Hey Ellen, Wolfman Laro here. Back aches from gym training come in many forms, i.e. general pain and soreness from workout prog, an old injury never healed and much of the time, back pain caused by improper form during certain exercises such as back rows, back pulldowns, dead lifts and chest press.

My advice for anyone with lower back pain is to:

* stretch for at least fifteen minutes on floor mat or roman chair and third, to sit in sauna or steam room before training. The heat ALWAYS helps loosen muscles tension.

The back muscles, if properly warmed up will better cope with weight stress from fw's or simple ab routine from sit ups.

For you, someone with poor balance I suggest stretching only on floor mat by rolling both legs up to your chest and holding for twenty seconds or more. Then, lay prone and bring one leg across your body (both sides) again holding that position for several seconds.

For more detailed info Ellen, e-mail my Sombrero brothers yahoo acct and I will give you more stretching ideas okay? I'll also post up today a reply focusing on proper form for back routines mentioned above. Be well and train vicious!

Chris Wolfman Laro

Thank you so very much. I will try those stretches, however, can you please tell me which machines I should be using to strengthen my back? My gym is good; they have only one of everything, but it all works. There is a sauna and a steam room too, so I will start in there first. Thanks very much for your help.

Sincerely,

Elle

The roman chair is the hanging upright aparatus whereby you can secure your weight atop two forearm pads and hang down to stretch legs and back. There's also the padded hyper-extension rack (for rev sit ups) to stretch out back muscles. But use these warm up aparatus ONLY is you have no serious back injury as the stress of the stretching can cause more pain or damage.

That's why the safest place to stretch is on floor mats. Use the heat of sauna and steam as well.

Final advice for using stack machine for stretching is the lat pull down cable. Put nominal weight with pin and grab hold of bar and hang down and back twisting side to side to stretch obliques and lower back.

Good luck El!

Thanks Chris. Now I know what to do. I have never been told exactly what to do to strenghthen my back. I can push 200lbs with my legs, but I'm not so sure this is good for my back. I also do a lot of yoga. That seems to help. None of the meds work with the exception of Ultram. I just started on that yesterday and it does have an effect. I don't want to be on those type of meds for the rest of my life!!! I can still ride my horses if someone gives me a 'leg up' to get on!!!

Elle