Workout of the Day:
Four sets of:
Hang Power Snatch x 3 reps
Rest 90 seconds
Rotational Ball Throw x 10 reps (5 each side)
Rest 90 seconds
(Use a 4, 6 or 8 lb. ball for the throw. Place the ball in the center of your chest with your elbows at 90 degrees from your body, your front elbow pointing toward the wall, step and throw as if you are delivering a punch. Your goal should be to produce as much speed as possible on the ball. Reset yourself completely between throws.)
and then,
As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
12 x Single-Arm Dumbbell Snatch
12 x Renegade Rows
(Use the heaviest dumbbell or kettlebell you can handle.)
A photo for POS and our friends following our blog from colder climates. This photo was taken last weekend just after a tough beach WOD that required an ocean plunge to help relieve soreness.
Spinal Mechanics Made Simple
Written by Mike Hom
The coaches at Invictus seem to really harp on spinal health. We do not let you mobilize your lumbar spine no matter how good it may feel at first. There are some good reasons for this.
If you think of your spine being similar to a fishing pole, you can see a lot of similarities. Your spine can easily flex and extend through your cervical vertebrae and retain a fair amount of mobility through your thoracic. Once you reach the lumbar vertebrae, your spine gets much stiffer, but not completely immobile.
Now, consider a fishing pole under load. If the fish is larger than the pole’s tolerance, the pole will flex and flex until it eventually snaps. Depending on how much shearing force and the direction the fish was headed, the pole can snap close to the tip or farther down where the pole starts to stiffen up. This is, for all intents and purposes, very similar to how your spine behaves under load.
We’ve already seen topics revolving around postural health (http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/2009/03/wednesday-march-4-2009/) and ways to maintain or improve thoracic mobility (http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/2009/06/tuesday-june-16-2009/ and http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/2009/06/wednesday-june-17-2009/), so it would seem logical that rolling out the lower back is a good thing, right?
Wrong!
Like the fishing pole, we want our lumbar spine as strong as possible. Unlike the fishing pole, our lumbar spine is still comprised of vertebral discs which can move. To make things worse, the more the lumbar gets mobilized over time, the more susceptible we are to back problems. So keep your lumbar spine stiff! Instead, roll your thoracic spine and hip abductors, and spend some time with a lacrosse ball on your psoas. Keeping these areas mobile will reduce pressure on your lumbar spine.
Mike,
I have to respectfully disagree with you. Your fishing pole picture is a poor model of spinal function as it suggests that the skeletal structure alone is responsible for stability of the spine when, in fact, the surrounding musculature is far more important. The fishing pole model would work if the pole were upright and we had several tensioned guy-wires that stabilized the pole. The guy-wires in this case would be modeling the role of musculature in spinal stability.
The lumbar spine needs to be capable of being STABLE but not necessarily be in a chronic state of stiffness. Stability under load is the most important step in prevent back injury during weight training. Your suggestion would lead others to believe that an immobile lumbar spine is ideal when in fact it is not. Some lumbar flexion and extension is necessary for normal spinal ROM and function. Some lumbar flexion is OK and it does occur in training…even at CrossFit Invictus. Kipping Pull-ups, Sit-ups and Knees-to-Elbows would be impossible if not dangerous without the ability to flex the lumbar spine. Also, the lumber doesn’t get “mobilized” over time. When is the last time you heard of a senior citizen with a hyper-mobile lumbar spine? Most people tend to get stiffness in their lower backs as they age.
Furthermore, muscular strength in the lumbar is not nearly as important as muscular endurance. The muscles of the lower back and trunk do not need to generate a large amount of force in order to create a stable lumbar spine. You need to be able to generate a moderate amount of force (we’re talking less than 10% of maximal voluntary contraction here) but for a sustained period. In other words, you should focus on increasing the muscular endurance of your lower back musculature as opposed to increasing the amount of force it can produce.
I do agree with you in that we should not foam roll the lower back with the intention of creating hyper-mobility in the lumbar spine. However, this doesn’t mean a foam roller can’t ever touch your lower back. You can safely roll out your quadratus lumborum if you know the proper technique. I plan on discussing this as well as how to increase muscular endurance in the lumbar in an upcoming post or perhaps in a seminar format.
Thanks Invictus for thinking about us here in the frigid North East….
Here is a Photo of our beach WOD this past Saturday
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/3248490080_1fb3157ff0.jpg
POS,
That looks horrible.
Calvin, I agree my analogy was not super precise, but I believe it has merit has merit when discussing general mechanics. If we were to get into the nitty gritty of things, you’re right that the surrounding musculature would play prominent roles in spinal stability. However, I still like to say that as a rough generalization goes, we want to maintain lumbar extension _most_ of the time for most of the movements we do. Admittedly, I did not clarify that in my post to which–thankfully–you did and gave some great information along with your clarification.
I’m not aiming for people to maintain stiff lower backs for the rest of their life as that will lead to other problems.. one of more immediate ones is walking around like you’re in a state of persistent constipation. I am, however, hoping people keep the idea of lumbar extension and, subsequently, bracing in mind when performing most of the exercises we do. Especially the compound lifts.
I can’t really speak on muscular strength vs. muscular endurance, other than it sounds like I ideally want to maximize both as you need the muscular endurance to maintain periods of isometric contraction for certain muscle groups, BUT you also need muscular strength to be able to maintain isometric contraction against progressively bigger loads. I’d have to do more homework on that front.
Again, we’re trying to simplify things and while my model may have been too simple, I think it mostly gets the point across. I wish I could provide all the details to people but most I can [try to] do is get the salient points across without burying people in details. Even if is in the details.
POS- don’t miss it man. coming home from my CT visit was awesome.
Deadlift : 7×1 315-315-365-365-365-335-275
1×22 245
Have had trouble staying in a good position with the heavier weights ever since Indiana. Ironic considering today’s post.