No More Back Pain, Better abs & a Perfect Golf Swing

A few years ago, I added an exercise to every client's warm-up that I thought was incredibly essential for their success. It was called "the Scorpion". What it involved was having my client lay on his/her front, extend one leg in the air (while they were squeezing their butt) and then rotate their leg across their body to touch the floor on the opposite side.

I thought this was cutting edge. I thought I was doing stuff that nobody else was doing and that it could have been the missing link in getting my clients mobile, injury free and free of back pain.

Boy, was I wrong.

In fact, after reading Dr. Stuart McGill's "Ultimate Back Fitness And Performance" and attending one of his seminars, I realized that what I was doing was not only wrong, but dangerous. Needless to say that I changed things right away.

What I learned is that the vertibrae & discs in your lumbar spine (your lower back) are only meant to take 2-3 degrees of rotation. More than that is excessive, creates sheer force and could potentially harm your lower back later on in life.

OK, so what does this all mean?

It means that...

-We need to focus more on bracing our abs and keeping our lower back as stable and rotation free as possible.

-We should be using our abs the way they were meant to be used - for stability and as ANTI-rotators - not as a means to bring our chest to our hips (as in a crunch or sit-up).

-We should be focusing more on rotating through our UPPER BACK and HIPS as opposed to our fragile lower backs.

-And that a poorly executed golf swing is a chiropractor's and orthopedic surgeon's wet dream
(See above: Felxion & Rotation is a recipe for disaster. Stick to gambling & basketball, Charles.)


The solution?

First, do ab exercises like planks, side planks, and hip bridges to keep our abs strong and stable.

Second, work on the mobility in our hips.

Third, focus on keeping our upper backs - and the muscles surrounding and supporting them - knot free and mobile so that our lower backs don't make up for it.

Here are a couple of exercises that you can do to keep your upper back loose and mobile...

This one uses a foam roller and is great for posture...



This one teaches you how to rotate through your upper back while keep your lower back stable...




If you do anything to keep your low back healthy, make sure to let me and everyone else know and leave a comment below.

Enjoy your day!

Chris
The FitAndBusyDad

P.S. You can get rid of your low back pain, get ripped abs and get a better golf swing all with one program...

=>Get Started with FitAndBusyDad Workouts Today