Luke Lewitzke

Certified A.C.E. (American Counsel on Exercise) Personal Trainer

Weight and Lifestyle Management Specialist

(A simple at-home workout to maintain a healthy back and strong core)

Our backs are the foundation on which we live.  Ask anyone who has ever had any back pain, and they will tell you that your life will come to a crumbling halt if you have back pain.  The simplest of tasks and movements now take planning and strategy to try to execute with as little pain as possible.  But what if there was a way to prevent back pain from ever happening?  What if by spending a few minutes every day, you can feel better, feel stronger, and more confident in your movements, would you do it? 

Exercise has gotten a negative connotation over the years.  That to feel better you have to workout for at least an hour a day if not longer, elevate your heart rate to high levels, and feel like you have just run a marathon.  And while that may be needed depending on your goals, for most of us, what we need is to simply move a little more, stretch a little each day, and do a little core strengthening to keep us healthy, happy, and feeling pain free. 

There is a delicate balance between strength, mobility, and flexibility that needs to happen for us a move efficiently and pain free.  Going to a gym can be intimidating, not to mention expensive.  Here is a simple workout that you can do at home within 20-30 minutes that requires very little in the way of equipment that will help keep your back strong and moving pain free and with confidence. 

By performing this workout, you will improve your hip and thoracic spine mobility while also creating more stability and strength in your core and shoulders.

Circuit 1: 

Piriformis Foam Roll – 1 min each side

Upper Back Foam Roll – 1 min

Thoracic Extension on Foam Roll – 10 times

Quadruped On/Off the Horse – 10 times

Quadruped Thoracic Rotational Reach Through – 10 times each side

Circuit 2:

Alternating 90-90 Hip Stretch – 10 times

Cat/Cow – 10 times

Bird Dog – 10 times each side

Side-lying Clamshells – 10 times each side

Side-lying Thoracic Rotation Stretch – 30 sec each side

Circuit 3:

Tall Kneeling Crab Reach – 10 times

Alternating Lying Opposites – 10 times

Frog Rocks – 20 times

High Plank into Down Dog – 5-10 times holding each position for 2 seconds

Child’s Pose – 1 minute

***Perform each of these circuits for 1-3 sets with minimal rest between exercises and 60-90 seconds rest between sets.

Below are pictures and descriptions of each exercise and how to perform them.

• While sitting on the foam roller, shift your weight on to your right butt cheek.  
• Cross your right ankle over your left knee.  
• If you want you can hold your right ankle with your left hand.  
• Slowly roll through the glute a few times paying attention to where you feel the most tension.  
• Once you have located that spot, sit and hold on that spot for a couple of slow, deep breaths.  
• After your breaths, you will lift your knee up and down like a butterfly wing 5-8 times before finishing with 4 more rolls through the glute. 

Foam Roller Upper Back Stretch

• Place the foam roller just below your shoulder blades.

• Bring your hands either across your chest or behind your head to support your neck.

• Lift your hips just off the floor.

• Using your legs, slowly pull your hips towards your heels to roll the foam roll up towards the upper back and push your hips away from your heels to roll the foam roll back towards your mid-back.
• Be sure not to roll into the lower back region.

Foam Roller Thoracic Extension Stretch

• Place the foam roller just below the shoulder blades.
• With your hips maintaining contact with the floor, slowly extend over the foam roll while you breathe in through your nose.
• Then exhale through your mouth as you return to the upright position.

Quadruped On/Off the Horse

• On your hands and knees, with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips, slowly draw small circles with one knee.
• Make sure to draw the circle in both directions as if you are swinging your leg to get on and off a horse.

Quadruped Thoracic Rotational Reach Through

• On your hands and knees, with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips, take one hand and reach under and across to the other side.  
• Breathe out and as you breathe in, bring the arm back out and reach up towards the ceiling.  
• Focus on keeping your hips stable.  

Alternating 90/90 Hip Stretch

• Sit tall on the floor with your knees bent and feet out in front of you.
• Let your right leg externally rotate, dropping your knee to the floor.
• With your knee bent at 90 degrees, bring your lower leg across your body.
• Next internally rotate your left leg, bringing your leg back behind you.
• Make sure that your right lower leg and left thigh are parallel to each other.
• Then lift the right knee up, shift onto your left hip as your lift your left knee up to rock to the opposite leg positions.

Cat/Cow Pose

• Start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
• Sink your belly towards the floor and look up while you breathe in. 
• As you exhale, round your back towards the ceiling, tucking your chin and looking down and back between your legs.  
• Breathe slowly and perform the movement with each breath.

Bird Dog Exercise

• Perform this exercise either on your bed or on the floor with a mat to cushion your knees.  
• Make sure that you aren’t shifting your hips laterally as you lift your leg.  
• Press the heel straight back as you extend the opposite arm forward.  
• Focus on maintaining a neutral spine so that you don’t arch your back.

Side Lying Clamshells

• Lie on your side with the resistance band placed above your knees.  
• Bend your knees and bring them slightly out in front of your torso with your heels slightly behind your torso.  
• Keeping the heels together, externally rotate at the hip, lifting your top knee up away from your bottom knee.  
• Make sure that you don’t rock your hips as you lift your leg.

Side-lying Thoracic Rotation Stretch

• Start by lying on your side with your knees bent to 90 degrees out in front of you.  
• If you need to, place a pillow between your knees and use another pillow to support your head.  
• Extend and reach your arms out in front of you.  
• Slowly take your top hand and arm and rotate to reach to the other side of you, while keeping your knees and hips in place.  
• Once you have gone as far as your body will comfortably allow you, focus on your breathing.  
• Breathe in through your nose slowly, hold that breath for a 4 count, and then exhale even slower through your mouth, letting your body relax as you do so.  
• Remember that the focus of the stretch should be on trying to get your shoulders to the floor, not necessarily your hand.  
• Hold the stretch for 5 slow breaths.  
• Then slowly bring your arm back over the top to return to your starting position before switching to the other side.  
• It is important to do this so that we return our spine to a neutral position before moving.

Tall Kneeling Crab Reach

• Kneel tall on both knees with your hands at chest height.
• With one hand, reach up and back, with slight torso rotation.
• Reach as far as it feels comfortable.
• Bring the hand back into the chest and switch to the other side.

Lying Opposites

• Lie on your stomach with your arms and legs extended out like you are flying.  
• Breathe in through your nose, then slowly lift opposite arm and leg in the air as you exhale.  
• Make sure that both hips stay in contact with the floor.  
• Slowly lower your arm and leg back to the floor and then repeat with the opposite arm and leg.  

Frog Rocks

• Start on your hands and knees.
• Spread your knees as wide as you can and then bring your ankles in-line with your knees, turning your feet out.
• Maintaining a tall, neutral spine, slowly sit your hips back towards your heels to stretch your inner thighs and groin.
• Then slowly pull your hips forward into an extended position in your hips.
• Slowly rock back and forth trying to gently increase your range of motion each time.

High Plank into Down Dog

• Start in a High Plank/Push-Up position.
• Slowly drive your hips up to the corner of the ceiling, lowering your chest towards your thighs and pressing your heels to the floor.
• It is important that you keep your neck neutral and to think about pressing the floor away from you to lengthen through your shoulder joint.
• Then pull yourself back into high plank position lowering your hips back down to a neutral strong posture.

Child’s Pose

• Start down on to your hands and knees.
• Place your knees slightly wider than your hips and bring your big toes together.
• Sit your hips back on your heels, slide your arms out in front of you, slowly lowering your chest towards your knees/floor. 
• As you hold this stretch, inhale slowly through your nose, filling your belly and back with air, hold the breath for a few seconds and then exhale slowly through your mouth.

For more tips or ideas on how to incorporate movements or to learn new exercises, please visit our website, www.neuroendomke.com, for our exercises of the week.

Learn more about World Spine Day 2024.