect your lower back

I decided to add 3 x 10 reps of dynamic hip hinges into my warm up before every single training session. That is it.

By the way, you don’t need the pole! The pole is just to show the back alignment.

After just two weeks I saw a massive improvement in my hip mobility.

My back no longer hurts after deadlfiting and I am now able to deadlift more often. I feel looser and even sitting in front of the computer and driving feels nicer.

I decided to incorporate this into one of my clients warm ups too as he suffers with lower back problems. Since then his squat and deadlift technique has dramatically improved too, and he also says he feels much better.

If you have tight hamstrings and glutes then I recomend you give it a go. It doesn’t take long and Im sure you will also reap the benefits if you do. Remember it needs to be done regularly though. Every day would be great but three times a week is all my client needed to see improvement.

If your passionate about exercise, health and fitness then have you considered training to be a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer?

We run personal training certification courses in Sussex and the Brighton area. Give us a call for more information 01273 613014 or email info@stormfitnessacademy.co.uk.