Back extension also called hyperextension is a great exercise for developing lower back muscles. It’s not as effective as deadlift but is very useful for anybody who wants to improve this muscle group without training the whole body or looking for some additional work for this body part. Besides it can be extremely useful for beginning trainees whose spinal erectors aren’t strong enough to perform heavy compound exercises yet.
Back extensions hits mainly lower back and glutes (your butt), hamstrings also works but only isometrically (not in their full range of motion). These are the muscles of the posterior chain, very important and also very often forgotten. It happens simply because they can’t be seen in the mirror and it can cause muscle imbalances, posture problems or even injury. That’s why it’s necessary to include exercises like back extensions in any athlete’s workout to improve posterior chain muscles and therefore improve overall performance in any sport, get better visual look of your body and fix any imbalances to avoid potential injury in the future.
To perform back extension correctly:
- Get into hyperextension bench; place your ankles underneath the foot-pad and thighs on the top pad so hip bones would be at the edge of it. Keep the whole body straight and stable: knees, hips, lower and upper back and neck. Chest pushed out. Fold your arms across the chest or behind head.
- Lower your upper body slowly bending at your hips keeping your lower back straight and tensed till you can’t go any lower without rounding the back.
- Lift yourself up until upper body is in the straight line with the legs again.
Usual mistake during back extension is bending knees during the exercise. Keep them locked all the time. Try to make yourself as tall as you can.
Depending from the hip position on the bench you can increase and change a bit involvement of lower back, glutes and hamstrings:
- Place your hips higher than the edge of the top pad to increase the work of the hamstrings and glutes,
- Lower your hips or raise the pad and place your belly button at the edge of the bench to emphasize the lower back during this exercise. This time you will have to round it and therefore it will work in its full range of motion rather than isometrically.
Both forms are correct and which one is chosen depends from what we want to achieve however placing hip bones at the edge of the pad is the most common way of doing it and it distributes the force evenly between muscles of the posterior chain.
If your gym isn’t equipped with hyperextension bench or glute-ham-raise machine (GHR) you can lie down on any other bench and ask your training partner to hold your ankles or even sit on them.
Back extensions can be done also on a stability ball or on the floor, which is the easiest form of this exercise. Unfortunately there’s no possibility of significantly increasing the resistance during these movements.
If you’re able to do 15 repetitions of hyperextensions with your bodyweight and correct form, start adding weight by holding plate tight to your chest by folding your hands across of it.
Lower back works quiet hard during deadlifts and rows and usually people don’t want any more direct exercises for this muscle group, however like with every other muscle, for example biceps, we need to provide additional work to achieve maximum possible growth.
Besides back extension is really good option for athletes with weak spinal erectors because this exercise is quiet easy and risk of injury is very small comparing to any other exercises. Possibility of attaching additional weight makes it great for any stage of bodybuilding or other sort of sport.