Get the ache off your back

The back often gets short shrift when it comes to strength and conditioning because people tend to focus on muscles more prone to easy definition. But neglecting this body part can lead to stiffness and pain.

To help restore backs to their proper shape, we asked three trainers for their favourite back exercises. Repetitions and set numbers are given as a suggestion.

Rob Sham

Fitness manager, Bally Total Fitness, Culver City

• For an upper trapezius stretch, sit in a chair facing forward while maintaining good posture. Holding on to the chair with the left arm, gently pull the head toward the right shoulder with the right hand. You should feel a mild stretch but it shouldn't hurt. Repeat on the other side.
  
• If your shoulders are rounded forward, you need to strengthen the muscles that will pull your shoulders back again. One good exercise is the T-bar row or a high row. On a machine meant for this exercise, grab the weight and pull it towards your chest with your elbows out to the side.

Gregg Miele

Beverly Hills-based trainer and owner of Selfdiscipline.com

• The first is a cat-camel stretch. Start on the floor on all fours and arch your back like a cat, so the back is convex. Then push the stomach toward the floor, making the back concave. Repeat eight to ten times.
  
• Still on all fours, place one arm on your head and bring your elbow up to the ceiling, opening up the back. You should feel a stretch but not discomfort. Repeat four to eight times.
  
• Next, do hip circles. Stay on all fours and bring one knee up to the side, keeping it bent at 45 degrees. Pretend you're going over a hurdle, bringing the leg up and over. Do five hip circles clockwise and five counterclockwise and change legs.
  
• For bird dogs, start on all fours and extend the opposite arm and leg, keeping the spine in a neutral position and trying to kick in all those muscle fibres. Bring the elbow to the knee and extend them again. Do five repetitions on each side.
  
• For hip swings, place your hands against a wall and walk back about 3-4 feet. Bring one leg in front and, leaning into the wall, swing it side to side, keeping it straight, with toes facing the wall. Do about 10 swings on each side.

Torri Shack

Trainer, Sky Sport & Spa, Beverly Hills

• My favourite overall back exercise is the front plank. Facing the floor, support your body up on your lower arms and your toes and hold for a minute, eventually progressing the duration. To create more instability, raise the right leg, then the left leg and hold for 10 seconds.
  
• The other exercise is the Superman. Lie on your stomach with outstretched hands and legs. Lift the arms and legs at the same time, hold for 10 seconds. Lie down and repeat exercise. Work up to doing sets of those 10-second intervals for a minute. To add more resistance, do this while holding water bottles or cans of soup.
  
• A more advanced exercise is dumbbell pullovers on a stability ball. Rest the upper shoulders and head on the ball and place feet on the floor. Hold one dumbbell with the hands, arms extended overhead, right over the chest. Squeezing the lats and keeping elbows straight, lower the weight over the head and bring the weight up.

Exercise can help keep vision sharp

Vigorous exercise may help prevent age-related macular degeneration and cataracts, both of which can affect vision. Two studies looked at data from almost eight years of follow-up from the National Runners' Health Study.

In one, 110 men and 42 women received a clinical diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration. The more the runners ran, the less risk they had for developing age-related macular degeneration.

Running an average of 2-4 kilometres a day reduced the risk by 19 per cent and running more than 4 kilometres per day reduced the risk by 42-54 per cent, compared with those who ran less than 2 kilometres a day.

Running an extra kilometre per day was associated with a 10 per cent decrease in relative risk. Another study which appeared in a recent issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science examined the effects of running on developing cataracts.

Among the same group of runners, 733 men and 179 women reported having cataracts during the follow-up. Those who ran 64 kilometres or more per week had a 35 per cent lower cataract risk than those who ran less than 16 kilometres per week.

And those with better cardiovascular fitness were also at less risk than men who were less fit. Although it is not fully known why a link exists between fitness and preventing these conditions, study author Paul T. Williams, a staff scientist with the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, believes exercise could provide similar protective benefits for the eyes as it does for the heart.