3 Things to Drop From Your Workout

One of the great things about life is that it constantly changes.

And there always opportunities to experience new things, to learn and to grow.

With education and wisdowm we hopefully will do a better job as move through life when it comes to our health and fitness.


Sometimes we'll learn a better way to get an end result. It may be a new way to mobilize a joint or to provide more stability. It may be a way to ellicit new strength or power gains. It could also be a way to recover more quickly from one session to the next.

But life isn't always about finding better ways. Or short cuts. Or ways to get ahead.

Sometimes it's finding out what hurts us. And then trying to stay away from the danger.



***if you don't know it already Dumb and Dumber is often quoted during staff workouts, conference road trips and many other times***

But besides sticking your tongue on a frozen ski lift there are things happening during training sessions which are just as bad.

Below are 3 things you make sure you aren't doing when it comes to your training. The cool thing is that they all have something in common.

What's the common link?

With all three there is excessive lumbar movement. So we've dropped these exercises from our programming to minimize potential strain to the low back.

Don't Do Movement #1 - Scorpion
We don't use this as part of our warmup any more. But I'll admit that a few moons ago we did.



The goal was to increase hip mobility. Instead the hip reaches end range and further motion comes at the expense of the low back.

Don't Do Movement #2 - Supine Hip Rolls


With many sports and activities a common goal is to encourage separation of the upper and lower parts of the body. Sometimes this is referred to as dissociation of the lumbar and thoracic spine.

However when we want to do this it should be by moving the thoracic spine and stabilizing the lumbar.

With the supine hip rolls we are doing the opposite. We are stabilizing the thoracic and moving the lumbar.

Don't Do Movement #3 - Tall Kneeling MB Hip Tosses

This one isn't the absolute worst exercise in the world if special care is taken.

First of all you need a certain level of anti-rotational stability. A great drill to work on this is the bird dog.

And once you can control movement in the transverse plane you need to make sure the lower body is locked down. Imagine flashlights coming straight out of the hips.

As the ball is released the flashlights need to point directly at the wall (the closer hip) and away from the wall (the further hip).

If your flashlights shine anywhere but at/away from the wall you may be putting strain on the low back as the knees are fixed and won't allow normal hip rotation. If the hips can't move this motion may be transferred to the low back.

Summary
Don't stress if you've been using these movements in your workouts. If we never were able to look back and see something that could be improved upon we wouldn't be growing. And all life needs to continue to adapt and grow.

Chris                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    okanaganpeakperformance.com