The Back - level one

Back Strengthening Exercises - first level Back Stretches Garrick starts with stretching the back. From what I've seen of most people my age, be they male or female, that's going to be essential. Quite a few people are hobbling around, even though they're not over sixty, with a curled spine and legs that don't move much. This is horrible. But then, I've also met twelve-year-olds who cannot touch their toes, and it makes me a little ill to think how life is going to be for them when they're sixty. Crippled, I daresay, and dependent on a walker or a wheel chair. Bonnie Prudden has an interesting story of her involvement with a wheelchair patient. I'll put it up some time soon, probably right after I get done with this introduction section. Lie on your back. Grasp the back of one thigh and gently pull your leg to your chest. If you can't do that, just pull it toward your chest till it stops. That's what the "gently" means. Hold this stretch for fifteen seconds. if it starts hurting before fifteen seconds you've pulled it too aggressively and let go of it. Next time ease up. This is a stretch, not a rip. Anyway, at fifteen seconds lower the leg to where it was and gently pull up the other one. Hold, put it back. Now do both together. You know what to do if it's difficult--just do the best you can. Everything will improve with time. Relax, put your legs back, and go on to curl-ups. After your curl-ups, finish with some nice, relaxing repeats of the back stretches. Curl-Ups Curl-ups are mostly to strengthen your abdominal muscles, but those are very important toward supporting your back. Also, they don't do a lot to stress your back unless you stop paying attention to what you're doing and allow your back to arch. So don't do that. I don't think these are enough level one exercises. I went to other books and found the following. Shoulder blade squeezes Stand up straight. (I sit in a certain chair because of the feedback I get from it as my shoulder blades press against the back.) Shoulders back. Suck in gut while doing this. Now use the shoulder muscles to press the shoulder blades toward each other. Hold this contraction for three seconds (eventually increasing to six or ten), then release. Relax for three seconds. Start out with four contractions, twice a day, increase to twenty contractions five or ten times a day. Do not work to the point of strain or pain. Daily Challenge gives us a few exercises: Alternating stretches Kneel on all fours on the floor. I can't do anything on the floor till I get a mat so I do it on the bed, which is ugly-hard. Make sure the hands and knees are directly below the shoulders and hips. Slowly raise the right arm and point straight ahead, hold three seconds, replace hand on the floor. Raise the opposite leg (the left one in this case) and extend it straight behind. Hold for three seconds, then replace. Switch and do left arm, then right leg. Over time, increase the number of reps per set and the number of sets per day, while lengthening the amount of time the limbs are held up. Eventually we'll be doing the arm and opposite leg together, but that's a level two thing. Gluteals squeeze Stand up straight, feet hip-width apart. Squeeze the glutes together while also contracting the backs of the thighs. Squeeze for three seconds, relax for three seconds. Repeat for four squeezes, twice a day. A must to avoid: Toe-touching Vigorous hamstring stretching Using excessive weights with any kind of lifting Sit-ups with your feet hooked

To reiterate, I'm not telling anyone to do anything. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a personal trainer. I'm just telling YOU what I'm doing and letting you know what worked and what didn't. I'm an older woman and I want to get fit. More than fit, really; it was my dream (though I never had the time and freedom and information to make it a goal) in college to get physically fit. To me that meant strong, thought not necessarily muscular; I wanted to have the stamina to run to run a fair distance (ten miles, perhaps, but I'd like to run a marathon now). Had I ever had a clue how to get to the point of being able to do one-armed pushups, I would have been in pig heaven. I have the time to do all this now. But at 59 years of age, this isn't exactly a refresher course for me; I'm pretty much starting from scratch with just a few advantages. Staring a fitness program from scratch at my age? I'm determined to make it so. I'm in very bad condition. I used to be fit, and was well able to play tennis like a fiend. That was when I was 19--forty years ago. In my twenties I taught sailing and raced my Hobie 14' catamaran. I won almost all the time. It takes a few muscles to do that kind of racing. I was fit for it. But, since college and through the last thirty years, I haven't had much opportunity to do much. I'm more of a reader and a watcher of movies than I am a gymnast or jogger. I've been sedentary

The Back

Doctors often prescribe fitness-enhancing exercises to treat or relieve back pain. You may be doing your back a favor by working your body into shape. So hurray! I've been working on my other areas to get rid of some pain I've had. Now it's time to add back exercises, because I can tell you, I've had a lot of back pain through my life. I'd like to get rid of it. Through my life, since I severely injured my back, I must have been favoring my back. I didn't know it till I started all this exercising and managed to drive away a lot of my pain through strengthening the joints. Now I will try to use what I've learned to do my back some favors--strengthening the back and strengthening my abdominal muscles together to make it possible for me to stand up straighter and quit stressing both my lower and upper back. Back Self-Examination Do you have pain radiating down either or both legs? Do you get back pain or radiating pain when you cough, sneeze, or strain, such as when moving your bowels? Do you have weakness in your legs, such as the inability to stand on your toes? Do you have any numbness or tingling in your legs or feet? Have you ever been diagnosed as having disk disease or a ruptured disk? Have you ever been told your back x-rays are abnormal? Have you had any episodes of significant back pain or other back problems within the last twelve months? If you answered "yes" to ANY of these questions, go to a doctor right away because you may be experiencing clues to serious back problems. If the answer to all of these questions is "no" then answer these questions: Is your back stiff when you get up in the morning? Does your back ache after you've been sitting or standing for more than thirty minutes? Does your back ache the day after any unaccustomed activity such as skiing or or tennis? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you should talk to your doctor about beginning a back exercise program before going on to a general fitness program. If the answer to all of these questions is "no", then most likely your back is in fair shape. But to be sure, go on to this next part of the examination. Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. Now lean forward with your arms stretched toward your toes. Can you comfortably reach your fingertips beyond your kneecaps? Lie on your stomach. Are you able to arch your chest and legs upward at the same time painlessly? When standing, are you able to move your back in all six directions--front, back, left, right, twist to the left, and twist to the right? Can you do so comfortably? Are you able to do five curl-ups? How to do curl-ups: Lie on your back, knees bent, and your hands placed far up your chest. (I crossed my forearms and gripped my shoulders and unknowingly pulled my shoulders, causing strain on the sore shoulder, so beware of something like that.) Some manuals say not to roll your head and neck forward but they don't say why. I gave myself a headache till I read someone's advice to hold the head and neck out straight from the shoulders without curving them, so now I don't get neck aches from this and I'm sure I'm doing them right. Also, make darned sure you're not arching your back, which pulls the psoas into action and can give you a very sore lower back. Curl up slowly till the shoulders and then the upper back come up off the mat, then stop there. Hold that position for the count of three, then curl down slowly--again, without arching the back. Breathe normally as you can. Do five of these. I've already added twisted-curl-ups, and do four (left, center, right, center) with three seconds' breather after each curl-up, and do six of these to get twenty-four curl-ups. I doubt I'll have Stephen Amell's sixpacks >-) any time soon but it will be nice to be able to suck in my gut and have it stay sucked in.