[AriseAndPass]

This is great to hear, that currently is me in various forms - start doing squats in the gym and my knees hurt, play a lot of tennis and something else hurts, etc. I really enjoy the few 10 minute yoga videos I've tried so it's great to hear that something I actually enjoy could be the trick to getting me exercise-ready.

Can I ask you two questions from the other side of this?

- I've spent quite a while searching through yoga videos on YouTube without being able to figure out what a good progression from easy to difficult might look like. Mind sharing some of the ones you found worked the best for you on a regular basis?

- I noticed a lot of yoga videos involve rounding your back eg in toe touching movements. This really put me off because from everything I've read (a lot of Stuart McGill), movements that take your spine out of neutral position and put load on it are bad for the long term health of your back. Did the yoga you practiced involve these movements? Did you notice any ill effects on your back health?

[voisin]

I think as you do more yoga you realize that the same “easy” poses are starting points that can be deepened and, when you are ready, added to via variations. Either of the yogis I mentioned in my previous post point out variations. I am surprised how poses I thought I had become advanced at in the beginning were actually just surface level as I developed better interoception and realized the way different body parts and focus could be stretched. It is hard to explain. Just do yoga and over time you’ll know exactly what I am referring to.

Re rounding your back - this is an example of what I am talking about above. If you are rounding your back as you touch your toes, this is an example of not focusing on the right thing. You should be hinging at the hips, not the lower back. If you can’t touch the floor without rounding your back, then either don’t touch the floor or bend your knees enough to let you touch the floor (each of these options focuses on stretching different things).

Good luck & Namaste!

[AriseAndPass]

Thanks for the tips, much appreciated :)

[watermelon59]

Not the person you're asking, also not an expert, just someone who enjoys lifting weights (Olympic style!) and has spent a lot of time around people whose livelihood revolves around fitness and strength sports.

Rounding your back is only an issue when loaded. You don't wanna round it when squatting or deadlifting (but the Barbell Medicine folks will tell you it's not that big of deal, most of the time). If you're just moving your body on its own, you should absolutely do things that involve rounding your back, like touching your toes. If your back wasn't meant to move that way, it probably wouldn't move that way... or at the very least your body would immediately give you warning signs to make you stop doing that (like when you try to bend a joint the wrong way).

[crashbunny]

I was doing some beginner gymnastics strength exercises. I saw an advanced video I and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

These advanced gymnasts stood on a box, bent down with straight legs touching their toes, grabbed onto barbell with light weights, keeping their legs straight, slowly stood up keeping the barbell close to their body.

The explanation was the back is designed to do that and if you don't it you lose the ability.

That's not something I would ever attempt, but goes to show if you know what you're doing and have the necessary foundation in strength and flexibility, round back is not only OK but necessary to keep range of motion and strength. Again, I would never attempt that myself.

[AriseAndPass]

Thanks for commenting! I hear what you're saying, but I think it's perfectly possible to injure your back with bodyweight exercises over time. Even if we're just talking about yoga, there's a good amount of evidence that incorrectly practiced yoga can and does cause back injuries over time.

Now I'm sure that the optimal answer to that would be to make sure you correctly practice yoga. But the back is probably the worst joint I can think of injuring, and at the same time I'm basically just watching youtube videos and copying them - which isn't really a guarantee of correct practice. So I try to err on the side of caution by keeping my spine neutral :)