Hey guys, welcome back.
This week we're talking about how to fix your lower back.
One of the predominant issues
that come with using the rowing machine
is that people are always very cautious of their backs,
because frankly, back injuries are really prevalent.
I've suffered quite a brutal one
I spent several years, I still deal with it.
I had a completely blown out back,
and a lot of people have those same concerns,
so I wanted to talk a little bit
about let's get you over that,
and it's kind of a three-parter,
so you can go a few different routes,
but as I see it, there are really three things
that you have to worry about.
Number one is get warmed up before your workout,
that's step number one.
You have to think about a preparatory mechanism
for the rowing movement, or frankly anything
where your back could potentially be compromised.
Not saying that rowing is going to compromise your back,
but anything where you're gonna see a significant hip hinge,
or loading through the trunk, you have to get prepped,
and get things turned on and firing, so that's number one.
Number two, is how do you alter your movement,
or what are the things you need to be cognizant of
while you're on the machine,
so that you can stay safe, and stay protected,
and what are the things that you can do
to reinforce that?
And then the third tier would be,
what do you do afterwards?
How do you, I don't wanna say cool down,
but what are the things that you can do in your off time
that will help to put you in a better position?
And let's start at step one, which is getting you prepped.
Something that I'm a big fan of,
is we find that a lot of people
tend to end up in a lot of external rotation.
Now what is external rotation?
Well, if these are my feet, if my feet look like this,
this is external rotation, if my toes point out,
that's external rotation, if they point in,
that's internal rotation.
Now, external rotation is something
that a lot of people have.
It's fairly common, because you have your adductors,
those are the things that bring things closer
to the midline of your body.
So if I'm using a thigh-master,
I bring my legs together, that is adducting.
If I'm leg swinging, as my leg swings out,
I am A-B-ducting, abducting.
So abducting, for most people, is pretty easy,
as well as external rotation.
Adducting an internal rotation,
can be a little bit more challenging,
but the system, the body I should say,
the body is built to be symmetrical.
Every muscle serves an agonist and an antagonist purpose,
meaning it's meant to support and move in one way,
and it's meant to relax and let something else take over.
For example, if I am flexing my bicep,
I just wanna show that off right there,
if I'm flexing my bicep, my bicep is the primary mover here.
Now to do that, my tricep has to turn off.
My tricep can't simultaneously be engaged if I am flexing.
However, the opposite is true when I extend my arms.
So if I extend, my tricep is working,
and my bicep turns off for that purpose.
So that's what I mean by agonist and antagonist.
Now what we need to think about
is the way that the legs move.
We spend a lot of time sitting,
our lives are sitting in chairs,
sitting in car seats, sitting at your desk,
sitting at the dinner table,
sitting at your couch watching TV,
sitting on the floor folding clothes,
whatever it may be, we spend a lot of time sitting,
and often the knees just kinda drape out.
What can cause a back issue, or a lower back issue,
is simply a lack of stability of the spine,
because things aren't really working together.
Your muscles aren't turned on,
they're not supporting your hips,
and in turn your hips aren't supporting your spine,
and then the spine just kind of melts.
It turns into this kinda soft gushy,
it's not supported, all the muscles around it,
I mean the spine doesn't, the muscles around it
kinda turn gushy, and they're not very supportive.
So what we wanna talk about is how do we
get those things active, turning on,
and supporting the spine?
So to prep for that, you're gonna need a few tools,
the first would be just a floor,
if you have a hard floor I would suggest a yoga mat,
but you don't need one, you can use carpet, that's fine too.
The next thing is going to be some sort of block,
a foam roller, a yoga block, even a wood block is fine,
as long as it's like four inches wide at least,
you can have a small ball, something about this big,
I don't know what that would be, a cantaloupe,
you can get a cantaloupe,
and then you also need a belt or a tie,
a tie actually works pretty well,
or a belt, that works too.
What we're gonna do is essentially create internal rotation,
and we're gonna help the hip joints kinda distract,
but also turn on all of those muscles
that help to internally rotate the legs.
External rotation can be good,
but we also have a balancing system of internal rotation,
so all we're doing by this
is priming the hips to get turned on,
so that they can work for you,
because when we're rowing, the hips are extremely important.
So that's step one, now you're gonna lay down on the floor,
you're going to take this block,
and you're going to place it between your knees,
now your feet are gonna be flat on the floor,
and your knees are gonna be bent,
and you're gonna be face up, we call that supine,
you're gonna be supine on the floor,
so face up on your back, knees bent,
feet flat on the floor,
that block is going to be between your knees,
and you're gonna have that belt or the tie
tied around your ankles,
so that your feet are about hip-width apart.
Now you are going to gently squeeze your knees
in on the block or the cantaloupe
while pressing your ankles out into the tie or the belt,
and you're just gonna release,
and you're gonna press, hold, release,
press, hold, release, and you're gonna do that
for about 15 repetitions,
and you're gonna do that three times through.
So that's number one.
Next, you're gonna untie those things,
you're going to end up on your hands and your knees,
now you're gonna end up on your hands and your knees,
you're gonna be in a bit of a cat/cow position.
Now I want your hands under your shoulders,
and I want your knees under your hips,
then you're going to take your right hand,
and walk it forward about a hand length,
and you're going to take your left knee,
and walk it forward that same hand length.
So now you're gonna be offset.
Now keeping your legs straight,
and keeping your hands in place,
you're gonna gently rock back and forth.
Now what this is doing is setting your hips
at a bit of an angle here,
and as you move, your hips are actually
two articulating pieces separate of each other.
I know we think of the hips as one piece,
but they're separate.
Now as you do that, what you're creating
is a little bit of articulation
out of each side of the hip,
and you're gonna do that 20 times per side,
and then you're gonna switch.
That's number two.
For number three you're going to stand up,
and you're going to need a band of some kind.
You could also use a tie for this purposes,
you could use a workout band,
I have a Crossover Symmetry back here,
you can use that too.
What you're gonna do is take that band,
tie, Crossover Symmetry,
and you're going to put it through a door.
It just needs an anchor of some kind
at about shoulder height.
There you're going two steps,
so that you are perpendicular to the band,
you're gonna take a band in your hands,
and you're gonna press it straight out in front of you,
so it's giving you some lateral stability,
meaning it's pulling, it's wanting you to rotate towards it.
You're gonna resist that, and you're gonna
press the band out and straight in front of you.
Your arms are gonna be locked in place,
your feet are gonna be underneath your hips,
and you are going to squeeze your butt,
and squeeze your belly.
Now all you're gonna do is resist
that urge to rotate back to the band,
and you're going to take small tiny steps back
with your feet, alternating steps.
You're gonna take those tiny steps,
and what we're doing with that
is turning on all the little muscles
that support your spinal little guys
inside there that you need turned on,
and hot, and active, and ready to go.
We're just doing that on a very gentle scale
by asking you to stabilize against that band,
but take little steps back with your feet.
So that is your warm-up,
that's how you're gonna prep for it.
Now make sure that you guys check back for part two,
where we are going to talk about
how do we actually change our movement on the machine
so that our back is protected,
and what are the things that we can do,
so that we strengthen our midline in other work,
so that when we get on the rower we're healthy,
we're not worried about our back,
and that our spine becomes more and more supported,
we grow stronger, we grow healthier,
and our bodies become happier,
so that there's less of a concern
when we are thinking about anything
that might entail our spine having to stabilize
and keep our body in place.
So that's gonna be part two, so guys,
this has been part one.
How do you warm up your back for getting on the rower,
and for protecting your back?
How do we fix back issues by just little everyday
things that we can do, which improve the way that we move,
and aren't necessarily related to the rower.
They are simply this important thing that we need to do.
It takes just a few minutes, but will go a long ways
in helping you keep your back healthy,
keep your back happy, keep it protected, and get stronger.
We don't wanna just live in this space of surviving,
we wanna thrive, and that's what this is about,
so thank you for joining, guys,
make sure that you check the description below
for any of the tools that I've been talking about,
the Crossover Symmetry, yoga mats, yoga blocks,
all the things that I like to use,
and that I have here in my garage gym,
which I use on a regular basis,
so check the notes below, check the description below,
and leave a comment, let me know if this has worked for you,
if you've tried things like this,
or if you have some stuff that works even better,
that you are using.
Guys, thanks for checking in,
we will see you on the other side.
(soft music)