Thoracic Spine Mobility for Olympic Weightlifting
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- Please share & subscribe! bit.ly/2Z20hpZ
Help support my free content - / catalystathletics
A solid overhead position for the snatch and jerk requires good thoracic spine mobility to create a platform for shoulder mobility. You need to address both mobility and the strength and stamina to maintain the position you want.
In all T-spine mobility and strength work, it’s critical to ensure you’re actually moving the T-spine rather than excessively arching the lower back or hinging at the thoracolumbar junction. Limited T-spine mobility is nearly always coupled with excessive lumbar or T/L junction extension, so this simply reinforces the problem.
Foam rolling is a simple but effective tool for getting some movement in the T-spine, but it needs to be done correctly. Hold your trunk in an approximately straight line from pelvis to shoulders by maintaining ab tension. Don’t arch over the roller-most of the movement you’ll get from this will be hinging at the T/L junction rather than actual extension of the T-spine.
The idea is to simply get the vertebrae moving independently of each other-you should feel some popping and cracking as you start rolling. Start with the arms across the chest and finish holding them overhead, but again, resist the temptation to arch over the roller.
The leaning bar hang is a way to get some traction on the T-spine while also stretching much of the musculature that can limit shoulder range of motion. Keep your toes on the floor or a box behind the bar-hang straight down and then lean the chest through the arms. It’s important to stay relaxed and hanging-don’t tense up with an excessive effort to push your body forward. Maintain some tension in your abs to avoid hinging at the T/L junction or over-arching your lower back.
Although we don’t actually need rotation for weightlifting, quadruped T-spine rotations can encourage relaxing of excessive generalized tension stiffening the T-spine. Place one hand in the middle of your upper back and keep the other arm locked straight against the floor. Keeping the back approximately straight and horizontal, use a controlled motion to reach your elbow down toward your other hand, then reverse directions and reach the elbow
as far up toward the ceiling as you can. You can follow this with some reps with the hand on your lower back as well. Be sure to turn your head along with your shoulders.
If you have friends, you can borrow one for a combined T-spine and shoulder mobilization. From your knees, place both hands on your upper back so your elbows are overhead, then lean over to place the backs of your upper arms on a bench or box. Maintain tension in your abs to avoid over-arching or hinging at the T/L junction. Your buddy will use their fists or thumbs to push straight down on either side of the spine, working gradually along the length of the T-spine.
The clean-grip overhead squat introduces some strengthening to the mobilization. If you can’t sit all the way in to a clean-grip overhead squat, don’t panic-it’ll actually be more effective for you. Again, maintain ab tension and avoid excessive lower back arching or hinging at the T/L junction. Sit slowly into the squat while pushing straight up against the bar and trying to reach your chest up to the ceiling. Sit only as deep as you can while maintaining control of the bar and try to hold that bottom position for a few seconds before standing again. Try to sit a bit deeper each rep and each workout.
If your lower body is really flexible and you don’t feel much in your upper back, try wearing flat shoes. If you’re extremely immobile, start with a PVC pipe and a wider grip. Once you can squat with a clean grip on the PVC pipe, move to an empty bar.
The dumbbell back extension is a simple and quick exercise to help strengthen your increasing range of motion. Lie prone on the floor and hold a dumbbell behind your neck. Keeping your glutes and abs tight and your belly pressed against the floor, reach your head and shoulders up as high as you can off the floor. This should be a controlled motion with a pause at the top-speed will kill the effectiveness.
And finally, stand and sit up straight! You can’t expect a few minutes a day of mobility work to overcome 12 hours a day of hunching around like a slob.
Rather than trying to arch the upper back, imagine stretching it upward to elongate your trunk. Yes, initially your muscles will fatigue quickly, but that’s how all training works. Stick with it consistently and you’ll see improvement.
-------
Lift videos by Hookgrip
-------
Also follow Catalyst Athletics here:
www.catalystathletics.com
Instagram - @catalystathletics
Facebook: /catalystpm
Twitter: @cathletics 
Спорт
If you have friends
since I started focusing on my mobility (not only in my t-spine but in general) I got so much better! Mobility is so underrated
I was skeptical of this man's credentials until I saw his Einsturzende Neubauten tattoo. Subscribed.
Yes, yes, and YES! Thank you. Working on this now.
Thanks a lot Gregg! Have found your suggestions always practical and simple enough to follow!
Great video, I appreciate you putting the entire script in the description as well.
Excellent video, thank you Greg.
Awesome video!
These have really helped me in the past - time to get back at them.
Thank you, Greg! I’m reading your Weightlifting book right now and I love your videos. Always learning something new with your channel.
best channel ever, helped me SO MUCHH with snatch, thanks!
This channel is pure gold, so much good info without any bul**hit.
Keep it up !! 💪🏻💪🏻
Another awesome vid! Thanks, Team.
Great video. That proper foam rolling technique is helping a lot to restore thoracic mobility, especially when you have a desk job or when you compress your spine with standing exercises
This is the Best Channel for olympic weightlifting, and the Best coach!!
Ahhh. How refreshing to see an educated channel. Kudos to you Greg and may you have many more.
I'm going through literally all of your videos and articles, thank you. Even met a highly proficient lifter at my gym that uses your online coaching.
Enjoyed this Greg, thank you
I love this channel!! Such a great resource of good info about all aspects of weightlifting. (And incredible that it's free)
Thanks for the great info! Love the videos.
Exactly what I needed thanks
Back felt like bubble wrap. This channel is pure gold, no bullshit, just facts.
Love it! I am learning so much
Same thing I have been doing for years but great info for someone just starting a weight lifting program !!!
This is a great video that touches on all of the key points when improving the t-spine mobility. Soft tissue work, local mobility, coordination and skill using clean grip overhead squats or some variant thereof, and finally strengthening the range of motion and daily practice postural control to tie it all together. The absolute biggest mistake I see people make is just allowing compensatory movement when foam rolling. Another great variant I have found success with in addition to the leaning bar hang, is the to alternative between active and dead hangs to both stretch and build control in a similar way.
Great video trying to do this myself at 55, and your videos answer a lot of questions. Example stick with the wood handle until your form is correct than go empty bar.
Solid video thank you 👏🏻👍🏻💪🏻
Thanks, Greg. Great book BTW.
Amazing video and information
Thank you!
You the best online coach
Great vid. Great channel. Subbed!
Awesome! Thanks!
I think this is my problem with Snatches, I will work on this, thanks!
This was soo good
Fantastic video! Instant subscibe.
Thanks!!!
Very helpful
Your channel is so good. To the point and direct. It doesn't have a salesy vibe too. I usually slag things off but I can't with you.
I loved this channel since day one...but that Einsturzende Neubauten tattoo on your leg...MY MAN!!!!!!
Wish I would have watched this before messing up my lower back
"If you have friends..." XD
hello darkness my old friend
Fuck. I have no friends. I’ll skip that. This is great! Thank you!!!
lol
Great video Greg and I’m a chiropractor!
Greg, I’m 48 and have poor overhead mobility. I’m working on it! I can do an overhead squat using a snatch grip, but not a clean grip. Is it important to not load the overhead squat until I can do a clean grip? My mid back muscles are super weak so I’m eager to start strengthening them. Thanks for your videos, they are excellent!
No reason not to load the snatch grip OHS unless your position isn't stable enough and it causes pain or similar - just keep working on a clean-grip over time. Plenty of lifters can't do a solid clean-grip OHS and can snatch and CJ fine.
Is there a good way to tell if your overhead mobility issue is due to your t-spine vs tightness somewhere else around the shoulder (e.g. lats, pecs, etc)? Thanks for making all this content available!
Check out squat university social media.
Usually pretty obvious visually - you can see the shape of the T-spine. If you're unable to get the T-spine pretty flat, rather than curved forward, when holding a bar overhead, your issue is at least partly limited thoracic mobility. Also very apparent in the pull - if you can't create what looks like a continuous arch from neck to sacrum and instead your upper back always seems to be a bit rounded, that's T-spine immobility (at least if you're not under a significant load that may pull you out of position if you don't have adequate strength to support it).
I'd argue that if you need some kind of formal diagnostic protocol to determine this, you don't have a limitation significant enough to really cause a problem.
Thanks, coach! Good stuff!
Do you think that years of sitting at a desk hunched over can be overcome with consistency in this? My snatch really suffers... i have solid ankle mobility and can get full depth in an overhead squat but i over-arch my lower back like shown in the video and after a month of trying to fix it im starting to give up
"Years sitting at a desk" vs "a month trying to fix it"... Yes, you can improve it greatly if not completely, but it's going to take more than a month to overcome that much time.
Is there any stretching where I should arch at the t/l junction? For example: the cat and cow poses(not sure of everyone calls it that)
Nope. The issue is that people have limited thoracic/shoulder mobility, so when they should be moving in the T-spine and/or shoulders, they end up hinging at T/L to make up for the restriction, so most people are hypermobile there, and hypomobile on either side of the chain. So stretching the T/L junction just exacerbates the problem.
I feel a lot of pain, especially when i do heavy deadlifts, in the left part of my lumbar, but also when i do lots of air squats or box jumps. What can I get better? Thanks a lot for your videos, its really awsome, very educative.
You need to see a professional - lumbar pain isn't something to mess around with. It could be something as simple as a strain, but it could be something that needs legitimate treatment.
Greg, I'm coming off of a nasty wrist sprain after a missed clean. I can snatch, ovhd squat, and somewhat snatch balance without pain. Have you covered that on you channel? And if not, what would you recommend for rehab. Thanks in advance.
I have not. I try not to get into injury rehab because I'm not a medical professional, but also because the best I could do is throw every single idea imaginable at you and hope that some of it worked. Best advice that everyone hates hearing is to work with a professional. Next best is to read/watch what real professionals recommend. Final suggestion is the basic stuff: work controlled range of motion (e.g. CARs) and strengthen particularly with slow eccentric movements - flexion, extension, ulnar/radial deviation and rotation. Keep that stuff to no or very minimal pain, and don't reintroduce cleans until you can front squat in the correct position with zero pain.
@@CatalystAthletics thanks so much for replying, and I totally understand about rehab suggestions... and I will heed your advice about the clean. Thanks anyways for replying, and I look forward to more videos from the channel. Thanks again.
Hello sir,
What do you think about BTN pull up and chin up to improve overhead mobility, is it worth the try? Or should one stick to the classic tried and true? Pardon my english
Generally those will preserve existing good mobility or get a bit of improvement from decent mobility, but not improve bad mobility because if you don't have decent mobility for it already, you're unable to move through a good enough motion/positions. Pressing bnk starting with snatch grip and limited ROM (starting from top down) and progressing to narrow grip with full range, always focusing on forceful shoulder blade retraction, will help more.
@@CatalystAthletics Thank you sir.
What happens if you dont have friends? Thank you for the video, tips and advice! tips**
Then you live in peaceful solitude with a very slightly less mobile upper back.
Newbie here. So would you recommend doing the elongating over forcing the chest up when training or is it more of a mobility vs training thing?
Thanks
You need to do all of it - you need to stretch/mobilize and you need to support that ROM with strength/effort.
@@CatalystAthletics So just checking if I got it: no weights/mobility→ straighten up
Lifting weights→Force chest up
Thank you for the speedy reply
@@erolnisic2465 Not as a linear series, just as including all elements because they allow and reinforce each other.
hi coach, deos long intense cardio sessions like boxing or crossfit good for weightlifting or should I avoid it?!
They definitely will not help, and likely reduce progress to some degree depending on what exactly you're doing.
How do I see in which areas do I have immobility problems? I have a huge problem in overhead squat, I cant hold anything heavier then an empty bar in full squatting position (ass to the grass), without my arms folding in front of me. Standing with my heels on the plates help, but i still fill pinching pain between my shoulder blades. I can snatch my body weight (70kg) if I use power snatch so I don't think it is strength problem .
Likely ankle ROM is limited, both because heels on plates helps and because it's extremely common, but if you have pain/discomfort in the upper body there's something going on there. T-spine mobility should be pretty obvious - can you flex and extend (and maybe even rotate) your upper back well? Or is is very tightly curved with minimal possible motion? Also verify that you're squatting properly and attempting to establish the proper overhead position - improper positions can be misleading with regard to the needs of mobility.
www.catalystathletics.com/article/20/The-Olympic-Weightlifting-Squat/
www.catalystathletics.com/video/1360/Finding-Your-Proper-Stance-For-The-Olympic-Squat-With-Greg-E/
www.catalystathletics.com/video/1404/Snatch-Jerk-Overhead-Position-Shoulder-Blades-Bar/
www.catalystathletics.com/article/2042/Maximize-The-Stability-Security-of-Your-Snatch-Overhead-Pos/
I've been doing weighlifting on my own for a year now and my upper back rounds or I drop my elbows when fronsquatting heavy or maxing out on cleans, i know there is a upper back issue more than a lower back, do you think this would help me? thank you in advance
It might but likely you also need more strength, a better rack position, and better bracing.
ruclips.net/video/fAnno4lXVZA/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/rJ6dZgUQzcs/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/yeVujzme86w/видео.html
You should do a video on the effects of feet positioning and toes turning out when in stance in relation to the hip and knees!
Asking for a friend
I'm not clear on what you're talking about. In what lift? What part of that lift? Feet turning out as in moving unintentionally as you're lifting? Or what?
@@CatalystAthletics Sorry I was unclear- I mean how far your toes point out in catch positions/squatting and how it affects hips, knees, etc. Does that help?
@@TramTran7 Yes, but I essentially made that video already - ruclips.net/video/w7CjixT_2tY/видео.html
your work is absolutely splendid, thank you!
Please I needed some guidance on if as a beginner lifter I should use knee wraps, wrapping below the patella, or since I don't have pain or discomfort, I shouldn't be worrying?
thank you
Don't use wraps of any kind unless you need them.
@@CatalystAthletics thank you coach,,, I was having the usual novice paranoia, towards the usual nonsense
@@CatalystAthletics and thank you for the quick response!
Does T-spine mobility affect knee position in the overhead squat? My knees tend to cave at the bottom of my snatch but it does not seem to hinder my performance, only the appearance of my bottom position.
I suppose it could - if you're unable to extend the back completely, your shoulders will be slightly farther forward, forcing you to sit back a little more in the squat, which could possibly put your legs/hips in a position more vulnerable to the tendency for the knees to move inward... but it's pretty unlikely and any effect would be minimal. I'd look elsewhere for the cause.
What mobility drills would you suggest for someone not really 5’9 but long legs and short femurs?
Same as for anyone else. Start here - ruclips.net/video/9X17HoWCuSs/видео.html
Hey do you have any tips for not being able to make a shelf with the traps for the bar to rest on in the squat because no matter how much i pull my shoulders back and tighten up i feel like i cant fully get my traps full flexed
Shrug up somewhat too, not just back.
@@CatalystAthletics thanks ill try
any tips for recovering from a lower back injury from the jerk. I think I hyperextended my Lumbar spine and caused my back to tighten up. I think that the cause is a lack of mobility in the shoulders and thoracic spine I'll try these out more often once my back heals, any tips to recover from this type of injury? Thanks.
See a pro!
@@CatalystAthletics thanks
What do you think about perspective kinda opposed to yours, emphasizing neutrality of thoracic. For example, Conor Harris
Never heard of him, and having proper thoracic mobility doesn't mean you don't keep your T-spine neutral most of the time... many people can't even achieve actual neutral from spending so much time in borderline or full hyperkyphosis
I notice when I attempt clean grip OH squat that I feel a lot of tension in my pecs. Any good stretches for that?
ruclips.net/video/OyvqNTYoNKM/видео.html
Would you recommend the same excercises to gain the mobility to do a squatted press and SOTS press?
Yes, but also see this - ruclips.net/video/TUTFBXqEgBs/видео.html
@@CatalystAthletics Thanks Greg. I can do the press in full squat with a pvc but not with a bar. Should I try doing it with increasing depth in increments with a bar?
@@ade1234123 Yes, follow that same progression for press in snatch
Greg I have 2 question
1. do you ever smile
2. why do you hate compression clothes for training
1. When it's appropriate.
2. I don't.
Any ideas to help old nerve damage in the lower back from continued rotation and working out?? Looking for strength and also recovery exercises.
Definitely need to see a real med professional for nerve damage. Don't do anything at all that aggravates it, and in general, work on improving mobility in the surrounding areas, e.g. hips and thoracic spine, and strengthening the trunk as a whole.
@@CatalystAthletics Yes so I don't have anything to really show you but it was around my L2 vertebra and it was the disc inside pushing out into my nerves. It was cause from lifting somewhat but mainly from kicking footballs everyday. But thank you for the advice. That's at least somewhere I can start from.
I would say that to some extent having that textbook mobility for weightlifting is somewhat related to be genetic freak and a real talent for the sport itself, no matter how long you try to replicate movement drills and the lifts itself 99% of us won't ever move so good as LU or Apti or Toshiki
I would disagree. Weightlifting mobility really isn't particularly extreme - nowhere near gymnastics or dancing, etc. It by no means requires being a freak. What it requires is consistent flexibility work over a long period of time if you're an adult who's allowed your flexibility to diminish; ideally you maintain the naturally higher levels of flexibility that nearly every child has with regular physical activity throughout your life and consistent stretching.
Totally different than expecting anyone to be capable of executing the lifts with the same speed, precision and weight as the best lifters in the world - that requires being a freak of some degree along with quite a few other things.
@@CatalystAthletics this is the best reply I think I've ever seen for a weightlifting discussion... absolutely spot on.... I'm 36 and have been Weightlifting for 6 months and couldn't get past 75kg snatch (weighing 83.5kg), once I learned how to stretch for weightlifting and improve mobility, within two weeks my PB increased by 10kg for both lifts (85 and 106).. not enough people understand that the rewards of flexibility come as a result of daily focused stretches and not just by being born a 'freak'
Can you do video on how to find friends?
Pavel Petukhov I’m not qualified on that subject.
This video was the shit dude.
I really want to get into weightlifting, but don't know if it is possible for me to get in to proper overhead positions due to structural "flaws" in my spine. I have mild scheuermann's kyphosis. anyone overcome this in the weightlifting world? so far i've used a month on getting in to a snatch grip overhead squat with just an empty barbell practicing everyday
Better ask a doctor before taking advices from internet for an activity that can screw you up badly
Definitely something to work with a pro on - good PT or chiro familiar with the sport and required positions.
No mention of sotts press which I thought as the best for developing t-spine Mobility and strength?? Not that I can sotts press anyway!
Chris Cook Sots press isn’t even possible for anyone with legit immobility so it’s not helpful there. Clean grip OHS is accessible to anyone because depth can be progressively increased and the position is established prior to the “stretch” rather than attempting to force a position from the most compromised starting point. Sots press is helpful for finishing touches and maintenance, not so much for development.
i have flat thoratic(extended spine) can i lift?
unless you have pain or related issues, yes.
Don’t be a slob!
Einstürzende Neubauten tattoo??
yes
I would disagree with the abdominal tension in supine foam rolling. Said tension will not allow the joint components to increase mobility as the rectus abdominis stiffens the entire lumbar spine.
We're not trying to get movement in the lumbar spine... literally the opposite as stated multiple times in the video.
Troassic 😏
When doing the clean and jerk from the split jerk position you BRING YOUR BACK FOOT FORWARD NOT YOUR FORWARD FOOT BACKWARDS ! Who taught you people this incorrect technique !!! I started training in 1968 and I have over 55,000 hours in the gym !!
Explain why back foot goes forward first then?
Ricky ! watch out ! Alzheimer may be around the corner :)))