Strengthening the spine and rhomboids is essential for correcting slouching and alleviating chronic back pain. Compare the effectiveness of pull-ups versus lat pulldowns and explore targeted routines for scoliosis or pinched nerves.
The core is the collective term used to describe the muscles that control your spine, specifically your abdominals, waist and lower back. Many exercisers spend workout time focusing on their core muscles in the hope of developing a six-pack midsection.
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Flexing your spine uses your rectus abdominus muscles at the front of your body and also stretches the erector spinea muscles of your back. Spinal flexion, in which you lean forward and round your back, can be active, such as when performing sit ups or crunches, or passive, as when leaning down to tie your shoe laces.
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A rounded upper back, sometimes called a slouch, is correctly called hyperkyphosis. Hyperkyphosis can be caused by a number of factors including tight chest muscles, weak upper back muscles, an imbalanced exercise program with too much emphasis on pecs development or spending too much time sitting at a desk or driving.
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Spending long periods of time sitting at a desk or driving a car can cause your lower back to become rounded. Tight muscles, combined with weak abdominals, can make this rounded position become habitual, which places a significant strain on the ligaments and discs of the lower back.
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Many people spend long periods of time in a seated position. Being seated promotes a flexed spinal posture which, according to back expert and author Stuart McGill, can cause intervertebral discs to bulge outwards resulting in pain and inhibited spinal extension.
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There are a number of variations of the deadlift exercise, including stiff legged, sumo, Romanian and standard. Each exercise is slightly different and will stress your body in different ways.
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Rack pulls are a strength-building exercise that targets the so-called posterior chain muscles that are responsible for hip and back extension.
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