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Building Low Back & Shoulder Resiliency



If there are two areas of the body that plague so many people, it is probably the low back and shoulder complex. Both makes sense when areas of the body don’t work right and let’s face it, if people don’t feel good they aren’t going to be motivated to train.

So, what do we do? What we have tried to do with our Dynamic Variable Resistance Training (DVRT™) system is give people simple answers to complex issues. In order to really understand why what we do with DVRT is so darn effective let’s understand a couple of common issues that plague both the low back and shoulder complex.


Lack of Hip Mobility: Gray Cook and Mike Boyle have provided us with a simple model in understanding the purpose of different areas of the body with their “Joint by Joint Approach”. This concept has joints of the body alternating dominance of stability or mobility. You quickly see that with this model our body alternates up the chain areas of mobility and stability.


This is important because when we have an area like the hips that have a dominance of mobility, locked down, then areas above try to create the lost mobility. In this case, it causes the low back (which has a dominance of stability) to try to become an area of mobility. When an area of the body doesn’t have that ability you definitely increase the risk of injury.


We also have to see that the lower body joints and upper body mirror each other. Meaning, the foot has a lot of similarities to the hand, ankle to wrist, elbow to knee, shoulder to hip. When we lack mobility of the shoulder we need to check the opposing hip too because when you watch how we move in every day life we move in opposites and the fascial lines of the body show us that the opposing areas of the body are very much connected.


Lack of Core Stability: Even though you plank, do your bird dogs, etc. you would be surprised how people lack proper core stability. Now, why is core stability relevant to shoulders as well as your low back? As the PNF concept states, “proximal stability creates distal mobility”. Which simply means if all the superficial and deep muscles of the trunk and pelvis are not operating at a proper level, you can have instability. So what?

If we think in an evolutionary perspective we would see that injury to our spine would probably cause death, yes, something would probably eat you! In it is a protective mechanism by the body to not open up the mobility of the hips and shoulders to expose the spine to greater trauma.


What you will find in this month’s Metabolic Stability are exercises that may seem somewhat familiar to you, but done in a manner that gets more out of these drills. Really allowing you to connect the body in the manner it is designed to move in life, not just in the gym. You will find these “traditional” core exercises change drastically when you really focus on integrating the chains of the body and giving feedback upon one’s movement.


That’s why the progressions set forth in this month’s video series is dedicated to showing you how we use load as feedback just as much as we are building strength. You will find that every exercise builds a small layer to the next. That is why having a system of training rather than just random exercises build greater success!

 

Equipment Used:


-TRX
-Super Bands
-Mini Bands
-Ultimate Sandbag Core & Power
-ARES Sled



Josh Henkin, CSCS is creator of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system and has been a kettlebell instructor since 2003. His work has had him teach at world class fitness events and teach his DVRT program in over 13 countries worldwide. Don’t miss the upcoming DVRT programs in HERE

 

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