Workouts To Build The Muscles In Your Lower Back

Strengthening and building the muscles in your lower back is more important than you may think. For starters the lower back supports most of your body’s weight and it is very easy to injury this area of the body. Therefore strengthening and building the muscles in your lower back is a preventive measure to avoid injury and pain.

Even though the lower back is a weak region, it still does get the attention that it deserves in most fitness classes. Yet there are exercises that target on the lower back region and would help you to become stronger and have lesser pains and aches.

There are some types of equipment that you would need if you want to give your lower back a good workout. The most common is an exercise ball. I would recommend it because it helps you in concentrating and balancing your efforts on the muscles in your lower back. Another equipment is the hyperextension bench which allows you to do exercises that target only your lower back.

To do lower back exercises using an exercise ball:

• Lay down on the ball facing the floor; make sure your hips are secured firmly on it.

• Brace yourself with your legs so that you don’t slip of the ball

• Put your two hands at the back of your head

• Now bend your back over the ball so that you can extend your back as far as you can go

• Use the muscles in your lower back to raise your upper body to the position that you started from

• Continue doing this movement till you can perform 2 sets of 12 repetitions at once – it doesn’t matter if you can’t do up to this when you first start.

This exercise may seem uncomfortable to you when you first start it, but later you would get the hang of it and begin to enjoy doing.

It is possible to do this particular exercise with a hyperextension bench. It is easier than with an exercise ball because you don’t have to worry about balancing and you still get to work out the same muscles. As you do this exercise, your lower back muscles would get stronger and you can start adding weights so that your workouts become more intense.

Asides from building the set of muscles in your lower back, it is also essential that you include abdominal workouts in your exercises sessions to build your abdominal muscles which help to prevent injury and also supports the spine.

If you already have an injury in your lower back, then you need to first see your doctor and discuss the suitable work outs for your situation before you begin any fitness program. This is because you can cause more injury if you use the wrong kind of exercise on your injured lower back.

However, most individuals can build and strengthen the muscles in their lower back using the exercise in this article. For your own good, include lower back exercises in your fitness routine... I am hope you are already exercising on a regular basis.

What is a Step Machine?

Climbing stairs is a great work out. Few other exercises can compare to the cardiovascular benefits and the wonderful way it quickly sculpts your thighs, hips, calves and rear end.

However, not everyone has their own sets of stairs they could use for their workout. Enter the stair stepper, or step machine – a piece of exercise equipment that allows you to climb stairs whenever, wherever and enjoy the intense workout that comes with it.

Different Types of Step Machine

There are several different types of stair steppers. While each of them will provide the user with an outstanding workout, the difference lies in what each machine offers. You can choose the right type depending on your workout needs, your budget, and what’s available to you.

Most commonly seen in the gym, the traditional stair stepper machine is a bigger piece of equipment that usually has a digital display, different workout programs, side rails, and other features like a water bottle holder. You can electronically program different resistances, inclines, and other variables to provide the best work out possible.

Mini step machines are the smaller version of the gym machine and are portable due to their small size. They generally only have accommodations for the feet and not the hands. The benefit of these is that they don’t take up much space, but they might not be as effective.

Side step machines work a different set of muscles in the legs. Instead of the usual knee lift motion, the side step machine enables the user to step from side to side, engaging the inner and outer thigh muscles.

Twist stepper machines engage the abdominal muscles as well as the lower body muscles by having the user turn from side to side as they step. Exercisers who use twist steppers can also work their upper body by including an arm workout routine while they step.

There are also sports mini steppers that have bungee bands that allow the exerciser to condition their arms through strength resistance while stepping. These sports steppers are also fairly lightweight and portable, making them easy to take to work or to move them from room to room while at home.

All the stepper machines work in the same way to burn calories: by focusing on your leg and rear end muscles and by providing varying levels of resistance, the person exercising is able to quickly accelerate their fat loss as well as condition their cardio vascular system.

How Staying Fit Affects Every Aspect Of Your Life

There are a lot of health benefits that you stand to gain by keeping fit. It includes both physical and mental health benefits, which I would list in the later part of this article.

Let us address the issue of regular exercising first of all.

“Going by what the American Heart Association recommends, you should be doing at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. ”

The good thing is that you don’t have to do the whole 30 minutes at a stretch. One of the reasons why some people don’t exercise is because it is difficult for them to allocate 30 minutes of their schedule to exercise.

Even if you are a busy person, you can always do 10 minute exercise sessions three times a day and you would get almost the same health benefits like if you did the 30 minutes at a stretch. After all it is much easier to take a 10 minutes break out of your schedule to exercise no matter how busy you are.

And the good thing is you do not have to be at a gym to exercise. Just going on 30 minutes of brisk walking around your neighbourhood is good enough.

You would feel energized. And if you are walking outdoors in the morning, you would be increasing the vitamin D level in your body (which is a very good thing).

Exercising Actually Improves Mental Health

Yes it does and it has been back up by multiple research studies (like this particular one here). Exercising helps in reducing the effects of the following: stress, tension, depression, anxiety and anger.

Since exercising gets your heart rate up for that period of time, blood flow increases and more oxygen reaches the brain. This extra oxygen improves mental memory and alertness.

Whenever you are exercising, your body releases endorphins. These are hormones that make your feel better whenever you just finish your exercise workouts.

Some Other Mental Health Benefits Of Exercising Include:

• Better optimism

• Enhanced enthusiasm

• Increase self-image

• Helps you if you want to stop smoking

Exercising Improves Your Physical Health

As for the physical aspects, regular exercising strengthens your body’s immune system considerably. It reduces your risks of getting life-threatening illnesses like: cancer and heart disease.

Regular exercising can help to reduce your blood pressure by up to 9 points – which is quite impressive considering that some drugs give the same effect.

There are even research studies that suggest that regular exercising actual increases an individual’s life span. Asides from keeping you fit, there is also the life-long benefit.

You only need to do 30 minutes of brisk walking every day to get these health benefits:

• Improved sleep at night

• Fat loss

• Thwart bone loss

• Better cholesterol levels

• Increased physical strength

• Your chances of having a stroke reduces by 20%

• A 30 – 40% reduced risk of coronary heart disease in women

• Delays chronic diseases and illnesses linked to aging

Those are merely some of the health benefits of regular exercising. There are so many others that it would not be possible for me to list and explain everything in this article.

So, what are you waiting for? It is time to head for the gym or at least wear your sneakers and do 30 minutes of brisk walking.