Bodyweight Exercises for Lower Back

Hey everyone,
I work out at home and have been trying to mix up my routine with a combination of weight lifting and bodyweight exercises. One area of concern I have is my lower back. I do deadlifts during weight lifting sessions, but for bodyweight I have a problem: I had inguinal hernia surgery last year (upper groin) and this limits my ability to put pressure on that area. This makes supermans impossible (I strained the scar tissue earlier this year doing these) and hyperextensions a bit risky and sometimes painful. Any suggestions for other good exercises that won't put any pressure on that area? Thanks!

~Dustin

Google is a wonderful thing...[url]http://bodyweightworkout.wordpress.com/category/lower-back-exercise/[/url]

[QUOTE=dpotter2113;799517671]I do deadlifts during weight lifting sessions, but for bodyweight I have a problem: I had inguinal hernia surgery last year (upper groin) and this limits my ability to put pressure on that area. This makes supermans impossible (I strained the scar tissue earlier this year doing these) and hyperextensions a bit risky and sometimes painful. Any suggestions for other good exercises that won't put any pressure on that area?[/QUOTE]I'm confused about how deadlifts don't put pressure on the area, since in a deadlift you lift not only your bodyweight (upper torso, arms, etc) but also that of the bar and plates.

Is it possible that the reason supermans hurt is because of the hyperextension in it as opposed to the weight?

As an alt to hypers, do you ever do the good morning motion? That can be done with just a broomstick for form without adding weight, if you can sink deep enough into it (requires flexible hamstrings since you don't want to round the back for that) then if your torso is parallel it should be as difficult on the erectors as the top of a hyper.

Moves like this:
[url=http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/941][img]http://www.yogajournal.com/media/originals/hp_219_Warrior3_248.jpg[/img][/url]
once you get the balance down I actually find a bit easier to a a prone torso because since you have a counterweight on the back leg (feel free to use ankle weight there) you do not have to flex the hip joint of the base leg as much to get a prone torso, the leg stays more vertical and the pelvis does not have to shift back to allow the forward bend.
[url=http://www.ibodz.com/exercise/standing-hamstring-stretch][img]http://www.ibodz.com/files/exerciseimages/standing-hamstring-stretch-1.JPG[/img][/url]
Anyone who does standing forward bending hip flexion with both legs at once knows that to get the parallel torso you normally have to shift the pelvis back pretty far.

That's part of why a lot of people will end up doing 1 leg at a time by sticking 1 foot forward...
[img]http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sulkido/PIC/hamstand.jpg[/img]
(other reasons that you can shift weight onto and off of stretched leg easier)

Inguinal Hernia repair leaves scars in the V of your groin, just below the waist band and just above the penis. Supermans cause me to put all of my weight on this area while also grinding it against a solid surface. Deadlifts put no inward pressure on the region. That's the real problem: being able to contract the low back muscles without putting any inward pressure on the groin.

skinsfan15, thanks for the link and the sarcasm, but all it told me to do was supermans, which if you read the OP, I can't do.