"Sheathing", "the superman"... Four simple exercises to strengthen your back

Yanis Darras 5:13 p.m., October 21, 2022

It's a part of the body that we tend to neglect: the back.

Precious muscle group in our everyday life, it is difficult however to avoid having too much pain in the back.

In the show 

Akim Ben Mzakar reveals his secrets for building muscle and protecting his back from daily aggressions. 

>> Find all the shows of Mélanie Gomez and Julia Vignali from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

"Because the back is involved in most daily movements", underlines the columnist, "whether for running, walking, pulling, crawling...".

"And if your back is soft, it is absolutely necessary to strengthen it, in particular by working your back muscles. Why? Because your pain will disappear and your silhouette will gain in harmony", indicates Akim Ben Mzakar. 

Avoid weight gain

Enemy number one of the back: weight.

“Who says overweight says a greater load to maintain”, he specifies, adding that men and women are equally concerned.

"In men, the risk of overweight is often linked to the level of the stomach and therefore we have a relaxation of the abdominal belt. And who says relaxation of the abdominal belt, therefore says a curved back and therefore less well held. For women on the other hand, it will be played out at the level of the chest. If you have a large chest, then you will have a posture which will be naturally leaning forward and therefore bad for the back. 

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Exercise at home

And to improve his back muscles, it's no secret for Akim Ben Mzakar: exercise is essential.

If for you, going to a gym is impossible, or if the idea does not appeal to you, there are four simple exercises to perform to build muscle: the sheathing, the diagonal, the superman and the reverse snow angel " , offers the columnist at the microphone of Europe 1. 

“A small routine is essential”, he specifies nevertheless.

"We can say to ourselves that 20 minutes a day, we work our back".

To achieve this, he suggests, for example, carrying out "five sessions of 20 seconds of sheathing", or even "five sessions of 20 seconds diagonally", a posture "where you are on all fours on the ground, and where you will try to take off one arm from the ground and take off the leg opposite to your arm in the air”, explains Akim Ben Mzakar. 

"Same idea with the superman. It's an exercise where you're lying on your stomach and you're going to reach out with both arms and try to free your chest as much as possible, so that it doesn't touch the ground. And you're going to also try to raise your legs. Finally, for the inverted snow angel, it's a bit the same idea. Always on your stomach, and you will all simply make movements with your arm, a bit like making a breaststroke." 

Exercises that can be easily done at home, says Akim Ben Mzakar, who recommends, however, for the bravest, to swim a few times a month.

"Swimming is gentle, it's soft and it allows you to build your back".