Have you ever wondered why you can deadlift a pile of weight but you've thrown your back out doing something stupid like turning and picking up a piece of paper?

Most standard lower back exercises like the back extension (a.k.a. hyperextension) utilize a "forward and backward" movement pattern.

There's nothing wrong with this, however this straight pattern doesn't develop rotational stability and strength in the small "balancing" muscles in the spine and lower back. This can open you up to injury and/or lower back pain

If you've ever thrown your back out doing something like turning to pick up a piece of paper, this is going to help prevent that.

To address this, we're going to put an uneven load on the back extension exercise by holding a single dumbbell in one hand. This works those small stabilizing muscles in an "anti-rotational" fashion, meaning they work to PREVENT the spine from rotating.

This is much safer and more effective than loading the spine with rotational movement.

Set yourself up in a back extension bench (horizontal or 45 degree angle) and set two dumbbells on the floor within easy reach. You're only going to hold onto one at a time, but it's easier to have two than to switch one dumbbell back and forth. In order to keep things even, we'll be switching hands on each rep.

I've got a pair of 45 lb dumbbells here.

Now, holding the one dumbbell in your right hand, start the exercise as you normally would. Do not allow your torso to rotate to the side holding the weight as you come up. THIS is anti-rotation and this is what works those small stabilizing muscles.

Come up until your body is straight and squeeze the lower back muscles for a few seconds. There's no need to go up any further than this (into hyperextension).

Come back down under control then grab the other dumbbell.

Repeat the same movement holding the other dumbbell.

Come up until your body is straight in line and hold, then lower and repeat on the other side again.

Aim for relatively moderate to high reps. The muscles of the lower back respond quite well to 8-10 rep sets and beyond (20+ even).

This is an exercise that is most useful when done at the end of a workout. You don't want to fatigue these small stabilizing muscles before you do any heavy squats, deadlifts or overhead pressing.

Finish with 2-3 sets of this at the end or every workout and start bulletproofing your back!

Watch the video of this exercise in action here...

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