Top 10: Reasons for effective back training

Every day, millions of people sit in an office chair and adopt the wrong posture. This works well for many, others get the receipt with time: Unbearable back pain, where only the way to the doctor helps. Who physical works carries out could think. However, this is not true - a wrong movement and the way to a doctor is inevitable.

But even those who do sports run the risk of suffering from back pain. Many people train their chest, abdomen and shoulders in the gym, but not their back. As a result, only the front part of the body is stressed and neglecting the back has a higher potential for injury.

Strengthening your back not only keeps you fit and keeps your posture straight, it also looks good. But most importantly, you minimize the risk of suffering from obnoxious pain. And that doesn't just apply to back pain - a "bad" back puts strain on the neck, which in turn leads to headaches and, in the worst cases, numbness in the arms and legs.

Lack of exercise and back problems are now economically relevant in Germany. According to the TK Health Report 2014, more than one in nine days of absence from work is due to problems with the back. The costs for this run into the billions. Better back health would contribute significantly to a better economic situation. According to the health insurance fund, it could often be achieved with simple back exercises, i.e. with a little more sport and exercise.

If you regularly exercise your back, you take care of yourself and stay in shape even when you get older. But even at a young age, you may experience back problems that significantly affect your quality of life. Weekly back training helps you stay fit and avoid injuries.

Regular training of the back muscles promises a double effect: on the one hand, painful tension is effectively prevented, and on the other hand, misconceptions are cleared up. The idea of having to take care of the back, i.e. to avoid "wrong" movements, leads to a fatal result. It reinforces the causes, which lie in the persistence in a certain position and in the lack of movement. Back pain cannot be endured in the long term in this way.

In more than eight out of ten cases, physicians cannot identify a specific cause for the patients' back pain. Neither osteoporosis nor chronic joint inflammation or other physical ailments can be detected. So in the end the diagnosis is: stress and problems are (partly) to blame for the misery. You can counteract the emotional triggers of back pain and tension with sport and back training. This provides a natural balance and at the same time prevents being stressed out.

Back training begins before the first back exercise is completed. In a way, our health, therefore, benefits from a process of awareness. If you stand, sit and lie down consciously, you have already done a lot for your back. Thus, when standing, one should not only pay attention to the natural "double-S" posture of the back, but above all actively change the position again and again. The same applies when sitting: Unlike in discussions, frequent changes of posture are explicitly beneficial.

In the history of evolution, our backs have learned to get the best out of things - just as we have. During sleep, it changes its position dozens of times - always in an effort to compensate for the stresses of the day and to optimally supply the heavily stressed intervertebral discs in particular. Back training therefore begins with not making this self-healing process more difficult for the back. Make sure you get enough sleep in a pleasant room climate. When falling asleep, assume a comfortable side position, preferably with your knees slightly drawn up. Avoid mattresses that are too soft.

Strenuous strength training in expensive gyms? No, you don't need that. With simple exercises at home or at work, it also goes forward. But only those who start with back exercises once will see how low the hurdles are. For example, the muscles are already activated and strengthened when you lie on your back, lift your head slightly and bring your bent knees towards your chin. Plan such exercises into your daily routine, two or three times a week for half an hour, that's enough.

If you actively strengthen your back muscles, you also strengthen your general well-being. With a better body feeling comes the motivation to do something for fitness and health. In the end, it's not just your body that benefits, but losing weight works better and social contacts get back on track. Did you know that fitness training is not a localized approach to fighting the unwanted fat deposits anyway? It is always a holistic process that affects the whole body.

Can you remember a time when back pain wasn't a problem? Your friends certainly can, because usually the problems are accompanied by a change in behavior. The get-together suffers, the meetings become less frequent. Last but not least, a healthy back can give new impetus to a partnership!

A stable musculature protects against injuries. At a young age, you benefit from this and can survive many a misstep that ends up in the hospital in old age. Although the connection between age and physical resilience cannot be completely eliminated, it can be compensated for. Thus, back exercises are a form of old-age provision in which annoyances are excluded. This investment is guaranteed to pay off.

To help you start your workout, we have prepared a home training back exercise for you. You don't need dumbbells for it and you can do it anytime.

Here's how the lower back exercise works:

• Lie down on the floor or a mat (recommended).
• Angle your legs 90 degrees and make sure you have both feet on the floor.
• Support yourself with your elbows on the floor and push yourself upwards - the strength and movement must come from your back.

With this exercise you successfully fight against a hollow back and also train your legs.

Whether more awareness of life, less pain, better stature or psychological well-being - training your back has exclusively advantages. Strong back muscles contribute to better health - but be careful with the training itself, because incorrectly performed exercises have the opposite effect and can lead to more problems.

Below we answer the most frequently asked questions about back training.

Training is also possible without equipment, especially if the goal is pain prevention. However, for effective muscle building dumbbells are required.

Regardless of gender, be careful how you perform them! Even if you want to avoid pain with the training, incorrectly executed exercises are dangerous for the back and may even worsen the pain.

The University of Kiel has found that after just four weeks of regular back training, muscles increase and pain decreases.