How long does it take to actually improve lower back strength and actually notice a difference? I know what exercises I have to do to improve but I just loose interest after a couple of weeks of no improvement.
The lower back can be impaired through tight hamstrings, glutes and other imbalances in that area of the body so perhaps try to use a foam roller on that whole area. Lately I have been using a tennis ball to work out knots in my glutes as well as foam rollering my IT band and all other areas of my upper thighs and it seems to be helping.
I found side planks made a surprising difference - planks etc... helped, but I seemed to have a real weakness laterally that these worked really well.. also 'supermans' work my lower back (at the back not the front) for some balance. But I am fairly crocked at the moment :D
Cheers, I think this is worth exploring as my glutes, lower back and hamstrings always ache and feel tight after climbing. Flexability wise I'm pretty strange as I've always been able to do things without trying like touch my head to my knees when stood up and put both my legs behind my head seperately (Can't say I do this often...). But if I try and do something that opens my hips like the frog stretch I can't get anywhere with it and I'm in agony...!
Can you touch your toes with locked out knees? The l sit thing sounds like it could be a tight hamstring/glutes/psoas thing as noted above.
Tight glutes are what I've fund to set off my back pain most regularly. I've destroyed a few tennis balls working the knots in my glutes out & moved onto solid rubber massage/lacrosse balls, which get further in and should last a bit longer. My comment before was flippant but it is an ongoing work in progress for me as sitting around at work/in the car destroys my glutes about as fast as I can break the knots down so if I lay off for a few days I'll suffer for it.
I've tried over the last year or possibly longer to sort this weakness out but I think I'm just possibly giving up to easily or missing something. A couple of questions:How long does it take to actually improve lower back strength and actually notice a difference? I know what exercises I have to do to improve but I just loose interest after a couple of weeks of no improvement.Is there something else I'm possibly not noticing is wrong?
For example (and to show you how weak I am); I try to do leg raises on a bar as often as I can, with knees bent It's fine but when trying to do L raises as soon as I begin to reach an "L" shape I just can't get any further or have to start bending my knees.
As TT mentioned, Supermans are a good bodyweight exercies to start with. Can you do this and get only your pelvis to be on the ground and hold for 15-20 seconds?
Think of improving your back as something to incorporate into the rest of your life rather than something to fix in just a few weeks...
So you guys reckon stuff like:Hanging Leg Raises
Only read the last few posts but Saquatch and Duncan are definitely not saying these. Be very cautious of them, getting into an L sit position is limited more by hamstrings than by weaknesses in your core.
Leg raises on a bar are primarily front chain. Quads, Hip flexors, Abs. If you roll your shoulders back as you get higher, it switches on your lower lats. From your description of your hamstring flexibilty, I'd guess this is a hip flexor weakness, not a low back issue.
The swiss ball 10 week workout posted in the core strength thread is a good way to build up a wider core strength in a not destroying way, I think.
30 degrees left leg, 45 right. It's one of the tests the osteo does every week..
Blimey, that's stiff. I assume that's only since the back issues though? Hopefully as that resolves it will improve.