I’ve been looking at all the disciplines of lifting and fitness in the realms and expertise of myself being a personal trainer and coach for 13 years with a great curiosity mixed in with focus, and the spine has always fascinated me and its also always been a focal point and inspiration and a study to me

I’ve also been looking at the benefits of resistance training and its benefits to the spine, we all know that weight training helps improve bone density as well as joint and ligament strength but really that only applies if you train well and in a balanced or correct way of training

here are the discipline i love as well as the moves i particularly love in these disciplines, and there will be exercises that are totally for the benefit of the spine and others simply to complement the spine

olympic lifting, if you can do this properly its amazing for flexibility or power, however for those with injured spines, shoulders, hips or arthritis a big no no exercise, for those who can the snatch and the clean and jerk are incredible exercises that enliven your explosive energy and fast twitch fibres

power lifting, much safer than the olympic lift and incredible for a strong back, glutes and upper body, as power lifts comprise of the back squat, great for the legs, the spine, the butt and the posture of the upper body, the deadlift incredible for the lower and upper spine and also great for the grip, trapezius and glutes and the bench press which is great for the spine, the chest, the shoulders and the triceps

body building, these techniques are even safer than power lifts as even some of the power lifts can aggravate and our truly a no no for beginners, also bodybuilding emphasis is for building the muscles around the bones, joints and ligaments, so a great machine i love for the upper back and for improving peoples sitting down technique lol, is the seated row. other moves i like would be the prone row, and then more advanced moves would be the one arm row as well as the barbell bent over row

body weight is also great for the core such as push up and squat holds with different arm positions which you can manipulate to get into a great posture in turn helping to lengthen the spine, then in terms of musculature and core there are leg raises and sit up variations, twisting variations and also hyperextensions.

so this is the platform to a strong spine, once you have a strong spine the rest of the body can be developed for sheer shape and vanity, theres nothing wrong with that as long as your foundations, your feet, your spine and your skeleton are strong.

then there are lots of exercise, bodyweight, barbell, dumbbell, cables, machines and even cardio or sports that you can add to get your ideal shape but this is only after you have your foundations built