Back is a flexible concept - in the most literal sense. Of course, natural abilities play a significant role, but you can significantly improve your stretching by performing the special exercises collected in this article.
It happens that the flexibility of the back seems to “hang” at a certain level and further stretching “does not work.” This is often associated with weak paravertebral muscles, which, of course, can be strengthened with simple exercises from this article. By performing this complex, you will gain not only good stretching and flexibility, but also a healthy spine, and this is important for a dancer.
After each exercise, do not forget to stretch your back “in the opposite direction,” thereby compensating for the tension. You can sit on your knees, rest your buttocks on your heels, and stretch forward, or simply hug yourself by your knees, rounding your back.
boat
An exercise from childhood. IP: Lie on your stomach, stretch your arms and legs. Start swinging, without bending your arms or legs. Do 2 reps of 16 swings.
Swing your legs
A very effective exercise for the lumbar spine. Allows you to make your back strong and flexible at the same time.
I.p.: get on all fours, stretch your leg back. Do 16 swings with each leg. Make sure that your leg remains straight, try to extend your leg from the hip to the instep.
Lower back pumping
This exercise is convenient to do together; you can use a sofa. Place your hands behind your head (or in position III) and rise above the floor as high as possible. Complete up to 40 repetitions. Relax and stretch your back.
Pendulum
Starting position: kneeling, place your palms on your lower back and bend over, then return to the starting position. Perform these rocking movements at a moderate pace. 8 pendulum movements are enough, then move your hands higher on your back and perform the same swings. Finally, move your hands to the highest position (on your ribs) and do the final 8 “pendulums”.
Deflections
Why is this necessary?
In addition to the aesthetic point of view, flexibility of the spine is necessary to maintain the tone of the entire body. By developing the elasticity of your back, you will maintain the normal functioning of the spine and the musculoskeletal system as a whole for many years. Flexibility of the spine is reflected in posture, gait and coordination. Another significant advantage is the prevention of the development of spinal diseases, such as osteochondrosis or scoliosis. You can start training at home. A preliminary consultation with a doctor is required in the following cases:
- Heart pathologies.
- Problems with blood vessels.
- Complaints of back pain.
- Previously, surgery was performed in the spine area.
Proper nutrition
To increase the flexibility of your spine, increase the amount of foods containing B vitamins and calcium in your diet. This:
- cottage cheese, cheese,
- liver,
- black bread,
- potatoes, vegetables,
- nuts,
- sea fish,
- seaweed, seaweed,
- crab meat.
Jelly and jellied meat prepared from broths made from boiled bones are very useful.
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What does flexibility depend on?
First of all, the elasticity of the vertebrae depends on age and other individual characteristics of the body. The condition of the intervertebral discs plays an important role. The younger the organism, the better their condition. In adulthood, intervertebral discs become more fragile and inelastic. For this reason, various back diseases develop.
We can conclude that it is easier to achieve elasticity of the vertebrae and back muscles at a young age than at an adult age.
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A set of exercises to improve flexibility
Before you begin your workout, do a five-minute warm-up on all parts of your body to “warm up” your muscles.
Let's consider a specially designed set of workouts that will help you develop back flexibility at home.
Wave
We sit on a rubber mat on our knees so that the buttocks are pressed as closely as possible to the feet. Your posture should be straight, with your chest moving forward. We raise our heads up. We exhale as much as possible and slowly lower our torso forward. We try to ensure that the chest touches the floor, while the back should be slightly rounded. Next, we perform all movements in reverse order and return to the starting position. We perform the “wave” in three approaches, taking minute breaks.
boat
This exercise is a starting exercise, performed in 3 approaches. Lay a rubber mat for ease of performing the exercise so that your palms and feet do not slip on the floor. You need to lie on your stomach and place your hands shoulder-width apart in front of you to the level of your forearm. Legs are straight, pelvis touches the floor. We straighten our arms and stretch back, without lifting the palms of our hands from the floor. We remain in this position for at least one minute. Next, we return to the starting position and repeat the exercise several more times. The execution time for the “boat” is at least 7 minutes.
Tilts
We sit on the floor or on a rubber mat, relax our legs and stretch them in front of us. The back should remain straight when bending. We make our hands “locked” and strive upward as much as possible, without lifting our buttocks from the floor. Next, we lean forward and try to clasp our feet with our hands. We lower our body lower and lower, leaving the spine still straight. Let's fix this position for 10 seconds, after which we return to the starting position and repeat the tilts three more times. We perform the bends slowly, concentrating on each movement. In total, bending should be performed for at least 10 minutes.
Deflections
We sit on a rubber mat on our knees in such a position that the buttocks are pressed as closely as possible to the feet. Place both hands on the floor behind you at shoulder width. We arch our back and aim our spine towards the floor. Next, we fix the position for 10 seconds, with the chest moving upward. We gradually return to the starting position. We repeat the movement 5 more times. Completion time: at least 10 minutes.
Other exercises
The above exercises are the basis of the complex. Over time, the muscles and spine get used to the load; in this case, for greater effectiveness, you need to include other exercises in the complex to develop flexibility in order to increase the duration of the workout. Let's look at a few of them:
- We get on all fours and alternately arch our back up and down. Do it within two minutes.
- We kneel down and place our hands on the floor. We alternately raise the left leg and right arm, stretching the muscles to the maximum. We fix the position for 10-15 seconds. We repeat identical movements with the right leg and left arm.
- Lie on your back and raise your legs closer to your chest. We clasp our legs with both hands (thus fixing them in the chest area) and swing back and forth. The back should be rounded. If you feel crunching or unpleasant pain while performing this movement, this indicates weak spinal muscles.
- We kneel down, put our hands on our belts. We try to go lower, while keeping our back straight. The exercise is performed in 4-5 approaches.
- We sit on the floor, keep our back straight, and place our legs at shoulder width. We alternately stretch our palms to our feet, first with both hands to the left leg, then to the right.
- We lie on our stomach, arms along the body. Raise both legs at the same time and head back. We fix the position for a few seconds and return to the starting position.
- An equally effective way is to exercise on the crossbar. To get started, just hang in the air, lifting your feet off the floor. After 2-3 months of regularly performing this complex, you need to gradually begin to tighten up.
Stretching on the horizontal bar
First of all, find a horizontal bar or any stable structure in the area that you can hang on by your hands. If you don't find anything similar, install the crossbar at home. Every day, hang from your arms for as long as your fingers can bear.
Do not tense your muscles, hang completely freely. You should feel your body stretching under its own weight. Don't rush to fix in a week what you've been spoiling for years. The main thing is regularity and a gradual increase in loads.
Then add exercises to stretch your back muscles to hanging on the bar. Along with them, the spine will also stretch, gradually returning its former flexibility.
What else can you do
Incorporating the following recommendations into your lifestyle will help develop back flexibility:
- Regular walking also helps develop spinal flexibility, improves posture, normalizes the functioning of the spinal discs and strengthens the back muscles. In order to achieve maximum effect, it is recommended to alternate training sets with regular walking, for example, Monday, Wednesday and Friday - days of doing gymnastics, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - walking. You need to walk calmly and slowly, about 1 hour a day.
- An equally effective way to strengthen the spinal muscles and achieve spinal flexibility is swimming. Experts advise visiting the pool at least twice a week.
- Dancing classes help develop flexibility not only of the back, but of the whole body. To achieve the desired effect, it is advisable to conduct classes with a specialist in this field.
- To develop spinal flexibility, you can do small workouts during working hours. If your job is sedentary, try to get up from your desk every half hour and walk a little. While sitting on a chair, periodically correct your posture and try to sit correctly.
Useful tips
When resorting to training aimed at improving spinal mobility and stretching and strengthening local muscles, pay attention to the following recommendations:
How to get maximum effect and maintain it
To achieve not just a one-time effect, but to maintain elasticity for many years, take note of some recommendations:
- Spinal flexibility is part of an active lifestyle. In addition to regularly performing a specially designed set of exercises, you need to move and play sports more.
- Before starting exercises, be sure to warm up, thus “warming up” your muscles and preparing them for the upcoming workout.
- To perform flexibility exercises, choose comfortable and loose clothing that will not restrict movement.
- It is important to dose the load to achieve flexibility.
When performing gymnastics for the first time, you should not overload yourself with difficult exercises and practice for too long.
- To get a visible result, the regularity of the complex is important. Note that you do not need to exercise every day so that the muscles have time to recover. The best option is to perform a set of exercises 2-3 times a week.
- To restore your breathing and heart rate, take short breaks between exercises.
You can develop spinal flexibility in a few months if you follow the recommendations and exercise regularly. If you have any back problems, be sure to consult your doctor before starting gymnastics.
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Samira Mustafaeva, prize-winner of the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship and founder of the SM Stretching network of fitness studios, told how to do stretching at home correctly and sit on the step without injury.
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“When the stretching trend appeared a couple of years ago, the splits became the main goal for girls. Now this goal has been supplemented by the desire to gain a beautiful figure, good health, flexibility, and become more confident,” says Samira. “No matter what goal you want to achieve, do your homework beforehand and choose proven online classes if you plan to stretch at home.”
