Lower Back Stretch

What exercises can help stretching the lower back? I need it to help with my L-straddle. I've tried reaching the ankles from standing pike, and seated closed pike. I also tried seated straddle too, but I feel its ineffective as I think my tight hamstrings get in the way and makes its harder to stretch my back.

I'm not sure whats wrong, I think I may have plateau out the exercises or my back got used to it so the stretching exercises loses its usefulness. Or did I not hold it out long enough - I usually use isometric stretches; tense muscles for 30 seconds and then relax them for another 30 seconds. Thanks.

Weighted Pike Stretch I think will help you.

In my case, weighted pike stretch seems to be working well. Slowly going down (say in 20 seconds) to full stretch and then holding that for at least 60 seconds. I do that once, sometimes twice, before my workout.

If you want straddle-L and your hams are tight, I think you should stretch them, not your lower back.

I do pnf stretching. It works well for me, but I have a long-long way to go.

Venus, you do NOT need lower back flexion. You need hip flexion. Make sure you keep a straight lower back when stretching, unless your goal is spinal disc injury.

Excellent advice has been rendered, I believe it's all up to you now!

What's hip flexion? Is that and hamstrings is all i need to stretch for the pancake?

Think of it this way: in a perfect straddle-L, your navel will touch the ground. If you're bending your lower back, your head or chest will touch the ground but your navel will not. Hip flexion is when you bend at the hip, bringing your thighs towards your stomach. 

Sailor Venus said:

What's hip flexion?

Google search, Sailor.

Asking this here is like asking a random person at a buffet restaurant to get you another plate of food. Just plain rude. Get up and get your food from the buffet. If you get up there, look for the food, and can't find something, THAT is when you start asking people if there is any green bean casserole.

What...? I thought hip flexion was scientific term only known by gymnastic coaches at first. Thats harsh of you joshua. Done googled it.

Sailor Venus said:

What...? I thought hip flexion was scientific term only known by gymnastic coaches at first. Thats harsh of you joshua. Done googled it.

It doesn't matter that it's specialized knowledge. What important is that it is something you can look up in a matter of seconds. If you were talking to someone and they mentioned 'hip flexion', it'd be perfectly reasonable to ask them "what's that?" since it'd break the flow of conversation for you to go on the internet and look it up. But on a forum, when you necessarily have access to internet, asking that sort of question may have the appearance of rudeness: in the time it takes someone to read your post and write a comprehensive response, you could have looked up the answer. From your perspective it might seem like you're simply following the natural flow of conversation. But from the perspective of someone like Josh N it looks like you don't value his time, because you're asking him to do something that you could just as easily do yourself. 

All that said, this link might be helpful. It was the second hit on google.