Mobility Series: Release the Back: BODYWEIGHT MOBILITY for a strong, pain free lower back

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is Ryan from Simply Sports cbd. And this is your Release the Back workout. This is part of our mobility series that I'm doing in partnership with Simply Swartz cbd. You can get information on their products in the description below. This workout's going to do exactly what it says, release the back. Many of us experience tightness or tension or pain in our back. In this workout, we're going to get mobility and flexibility and a little bit of strength to move through the movements that are going to make our backs feel released and feel good. Of course, I'm going to give you lots of different options as we go through this workout. Are you ready? I'm ready. Let's do it. All right, so let's start just thinking about what is it that our spine does when we're talking about our back? We're talking about our spine, right? So our spine does a few different things. We do spinal flexion, like that crunch movement. We do extension when you're lifting up in the back, maybe a superman exercise. We have lateral flexion, those side, side bends, and then we have rotation, so hands here, rotating through the side. So we're all tight in some places. But you may have, if you were going through that with us, you may experience one is a little more tight than the other, and we want to work through that when we're holding that tightness or that tension. Especially with our lifestyles where we're sitting at our desk, riding in our cars, we can get a lot of that buildup in our low back. So let's also get a little posture check. I always like to do this with mobility workouts. We're going to stand, feet shoulder width apart, shoulders back and down, but not to the point where you're sticking that rib cage out. Button up the rib cage, zip up the core, and let's think about stacking our ears over our shoulders, shoulders over our rib cage, rib cage over the pelvis, pelvis over the knees, over the ankles. And I want you to especially think about the rib cage over the pelvis and those things that we talk about with core work, right? So making sure those ribs aren't flared out, buttoning up the core with the rib cage, thinking about those hips again, aligning with the ribs and imagining that you have magnets on your hip bones, bringing them together, and then along with that, a little lift of the pelvic floor. Notice when you do that, you get that strong, stable foundation. You turn on those core Muscles, you probably feel your core muscles connecting. So that is really important when we're talking about the low back because you may have heard this a lot of times. If we have that back tension and tightness, it is because we have a weak core. Not always always, but sometimes. So now we've got that, let's get moving. We're going to take those arms out and we're going to take it a flat back fold over so we're right through here, trying to keep it flat. And then when we get to here, let's take our arms down to the floor if you can, and then slowly roll it up. So we're doing that at your own pace. I'm going to put a ponytail in you keep going, right? And I want you to think about as you're going down, keeping it flat. And then when you're at the bottom, you can round those shoulders and get that stretch. So there's a lot of work that happens when we really straighten spine so you feel where that tightness is and then you allow yourself to round, feel that stretch and slowly come up just a few more at your own pace. We often do this in our mobility warm ups. You can have a soft bend in the knees, taking it here and rolling up. Let's get one more. Take it out flat and round it up. Now you can keep with just that or we're going to go into an inchworm. So Ryan's going to face me, so we have a little space here. Another thing that I love to include include in warm ups. We're going to hinge, driving those hips to the back, soften in the knees, and then you're going to inchworm your arms and your body out into that high plank position. If you need to drop to your knees, you can. And then you're going to walk those hands back, soft bend in the knees, slowly roll it up and we're actually going to return to standing position. So at your own pace, you're going here, starting with the hinge and walking it out. So if you're getting into a workout and you don't have much time to warm up, this is something I would recommend. It's one of my favorite warm up moves because not only we're working through the spine, but we're also firing up the core. We're getting the upper body and shoulders working, lower body, hamstring stretch all the way through. But if that doesn't work for you, remember, you can also inchworm it out to your knees and come up. Let's get One more. So if you need to, you can just drop to here, Walking it out to wherever it's comfortable for you, and then walking it back. Already feels better. Right, let's take it down to a seated position, starting actually on your knees, because we're going to come into a 9090 position. So what that's going to look like is here. We do this a lot when we talk about h mobility. I've said this before, but hip mobility is directly related to your back. They go together often. We have tight hips, and that's what's keeping us from being stable in our back. So we'll start with just that 9,090. If you've never done it before, you can also sit on the edge of a chair. But we're just rotating our knees side to side and there's again, you can sit on the edge of a chair, you can use your hands for a little extra support. You can take it nice and slow, or if you have the core stability, you can just roll through. Now, what we're going to add to that to get a little bit of extra in our back is as we go to one side, we're going to lift up in a little hip press. So you're here. Yeah. You'll feel connect with the glutes and the core, but notice that's going to open up the hips and the hip flexors and add a little release in the back. If that doesn't feel right for you, you can keep doing it where you are, or you can also, again, use your hands for a little bit of support, but really trying to get into that high position, rolling through the hips and then hip press to release hip flexors and back. Let's get one more through here. Again, you can support yourself with your hands however you need to, all the way through. So we're going to come down onto our backs. I'm going to have Ryan come down into a bridge position. So the bridge, glute bridge we often call it, because it does work your glutes, hamstrings, bridge, but really great for back and hip mobility. So just at your own pace, you can think of a little tuck of the pelvis to engage the core, rolling up the spine. And this is what you're trying to get to. Ryan actually has really good mobility. That's hard to do. Right. It's something to work towards. What I love about the bridge is you could do it before you go to bed at night. You could do it on the floor while you're watching tv, but it feels Good. Yes. We get that strength, that toning and sculpting in our glutes, hamstrings, we engage the core, but it's a really good release for your back. And you can even hold at the top and just feeling that, yes, tighten the glutes, but release in the back, release in those hip flexors. We love a bridge for so many reasons. So, Ryan, you're going to stay down here. Another thing that you could do lying in bed at night, bring one knee into your chest, a little gentle pull, and you can either grab on top of your shin, you can grab underneath, whatever feels better, and then from there, extend up into a straight leg. And most of us are pretty tight here, so don't worry if your leg is here and making sure that you're grabbing either right below or above the knee joint. And you can flex your foot, do a little flex and point. Yes. It's a hamstring stretch, which we all need, but again, connected to our low back. And then releasing through that slowly back down. We get the same thing. Other side. So these are stretches that, on the flexibility side, if you want to hold these for longer, maybe 30, 40 seconds, but if you want to to get mobility, you can just move through holding for a couple counts or two and then dropping it back down. I know. Especially just pulling the one knee in the time, in. In at a time. I always feel a really good release in my low back. But then it's a good reminder that we also need the hamstring flexibility as well. We'll get one more each side. Bringing it in. Yes, perfect. And then from here, we're just going to let your knees drop to one side, so opening up your arms, knees dropping again, this is one that you could just hold if you want more of the flexibility out of it, or we can come into sort of the bottom half of our open book. So Ryan's just going to open up one knee at a time and then take it down to the other side. So you can actually roll through right to left. Yep. And one at a time. If you want to add the upper body to that, you can get. You can add your arms for that full open book. We get more shoulder mobility as well, but sometimes it also just feels good just to let the knees drop and just hold that. So, again, another great exercise that you can do anywhere. If you want to lift the feet off the ground, you're going to engage a little bit more core, but allowing yourself to really feel that stretch and then moving through intentional movement is what we Want not just letting it go, but really working through that range of motion. Good. All right, so come up onto all fours. We're coming into our quadruped position. As much as we'd love to just lay on the mat. Right. Which you're more than welcome to do, let's come into our all fours position. So, you know, you might as well start with a little child's pose, because we're here and we love. This child's pose is basically in every single my workouts one way or the other, but especially mobility. You're opening up the hips, you're stretching through the shoulders, and then you can feel that release in the low back. And a great thing that you can do is just coming up from your all fours, your quadru head position, and then sitting back into that child's pose. So you're getting all of those things again, making it a little more mobile, but you can also hold the stretch to get that flexibility. So then we're coming up to all fours. And how about that cat cow? Another one I love. And we do a lot. So you're in that standard quadruped position, just meaning all fours, wrists underneath, elbows underneath shoulders, knees underneath hips. And then we're just going to roll through in that cat cow. Sometimes we call it cat camel. And what you can play around with this a lot is one making sure that you are moving through the spine, that you're not moving in the hips. That's a different exercise. You're not moving in the shoulders, you're keeping in the spine. And if you're like me, I'm extra tight in my lower lumbar spine right through here at better mobility in that upper back. So trying to really focus on this lower lumbar spine moving through there, creating that movement in that part of my spine. Really, when I think about that, when I focus on that, it makes a big difference in how my back feels. Again, most of us can do the shoulders and the upper back mobility, but we want to focus also on that lower lumbar spine. Good. And then from here, let's take it great strengthener mobility exercise. Just a bird dog. So we're going to take opposite arm, opposite leg, and just reaching, hold for a counter to back to center, and then stretch. This is also a really great core exercise. We do it a lot in prenatal and postnatal core. And if you shift your weight forward a little bit into those hips, you're going to feel your core even more. But for our purposes today, we're getting that Stretch through our back. That mobility through our back also focusing not just on the lengthening from one end to the other, but lifting the arms, not arching the back, but really reaching, and then feeling that strengthening in the low back. One more each side and right through here. And you can always also just do one arm and one leg at a time if that is a better option for you. All right, let's take it into that pigeon pose. Also hip mobility that we talk a lot, but if you're able to get into it, take it here, and maybe you're feeling your wrists like I am. We can come down to here if that is not right for you. That 90, 90 that we just did is a great option. You can even turn your body just a bit. And then just like Ryan's going to do, we're going to switch. So we're going to go from our plank to our pigeon. And you decide if you want to hold that pigeon a little bit more, a little bit longer. You can for that flexibility. If you want more of that movement through, we're going to get a little core action as well. And just switching through. And don't worry too much about how high that leg gets. It's mostly about that stretch, the hip, the glute, and then releasing in the back. So you can either just hold or you can switch between the plank. Or if we want to add one more layer, you can switch up into the down dog. So we're here, and then we pull it through. Little stretch here. So we're really moving all the way through. We get spinal flexion, we get extension, and then we're coming up through here. Keep that going. Good. Maybe I'll get one more each side. Yes. I feel like your down dog is better than mine, so I gotta work on mine. And then we'll come back down maybe one more time in that child's pose. One last thing. It's that up dog or cobra, whichever one. And we've got a little baby cobra version as well. If you just come down on those elbows, maybe just starting right here. So if you feel that tightness in your back, it might not be comfortable or accessible for you to go all the way up. So this option is great. Just a little cobra on your elbows. And what we can work on is just walking those hands out, getting that stretch, and then walking your hands into what is comfortable for you. Maybe that's here. Maybe that is all the way up in your cobra and your up dog. But let's start just working through your arms. Little tricep push up there as well, reaching out just like Ryan is, and then walking your hands back. Maybe you're coming to the elbows, maybe you're coming all the way up on the hands. And then if you're someone who enjoys, you know, maybe you do a lot of yoga, you can also go from that up dog to that down dog. If you want to push up into the heels to here and then come through the plank all the way down, bringing it up. And then we'll add that little walk out. So again, just something you could do, not you don't have to. If you'd rather just keep the walking out, it can again, depending on your level of mobility. Looking good, and I think we're good. Ryan, how do you feel right now? This is our third mobility workout of the day, and I can't even tell you how good we feel. So remember that even if you don't get this full workout, taking a few of these exercises, getting them throughout your day will make a big difference in your workouts, in your daily movement, and just generally in how you feel. Thanks so much for joining us today. For this release, the back.