Low Back Prehab, Pt. 2

If you missed the riveting part 1 of the low back prehab series click here. I saw a good chart earlier this week about the percentage of the population suffering from some degree of low back pain. 80% of the population will suffer from low back pain at some point in their lives...the other 20% are lying. Point is low back pain is one of the most common afflictions but we can be proactive to help prevent pain later in life. The next hip mobilization exercise is the Lateral Squat. This is another great exercise to add to your warm-up to mobilze your hips in the frontal plane.

1. Take a big step out to the side
   
2. Keep your toes pointing in toward each other
3. Bend your right knee while keeping your left leg straight...push your butt back like you are sitting on a bench...in fact you can put a bench behind the leg you are lunging toward and use that as a tool to determine if you are attaining optimal depth
   
4. Keep both feet flat on the floor
5. Be diligent about your feet...keep toes pointed in toward each other
6. The goal is for ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders to be perfectly aligned to the side you are lunging
7. Perform all reps on the right side then perform all reps on the left

Add this exercise to your warm-up and gradually get deeper into the lunge.