Summer at last, holiday at last! After a rainy first half of summer, hopes are high for a long late summer with plenty of sunny days for swimming. A break from everyday life is good not only for the soul – the body benefits too. Provided, of course, that the holidaymaker doesn’t plan to spend all their time off exclusively on a sun lounger, but gets moving now and then as well. Your back in particular will appreciate the change from the usual eight or nine hours a day on the office chair. Following the first part of the fitness quickie series with back exercises for the office and a second part with exercises for home comes a summery fitness quickie with back exercises in the water.
- Back exercises in the water
- First exercise: The submarine Usain Bolt
- Second exercise: Making waves is healthy!
- Third exercise: Do the splits
- Fourth exercise: The underwater skier
Back exercises in the water
It’s not only on holiday that it makes sense to treat your back to a proper contrast programme to counteract sitting posture. Experts now speak of back problems as a widespread complaint affecting more and more people. The problem lies in the nature of the matter: sitting is generally not perceived as a strain on the body, but rather as a comfortable position. That this is far from the case is clear from the current figures: around 75 per cent of all Germans say they suffer from back pain at least once a year. According to medical professionals, in many cases these are not actual skeletal disorders, but tension and hardening of the back muscles as a result of frequent constrained posture. Accordingly, it is advisable to make room for regular balancing exercises even during the working day and to keep doing sport regularly after work as well.
This is not about training as hard and as long as possible. Rather, regularity is the key to good back health. But as is so often the case, after a long and exhausting working day your inner couch potato often wins quite comfortably over the idea of strengthening your back with endurance sports. All sports that involve smooth rather than jerky movements are good for your back. That means tennis, volleyball and football are out as potentially back-friendly types of exercise. Nordic walking or cross-country skiing, swimming, inline skating and cycling are far more suitable. If you haven’t done any sport for a while, water is the ideal environment for building up muscle gently.
Thanks to buoyancy, the body weighs less and the joints, tendons and ligaments are relieved. At the same time, more force is needed to overcome the resistance of the water – so the training effect kicks in more quickly. Below are four exercises that are perfect for doing at the lake, in the hotel pool or at the outdoor pool.
The rules for sport apply in water just as they do on land: do not provoke pain and stop immediately if you experience any discomfort. If in doubt, speak to your doctor about whether you should be doing these exercises at all. For everyone else, it’s time to get out of the office, into the water and start with the first exercise!
First exercise: The submarine Usain Bolt
Cold water may cool a hot head, but it’s not particularly good for your muscles at first. As with other sports, it’s a good idea to warm up properly before doing water aerobics. Aqua jogging is the movement of choice here: step into chest-deep water, push off from the bottom with your feet on every step and make sure to lift your knees up powerfully. Let your arms swing along bent at the elbows, just as they would when jogging on solid ground. You’ll notice when you’re warmed up – a few minutes should do it.
Second exercise: Making waves is healthy!
“Don’t make a fuss here” is what people say in colloquial German when someone is showing off. But if you’re already up to your neck in water, you should expressly make waves – for the sake of your back health. For example, with this exercise: stand in shoulder-deep water and make sure you have firm ground beneath you that gives you enough stability to absorb a little resistance. Your toes point outwards and your knees remain slightly bent. Now rotate your upper body around its own axis towards starboard (for landlubbers: to the right from where you’re looking) and hold your arms slightly out. Keep your feet firmly on the bottom and avoid moving your hips. After making waves 20 times on the right-hand side, repeat the exercise towards port (for landlubbers, as you’ve guessed: left). This exercise loosens the spine and strengthens the abdominal muscles.
Third exercise: Doing the splits
Lie horizontally in the water. For this exercise, you need to hold on to something; accordingly, you may need a second person to hold your hand. If you are in a pool, you can grip the pool edge with your hand; if you are in a lake, there may be a branch near the shore, a ladder rung, a raft or a jetty to hold on to. Stretch your legs out and spread them apart and together against the resistance of the water. Tighten your stomach, bottom and lower back and avoid arching your back. Repeat the exercise twenty times, take a break and then do another twenty repetitions. This exercise strengthens the lower back muscles, the thighs and the abdominal muscles.
Fourth exercise: The underwater skier
You don’t necessarily need a slope for this exercise, the water doesn’t have to be particularly cold either – and in fact this movement has almost nothing to do with skiing. But only almost: when performed correctly, it looks a bit like a downhill skier racing down the finishing slope. Or perhaps like a ski jumper who never actually leaves the take-off table… you decide. Stand in chest-deep water, place your feet parallel to each other and bend your knees slightly. Now swing both arms forwards and backwards alongside your body – and don’t underestimate the strength needed to work against the buoyancy. Use the bend in your knees to create a gentle springing motion – and to keep your balance. This exercise strengthens the shoulder girdle and mobilises the back.