The Case for Rounding Your Back While Lifting

We’ve all heard the exercise mantras “Lift with your legs, not your back” and “Keep a flat back.” These cues reinforce a neutral-spine position as opposed to a flexed- or rounded-spine posture. The idea is that the less you move your spine, the more you’ll be able to safely load other muscle groups and reduce your injury risk.

But the evidence supporting this advice isn’t clear-cut. And avoiding round-back movements entirely may do more harm than good if it means you’re not prepared for the demands of real life.

The human body is capable of working outside of a narrow spectrum of “safe” movements. Spinal flexion is unavoidable in daily life, so strengthening the tissues around the spine with intentional round-back training can improve your body’s resilience, especially as you age.

Preparation vs. Avoidance

The gym is a controlled environment where you can regulate weights, reps, and ranges of motion to adhere to strict technique standards. But real life is chaotic, and you’re often picking things up from awkward positions, carrying odd objects, and bending and twisting in unfamiliar ways. The strength you build with traditional exercise is valuable, but technique guidelines do not ­always apply to the variety of positions you assume outside of the gym.

Associating certain movements with pain and injury can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if you hurt your back while bending to pick up a laundry basket, you’re likely to avoid that position in the future. Over time, this avoidance can create a weak spot, and the next time you perform the movement, you’ll be even more vulnerable to injury. This further reinforces the belief that this movement should be avoided.

This cycle can produce strong ideas about which movements are good and bad for your body.

Instead of labeling movements this way, you can consider the demands of an exercise relative to your capacity. If the demands exceed your capacity, you’re more likely to get injured. Doing nothing is a safe bet in the short term. Yet this will cause your capacity to decline over time — and reinforce that cycle of fear, avoidance, and injury.

You can improve your physical and psychological capacity for round-back training with a methodical ­approach called graded exposure. This is the process of meeting your body where it’s at — and facing the fear of injury you might associate with certain exercises — by introducing small doses of stress over time. This allows you to gradually build upon your success as your strength and capacity improve.

How to Begin

Good form and proper technique play important roles in lowering ­injury risk during any training program, including an unconventional one. However, evidence suggests that you can safely implement a wide range of techniques if you’ve developed your tolerance gradually and perform exercises within your capacity. The specific techniques and exercises that work for someone else may not be right for you, but exploring some unconventional movements may be just what you need to feel less fragile.

Interested in getting started with round-back training? A body-weight Jefferson curl (see link to movement below) is a gentle way to get some spinal flexion into your routine.

Remember to always introduce new positions gradually. Monitor how you feel over the first couple of weeks doing the Jefferson curl: Is the movement becoming easier and more fluid? Is your breath staying even and controlled? Is there more articulation between the vertebrae?

When you’re ready, add a light weight, continuing to add more every few weeks.

This article originally appeared as “To Round or Not to Round?” in the July/August 2025 issue of Experience Life. Photographer: Kelly Loverud; Styling: Pam Brand; Model: Alec Blenis.