Incorporating a back workout into your weekly workout routine is essential - especially as we spend so much time at our desks. The rounded position means our back muscles get stretched and weak, one of the reasons so many of us struggle with back aches and a rounded posture.
Case in point: Almost a million people in the UK are too sick to work because of back or neck ailments, according to 2024 research from The Guardian. An earlier 2018 study published in the Frontiers in Neuroscience journal found that low back pain in athletes and non-athletes was likely down to their deconditioned lumbar extensor muscles - meaning the muscles running down their spine were weak. Meanwhile, plenty of other research has found that strengthening the muscles in the back significantly reduces pain.
