The American Repossessor

Do you find yourself trapped in a car or cab of a truck wishing you had time for a fitness program? Are you putting on weight as the miles go by? Do you drive by gyms and workout facilities during the day but do not have time or the energy to make it through the doors by closing time? Do you suffer from back pain from sitting and driving all day long?

If you can relate to any of the above there are some things you can do while in the car or by taking short breaks at a rest stop or a parking lot.

Your fitness program should be designed to target your specific needs. If your goal is to alleviate low back pain these are couple of exercises that should help. You can start by stretching and strengthening your abdominal muscles and your lower back muscles. You can do this anywhere. Even in your car.

You should know a couple things before you start. One is that your abdominal muscles have only a 3-inch range of motion. The reason to know this is that you really don’t need a lot of space to move 3 inches.

Another thing to remember is that you must work against gravity. This means that if you want to work your abs you won’t accomplish this by sitting straight up and down. Since gravity is down you must lift up to work against it. The easiest way to do this is by lying on your back. If you’re in the cab of a car/truck, you can simply put your seat all the way to down and you should have enough room for this movement. Obviously, you don’t want to do this while driving J! From that position, you can perform simple crunches. Remember, you only have to crunch 3 inches to work your abdominal muscles.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that you always want to create what is called a “pelvic tilt”. This means that you don’t want your legs straight out in front of you. This can actually cause pain or injury to your lower back. The way to accomplish a pelvic tilt is to keep your knees slightly bent and make sure that your back does not arch. This will keep you from putting a strain on your lower back. Perform 15 -20 crunches 3 times per week giving 1-2 days between for the muscle to rest and recover. Many people think you should work your abdominal muscles every day. This is a myth most likely started by bodybuilders some of who still believe this myth. The truth is that your abdominal muscles are just like any other muscle in your body. To build endurance you must perform 2-3 sets of 20-25 repetitions 2-3 times per week giving 48-72 hours between for rest and recovery. To build muscular strength you should do the same but only 8-12 repetitions with weight heavy enough that 8-12 repetitions is all you can perform before muscle failure. Again, think about your goal. To alleviate back pain you just need general strength for function not to pull large objects with your abdominal muscles! You get the point! One more note-you should breathe out as you lift your body or on the contraction and breathe in on the relaxation or the downward movement.

Balance is important when creating an exercise program. When you work one side of your body, you must also work the opposite side to prevent injury. That means you need to work your lower back as well as your abdominal muscles.

To work your lower back muscles you must do the opposite of the crunch movement. You can do this simply by lying face down with your arms in front of your like Superman. Depending on how strong your back is there are a number of ways you can perform this exercise. The most advanced way is to lift both legs and both arms at the same time balancing on your abdominal muscles only. Again, this looks like Superman flying. You should breathe out as you lift your legs and arms up and breathe in as you lower them. If this is too difficult in the beginning, you can start by raising the opposite arm and opposite leg. So I’m clear, while lying face down raise your right arm and your left leg at the same time breathing out as you lift them. Your head should come up as your arm does or with both arms if you are raising them at the same time. Work your way up to raising both at the same time for 20-25 reps 2-3 times per week with the same amount of rest as your abdominal muscles.

These are just two simple exercises to help with lower back pain. There is of course much more to a balanced exercise program. You must also eat right and find time to do a minimum cardiovascular workout. I will be talking about that in future installments.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at Deb@Bodydesigns.cc.

Have a healthy day!