Natural Fitness by David Nordmark

Author:David Nordmark
Language: eng
Format: epub

Squats, particularly when done in high reps, will help you build endurance and lung power.

Back Bending

As important as pushups and squats are, neither of them are as critical to your health as performing some kind of exercise which works your spine. Think about it. You can hurt your leg and still hobble around if you need to. You can hurt an arm and still function. When you hurt your back, however, you instantaneously become an old man or women. A sore back can make a simple task, like getting up from a chair, nearly impossible. “A healthy spine leads to a healthy life” is a common saying in yoga. But how exactly do we work our spines? The answer: by performing exercises which involve back bending.

To understand why this is so you need to look at the human spine from an evolutionary perspective. Evolution is a clunky process. When a creature is forced to adapt to a changing environment it does not start with a clean slate. It must adapt whatever systems it already has as best it can. In our case, our human spines evolved when we were still walking on all fours. This means our spines were ideally adapted to carry an even load along its entire length.

When human beings started to walk on two legs this all changed. Rather than having the weight of the body distributed evenly, the spine was now vertical. In a way the modern human spine resembles a flag pole with a large weight (the head) on the very top. This puts tremendous strain on the back (paricularly the lower back) and is one of the main reasons so many of us experience back pain.

When this basic structural flaw is combined with a modern lifestyle which often involves activities such as slouching forward, staring at computers or driving long distances, you have problems. These activities all conspire to put a tremendous strain on an already compromised system, the back.

When you perform a back bend you’re are doing two things. The first thing you are doing is relieving the tension that naturally builds up in your back throughout the day (especially if you’re sitting). The back is meant to move in all directions but most of us only bend forwards. Back bending helps correct this. The second thing you are doing is strengthening the muscles along the back and spine. Stronger back muscles are obviously important when it comes to supporting the spine and thereby, avoiding pain.

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