It’s my intention for this article to help reduce the likelihood of back pain and for those currently experiencing back pain to find relief by trying this training method. Most of us at some point will experience back pain of a varying degree, from mild discomfort to disabling pain that could see us taking time off from work and play.
Statistically, back pain has a tendency to go into and come out of remission and though the symptoms can be relieved, often the problem remains unless we get to the cause. Muscular imbalance and a misfiring recruitment pattern of the posterior chain muscles are common prerequisites of low back pain, often as a result of bad posture from imbalanced or lack of muscular tone.
“Too much sitting can result in “lower cross syndrome” which is marked by weak gluteal muscles and tight iliopsoas muscles. This imbalance can put too much stress on the back, resulting in back pain.”
— Czech neurologist Vladimir Janda
Fortunately, time, energy and resources for rehab and prevention can be optimised by utilising Kettlebell Swings as a practical solution when compared to other expensive, lengthy, and sometimes invasive methods of treatment for low back issues.
“We are advised to get up, stretch, and walk around to counter the excess sitting while at work. While this is sound advice, my years as a neurosurgeon—and back pain sufferer—have shown me there is a better alternative. Keeping a kettlebell under your desk and performing Kettlebell Swings for one minute each hour may alleviate your back pain and trim your waistline” – Dr Patrick Roth, Neurosurgeon practicing in New Jersey
Problem: Low Back Pain
There’s a correlation between those with small gluteal muscles and those that suffer back-pain. If your glutes are weak, or ‘unactivated’ when lifting or extending your hip, your lower back is going to compensate for the larger, more powerful gluteal muscles.
Solution: The Kettlebell Swing
Hip hinging, the primary movement for the Kettlebell Swing reinforces neutral spine, a position where the spine is in its correct anatomical position. By utilising the power of the hips throughout the range of motion of the hip hinge in place of the lower back, incorrect firing patterns in the recruitment of muscle from the posterior chain can be corrected.
“Learning to hip hinge is paramount for both injury prevention and optimal performance”
– Dr. Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics
The movement preparation for the Kettlebell Swing, is in fact, the hip hinge. By educating your muscles how to hip hinge correctly before practicing the Kettlebell Swing will fire up your CNS to perform the exercise optimally and shorten time in getting results.
Hinge to Prepare for the Kettlebell Swing
Begin in correct posture by taking a pipe or dowel and placing it along your spine making sure the three points of contact, the tailbone, upper back and back of your head are touching the pipe/dowel. If you don’t have a pipe or dowel, achieve neutral spine by making points of contact while standing back against a wall, tuck your chin to lengthen your cervical spine all the way to the top, making contact with the back of your head against the wall.
Begin the movement (away from a wall) by softening your knees and pushing your hips backward like you’re trying to press your butt against on a wall behind you (without contact). Aim to not bend much at your knees and return to start position by driving through your heels and activating your glutes and hamstrings to extend your hips.
By adding Kettlebell Swings to your training regimen and perfecting your hip hinge movement you’ll correct imbalance of your posterior chain muscles and ‘misfiring’ recruitment patterns, while opening up the hips by stretching the tight iliopsoas muscles which are the antagonist muscle of the hinge movement. This will do much to relieve the symptoms and correct the cause of low back pain.
“One small kettlebell hidden under a desk in the office can provide time-effective back and hamstring strengthening, along with hip-flexor stretching”
— Dr. Patrick Roth, author of “The End of Back Pain”
石锁 [shísuǒ]- каменный замок. Традиционный китайский физкультурный снаряд для тренировок в боевых искусствах, по сведеньям статьи из китайской сетевой энциклопедии используется с династии Тан (618 — 907 г. н.э., 唐朝) .
По сути - аналог русской гири, которая, замечу, всё более становиться популярна в мире, в том числе и в Америке. Чугунная удобнее - при падении она с меньшей вероятностью нежели каменная может сломаться. В тренировке с каменным замками больше уделяют внимания жонглированию, нежели привычным в нашем гиревом спорте рывкам, жимам и махам.
Смотрим.
Соревнования в родном Нанкине.
Обучающее видео с названиями техник.
И, как всегда, в каноническом Китае - есть 18 методов и 60 движений. Одна беда - фиг привезёшь наборчик таких "замков" из Поднебесной...
Многие из гиревых упражнений можно выполнить и с гантелями. Это будет не так удобно, можно сказать, менее эргономично, но возможно. Те же свинги или рывки, не говоря уже о традиционных приседаниях и жимах. Но есть несколько упражнений, доступных исключительно с нашим любимым «ядром с ручкой».
Для начала расскажу о самом простом из них – о вращении гири. Его можно назвать таким «медитативным движением» - его не хочется прекращать. Может, из-за того, что немного раскачиваешься и погружаешься в это равномерное вращение. Поэтому повторы считать не советую – лучше просто на время или по ощущениям.
Если классифицировать упражнения, то вращение гири отнесу к разминочным. Его хорошо делать в начале тренировки или в паузы между основными упражнениями или кругами – в качестве активного отдыха.
1. Поставьте ноги на ширине плеч, распрямите плечи. Руки держат гирю перед собой.
2. Отпустите левую руку так, чтобы гирю держала только правая и начните вращать гирю вокруг себя. За спиной гирю из правой руки перехватывает левая, а когда гиря оказывается перед собой – наоборот.
Гирю держите за край дужки – так будет удобнее её перехватывать, локти сохраняйте выпрямленными.
3. Сделайте необходимое количество вращений в дну сторону, затем в другую.
Сегодня покажу вам немного замысловатое упражнение. Называется «восьмёрка с удержанием». Оно потребует определённой координации – но, уверена, как только немного попрактикуетесь – обязательно его полюбите. Также как и вращение гири, о котором я рассказывала в прошлый раз, восьмёрку с удержанием можно отнести к разминочным упражнениям. Выполняем на время – минуту или две в начале тренировки или в качестве активного отдыха .
Сперва поставлю видео, а более подробно посмотреть можно на фотографии ниже.
1. Поставьте ноги шире плеч, носки немного развёрнуты. Сохраняя напряжение в прессе, присядьте (как будто вы опускаетесь на стул), отведя бёдра назад и возьмите гирю.
2. Сделайте замах рукой назад, перехватите гирю другой рукой и проведите её с внешней стороны ноги. Одновременно с этим распрямляйте бёдра и направляйте гирю вверх, к ладони второй руки на уровне груди. Задержитесь на мгновение в положении, когда обе руки соприкасаются с гирей. Затем пропустите гирю между ног, перехватите рукой в замахе и оберните её с внешней стороны второй ноги и снова направьте к ладони руки. Продолжайте упражнение запланированное количество времени.
3. Сохраняйте спину прямой. Мышцы корпуса и ягодиц держите в напряжении.
The kettlebell or girya (Russian: ги́ря) is a cast-iron or cast steel weight (resembling a cannonball with a handle) used to perform ballistic exercises that combine cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training.[1] They are also the primary equipment used in the weight lifting sport of girevoy sport. Russian kettlebells are traditionally measured in weight by pood, which (rounded to metric units) is defined as 16 kilograms (35 lb).[2][3]
One of the best ways to get your abs in shape without killing the intensity from your other body parts is to throw in some extra sets of ab work (like supersets) between your regular training sets. The bicycle crunch is an excellent exercise that will hammer your entire abdominal wall, yet it requires no equipment and it can be readily done between your sets of weight work in the gym, at home or even in your office at work.
This exercise is a combination of a modified crunch, leg raises and twists. It will activate your anterior and lateral abdominal wall (rectus abdominis, internal oblique and external oblique muscles) and the leg raise part activates the lower part of the rectus abdominis and the iliopsoas.
ANATOMY LESSON
The centrally positioned rectus abdominis is anchored to the pubic bones of the pelvis and superiorly, to the xiphoid process at the base of the sternum. The upper portion of the rectus abdominis is wider and stronger than the lower sections. Usually there are three rows or blocks of tissue at the level of the xiphoid process below the sternum, the umbilicus (“belly button”) and about halfway between these two structures. If the right side of the rectus abdominiscontracts, the torso will bend to the right. However, if both right and left halves contract, the head and chest will move closer to the legs.
The external oblique runs from the fifth through the twelfth ribs, down to the pubic and the iliac bones of the pelvis. When both left and rights sides of the external oblique muscles work together, they flex the trunk so the head moves towards the feet. If only one side contracts, the trunk flexes towards the opposite side.
The internal oblique muscle lies deep to the external oblique muscle. It begins along the lower back, and the iliac bone of the hips, and extends upwards to the lowest three or four ribs. If the right side of the internal obliquecontracts, the body will twist towards the right. Similar to the external oblique muscle, if both left and right portions of the internal oblique contract together the trunk flexes forward.
The iliacusand psoas major muscles combine to make the iliopsoas muscle. The psoas major attaches to the sides of the lumbar vertebrae and the intervertebral discs of the lower back, and it extends downward to attach to the femur bone of the thigh. The iliacus lies along the inside of the iliac bone of the hip and its fibers run downward and medially to attach to the tendon of the psoasmuscle. The iliopsoas bends the lumbar region anteriorly (forward flexion) and it is strongly activated during the leg raise part of bicycle crunches.
THE EXERCISE: BICYCLE CRUNCHES
1. Lie flat on the floor with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your hands behind your head.
2. Lift your scapula (shoulder blades) off the floor and keep them here throughout the exercise. Be careful that you do not pull on your neck with your hands.
3. Extend your left leg. Your thigh should be at a 45-degree angle to the floor but your leg (knee to ankle) can be roughly parallel to the floor. At the same time, your right knee and hip should flex and come up towards your chest.
4. Twist your upper body so that your left elbow comes towards your right knee; at the same time bring your right knee up towards the left elbow. Be sure that your torso is moving and not just your elbows.
5. Move your torso back to the midline position, then smoothly transition to the other side.
6. Twist your body and lift your upper back from the floor, so that the right elbow moves towards the left knee and at the same time, lift the left leg towards the right elbow. The complete cycle from the left to the right knee is one repetition. This is somewhat akin to a “peddling” motion (extending and flexing the knees), and hence the name of the exercise.
RX TIP
It is not necessary to touch your elbows to your knees, especially if this would mean putting stress on your neck. It is not important to go super quickly. It is better to keep a good, moderate pace with constant tension on your abdominals.
References:
Basmajian, J.V. and C.E. Slonecker. Grant’s Method of Anatomy. A clinical Problem Solving Approach. 11th edition. William and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1989:441-542.
Escamilla RF, Babb E, DeWitt R, Jew P, Kelleher P, Burnham T, Busch J, D’Anna K, Mowbray R and Imamura RT. Electromyographic analysis of traditional and nontraditional abdominal exercises: implications for rehabilitation and training. Phys Ther 2006;86(5):656-71.
Escamilla RF, Lewis C, Bell D, Bramblet G, Daffron J, Lambert S, Pecson A, Imamura R, Paulos L and Andrews JR. Core muscle activation during Swiss ball and traditional abdominal exercises. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010;40(5):265-276.
Moraes AC, Pinto RS, Valamatos MJ, Valamatos MJ, Pezarat-Correia PL, Okano AH, Santos PM and Cabri JM. EMG activation of abdominal muscles in the crunch exercise performed with different external loads. Phys Ther Sport 2009;10(2):57-62.
Schoffstall JE, Titcomb DA and Kilbourne BF. Electromyographic response of the abdominal musculature to varying abdominal exercises. J Strength Cond Res 2010;24(12):3422-6.
Sternlicht E, Rugg SG, Bernstein MD and Armstrong SD. Electromyographical analysis and comparison of selected abdominal training devices with a traditional crunch. J Strength Cond Res 2005;19(1):157-6
The region of your lower abdomen - just below the navel – is very hard to isolate and even more difficult to harden. Regular crunches and incline sit-ups, are pretty typical exercises for the upper abdomen, but these exercises do not provide much direct stimulation for the lower part of the abs.
Optimal activation of the lower abs demands that the front (anterior) part of the pelvic bones rotate slightly upward. This is achieved in exercises like the reverse crunch. The reverse crunch is so effective, because it shortens the fibers of the lower abdomen, tilts the pelvis upward at the beginning of each lift. Furthermore, this exercise maintains near constant tension in these muscle fibers throughout the exercise. The reverse crunch is an exercise with a small range of motion, but it delivers big results
ANATOMY LESSON
The rectus abdominus is a long abdominal muscle that is made up a series of short fibers that are stacked vertically. The linea alba is a thin tendon in the middle of the abdominal wall that divides the rectus abdominis into two halves. When the rectus abdominis is tensed, the fibers bulge between the horizontally placed tendons that connect to the linea alba. The upper part of the rectus abdominus helps to move the head and torso closer to the hips and legs. The lower part of the rectus abdominis is attached to the upper area of the pelvic bones and pulls the pelvis, and tilts, or rotates it upward. Reverse crunches target the lower two horizontal rows of rectus abdominusmuscle fibers.
Both the external and internal oblique muscles on the sides of the abdomen are activated by reverse crunches— but in doing so, they function as torso stabilizers. Bundles of fibers from the external oblique muscle run from medial to lateral on the lower ribs. The external oblique fibers attach on the iliac bones of the pelvis, the hip structure and the linea alba. Together, both left and right sides of the external oblique muscles flex the trunk so that the thighs move toward the head during the reverse crunch exercise.
The internal oblique muscle is deep to the external oblique muscle. It attaches to a sheet of connective tissue in the lower back, called the thoracolumbar fascia. Its fibers run around the side of the trunk at right angles to the external oblique muscle and it anchors to the lowest three or four ribs. Similar to the external oblique muscle, the internal oblique flexes the trunk at the waist and lifts the thighs toward the head when the head is stationary on the bench.
The iliopsoas muscle is a deep muscle that is located along the front of the lower spine and pelvis. This muscle is really made from the psoas and iliacus muscles. The psoas muscle is located adjacent to the lumbar vertebrae, and the iliacus is positioned along the iliac bone of the anterior pelvis structure. These two muscles come together to form one muscle, the iliopsoas, which attaches via a tendon to the head region of the femur bone. This muscle is a powerful hip flexor, and helps to bring the knees toward the chest; however, it acts as a hip stabilizer in reverse crunches.
THE EXERCISE: REVERSE CRUNCH
Instead of crunching your head and torso toward your thighs as in a normal crunch, in the reverse crunch, you will raise your thighs, hips/pelvis, and legs toward your face.
1. Lie on your back on a flat bench and flex your knees and hips so that your thighs become perpendicular to floor.
2. Pull (curl) your pelvis toward your head. This will only result in a few degrees of movement. Next, lift your pelvis and lower back upward.
3. Move your knees toward your head by lifting the lower back from the bench. Try to focus on feeling your lower abdominal fibers shorten and tighten as you lift your hips and legs upward.
4. With your knees flexed and your thighs parallel to the floor, return your legs and hips slowly toward the starting position.
5. At the point that your sacrum and coccyx (tailbone) of your posterior pelvis makes contact with the bench, immediately begin the next rep upward.
6. Repeat the sequence for 20-25 reps in a slow and deliberate fashion. This should take about 2 seconds to lift the thighs and 2-3 seconds to come down. Work up to three sets of this exercise.
RX TIP
When this version of the reverse crunch becomes too easy, you should do the exercise on a decline bench. This is done in the same way as the flat bench, but your head should be at the high end of the decline bench and your feet start at the low end of the bench. The angle will increase the effort that you need to move your legs upward.
Try to avoid holding your breath during the reverse crunch, because this would greatly increase your intra-abdominal pressure and this prevents your rectus abdominus fibers from shortening fully when you lift your legs upward. Instead, you should exhale as you are crunching your feet toward your head.
References: Agur A., M. R., K.L. Moore, A.M. Agur. Essential Clinical Anatomy by Third Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, April 2006 ISBN: 078176274X.Atkins JM, Taylor JC and Kane SF. Acute and overuse injuries of the abdomen and groin in athletes. Curr Sports Med Rep, 9: 115-120, 2010.
Gidaris, D, Hatzitaki, V, & Mandroukas, K (2009). Spinal flexibility affects range of trunk flexion during performance of a maximum voluntary trunk curl-up. J Strength Cond Res, 23, 170-176.
Parfrey, KC, Docherty, D, Workman, RC, & Behm, DG (2008). The effects of different sit- and curl-up positions on activation of abdominal and hip flexor musculature. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, 33, 888-895.
Teyhen, DS, Williamson, JN, Carlson, NH, Suttles, ST, O’Laughlin, SJ, Whittaker, JL, Goffar, SL, & Childs, JD (2009). Ultrasound characteristics of the deep abdominal muscles during the active straight-leg raise test. Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 90, 761-767.
Workman, JC, Docherty, D, Parfrey, KC, & Behm, DG (2008). Influence of pelvis position on the activation of abdominal and hip flexor muscles. J Strength Cond Res, 22, 1563-1569.
Youdas JW, Guck BR, Hebrink RC, Rugotzke JD, Madson TJ and Hollman JH. An electromyographic analysis of the Ab-Slide exercise, abdominal crunch, supine double-leg thrust, and side-bridge in healthy young adults: implications for rehabilitation professionals. J Strength Cond Res, 22: 1939-1946, 2008.
The side bend gets dangerous fast when loaded. Use the tempo side-plank crunch instead.
The traditional timed plank is a favorite of crappy personal trainers. The RKC plank is better.
The decline sit-up has its merits, but as soon as excessive front-sided loading get thrown in, it quickly gets ugly. Use the vertical plate press instead.
There may be no greater insult to spinal health in sport or fitness than the GHD ball toss event you see at the CrossFit Games.
Abysmal Ab Training
Yes, get your diet in order or you'll never have visible abs. Now that the completely obvious is out of the way, let's talk ab training.
The average person will crash and burn before he ever reaches his goal of being able to take his shirt off in public without shaming himself. That's because achieving the type of core definition doesn't happen overnight. It also doesn't happen through the frequent and dysfunctional spine-crunching exercises that your bros swear by.
Unfortunately, there are several debilitating, mainstream ab exercises that will lead you down a dark alley, kick the crap out of your body, and leave you with a growing gut in the process.
It's time to save your midsection and replace the following atrocious ab exercises with intelligent alternatives.
#4 Abdominal Side Bend
The loaded, standing oblique crunch made its way onto this list for one reason – being way too easy to butcher and thus becoming a dangerous component of a core development program.
The average gym goer has no idea what neutral spine entails, let alone being able to execute an acute range of motion targeting deep abdominal musculature. Before we start loading up movements and working towards intervertebral disc trauma one ugly rep at a time, how about we first master the basics?
Primary Problem: Butchered Form and Discal Insult
First things first. Make sure you're unilaterally loaded, meaning you only have a weight in one hand, not both (as you've seen practiced at Planet Fitness).
Keeping your hips and knees in line with your spine, contract your core and turn on all the muscles that surround it to keep from slumping over to the side. Only when you can master this isolation hold using pristine mechanics and form do you dare to progress into a side crunch!
The Alternative: Tempo Side-Plank Crunch
The tempo side-plank crunch can produce loads of tension without the actual load.
During the side plank, core muscles – including the obliques and transverse abdominis –turn on to stabilize the spine. The other primary stabilizer of this pillar, the gluteus medius, also activates to link the hips to the ab region.
Using a strong and maximally tensioned muscular contraction, own your side plank position for 20 seconds while squeezing maximally. After you earn the right to progress this movement, incorporate precise side-bending crunches with a slow descent of your bottom hip towards the ground and an explosive side bend back up into neutral.
#3 Timed Plank
Thanks to researchers like Stu McGill and other movement-based biomechanists, personal trainers and strength coaches across the world have become scared to fucking death to program a single crunch into any type of training session.
Uneducated and uninformed trainers far and wide are all of a sudden at a loss on how to produce ab-shredding results for their clients without their staple crunch, which in reality produced absolutely no results anyways.
Enter the plank, the savior of the lower back, and the creator of just another smoke and mirror show.
The plank started out with noble intentions. I'm absolutely an advocate of minimizing shear stress on the structures of the lumbar region secondary to exercise, but I'm not in favor of producing lackluster results because of ignorance and fear.
The plank quickly became a movement (or lack thereof) that anyone could do with little to no mastery. Just put your elbows on the ground, straighten out, and hold it for 5 minutes at a time! And wow, in a matter of no time you would have a rock solid core that would save you from lower back pain and injury...
Uh, not so fast.
The Alternative: RKC Plank
The primary problem with the traditional plank is the lack of deep core activation over an extended period of time.
Traditional planks are progressed by increasing the time of the hold, along with increasing the external load placed on the body. Extended sets can cause postural dysfunction and chronic anterior pelvic ligament trauma.
The core wasn't meant to fire for extended periods of time in isolation. Rather, the deep and superficial muscles of the pillar need to have the ability to fire with maximal force repeatedly over time.
The RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) plank can literally be programmed into any type of training session effectively. Depending on the movement or training emphasis of a specific session, the RKC plank can be programmed as a dynamic warm up or metabolic finisher.
Place your arms slightly farther out than you would in a traditional, non-effective plank.
Contract the glutes and quads as hard as you can until your body starts shaking like a paint mixer.
It's time to throw away the traditional plank, and upgrade your planks with a version that actually involves effort.
#2 Decline Sit-Up
What epic gym session is complete without strapping your ankles to the decline bench and violently slamming your back against the pads until either your spine loses the ability to move or your hip flexors end up in a full-blown spasm?
The decline sit-up has its merits for experienced trainees when executed with precision, tempo, and appropriate muscular activation. But as soon as ego and excessive front-sided loading get thrown into the equation, this effective old-school ab-training staple can quickly get ugly, leaving the average gym goer in a world of pain.
Primary Problem: Lumbar Spine Shear Force and Destabilization
To the average person, the decline sit-up seems quite similar to the traditional horizontal sit-up: same muscle group, similar motion, and obviously the single best way to quickly get abs, duh!
But after breaking down the intricacies of both movements, they can be deceivingly dissimilar and potentially harmful when not treated as two separate exercises.
Where things get a little more complicated is when you look at the force and range of motion produced by the decline sit-up by increasing the decline-angle of the bench when compared to the flat sit-up.
Due to the downward angle of the bench, the moment arm of the motion becomes notably longer, which increases the unwanted and potentially debilitating shear forces through the mid to lower segments of the lumbar spine.
The angle of the bench also creates more available range of motion for the spine to move through while sitting up. More range of motion means more time spent in extreme ranges, especially excessive thoracic and lumbar flexion.
Forcing your spine repeatedly into end range flexion can potentially cause some structural and soft tissue damage to the posterior and lateral structures of the spine and trunk, leaving you hurting in the process.
The decline sit-up can be risky enough when using perfect mechanics, but the risks get out of hand when people mindlessly manipulate the following variables:
Increasing the speed of the movement
Increasing the load placed in front of the body
Twisting, bending, or turning during end range spinal flexion
No matter what side of the sit-up argument you stand on, one thing is clear – too much of anything can be dangerous, especially when spinal health is involved.
If you're going to continue to use the decline sit-up in your program, perfect your movement using controlled muscular contractions and maintain as close to neutral posture as possible. If you don't, you'll end up paying the price eventually.
The Alternative: 90-Degree Vertical Plate Press
The vertical plate press can target the abs to produce some serious results through the core.
It's simple. Position the hips and knees at a 90-degree flexed position to eliminate involvement from the superficial hip flexors. Hold a weight plate directly in front of your chest with arms extended and press vertically under control.
The rectus abdominis muscle is a prime spinal flexor that runs from the bottom of the sternum to the pubic bone. Due to these anatomical landmarks, this muscle can still be highly active even when the spine stays in a relatively neutral position during the 90° vertical plate press.
The other key advantage to this movement is that it can be periodized and programmed for progressive overload. Over time, you'll be able to stabilize and move more weight as your functional strength increases. Can the sit-up do that for you?
#1 GHD Ball Toss
Don't lie. You know you were glued to your TV watching the CrossFit Games marathon on ESPN like the rest of us couch athletes.
If that's true, you saw what may be the greatest insult to spinal health in sport or fitness, and it's called the GHD (glute-ham developer) ball toss.
Primary Problem: Everything
As potentially debilitating as this event was, an international viewership of CrossFit disciples couldn't get enough of that shit! I mean, who doesn't become inspired after watching spines violently and repeatedly buckle into flexion and extension while tossing dinosaur eggs for maximal distance and time?
While the CrossFit HQ should have been ashamed of their risky programming and apologized to these world-class participants for putting their bodies directly in harm's way, they decided to instead celebrate their TV ratings.
The final slap in the face was the immediate scheduling of the GHD back into the next two years of the CrossFit Games. No wonder many CF affiliates have had enough with Greg Glassman and his corporate gorilla marketing.
It's not like he was ignorant of its damaging potential, either. In 2005, Glassman wrote an article in the CrossFit Journal regarding that GHD that concluded the following:
"We also caution against unbridled bouts on the GHD for newcomers... This is a potent exercise and it has sidelined dozens of strong, strong, athletes for a few days to a week."
What makes this sadder is that Glassman was referring to only a slow and controlled sit-up on the GHD, and not a dynamic motion under load, time constraints, and absolute physical fatigue and deterioration, which is the normal metabolic environment while competing in the Games.
Glad to know Glassman stands by his words and puts his athletes second behind his corporate contracts.
The Alternative: Overhead Med-Ball Slam
While utilizing the same plane of dynamic arm action and movement as the GHD ball toss, the overhead med-ball slam provides a huge stimulus for maximal abdominal activation while functionally linking the core with the upper body.
This exercise can also minimize the damage to the lower back and pelvic regions by keeping the spine and hips within safe and functional ranges throughout the entire movement.
Decreasing extreme spinal ranges also allows the core musculature to create more intra-abdominal pressure and tension that translates nicely into other big-boy compound movements.
Just because we're staying safe doesn't mean you can't take this exercise balls-to-the-wall! When executed properly, your entire pillar should be on fire with your abs experiencing a mean pump.
Oh yeah, and it will take you to a new PR in maximal heart rate, which can do you some favors in the form of fat loss.
