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Question:
I'm a 27 year old ex-triathlete. Despite
my triathlon efforts, I am much more
inclined toward explosive exercise.
Unfortunately, I have 2 separate areas
in my lower back with bad discs. I
am very broad shouldered, and I want
to lose as much weight as I can. I
do a fair amount of long, fast walking
with wrist weights, but mostly swimming.
Swimming helps my back enormously,
but unfortunately I keep hearing that
swimming is not a particularly good
exercise for losing weight. I have
heard this again and again. Although
I am best at swimming, rope jumping
and jogging are my favourites.
Despite my liking for skipping and
jogging, I cannot do too much because
of my bad back. I am also struggling
to work out EXACTLY what type of abdominal
exercises I need to be doing to help
support my back, as standard crunches
don't seem to work the LOWER portion
of my stomach adequately, where my
back needs the most support.
I can guarantee I have found this
out through experience. I am well
aware that abdominal exercises are
not going to "trim" anyone's waistline.
I would truly appreciate some advice
for losing weight, as well as SPECIFIC
lower abdominal exercises to support
my lower back. Is it better to add
weights for resistance when doing
abdominal exercises ?
Answer:
My opinion:
1. a stationary cycle, especially
one with a heart rate meter. Choose
the "Manual" setting and then set
a target heart rate. These are simply
fantastic for losing weight. If you
put in 50 minutes a day I can almost
guarantee that you'll lose weight.
There are several styles: the usual
upright bicycle and the recumbent
(laid-back seat). While the recumbent
is very comfortable, it seems to impact
my lower back somewhat.
2. a stairmaster machine, again best
with a heart rate meter.
3. a treadmill. Of these first three,
this is the hardest on the back IMO.
4. To counter the impacted lower back,
I try to stretch out my lower back
by doing these simple exercises:
a) hang from a bar (not easy, the
hand grip is the weak link) and relax
my back.
b) Find a table that's about hip high.
straighten your arms slightly behind
and lean back on the table, then try
to relax the legs and lower back,
balancing your weight on your arms
but resting your butt against the
table, so the vertebrae extend and
"pop". After relaxing, be sure to
"unrelax" your lower back before taking
the weight off of your arms. Otherwise,
you'll get a surprise pain! Note that
it takes awhile to learn how to relax
the muscles along the backbone. They
are usually tight for a good reason:
they protect your backbone. c) Before
getting out of the pool, go to a corner
and put one hand on each side of the
pool. Do some "dips" there, pushing
your body out of the water and stretching
your back. Don't do them to excess,
since they'll tighten your lower back(see
note below).
5. A crunch machine is great - it
isolates the upper abs, and at the
same time somehow magically stretches
out the lower back. You have to sit
on it properly, with your butt 'down"
(knees bent more) on the machine.
Move your butt down until it fees
easiest, then always do it that way,
but periodically increase the weight.
I like to do high reps with low or
no weight - feels very good.
6. If there isn't one, you can get
the effect of the crunch machine by
sitting on an inclined situp board
*backwards*. Lie down on the board
backwards, put your hands up to grab
the "footrest" (which is now above
your head), pull your feet up to your
butt on the board and bend your knees.
Now you're in position. To exercise,
simply pull your knees up to your
chest. Adjust the angle of the board
to suit your strength: easy at first
and hard only later.
When using a crunch machine, as with
almost everything, it's better at
first to do high repetitions with
low or no weight. Take your time,
you have only one back. Besides, it
feels good when your lower back stretches
out and the pressure is take off those
discs.
7. Dip bars - great, not for dips,
but because you can straighten your
arms and simply hang on them to relax
your lower back. If you want, you
can do some dips, but be forewarned
that intense hard dips will cause
your lower back to involuntarily tighten
(and curl backwards), which is NOT
good for you.
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