“GUIDE TO BODYWEIGHT STRENGTH TRAINING 2.0 - 1 rep max based bodyweight strength training” is available now at Amazon, Google Play and Kobo. Get it! Amazon Google Play Kobo What's new: • Updated training tool with some visual upgrades • New alternative exercises you can use for progression and some exercises were removed • Three approaches to get your first pullup • Ring training is included in the training tool for dips and push-ups for those who like to train with rings. Also progression to full ring dip with rings only if you don’t have parallel bars available. • Improved exercise and video library • More content. More detailed chapter on dieting for fat loss, muscle gain and maintaining. • About 50% more content compared to the previous version. • Updated units to support both lbs/kg and cm/inch units in the book. So you don’t have to convert numbers on your own based on your preferred unit of measurement. You will get the following tools: • Training tool which you can us
Having a strong lower back is your insurance againsts life. In our daily lives we need to lift heavy objects from the ground and carry them from point A to B. I have a big family so carrying the groceries from the car to the kitchen resembles a farmers walk these days. Also from time to time we need to be able to lift that heavy couch to clean the floor or move that washing machine since you dropped the keys behind it. If you are unprepared for these tasks you will eventually face difficulties. I'm talking about lower back pain, disc bulges and strains.
Since most of us don't have equipment for deadlift or access to a back extension machine we have to rely on other exercises to train the back extensors. For this purpose I would like to introduce you to the following back extension exercises and progression to strengthen the lower back.
Note that most of the exercises include other muscle groups such as the glutes and hamstrings. The spinal erectors work alongside with these muscle groups for extending the body. In order to engage the spinal erectors more think about these exercises as crunches for your back. So instead of using a rigid spine you need to focus on extending the back. But don't round or over extend your back excessively.
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| The weight on this bar equals four heavy grocery bags |
Back extension progression
1. Wall supported standing back extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFehlRXuhcg
This is a great exercise since it helps to isolate the spinal erectors. Bend your knees slightly and push your hips backwards so that your butt is touching the wall. Place your hands to your chest or behind your head. Now do a back extension movement. Don’t overextend your back at the top and instead keep a slightly leaning forward posture when you reach the top.
Work up to at least 12reps before moving to the next exercise
1.1 Weighted wall supported back extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkKJRaY9tTA
If you don’t like bridging you can work your way up with the weighted version of the wall back extension. Use a weighted backpack, dumbbells or whatever weight is available.
2. Short bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWbYubzDLdI
Lay on the floor with bent legs. Lift your hips upwards. Concentrate on contracting your back on top of the movement. Hold the top position for 1-2 seconds on each rep. Don’t let your butt touch the floor on the bottom part of the movement.
Work up to at least 12reps before moving to the next exercise
3. Table bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dwu5H6c_0
Sit on the floor and bend your knees in front of you. Place your hands behind your body shoulder width apart palms facing inwards. Raise your hips upwards and lift your torso parallel to the ground forming a table with your body. Hold the top position for 1-2 seconds on each rep. Don’t let your butt touch the floor on the bottom part of the movement.
Work up to at least 12reps before moving to the next exercise
4. Straight leg bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCs6Q3leDlE
Similar to table bridge but this challenges the back and hamstrings more. Instead of bent legs you use straight legs. Your body will be around 30-45 degree angle at the top of the movement.
Other back extension exercises
There are some other great alternatives but they require some equipment:
Reverse hyper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeRsNzFcQLQ
This exercise requires a bench or a table and some cushion. Lay on the table face down. Hold on to the sides or at the end of the table with your arms. Legs are hanging over the edge of the table. Now lift your legs straight back.
Lying back extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikq3OCFoP7c
Lying back extensions are great if you can do them. But I prefer the standing wall back extension over this since it gives a better range of motion. Also not everyone is able to perform this exercise properly. Using a soft training mat will make this exercise more comfortable.
Banded back extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yzjemtCLLI
Similar to the wall back extension but performed with a resistance band.
Any kind of deadlift with added weight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQyDaPdY4Mg
Use your imagination. Backpacks, suitcases, resistance bands, water bottles or those shopping bags we talked about in the beginning.
Back extension with a bench, medicine ball or footstool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2xWGAMAXx8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kNN2a52w-Q
Lay on the medicine ball and place the soles of your feet against a wall. You will need shoes or bare feet in order to have enough friction to keep you in place. Be careful with this one and use other variants if you think the friction might not be enough.
When I'm travelling I like to use straight leg bridges paired with wall back extensions. Usually I perform a set of bridging to failure followed by a set of wall back extension to failure. Or if I have some weight available such as a backpack I do the weighted wall back extension.
Just for the record I like to deadlift every once in a while. But not in the way you would expect. Due to the structural weakness in my lower back I'm unable to lift heavy loads. Usually at the 1.5x bodyweight range I start to get some discomfort in my lower back. So I deadlift at the end of my workouts with low weights around max 1x bodyweight for controlled reps. Usually combining them with some shrugs.
Workouts
For back extensor workouts do 3-6sets per week of extensions, bridges or deadlifts in 6-15rep range. For example
Workout A
3x Bridge progression or other back extension in 10-15 rep range
Workout B
3x Deadlift any form 8-15rep range
It you have a single pull or back day in your routine you could do
Workout A
4-6x Bridge progression, back extension or deadlift
Check out my workout planner at Google Drive:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aDDJ4iLcFW82_aOXVhPKBvHfgQl-YAPaAGZeh9ie3QI/edit#gid=0
It now has the back extension and bridge progression with video links!
What to do when you reach 20 reps for a given exercise
With some of the bodyweight exercise progressions you will face limitations if you are unable to use the weighted variations. As you get stronger you will be soon able to perform over 20 reps of some exercises. It's commonly accepted that best strength and muscle gains come from training in the moderate rep range of 6-12reps. But it does not mean that higher or lower rep ranges are useless.
In “Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” [1] several low-load training studies were collected and analyzed. The researchers found out that:
"The findings indicate that maximal strength benefits are obtained from the use of heavy loads while muscle hypertrophy can be equally achieved across a spectrum of loading ranges."
Which means that you can make muscle gains when working at higher rep ranges. But in order to make the higher rep ranges work you need to train to failure or very close to it on each set to reach full muscle fibre activation.[2] With loads below 20% of the 1RM the muscle gains seem to diminish, producing less and less muscle growth.[3] This means you can still make some muscle gains working up to the 40rep range. But high rep work doesn’t produce maximal strength benefits so don’t expect to gain much strength from low loads.
How to make high rep training time efficient
In order to make your high rep training more productive and less time consuming I recommend you use the following strategy to reach failure faster on your high rep sets. Keep constant tension on the muscles through your set by reducing the range of motion a bit. Avoid top lockout since in this position the tension in the working muscle is lost. And in the bottom position avoid resting the weight so that you don't lose tension on the bottom. For example with push-ups you would stop the motion before you reach the top and in the bottom position don’t rest your body on the floor.
This will mimic the occlusion effect since it limits the blood flow in the muscles. It is used for example in Myo-reps to reach higher muscle fibre activation faster so your activation set does not take too long. Limiting the blood flow to the muscles will make you reach full muscle fibre activation faster. [4]
So if your workouts start to look like this: Set 1 25reps, Set 2 22reps, Set 3 21reps etc. and your workouts start to resemble a marathon instead of a strength training session, try limiting the range of motion to reach failure and full muscle fibre activation faster.
Of course you can continue to train with normal straight sets to failure but it will take long to finish your workouts and generate more overall fatigue.
For example when I reached 20+ reps for pistol squats I started doing 1.5reps to increase time under tension. I did about 30% less reps for this style of training around 8 reps of 1.5reps which equals to 16 normal reps. By limiting the range of motion I would reach failure with 12 reps which made the training session much faster. So I reached failure with 50% less reps and generated less overall fatigue. It depends on the exercise and individual how much faster you will reach failure compared to the straight sets.
How to implement this to back extensions
When you can do over 20reps of bridges in your first set implement the strategy described above. In bridges don’t let your butt touch the floor in the bottom position. If you are doing back extensions leave the reps short and avoid top lockout.
Have fun protecting your back!
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28834797/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20711498/
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20618358/
What do you think about this progression?
Comment below or e-mail me twoworkoutsonly@gmail.com
Interested in Bodyweight Strength Training?
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I did my best to gather all the information between these covers so that you can make the best progress possible. It is a textbook with some math. But you can skip the math part and read the best parts. I don't mind!
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