11 Low Back Exercises With Dumbbells

Low back exercises with dumbbells are a great way for moms to strengthen their low back muscles to improve posture and alleviate back pain. The low back region is often under strain from carrying children and running around after them, strengthening this area with strategic dumbbell exercises can help create a stronger, healthier back to keep up with the demands of motherhood.

As a Certified Strength Coach, back pain is one of the biggest reasons moms come to train with me.

Thanks to general motherhood, most moms end up with niggling aches in their low back that don’t seem to go away.

And though back pain needs a multifaced approach (a combination of mobility and strength), incorporating dumbbell low back exercises can help alleviate a lot of symptoms and set you up to be strong long term.

Learn about these thoracic spine exercises that keep help relieve pain too.

Benefits Of Low Back Exercises

Though most people focus on muscles like the rear delts or rhomboids (upper back muscles), strategically training the low back muscles can:

• Help reduce injury risk
• Alleviate some back pain
• Allow you to carry kids easier
• Improve poor posture
• Increase spinal stability
• Make daily tasks easier

Now, it’s one thing to note that there are no “low back muscles”. The low back is a combination of muscles that need to work together to perform an exercise.

Likewise, due to the area, many other muscles come into play as well (the glutes, obliques, and anterior core muscles, even the upper body).

Which means, you can’t completely isolate the area with dumbbell exercises.

The low back exercises below will also work other muscle groups.

How To Use The Exercises

There are a few ways to use the dumbbell low back exercises.

You can choose 4-5 and make them into a workout on their own and perform a “low back workout” 1-2 times per week.

Or you can add the lower back dumbbell exercises into your current workout routine so you’re doing a handful of them each week.

I personally prefer the latter.

These dumbbell low back exercises are all ones that I use in the SMASH Fit For Life program. They’re woven into the days so that each week the low back is targeted and strengthened.

Keep in mind that if you are experiencing significant low back pain, you should chat to a doctor before performing any direct exercises for your low back.

Starting Steps To Low Back Exercises

Before you begin, know this: you need to learn how to hip hinge.

Without learning to hip hinge you will hurt your low back.

The hip hinge is a crucial exercise for all moms and can’t be overlooked. It’s this movement that targets the low back and when done correctly will skyrocket your strength and greatly reduce pain.

And again remember, all these exercises also target other muscle groups. However, for some of them, it’s the stability that the low back needs to recruit to perform the exercise.

1. Dumbbell Romainian Deadlift

Use moderate dumbbells.

1. Hold the dumbbells in each hand at your thighs.
2. Keep the knees slightly bent.
3. Push your hips back and feel a stretch in your hamstrings as you glide the dumbbells down on your legs.
4. Keep a very flat back.
5. Pause and reverse the movement.

2. Dumbbell Superman

You can use water bottles in your hands, light weights, or ankle weights for this exercise. Beginners should begin without weghts.

1. Lay on the ground on your stomach with your arms above your head in a Y position.
2. Squeeze your glutes and lift your arms, chest, and feet off the floor.
3. Pause briefly and release the hold.
4. Repeat.

3. Dumbbell Good Morning

Use moderate dumbbells.

1. Hold the dumbbell on the back of your upper back.
2. Keep the knees slightly bent.
3. Push your hips back and feel a stretch in your hamstrings as you hinge forward but keep the weight push back.
4. Keep a very flat back.
5. Pause and reverse the movement.

4. Dumbbell Back Extension

You’ll need a swiss ball for this exercise. Begin with just your body weight and increase from there.

1. Anchor your feet (under a couch, weights, squat rack or with someone holding them).
2. Position the ball under your hips and round your back to fall over the ball with your head toward the floor.
3. Keeping a rounded upper back, squeeze the glutes, thrust into the ball and raise the chest up off the ball.
4. Pause and return to the starting position.

5. Dumbbell Side Raise

Use lighter weights until position is nailed down.

1. Start standing upright with a dumbbell in your right hand and feet hip width apart.
2. Let the dumbbell pull your body down to the side so you are stretching the left side.
3. Engage the obliques to pull your body back up.

6. Dumbbell Bird Dog

Start with light weights in your hands or ankle weights.

1.  Come onto all fours and find a neutral back (not arched, not rounded, core engaged).
2. Keeping the hips squared and facing the floor, extend the left leg and right arm away from the body slowly.
3. Make sure not to arch the back.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement (keep to the same side for all repetitions before performing the ab exercise on the other side).

7. Dumbbell Deadlift

Use a moderate to heavy dumbbell.

1. Place the dumbbell on the floor vertically in between your legs with the feet shoulder width apart.
2. Hinge down, keep the chest up, and wrap your hands around the dumbbell with the arms straight.
3. The hips should be higher than the knees.
4. Lead with the hips as you come upright.
5. reverse the movement by using a hip hinge to return the dumbbell to the floor.

8. Reverse Dumbbell Hyperextension

Begin with just bodyweight then move up to holding a light dumbbell between your feet or ankle weights. You can also perform this exercise on the floor or slightly elevated.

1. Lay belly down on a bench with the end of the bench at your hips (legs hanging off).
2. You can do this with straight legs or bent knees. Squeeze your glutes so that your legs raise up and your hips extend (go from bent to open). Pause and return the feet to the floor.

Hack: the reverse hyperextensions can be done on a couch or table, you don’t NEED to have the swiss ball.

9. Bentover Row

Perform with a moderate set of dumbbells.

1. Start in a bentover position (from a hip hinge), with feet flat on the floor, a flat back, knees bent slightly and the dumbbells hanging down at your sides. Abdominal muscles engaged.
2. Maintain the bentover position as you row the dumbbells up towards your chest, pinch the shoulder blades together at the top and pause briefly.
3. Reverse the movement and return the dumbbells to the starting position.

10. Bentover Overhead Raise

Use one dumbbell of moderate weight. This is not a great exercise for complete beginners.

1. Come into a bentover position, pushing the weight of your body backward.
2. Hold the one dumbbell between both hands at chest height.
3. Push the arms away from the chest, extending the elbows so that the dumbbell is at head height away from the body.
4. Return back to the starting position.

11. Side-Lying Hip Raise

Use a light weight to start ot one moderate dumbbell.

1.  Lay on your right side with your knees bent and feet together. Hips and shoulders in one line and the right arm under the right shoulder.
2. As you raise up into side plank position and lift the hips off the ground, raise the left leg up using the left glute. Keep the knee bent and flex the left foot. Pause and return to the starting position.

What Size Dumbbells To Choose

If you were to perform all of these exercises, you’d need a variety of dumbbells. For most women, I recommend starting with a pair of 15lbs dumbbells and increasing from there (this is what I suggest for my signature SMASH home workout program).

For some of the smaller exercises, lighter dumbbells are best. However, in place of dumbbells, you could use filled-up water bottles or wine bottles to save some money.

On most of the exercises, I’ve made a note for you as to whether you should start with light dumbbells (like 5lbs) or moderate dumbbells (15bs). A few of them even work best with ankle weights!

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Other Fitness Tips To Help

• Glute activation exercises
• Glute isolation exercises
• How to reduce back pain by training glutes
• The ultimate guide to home workouts

Frequently Asked Questions About Low Back Exercises