3 Ways to Protect Your Back When Gardening

Anyone else wake up after a day of picking weeds and planting flowers and feel like they just got hit by a truck?

Yard work can be a KILLER on your back. We see it every spring and summer when the weather starts to get nice we start to hear about how planting those pretty flowers did a number on your back.

I think we can all agree that when we are working in the garden, we are in a terrible position. Bending at the waist, sitting in awkward positions to try and find relief…we push through it, because we want to look at pretty flowers.

Good news! You can still look at pretty flowers and save your back from the unnecessary pressure. Here are three things you can do while gardening to protect your back.

1) A super deep squat. Hanging out at the bottom of your squat while picking weeds is a great way to keep your back safe. Remember all of the Get Fit NH coaching cues! Chest and shoulders up, knees out, weight on the heels! This is how I picked weeds for a while yesterday and my back feels just fine today.

2) Tall kneeling or half kneeling position. You guys practice this all the time in training. When you are planting flowers in the ground, try it from one those positions to protect your back from painful positions.

3) Sumo stance. We do sumo deadlifts in training who said we can’t do sumo gardening? For those of you with knee issues try going wide with your stance and hinging at the hips or even sitting in a chair with a wide stance and hinging.

The constant bending at the waist is going to put a lot of unnecessary stress on your back. If you are sick of being in pain for days after working in the garden, then let’s pay attention to how we are doing it!

Flowers are pretty, but with a pained back you won’t be able to go outside and look at them and smell them!

-Coach Meagan