How to Stretch Your Back

Your back is made up of muscles that help keep your upright and strong as you move throughout your day. Though it is not always easy to target the muscles in your back, it is important to get in touch with your mind-to-muscle connection to effectively target and stretch these muscles. Back pain is common and one of the best ways to prevent back pain is to both strengthen and stretch your back muscles.

At Grants MMA & Boxing Gym, many of our boxing classes demand a lot of work from your back muscles. From throwing strong punches to being fast-moving on your feet, much of your stability comes from your back and core. We know that stretching your back is important, that is why we are here to provide you with some of our favourite back stretches for your upper and lower back.  

If you are looking for help with staying strong and healthy. Working with a personal trainer can go a long way towards ensuring you always have proper form and are training injury-free. Do not hesitate in connecting with one of our expert personal trainers. Also, check out our favourite at-home back workouts for support in getting seriously effective workouts completed at home.

Lower Back Stretches

Learning how to stretch your lower back isn’t hard. See our favourite lower back stretches below and start implementing them into your stretching routine. Though these can be done every day, consider giving your lower back muscles extra attention on days you are working out your back muscles.

Child’s Pose – child’s pose is a popular yoga pose that not only offers you a great stretch but also feels great too. This simple stretch is completed by resting on your knees with your arms stretched out in front of you in a bow towards the ground. Hold this position to feel a great stretch.

Seated Twist – from a seated position with one leg straight and one leg bent, move the foot of the bent knee to the outer side of your straightened leg. From this position pull the opposite arm across your bent knee and turn. This stretch can also assist in stretching the hips and glutes.

Cat-cow Stretch – from a tabletop position on your hands and your knees with your back flat, arch your spine upwards after holding this position, bring your back to neutral then press your belly towards the floor.

Cobra Stretch – laying on the ground, bring your hands to the sides of your chest and push upwards. This stretch is not like a push-up as your legs and hips wills stay planted into the ground. You should feel a great stretch in your lower back as you hold this position.

Upper Back Stretches

When considering how to stretch your upper back you should be mindful that many upper body stretches involve your shoulders. See our favourite upper back stretches that you cans easily incorporate into your stretching routine.

Butterfly stretch – this is a great stretch for your upper back and shoulders that is simple to do. Standing or sitting touch the tops of your shoulders bending your elbows. Your elbows should be pointing directly in front of you. From this position pull your elbows to be facing towards the side of your body. Be sure to really think about engaging your back and shoulders while you complete this stretch.

Shoulder roll – standing or seated, roll your shoulders back or forward engaging the muscles in your back. Your neck should be in a neutral position and you should move your shoulders as if you were pushing them towards or back to your ears.

Should shrug – this simple move involves you moving your shoulders upwards towards you ears in a shrug motion. You can hold this stretch in the up position for a few seconds to make the most out of this movement.

Neck Rolls – rolling your neck can be a great way to stretch out your upper back muscles. Simply drop your chin down towards your chest and allow your head to move in a circular motion. Try not to complete this motion too quickly, this stretch should be done in a delicate and controlled manner.

Why You Should Always Stretch and Warm-Up

Stretching is easily missed in a workout routine. If you are not already completing a warm-up and cool-down as part of your workout it’s time, consider adding both. Stretching either dynamic or static can be an important tool for helping to keep you injury-free.

We want to help ensure that you always stay healthy and strong. See our ultimate guide to injury prevention for more tips on how you can incorporate a warm-up, cool-down, and stretching in your injury prevention tool kit.