Bracing/Neutral Spine

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

What I’ve seen about bracing/neutral spine from McGill makes me wonder about two things:

  1. when I’m in any functional sports environment (especially, say, bump skiing or hockey), I feel I need to adopt a posterior tilt (until approx “flat lumbar”) to break the connection between legs and torso so the legs & hips can act independently. The amount of force applied/absorbed by the legs/hips on skates or skis is tremendous - and so, hopefully, I’m protecting my lumbar spine by absorbing the force there via independent leg action.

  2. Also, to some extent, I do end up carrying this same position (flat lumber/pelvis tilted under) over to my unsupported, one-legged squats.

Does this make any sense or am I putting my lumber spine at risk? Any comments appreciated. Thanks so much & cheers!

2

for any kind of squats, you just have to keep your spine supported/arched. single leg squat, deadlift, whatever, you have to keep it tight or your spine will suffer. a disc is easy to move out of place with wrong technique. i have done it my self before but got lucky to go away with minor physiotherapy.

don’t know anything about skying tho. it’s not like you are putting extra load on your shoulders but…

3

[quote]sabaz wrote:
for any kind of squats, you just have to keep your spine supported/arched. single leg squat, deadlift, whatever.[/quote]

hmmmmm…so you don’t think the single leg (unsupported) squat is a different animal in this regard? Maybe you’re right.

What confuses me over this: in almost every video clip I’ve seen, as best as I can tell it looks like they’re not bracing.

4

i know one thing - arching your back, tightening your abs, but and your shoulder blades together can help you control your body a lot.

skying, as much as i know it, demands not so much strength as flexibility and stamina. just like you don walk around with your abs tight you don’t sky that way, but it is a good thing to practice and can save you some rehabilitation.

this is more of a fighting/power lifting/strong man forum so skying is not quite what they are concentrating on here.

5

[quote]sabaz wrote:
this is more of a fighting/power lifting/strong man forum so skying is not quite what they are concentrating on here.[/quote]

Yeah, thanks, I know. I thought someone here might have an opinion. And not just about pelvic position while skiing/skating - but also while sprinting: again, flat back, pelvis tucked slightly under. And probably many other sports.

Anyway, I’m still hoping someone might either confirm or challenge what you said about single leg dead lifts. I’m not yet convinced - as I said, video clip after video clip of it seems to suggest my view, though I remain open minded about it.

Thanks again for your responses. Cheers!