This month, I’m bringing ya 5 of my favorite back strength accessory drills!

Let’s be honest, deadlifts are king for back health. I know, I know, they get a bad rap when it comes to back pain. But it’s truly unfair. What seems to be the case most of the time is that if someone hurt their back deadlifting, it was more a matter of not being adequately prepared for that weight or volume. Whether that be because of lack of strength or endurance, or that it just happened to be the thing that pushed them past their threshold - maybe they’ve been overtraining or eating badly or sleeping poorly or didn’t warm up enough? The point I’m trying to make is don’t blame the movement. Deadlifts have been thoroughly proven to be beneficial for back health. For more info, check out this blog I wrote or just message me if you really wanna nerd out over the research!

But outside of the more traditional functional movements, there are some really great drills to build up the capacity of our backs - the bigger muscles and the smaller stabilizers alike!

These 5 movements are great for building up lower back strength and endurance and, bonus!, they are also phenomenal to use to ease back into deadlifts after you’ve injured your back.

To note, there are plenty of other great ones, but I simply chose these 5 to highlight

So, without further adieu, here they are:

Elevated psoas march

• Great for hip flexor strength, which is a huge part of your core musculature, along with all those muscles in your back! By making it elevated, we also get to incorporate glute strength and low back endurance and strength!

• Keep a straight line from shoulders - hips- feet throughout (ie dont let the hips drop!) and then, with a resistence band around your feet, alternate bringing one knee at a time up above your hip crease and slowly returning

• The video shows the person (a rockstar patient of mine!) up on their elbows, but if your shoulders don’t tolerate that position well, you can also have your shoulder blades be the contact point on the raised surface so that your arms can stay relaxed.

• To Note: if you have difficulty keeping your hips up into a plank position (straight line from shoulders - hips - feet) with this, do it laying flat on the ground keeping your low back snug to the ground and build up to this version!

• Try 3-5 sets of 8 each side

   

Bent Over Row Eccentric

• This is often a go-to for improving low back endurance and strength. It is a great starting point for anyone less familiar with/comfortable with deadlifts or hinging, and it is great for anyone who is dealing with pain bending all the way forward as a way to work back into those positions while still working on strength!

• Can do these with dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell, or even heavy household items (I’ve had patients do these with paint cans, tote bags filled with heavy books, their kid, and all kinds of other things!)

• Note that the weight should lower straight down and take at least 5 seconds to get to the bottom - that eccentric/negative is what really makes this a low back workout!

• Want a weight that’s moderately heavy, but doable. Try 5 sets of 5 with a 5” eccentric

Chinese Planks

• Keep a straight line from shoulders to hips to feet throughout.

• The closer together the benches/boxes/whatever you're using are, the easier this exercise is. Likewise, the further apart they are, the harder this is

• Start with your shoulder blades supported at the top and then have the lower bench underneath your hips or thighs - if that's too easy, then slowly move the bench further down the legs until it's challenging but doable

• Hold for 30-45” and try 4 sets

Suitcase Carry

• Unilateral work is super important for all parts of us! Often, we are pretty good about this for our extremities (lunges, step ups, single arm pressing, etc) - but out midline and back often get forgotten when it comes to this. There are several great drills that target this! I’m highlighting suitcase carries because it’s simple and straightforward, plus it’s easy to find household items (think paint cans, jugs of coolant, etc) to use in case you don’t have access to equipment.

• The big thing here is to stay upright and keep your midline - don’t lean either way while walking and don’t let your ribcage flare or shoulders round forward!!

• try 4 sets of 30” on each side with a weight as heavy as possible (while keeping good form)

GHD lat pulls

• This is a tough one! I would recommend starting out with just the GHD hold and then bent over lat pull downs as 2 separate movements if this is a bit much and you can’t keep good positioning throughout

• Keep the ribcage tucked down (ie don’t let it flare) throughout.

• Straight arms with a wide grip on the barbell

• Pull the bar to your hips (don’t let your shoulders dump forward here!) and hold for about 3 seconds.

• Slowly lower back down

• Try 3 sets of 8-10. Empty barbell is plenty here!

Gives these a shot and grab a friend to try them with you!

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