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Small Exercises to Reduce Back Pain | Jeff Cavaliere & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Huberman Lab Clips12:27Added Aug 31, 2026

Jeff Cavaliere and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss exercises to strengthen the gluteal muscles to alleviate lower back pain, focusing on specific exercises like ...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Introduction to Functional Longevity

  2. 00:00Let's just assume for a second that
  3. 00:02somebody listening to this is training
  4. 00:04their lower body twice a week.
  5. 00:06Mhm.
  6. 00:07They're doing compound exercises and
  7. 00:09some isolation exercises, but they're
  8. 00:12dealing with some back pain or they're
  9. 00:14not. I 20s, they're in their 20s or 30s
  10. 00:17or structurally they're blessed and
  11. 00:19they're not dealing with it. What are
  12. 00:22some additional things that we would
  13. 00:24call small things that make the big
  14. 00:26things possible for much longer and also
  15. 00:28make people stronger at the big things
  16. 00:31that people can do? Would you say uh

  17. Reverse Hyperextension Benefits

  18. 00:33back hyperextensions? Would you say
  19. 00:36watch your video on medial uh glute
  20. 00:37medius training? What would be the
  21. 00:40exercise to insert and how many times
  22. 00:42per week to do it and when?
  23. 00:44That's a good question. So yeah, reverse
  24. 00:46hypers are an amazing exercise. Um, I
  25. 00:49like doing them because they're very
  26. 00:50easy to do anywhere. You don't have to
  27. 00:52have resistance on them. They make a
  28. 00:55great machine that actually provides
  29. 00:56resistance. Straps over your legs that
  30. 00:58you can lift additional weight on. But
  31. 01:01the challenge for most people, remember,
  32. 01:02they're chronically weak in these areas.
  33. 01:04So, even just the body weight lifting of
  34. 01:05their own legs is going to be a
  35. 01:07significant enough challenge to get
  36. 01:08overload. But you can literally do it on
  37. 01:10like your bed in the morning. You can
  38. 01:13get up. You lay enough of your torso on
  39. 01:15top of the bed so that you're not
  40. 01:17falling off the bed, but you can just
  41. 01:18have your legs hanging off your bed and
  42. 01:20your body up on top of the bed and do a
  43. 01:21reverse hyper.
  44. 01:22So, raising the heels,
  45. 01:24raising the heels
  46. 01:24so that they're parallel with the floor
  47. 01:25as level as you can get them. You know,
  48. 01:27again, the bed's a little a little soft.
  49. 01:29So, sometimes you kind of dip down as
  50. 01:31you're lifting your legs up, but it's
  51. 01:32it's it's sturdy enough that you can get
  52. 01:34to almost a parallel position to the
  53. 01:36floor. I like to make sure, we'll talk
  54. 01:39about this, but like you're moving, the
  55. 01:41muscles are doing the work and not
  56. 01:42momentum, right? So, you want to hold
  57. 01:44that contraction briefly at the top to
  58. 01:46convince yourself that you actually were
  59. 01:48able to perform the movement. So, you

  60. Glute Weakness & Back Pain

  61. 01:50get up, hold it for for a second. And I
  62. 01:52think what's important on that, too, is
  63. 01:54people who don't have the strength in
  64. 01:56their glutes, cuz it really is a glute
  65. 01:58weakness issue, not necessarily a low
  66. 02:00back issue. it. A lot of times it's
  67. 02:02weakness in the glutes that's
  68. 02:04transferring the load to the low back
  69. 02:06that can't handle it. And people get the
  70. 02:08symptoms in the back, but it's the
  71. 02:10weakness somewhere else that's causing
  72. 02:12that. So, I like to focus first and
  73. 02:14foremost on the glutes, glute max, glute
  74. 02:16me, is to make sure that they're strong
  75. 02:17enough. And again, if you test even big-
  76. 02:20time athletes, we would test their
  77. 02:22rotational strength of their hips. Some
  78. 02:24of the strongest athletes, some of the
  79. 02:26biggest squatters, some of the best
  80. 02:28lungers, right? They're lunging over 200
  81. 02:30pounds. they you put them in position,
  82. 02:33you try to bend their their uh their hip
  83. 02:36into internal or external rotation of
  84. 02:37their of their bent knee, they can't
  85. 02:39resist it at all. So they it just goes
  86. 02:41to show you that all the squatting, all
  87. 02:43the big lifts aren't enough to
  88. 02:46counteract the smaller muscles, right?
  89. 02:48There are different functions. A
  90. 02:50rotational muscle of the hip is not a
  91. 02:52sagittal plane muscle of the hip. It has
  92. 02:54a different function. So they all have
  93. 02:55to be strengthened. So along that along
  94. 02:58that line, we will do the the the
  95. 03:01reverse hyper as a good sagittal plane
  96. 03:03exercise focusing on the glute. When
  97. 03:05they get to the top and I tell you to
  98. 03:06contract it, squeeze so you know that's
  99. 03:08the glute that's squeezing and doing the
  100. 03:10work, not that you're arching at the low
  101. 03:11back, that you're using the muscles that
  102. 03:13are already overworked in the first
  103. 03:14place. So get that up there. Squeeze.
  104. 03:16Reinforce that it's the glute that did
  105. 03:18the work. Great exercise. The glute
  106. 03:20medius, like I said, the hip bump. Super
  107. 03:22easy exercise. You could do it anywhere
  108. 03:24against the wall. He can do anywhere

  109. Exercises for Glute Medius

  110. 03:26against the wall. Any anything you can
  111. 03:27do
  112. 03:28like a butt bump. You you basically
  113. 03:29raise the leg that's closer to the wall
  114. 03:31like 90° outer one you're standing. It's
  115. 03:34almost like you're trying to slide that
  116. 03:35hip that's along the that's closer to
  117. 03:37the wall up the wall. So it's like Yeah.
  118. 03:39It's like a kind of like side booty bump
  119. 03:41to the wall but sliding it up. And and
  120. 03:43this is sometimes where you have to
  121. 03:45invest and this is the small things but
  122. 03:46you know they're also small investments.
  123. 03:48A little mini hip band. You know the
  124. 03:50little elastic bands. They're just
  125. 03:52loops. The little fit loop they're
  126. 03:53called. Put it around your heels.
  127. 03:55Lay on your belly. Bend your knees to
  128. 03:5890°.
  129. 03:59And then just try to open your feet
  130. 04:01apart,
  131. 04:02right? Spread your feet apart. So now
  132. 04:04you're strengthening rotation of the
  133. 04:05hip. Or hold one steady. Let one leg,
  134. 04:08it's a little hard to show here, but let
  135. 04:10one leg come a little bit in front of
  136. 04:11the other and then try to cross it over
  137. 04:12the other one. So now you're getting
  138. 04:13external rotation of that hip. So you're
  139. 04:16working external rotation against
  140. 04:17resistance, internal rotation against
  141. 04:19resistance.
  142. 04:21Super easy things to do. You can you can
  143. 04:24attach a band around your around your
  144. 04:26ankle and then you can do lateral hip
  145. 04:30swings but with a component of rotating
  146. 04:32against the resistance of the band too.
  147. 04:33So I'm moving my leg out and rotating
  148. 04:36out at the same time. How do you do
  149. 04:38that? Just focus on your toe. If your
  150. 04:39toe is turning out, your hip is turning
  151. 04:41out. If your toe is turning in and your
  152. 04:43hip is turning in. So you don't have to
  153. 04:44focus so much on how do I move that.
  154. 04:47Just focus on what the foot is doing and
  155. 04:49you're turning. As long as the knee is
  156. 04:50going with the foot, right? You're not
  157. 04:51just spinning the foot. the knee and the
  158. 04:52foot go together. So, there's there's
  159. 04:55simple things and again, you might need
  160. 04:57a band or a mini band or something to
  161. 04:59get these smaller muscles more
  162. 05:01specifically, but it's $10, $15 for a
  163. 05:04band. It's well worth the investment if
  164. 05:06you can get rid of these long-term
  165. 05:08recurrent issues that keep come, you
  166. 05:10know, back and and causing agony every
  167. 05:122, three months as a reminder of what
  168. 05:14you're not doing. Once I realized that
  169. 05:16the glute medius was causing for me back
  170. 05:19spasm issues that were severe enough
  171. 05:21that it was immobilizing
  172. 05:24but then it was resolved by the
  173. 05:26information you provide in your videos.
  174. 05:27I started doing the um the hip slide up
  175. 05:30the wall movement. I still do that. the
  176. 05:32reverse hyper and then the one that you
  177. 05:35put in a video and again we'll put links
  178. 05:37to these that I found uh a little bit
  179. 05:40more uh of a setup
  180. 05:43but seems really useful is where you
  181. 05:46take some sort of rope or dog leash
  182. 05:48and you put it around your waist and
  183. 05:50then you actually have a weight between
  184. 05:51your your legs hanging a couple inches
  185. 05:54off the floor and then the goal is to

  186. Functional Stability Walking Drills

  187. 05:56walk it makes you kind of have to kind
  188. 05:59of monster walk or
  189. 06:00and the idea is to not let the weight
  190. 06:03swing and hit your your feet. Now, I
  191. 06:05know that sounds really awkward, but it
  192. 06:07really works and I know it works uh for
  193. 06:09a number of reasons. And by the way, all
  194. 06:11this strengthened other lifts for me
  195. 06:13dramatically. I was kind of at a
  196. 06:14sticking point with a number of of lower
  197. 06:16body lifts and upper body lifts. And it
  198. 06:18really seems like it helped create a
  199. 06:20real stability in the lower back glute
  200. 06:22area.
  201. 06:23What is that dog leash thing doing? Uh
  202. 06:26it's very simple, right? Just tie a
  203. 06:27weight between your legs and then you're
  204. 06:30trying to walk but not let it swing.
  205. 06:31what why does that work?
  206. 06:34Anytime you could take these smaller
  207. 06:36exercises and bring them a little closer
  208. 06:37to actual function, I think it's better.
  209. 06:39It's better carryover. So, if you're
  210. 06:41talking about actually being on your
  211. 06:43feet and walking, that's a step towards
  212. 06:44function. That's that's you're going to
  213. 06:46be more useful, I think. Um, but what
  214. 06:49you're doing is, as I mentioned before,
  215. 06:51every time you pick up a foot off the
  216. 06:53ground, you're in single leg stance. So
  217. 06:54when you're in single leg stance, if
  218. 06:56you're not contracting the glute medius
  219. 06:59on the side that you're standing on,
  220. 07:01your pelvis is going to drop. You're
  221. 07:02going to drop in the side because you're
  222. 07:04you're not balanced anymore. You're
  223. 07:05going to drop towards the up leg. You
  224. 07:07may not drop if you're consciously
  225. 07:09trying to stay level because you're
  226. 07:11firing the glute medius. But for someone
  227. 07:13that has a weak glute, you just have
  228. 07:15them stand on that one leg and you're
  229. 07:17going to see that pelvis drop. So when
  230. 07:19you're doing this test and you're adding
  231. 07:21the weight to the equation here, the
  232. 07:23weight is really to create a pendulum
  233. 07:25effect, right? Because when you start to
  234. 07:27move anything, that weight's going to
  235. 07:28want to go in an exaggerated way. So
  236. 07:31what what we're trying to reinforce is,
  237. 07:32okay, can you do this and take these
  238. 07:35slow steps in these single alternating
  239. 07:37single leg stance and prevent that that
  240. 07:41weight from shifting so much, i.e.
  241. 07:44because you're dropping too much that it
  242. 07:46would hit or bang into the other leg.
  243. 07:48So, you have to be able to walk slowly
  244. 07:51through single leg stance and not allow
  245. 07:53enough of a drop by having good
  246. 07:56contraction and control of the glute
  247. 07:57medius so that it would minimize the the
  248. 08:00the weight itself. It would quiet the
  249. 08:02motion of the weight itself. So, you're
  250. 08:03reinforcing how hard can I keep this
  251. 08:05thing engaged as I walk. And you know,
  252. 08:08if you could do this, the faster you
  253. 08:10could move yourself and still have
  254. 08:13minimal displacement of the weight would
  255. 08:15be a good indicator that wow, you're
  256. 08:17really starting to get good control and
  257. 08:18strength in those in that glute medius.
  258. 08:20Another thing I like to do is um we call
  259. 08:22it a suitcase lunge, right? So you do a
  260. 08:26a lunge where you offset the weight on
  261. 08:28one side. So you carry it in the if I'm

  262. Suitcase Lunges for Pelvic Control

  263. 08:32going to lunge forward, I put it on the
  264. 08:34opposite leg, right? Hold on the
  265. 08:36opposite side. What that's going to
  266. 08:37theoretically do is obviously when I
  267. 08:39lunge forward, I'm going to want to fall
  268. 08:42to the side of the weight. Picture
  269. 08:43having even like a 50 lb weight or a 60
  270. 08:45lb weight in your hand. It's going to
  271. 08:46want to go that direction. In this lunge
  272. 08:49position, if I can straighten my self
  273. 08:51out and keep my torso rigidly in place
  274. 08:55the whole time, then I can really
  275. 08:56strengthen that glute medius on the
  276. 08:58opposite side. And what's cool about
  277. 08:59that is it's also done on a in
  278. 09:01conjunction with a sagittal plane lunge.
  279. 09:03So now I'm starting to play in train in
  280. 09:05multiple dimensions and planes at one
  281. 09:07time. So a lunge in this direction,
  282. 09:09suitcase carrier, offset only one
  283. 09:11dumbbell, not on the other side.
  284. 09:12Obviously, you're going to get that
  285. 09:14desire for the body to fall towards the
  286. 09:17side of the offset weight. And again,
  287. 09:19that starts to shift the pelvis up. The
  288. 09:21only thing will keep it down is by
  289. 09:23keeping the hip in, abducted, and level.
  290. 09:26And that pelvis stays level. So we'll do
  291. 09:28that with a lot of our athletes and work
  292. 09:30up to some pretty heavy weights there,
  293. 09:31too. And again, it is a kill two birds
  294. 09:33with one stone type exercise because you
  295. 09:35still get the benefits of the lunge,
  296. 09:36which I I love as an exercise.
  297. 09:39So, let's say somebody is going to do
  298. 09:41some hip slide up the wall or andor
  299. 09:44reverse hypers if they're lucky enough
  300. 09:46to have a gym with a reverse hyper
  301. 09:47machine or or even a just a high bench
  302. 09:50or hyperextension machine, right?
  303. 09:51Classic hyper extensions,
  304. 09:53you just go face inward.
  305. 09:55Yeah. the upper body moves and um for
  306. 09:57classic hyper uh heels
  307. 09:59which I like too by the way like that's
  308. 10:00more direct low back strengthening
  309. 10:03which is always good like we can always
  310. 10:05strengthen our low backs that those
  311. 10:06muscles need to be strengthened but
  312. 10:08again I I would say more often the time
  313. 10:10times the source of the low back pain is
  314. 10:13coming from the muscles but beneath them
  315. 10:15that are weak chronically weak like the
  316. 10:17glutes okay so reverse hypers the hip
  317. 10:20sliding up the wall approach maybe the
  318. 10:24dog leash with weight between um legs.
  319. 10:27Doesn't have to be a dog leash, folks,
  320. 10:28but you get the idea. To try and
  321. 10:30minimize the hip sway.
  322. 10:32Should those be done at the end of a
  323. 10:35lower body workout when the lower back
  324. 10:37and glutes are partially fatigued or
  325. 10:39very fatigued or done separately at a
  326. 10:42time when they're really fresh. Two

  327. Optimal Frequency & Timing

  328. 10:43times I think I think you could do them
  329. 10:45on a dedicated day at a dedicated time.
  330. 10:48So, I I approach my ab training as ab
  331. 10:51training and I always keep it separate.
  332. 10:53I just like to focus on I'm going to do
  333. 10:55five to 10 minutes of core strengthening
  334. 10:57right now here and now separate from my
  335. 10:59workout because I don't want it to be an
  336. 11:01afterthought. I think it should be it's
  337. 11:03a it's a key component of what I do to
  338. 11:05keep a strong core. So I want to focus
  339. 11:07it and I don't want to add it to the end
  340. 11:09of my workout when I'm already mentally
  341. 11:10checked out. Right? So I do that. I
  342. 11:13think when you start to have these
  343. 11:16issues that require special programming,
  344. 11:20right? then you should own that special
  345. 11:22programming because it's yours. It's
  346. 11:23what you need specifically. Others might
  347. 11:24need things for their shoulders or for
  348. 11:26the rotator cuff. But like whatever
  349. 11:28special programming is, do it as a small
  350. 11:29routine on its own day at its own time.
  351. 11:32Or even it could be on a workout day,
  352. 11:33but a separate time that you just go
  353. 11:35through as a routine, 5 minutes to 7
  354. 11:38minutes three times a week or so. That's
  355. 11:41it. If you want to put it on a training
  356. 11:44day, it's actually not a bad idea to put
  357. 11:46these smaller muscle exercises or
  358. 11:49smaller focused exercises after your
  359. 11:52bigger training cuz a you're not going
  360. 11:54to compromise your big training and the
  361. 11:55goals that you have for for that. But
  362. 11:58you also are pre- fatiguing some of
  363. 12:00those bigger muscles that are going to
  364. 12:01want to dominate these small movements
  365. 12:02anyway. The compensations that you're
  366. 12:04going to see on these small movements
  367. 12:05are always going to be the big muscles
  368. 12:06trying to kick in and do what they've
  369. 12:08always done, which is take over. And
  370. 12:10you're trying to get them to not. So, if
  371. 12:11you can pre- fatigue them a little bit
  372. 12:13prior to doing these small exercises,
  373. 12:15you're actually setting the smaller
  374. 12:17muscles up for more success.
  375. 12:20[music]
  376. 12:26[music]