I had a nasty injury last week so this blog fell quiet.  I did however get to spend some time with the world famous Stuart McGill, so I’ve had some time to think about back posture and to merge those thoughts with gymnastic practices.

Over the weekend, I saw compulsive evidence that the lordotic posture is ideally protective of the back. In gymnastics we  often use a kyphotic posture, but this posture may not be the best for back health. Sports are frequently fun: they are not necessarily healthy.

At this stage, Ill accept the kyphotic posture is essential, but, why not try and train as much as we can in a lordotic posture to promote back health. At the time I was thinking of training straddle lift to handstand,  This is often trained as  a vertebrae by vertebrae pull. Coach Sommer argues for  a “jefferson curl” where the trainee lowers a bar by flexing through the spine.

One of the factors in  the straddle lift is a strong shoulder pull, so I slung this exercise together to train shoulder strength, while maintaining a neutral spin

Drills that substitute weights for gymnastics are not ideal, so this is an extra, cannot get to the gymnanstic gym, drill. it does strengthen the shoulder and preserve the back