Try These 8 Resistance Band Exercises For The Lower Back

Lower back pain has been a serious medical problem in the west for a long time now. Although the causes are difficult to pin down as they are multifaceted it is very likely that leading a sedentary lifestyle will be a contributing factor. That is why strengthening your lower back with resistance bands can be a great addition to your training routine if you are looking to mitigate back pain or back injury.

5 min read
Sean Klein
Written by
Sean Klein
Published on
12/03/24
Last updated
27/05/24
Secondary
Lower Body
Hinge
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Lower Body
Hinge
Secondary
Upper Body
Horizontal Pull
Core
Trunk
Rotation
Core
Trunk
Resisting Rotation

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Core
Trunk
Resisting Rotation
Secondary
Upper Body
Horizontal Pull
Primary
Lower Body
Hip Dominant
In This Resource
  • Benefits of Resistance Bands Exercises for the Lower Back
  • Light Loading
  • Core Strength
  • Hinging Strength
  • Uni-Lateral Pulling Work
  • Accessibility
  • Negatives of Using Resistance Bands for Lower Back
  • Lack of Overload
  • Try These 8 Resistance Band Exercises For The Lower Back

Benefits of Resistance Bands Exercises for the Lower Back

Light Loading

When starting to train the lower back, using light loads can be an excellent way to start and progress over time. Resistance bands can provide very light, non-intimidating exercises that you can use to start resistance training.

Core Strength

Having a strong core is a good predictor of not having lower back pain. Therefore using resistance bands to strengthen the core can be highly beneficial for the lower back. The core needs to be built using a variety of movement and the resistance band can be used to perform all the movement patterns of the core, making it a very diverse piece of equipment.

Hinging Strength

The hinge movement is the movement in resistance training that will target the muscle of the lower back most directly, like deadlifts and straight leg deadlifts. The resistance band has many variations of hinging, some of which are in this list. These exercises will strengthen both the muscles of the hamstrings and the muscles of the lower back, both of which will help mitigate lower back pain and lower back injury.

Uni-Lateral Pulling Work

Uni-lateral (single arm) pulling work is another brilliant way to improve all the muscles in the lower back with resistance bands. Through pulling with a single arm, the core will have to engage a great deal in order to keep the shoulders square, this results in the development of both the core muscles of the lower back and the upper back muscles which will also be helpful for having a healthy lower back.

Accessibility

Using resistance bands is very easy and cheap. It can save you a gym membership and they are a cheap addition to a gym membership. This makes them perfect for people who are short on time and don’t want to make the trip to the gym and to those who cannot afford a gym membership.

Negatives of Using Resistance Bands for Lower Back

Lack of Overload

There comes a point in a training journey where finding bands with enough band tension can become very challenging. Using bands exclusively and not using weights can make creating enough overload to cause an adaptation very challenging. This means that you may reach a point where you need to change from using bands to free weights. If you are just starting resistance training this is not too much of a concern.

Try These 8 Resistance Band Exercises For The Lower Back

Buy Bands
Secondary
Lower Body
Hinge
Buy Bands
Primary
Lower Body
Hinge
Buy Bands
Secondary
Upper Body
Horizontal Pull
Buy Bands
Core
Trunk
Rotation
Buy Bands
Core
Trunk
Resisting Rotation
Buy Bands
Core
Trunk
Resisting Rotation
Buy Bands
Secondary
Upper Body
Horizontal Pull
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Primary
Lower Body
Hip Dominant

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This resource was written by Sean Klein. Sean Richard Klein has thousands of hours of coaching experience and a BSc in Sports Science with Management from Loughborough University. He owns a gym in Bayonne France, CrossFit Essor, which runs group classes and a Personal training studio.

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