Go with the flow: Core support

Avoid backache and support your posture on the bike with this quick yoga pose that you can try at home.

Most of our day-to-day activities see us hunching forward at a computer, eating at the dinner table and riding a bike. This, coupled with poor flexibility and core strength, can lead to lower back pain and discomfort both on and off the bike.

Many of the core strengthening postures and movements we incorporate into a yoga practice can strengthen the obvious core abdominal muscles, but in doing so we mustn’t forget the less obvious lower back region linked to the core, which are just as important.

The Locust Pose will help strengthen muscles in the lower back and promote better posture as well as aid digestion. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1 Lie on your stomach with your forehead to the ground and arms by your side, palms turned down. Begin to gently pull the navel to spine, tuck the tail under and extend into the crown of the head as well as the toes. Begin to tune into the breath.

Step 2 On an inhalation gently lift the head, chest and hands and roll the shoulders back, keeping the back of the neck comfortable and long. Activate the muscles in the lower back and use them to aid the lift as opposed to pushing the abdominal muscles down.

Step 3 On another inhalation extend back into the toes and lift them as well as the thighs. Keep rolling the shoulders back, extending forwards into the collar bones and back into the toes at the same time and focus on lifting from the muscles in the lower back as opposed to pressing the abdominal muscles down. Stay for five breaths.