Relentless Courage
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Coaching
  • Contact
  • About Jon
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Coaching
  • Contact
  • About Jon

Two Maneuvers to Protect Your Spine 

10/22/2015

0 Comments

 
In life we lift things.  We bend over to pick things up and we raise things over our heads to put them away.  We also lift when we exercise.  Today's education is about two ways to reduce your chances of injury and enhance your ability to move when lifting and moving in life and in the gym.  These techniques relate to our abs and back and you may have heard of them before.

  1. The drawn in maneuver is when you attempt to press your belly button through your spine.  This is typically done when you're lying on your back doing sit ups, crunches or even bench press.
  2. The bracing maneuver is when you try and squeeze your spine with all of the muscles surrounding it.  When I talk with clients about how to perform this exercise I put my fists in front of me one on top of the other.  Then I squeeze them tight and bring my elbows towards my body demonstrating how we might squeeze out a wet towel.  This bracing maneuver is what engages our inner unit to directly support our spine.  This helps reduce the risk of injury and enhances our ability to move effectively.
The drawn in maneuver is what many of us know about and has been our default stability move for years.  In reality this technique is solely used to help reduce the risk of injury and it's only effective when we're lying on our back or our thoracic spine and hips are both fixed. 
 
Bracing protects us during functional movement throughout our lives and in the gym.  When we lift, brace.  If you doing exercises standing such as lunging, squatting, bicep curls, overhead press, brace. 
 
I know there are many runners in this community.  If you feel back pain when you're running, brace.  If that doesn't work, draw in.  Our abs protect our backs but if we brace during exercise and life we can help strengthen the back muscles too. 
 
Get in tune with the muscles surrounding your spine and brace to enhance movement efficiency and help prevent injury.
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    April 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    RSS Feed

Relentless Courage  LLC