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i want to try and improve my flexibility in my lower back, i'm pretty stiff which is ironic considering i surf.
can anyone suggest and stretches and simple excercises that could help?
a few years back i did salutation to the sun and sit ups on a daily basis for a good two months and it helped, but i was too lazy to keep it up.
Pilates (and actually keep going!).
I suffer with a bad back and have spent a fortune with Physio's and Chiropractors over the years - they make it better for a bit, but then it would spasm again. The only thing I have found to keep it in check is going to Pilates once a week - it keeps it at a 'mostly ok' level, aches if I do anything major but basically ok and doesn't go into spasms. If I miss classes for more than 2 weeks I can feel my back starting to seize up again....
It may be your hamstrings, and your back is compensating. If so, then yoga is a better alternative to Pilates (which builds core strength).
I'm doing yoga to improve my flexibility, but I suspect this is a multi-year journey...
I have been advised to follow a streching routine after experiencing back pain caused by inflexibility from too much sitting at work and short inflexible hamstrings (apparently a common cyclists' trait). The exercises below, combined with hamstring streches, are pretty much what I do and have made a massive difference;
http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8110250/lower-back-stretches-lower-back-flexibility-exer.htm
I've also found Yoga good but as you've found out, it requires quite a substantial time commitment.
a few years back i did salutation to the sun and sit ups on a daily basis for a good two months and it helped, but i was too lazy to keep it up.
what ever you'll do you'll need to keep at it.
I do yoga/ pilates. probably not the best thing i could possibly do - but the gym is local, the class is good, and it keeps me motivated - i find it far to easy to sack off stretching at home.
oh my goodness, i made an effort with a yoga dvd last year. shiva rea surf yoga. i bought it at the peak of my winter indoor turbotraining, i mean after being beasted by coach troy most winter nights i thought how hard can a yoga dvd be.
damn, it near killed me! i could just about do the warm-up, but after that the first set is as much as i could manage and even then i had to cheat it to make the end. hell on earth, coach troy is a pussy cat compared to evil shiva.
seriously though, hamstrings may well be an issue. very tight. i'm also pretty weak in my core strength, pathetic at sit ups.
Too loosen my lower back I tend to do Crossed-Leg raise, a Crossed-Leg twist, pulling my knees into my chest etc etc....
However as already said here, you need to commit to doing it all the time
re:> http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8110250/lower-back-stretches-lower-back-flexibility-exer.htm <- seems bang on to me, these are pretty much the stretches I now have to do after biking/hockey/heavy gardening (they all seem to be hamstring shorteners)- if not then I pay next day, I also enjoyed yoga, till the class started being more meditation/chanting than stretching