The 10 Best Lower Back Exercises for Muscle & Strength (2024)

Your lower back takes center stage in almost everything you do.

Think of it as the command center for power and movement. From running to jumping, lifting to twisting, a strong lower back helps you perform these actions safely and with as much power as possible.

This article reviews ten of the best lower back exercises you can do, not only to build muscle and strength but also to improve your back health and prevent pain.

Click here to jump directly to the lower back exercises.

Lower Back Anatomy and Function

Your lower back consists of many muscles. Most of them are not visible to the eye, but they are all essential for both everyday life and physical activity as they stabilize, rotate, and extend your spine. The most notable muscles include:

• Erector Spinae: These are three long muscles that run along your spine. Think of them as the support beams of a building, helping to keep your back straight and upright and enabling you to perform twisting movements. When a bodybuilder is really lean, you can see a “Christmas tree” in their lower back; that’s the lower parts of the erector spinae muscles.
• Quadratus Lumborum: These are the deepest back muscles located on either side of your lower spine. They’re like your body’s natural corset, helping to stabilize your spine and assist in sideways movement.
• Transversospinales: This tongue-twister of a muscle group consists of three subgroups: multifidus, semispinalis, and rotatores. They lie beneath the erector spinae and connect the vertebrae (the individual bones of your spine). They’re like the fine tuners, working quietly but crucially to stabilize your spine, bend it in various directions, and maintain posture.

Benefits of a Strong Lower Back

Strengthening your lower back offers several important benefits for your everyday life and health, as well as for exercise and sports.

Improved Posture

Weak back muscles often lead to poor posture, causing mechanical stress on your lower back. Years of poor posture can even increase the risk of spinal injuries.1

Lower back exercises that strengthen your muscles, on the other hand, contribute to better overall posture, reducing the likelihood of back pain and even improving your appearance.

Improved Physical Performance and Functional Strength

Whether you have a physical job, engage in recreational sports, or are an athlete or bodybuilder lifting heavy weights in the gym, strong lower back muscles give you better endurance and help you perform better.

The lower back is part of your core, and your core acts like a power hub for a wide range of sports, from running to swimming to team sports and weightlifting. Even if you don’t do sports, most daily activities, like picking up groceries, playing with kids, or gardening, become easier and safer with a stronger lower back.

In addition, a strong lower back lets you enjoy sports and other activities without worrying about a back strain when you do something physically challenging.

Pain Reduction and Injury Prevention

Speaking of back strains, improving your lower back strength will also help prevent pain and injuries. Regularly performing lower back exercises will even treat back pain if you, like many others, already suffer from it.

Low back pain is so common that many people consider it part of everyday life. With 80% of adults experiencing lower back pain at some point, it is the leading cause of disability worldwide.2 3 Everyone who’s had an achy back knows how much it impacts your quality of life.

At least nine out of ten cases of low back pain are non-specific, meaning they are not caused by some disease or injury. And when you don’t know the precise cause, the treatment focuses on reducing the pain.

One of the primary risk factors and common causes of chronic back pain is inactivity. Lots of sitting and lack of exercise make it more likely that your back will start to hurt sooner or later. In other words, it’s a good idea to strengthen your lower back now to prevent pain and injuries later.

The good news is that the cure, for many people, is as simple as the cause. Physical activity effectively treats and, even more importantly, prevents low back pain.4 5 And no type of exercise is more effective for strengthening your muscles, including the ones in your lower back, than resistance training, i.e., lifting weights.

The 10 Best Lower Back Exercises

These lower back exercises aren’t listed from best to worst – if they are on this list, you can bet they are all great. Instead, they are grouped together according to the training equipment needed:

1. Barbells
2. Dumbbells
3. Kettlebells
4. Machines
5. Bodyweight

Let’s jump right into one of the true champs of lower back development: the deadlift!

1. Deadlift

The deadlift is the most fundamental exercise you can do with a barbell. You lift it up, and you put it down. It is also one of the best exercises for building strength and power throughout your entire body.

Deadlifts primarily target your lower back, but they don’t stop there. Your quads, hamstrings, traps, and forearms all work overtime when you deadlift. By hitting all these muscles in one movement, you create a symphony of muscle-building that’s hard to beat.

In addition to adding lean muscle mass to your body, the deadlift is the ultimate test of pulling strength in powerlifting. There is no way to cheat in deadlifts: you either lift the bar or you don’t. They aren’t just a show-off move either but increase functional strength like few other exercises. Lifting groceries? Easy. Picking up your kid or a heavy box? Piece of cake!

Deadlifts for Back Pain?

Many people get nervous thinking deadlifts and back pain go hand in hand. In reality, deadlifts are your lower back’s best friend. When done right, they strengthen the muscles around your spine, improving posture and supporting your lower back, potentially reducing the risk of pain. It’s like building a muscular fortress around your spine.

Research has even shown that deadlifts can be a great way to treat low back pain in many people.6 7

Besides making your back stronger and more injury-resistant, deadlifts improves your grip strength, boosts your overall athletic performance, and even burns a lot of calories. They are not just one of the best lower back exercises but one of the best exercises, period.

How to Deadlift

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, with your toes pointing slightly outward. The barbell should be over the middle of your feet, close to your shins.
2. Bend at the hips and knees to reach the bar. Grip the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. You can use an overhand grip (both palms facing you) or a mixed grip (one palm facing you and the other facing away).
3. Keep your back straight and chest up. Engage your core and ensure your shoulders are slightly in front of the bar. Your hips should be higher than your knees but lower than your shoulders.
4. Pull the bar close to your body, with a straight back, until you are standing straight. Keep the bar close to your body, and your arms straight throughout the lift. The bar should travel in a straight line vertically.
5. Reverse the motion by hinging at the hips and bending the knees. Lower the bar to the starting position in a controlled manner, maintaining a straight back.
6. Reset your position if necessary.
7. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

2. Rack Pull

Therack pullis a deadlift variation where the barbell is set up on a rack just below the knee or mid-thigh, unlike the standard deadlift where you pull from the floor.

The shorter range of motion takes much of the work away from your quads and shifts it to your posterior chain muscles. Rack pulls are exceptional for your lower back and glutes, but also focus more on your upper body, especially your traps, upper back, and lockout strength.

Rack pulls can help you improve your deadlift strength by training your muscles in the same movement pattern but with heavier weights and a shorter range of motion.

Because you eliminate the bottom half of the movement, you can expect to be ~20% stronger in rack pulls than deadlifts. That makes them a great exercise for improving back strength by allowing you to handle weights that would have been too heavy for regular deadlifts.

In addition, some back issues might prevent you from doing full deadlifts, in which case rack pulls can be a way to work around them and still train your deadlifting muscles pain-free.

How to Rack Pull

1. Set up the barbell in a power or squat rack at an appropriate height. The bar should be positioned at knee level or slightly below. Adjust the safety bars or pins to ensure they are set at the desired height to prevent the weight from going too low.
2. Position yourself in front of the barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. Your toes should be pointing forward or slightly outward.
3. Bend at the hips and knees to lower yourself and grip the barbell with an overhand grip (palms facing towards you) slightly wider than shoulder-width. Ensure your grip is secure and comfortable. Use lifting straps if needed.
4. With your back straight and chest lifted, engage your core muscles and brace your abs to help maintain stability throughout the movement.
5. Inhale and begin the movement by extending your hips and knees, lifting the barbell, and pulling it close to your body.
6. Keep your back straight and shoulders pulled back as you lift. Focus on engaging your hamstrings, back, and gluteal muscles to drive the movement.
7. Aim to bring your shoulder blades back and down as you lift, squeezing your back muscles at the top of the movement.
8. Lower the barbell back down to the starting position by bending at the hips and knees. Keep your back straight and control the descent of the weight.
9. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

3. Romanian Deadlift

Commonly performed on leg day, the Romanian deadlift is not only a fantastic exercise for your hamstrings and glutes but works your entire posterior chain, including your lower back.

The main differences between the Romanian deadlift and the traditional deadlift are the starting position and the type of movement.

With standard deadlifts, you start with the barbell on the floor and lift it up to your hips. The RDL, however, begins with the bar at hip level. You then hinge forward, keeping your legs only slightly bent, until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, then come back up.

In addition, in the RDL, your back stays straight, but your hips move back like you’re trying to close a car door with your booty. In the standard deadlift, your back does more work, pulling the weight up from the ground.

If you have the flexibility, consider doing your Romanian deadlifts standing on an elevated platform, like a thick barbell plate. Doing so significantly increases the activation of your erector spinae muscles, turning a good lower back exercise into one of the best lower back exercises.8 If you can’t go that deep without rounding your back, stick to conventional Romanian deadlifts until your mobility lets you. The Romanian deadlift is an excellent exercise for improving posterior chain flexibility; you might not have to include stretching exercises for your hamstrings if you include it in your routine.

Even if Romanian deadlifts are more of a hamstring and glute movement, you can rest easy that your lower back gets its fair share of the action if you include it in your lower body workouts.

How to Perform Romanian Deadlifts

1. Get into the starting position by deadlifting a barbell off the floor or by unracking it from a barbell rack. Stand feet hip-width, inhale, and brace your core slightly.
2. Lean forward by hinging in your hips. Keep your knees almost completely extended.
3. Lean forward as far as possible with good form (no rounding your back). You don’t have to touch the barbell to the floor, although it is OK if you do.
4. Reverse the movement and return to the standing position. Exhale on the way up.
5. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

Note: Thedumbbell Romanian deadliftis a viable alternative to the barbell variant.

4. Barbell Row

You might think of thebarbell rowas a compound exercise for your upper back muscles, and it is indeed one of the best for building muscle strength and size in your lats, rhomboids, and traps.

However, it also works your lower back, especially if you do it the old-school way, with your torso almost parallel to the floor.9

That means that even if you don’t do any direct lower back exercises on your back day, you still give the muscles of the low back a good workout as long as you include barbell rows.

How to Perform Barbell Rows

1. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees slightly, and hinge forward at your hips, maintaining a neutral spine curve. Your torso should be almost parallel to the floor.
3. Brace your core and keep your back straight. Inhale and pull the barbell towards your lower chest or upper abdomen, keeping your elbows close to your body. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
4. Lower the barbell back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
5. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

5. Good Morning

The good morning is a popular exercise among strength and conditioning coaches for strengthening the lower back and hamstring muscles. It activates those muscle groups as effectively as the Romanian deadlift, and because of its eccentric and stretching mechanics, it can help prevent hamstring injuries.10

Research shows that good mornings are an excellent substitute for the Romanian deadlift when you prefer to place the load on your back instead of lifting it from the floor.11 Deadlifts, both standard and Romanian, are more about overall power and full-body engagement, while good mornings require more control and attention to form, making them a fine-tuned exercise for your back routine.

Many lifters use good mornings as an accessory movement to improve in the squat and deadlift.

Good mornings are technically simpler than standard deadlifts but require good hip mobility and back strength. If you aren’t used to good mornings, starting with relatively light weights is a good idea until you’ve mastered the movement.

How to Perform Good Mornings

1. Place the bar on your upper back. Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
2. Take two steps back, and place your feet slightly wider than hip-width.
3. Inhale and hold your breath, and lean forward by hinging your hips. Imagine that you are trying to push your butt back as far as possible.
4. Lean forward as far as you can with a straight back, and without the bar rolling forward.
5. Your knees will bend slightly, but most of the movement takes place in the hips.
6. With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips again while exhaling.
7. At the top, inhale and repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

6. Jefferson Curl

Contrary to what the exercise’s name might suggest, the Jefferson curl has nothing to do with your biceps. Instead, the Jefferson curl is fantastic for improving your back mobility and muscle control.

It does strengthen your posterior chain, including your lower back, but it’s not an exercise you do to build maximum strength and muscle mass. Rather, the Jefferson curl is a champ for improving spinal mobility and flexibility. It encourages each segment of your spine to move independently, which is excellent for those of us who spend too much time sitting.

The idea is to curl your body downward, vertebra by vertebra, starting from the top of your spine (near your neck) and moving all the way down to the tailbone. You then continue rolling down and up, vertebra by vertebra, like a human Slinky.

If you’ve got spinal issues or a history of back pain, the Jefferson curl might not be for you. However, if you have a healthy back and want to improve your mobility, few exercises have this one beat. Always start with a light weight (or even no weight at all) until you have the movement down pat.

How to Perform Jefferson Curls

1. Stand tall with a light barbell or other weight in your hands. For extra range of motion, you might want to stand on a small block.
2. Bend forward by tucking your chin into your chest and then slowly and deliberately start to round your spine, vertebrae by vertebrae, starting from the neck and moving down towards the lower back.
3. As you round your spine, allow the barbell to lower towards the ground, keeping it close to your body. Go as low as your flexibility allows, but don’t force it. You should feel a stretch but not pain.
4. Once you’ve reached the lowest point that you can comfortably go, pause for a moment.
5. Start uncurling your spine, beginning from the lower back and working your way up to your neck until you have returned to the starting position.

7. Dumbbell Deadlift

The dumbbell deadlift is a variation of the standard deadlift, the only difference being that you use a pair of dumbbells instead of a barbell.

Dumbbell deadlifts offer all the benefits of regular deadlifts, making them a superb exercise for strengthening your entire body as well as one of the best lower back exercises you can do.

The one drawback is that you might eventually outgrow even the heaviest dumbbells at your gym.

The main advantage of the dumbbell deadlift compared to its barbell cousin is that you can do it at home, even if you don’t have room for a complete barbell setup.

How to Perform Dumbbell Deadlifts

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and stand with your feet shoulder-width to hip-width apart.
2. Take a deep breath and lightly brace your abdominal muscles.
3. Lower the dumbbells close to the floor, by leaning forward and bending your knees.
4. Reverse the movement, and return to an upright position. Exhale on the way up.
5. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

8. Kettlebell Swing

Kettlebell training increases in popularity every year as more and more people turn to this simple but effective piece of equipment for their workouts.12 The kettlebell swing is one of the most popular kettlebell exercises, for good reasons: it works almost your entire body, from top to bottom, in one movement.

Kettlebell swings improve both maximum and explosive strength, and in addition, they also give you some aerobic exercise and improve cardiovascular fitness.13 They are also one of the best lower back exercises, with many people crediting them for restoring and enhancing their back health and function.14

To make your lower back muscles work even harder, you can do one-armed swings instead of holding the kettlebell with both hands.15 16 This trick activates your erector spinae further by forcing them to fight the increased rotation during the movement.

How to Perform Kettlebell Swings

1. Place a kettlebell on the ground, about one or two feet in front of you.
2. Take a wide stance, lean forward and grip the kettlebell.
3. Brace your core slightly, and swing the kettlebell back between your legs, while inhaling.
4. Swing the kettlebell forward by extending your hip, while exhaling.
5. Try to swing the kettlebell to about chest height.
6. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions, then put the kettlebell back on the ground when you’re finished.

9. Seated Machine Back Extension

The machine back extension is the best lower back exercise you can do in a machine. Unlike free-weight exercises like the deadlift, machine back extensions have little to no potential for error, and the controlled movement makes it easy to hone in on your lower back muscles without involving the rest of your body.

The fact that the machine back extension is so effective for isolating your lower back is also why it can’t wholly replace exercises involving your entire body, like deadlifts. That being said, sometimes you want to work your low back muscles and nothing else, and that’s where seated machine back extensions shine.

How to Perform Machine Back Extensions

1. Adjust the machine to fit your body size. Sit on the machine and make sure the pad is positioned against your back near or slightly below your shoulder blades.
2. Secure your feet firmly on or behind the footrest, depending on how the machine is constructed.
3. If available, hold onto the handles of the machine. Depending on the machine design, these may be located beside or in front of you.Cross your arms in front of your chest if the machine has no handles.
4. Sit upright with your back against the pad. Keep your head aligned with your spine and your eyes facing forward.
5. Take a breath, push against the pad, and extend your back. Keep the movement controlled, and avoid jerking or swinging. Exhale during the movement.
6. Continue extending until your body forms a straight line from your head to your knees. Be careful not to overextend.
7. Inhale as you return to the starting position. Observe proper form and maintain control throughout the movement.
8. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

10. Back Extension

A list of the best lower back exercises wouldn’t be complete without the back extension, a classic exercise for building glute, hamstring, and lower back strength.

Back extensions improve the stability and flexibility of your spine by strengthening all the muscles that run along it. In addition, it helps prevent poor posture and is a great and relatively low-intensity alternative to high-intensity movements like deadlifts and rack pulls.

Even if you regularly include deadlifts in your workout routine, it’s a good idea to do back extensions as well. In exercises like the deadlift, you emphasize keeping your spine in a neutral position, but in real life, you often bend your spine against resistance. With back extensions, you prepare your back for these everyday efforts that involve spinal movements in a safe way.

If your own body weight isn’t enough, you can hold a weight plate to your chest for added resistance.

You can do floor back extensions instead when you don’t have access to a back extension bench. The shorter range of motion makes it slightly less effective than its big brother, but it is still a good alternative when you can’t do full extensions or work out at home with limited equipment.

How to Perform Back Extensions

1. Adjust a back extension bench and get into position. Hold a weight plate against your chest or a barbell across your shoulders if you want to use additional weight.
2. Lean forward as far as you can by hinging in your hips.
3. Reverse the movement with control and return to the starting position.

The Best Lower Back Workouts for Strength and Muscle Growth

With these lower back exercises fresh in mind, let’s dive into some of the best workouts you can do for strength and muscle growth.

Beginner Lower Back Workout

Yes, that’s really it. One exercise, simple and effective. The deadlift gives a beginner to strength training enough stimulus to become stronger without unnecessary fluff and junk volume.

This is part of StrengthLog’s Beginner Barbell Training Program. It is available for free in our workout tracker, and you can read more about it here:

StrengthLog’s Lower Back Workout

This is a comprehensive workout if training your lower back as part of your regular back workout isn’t enough. It hits all muscle fibers in your lower back from different angles and with a variety of repetition ranges.

It is also available in our workout log and is 100% free.

Advanced Bodybuilding Back Workout

This is the back workout from our premium Bodybuilding Ballet workout routine. It is for advanced bodybuilders looking to take their physique to the next level and will give both your upper and lower back the workouts of your life.

This program requires a premium subscription to StrengthLog, but it is a comprehensive training routine with built-in week-to-week progression to pack on the muscle.

You can read more about it here:

>> Bodybuilding Ballet: The Best Bro Split Workout Routine

Track Your Workouts and Progress with StrengthLog

All these workouts and 80+ other strength training workouts and programs are available in the StrengthLog workout app. Regardless of your fitness level or goals, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for.

In addition to providing workouts and training programs, aworkout logis the best way to keep track of where you’ve been in your training, your current progress, and your future goals.

Download StrengthLog to start tracking your workouts and your progress:

Final Words

Thank you for reading this list of the best lower back exercises! Now, it’s time to put theory into practice and hit the gym. Remember, every weight you lift and every rep you crush is a step closer to becoming the best version of yourself. Let’s go!

Good luck with your training!

Click here to return to our list of strength training programs and workouts.

Click here to return to our fulllist of strength training exercises.

References

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3. World Health Organization: Low Back Pain
4. Front Public Health. 2019; 7: 80. The Relationship Between Sedentary Behavior, Back Pain, and Psychosocial Correlates Among University Employees.
5. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Sep 28;9(9):CD009790. Exercise therapy for chronic low back pain.
6. J Sport Rehabil. 2021 Feb 24;30(4):672-675. Effect of an Exercise Program That Includes Deadlifts on Low Back Pain.
7. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 29(7):p 1803-1811, July 2015. Which Patients With Low Back Pain Benefit From Deadlift Training?
8. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb; 19(3): 1903. An Electromyographic Analysis of Romanian, Step-Romanian, and Stiff-Leg Deadlift: Implication for Resistance Training.
9. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Mar;23(2):350-8. Comparison of different rowing exercises: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness.
10. PeerJ. 2015; 3: e708. Effects of load on good morning kinematics and EMG activity.
11. PLoS One. 2020; 15(2): e0229507. Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review.
12. Statista: Number of users of kettlebells in the United States from 2014 to 2022.
13. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Aug;26(8):2228-33. Kettlebell swing training improves maximal and explosive strength.
14. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jan;26(1):16-27. Kettlebell swing, snatch, and bottoms-up carry: back and hip muscle activation, motion, and low back loads.
15. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 May;30(5):1196-204. Core Muscle Activation in One-Armed and Two-Armed Kettlebell Swing.
16. Sports Med Int Open. 2019 Jan; 3(1): E12–E18. Trunk Muscle Activity in One- and Two-Armed American Kettlebell Swing in Resistance-Trained Men.

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