Back Health — Best Exercises for Lower Back Pain (Workout 2)

This session goes deep. Bird dog trains the multifidus — the small muscles that run alongside each vertebra and keep your spine stable when you reach, twist, or bend. Dead bug targets the transversus abdominis, your deepest core layer. Forearm plank hip dips light up the oblique system. If you're looking for an ab workout for lower back pain that won't wreck your spine, this is it — no crunches, no sit-ups. Stuart McGill PhD put bird dog in his 'Big 3' for spinal stability for a reason: it trains contralateral coordination while keeping the lumbar spine completely neutral. That's hard to achieve with most exercises.

No. Bodyweight only. All lower back bodyweight exercises, all doable in a small space at home. A mat is nice for the dead bug and supine twist — your shoulder blades will thank you — but it's not required.

Yes, and I built it with a deliberate ramp. We start standing with roll-ups and cat-cow, then spinal waves — all gentle mobility. By the time we get to bird dog and dead bug, the spine is warm and the nervous system is ready for core strengthening exercises. Each exercise has clear modifications: dead bug can use a smaller range, the plank drops to knees. Nobody should be white-knuckling through anything here.

20 minutes flat. 11 exercises from spinal mobility to core strength to flexibility. The ACSM recommends 20-30 minutes of neuromotor exercise 2-3 times per week. This session hits that mark without eating your entire lunch break.

Every exercise. Bird dog can go single-arm or single-leg only if the full version wobbles too much. Dead bug range of motion can shrink — keep the limbs closer. Forearm plank hip dips drop to knees, or swap to a static plank hold if the rotation is too much. The figure four stretch can use a wall for foot placement — I cue all of these in real time.

This workout was designed specifically for back pain. Bird dog and dead bug are classified as motor control exercises — a 2024 meta-analysis confirmed they're among the best exercises for lower back pain, specifically because they retrain neuromuscular coordination rather than just building brute strength — I cue neutral spine throughout. No sudden movements, no loaded flexion. That said, if you have acute pain, a disc herniation, or active sciatica shooting down your leg, check with your doctor before starting.

This is a home workout, start to finish. Bird dog, dead bug, spinal waves, forearm plank hip dips — zero equipment, minimal space. And here's what the research says: home-based core stability programs are as effective as supervised gym programs for chronic lower back pain when you actually do them 2-3 times per week. The hard part isn't the exercises. It's showing up consistently.

That asymmetric ache — lower back and right side of hip — usually points to piriformis tightness or gluteal weakness on one side — I see it constantly in women who carry bags on one shoulder or cross the same leg every time they sit. This workout addresses both: bird dog and dead bug train each side independently, so the imbalance reveals itself immediately. The figure four stretch goes directly after the piriformis and deep hip rotators. A meta-analysis of gluteal exercises found that contralateral movements like bird dog produce the highest gluteus medius activity — which is what stabilizes your pelvis and reduces that one-sided strain.

Both are anti-extension core strengthening exercises, but the position changes everything. Bird dog is on all fours — gravity pulls your belly toward the floor, so you're training the posterior chain (glutes, lower back, shoulders) to resist that pull while extending opposite limbs. Dead bug flips you onto your back — now the core has to prevent the lower back from arching off the floor as you extend your limbs away. One trains from the back, one from the front — I use both in this workout because a spine needs 360-degree support. A systematic review of anti-rotation exercises confirmed that combining prone and supine positions gives the most complete stabilizer training.