I believe you already mentioned, but ready McGill’s books, especially Back Mechanic. Reverse Hypers all day. Good mornings with bands.
Thank you 
This bodybuilding forum is huge! Only 2nd to bb traffic-wise according to Alexa. I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading here lately.
PS. Nice avatar!
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I thought McGill was against reverse hypers? Maybe I’m wrong. I thought there was some well known guy saying that the flexion (when done for very long) would lead to degenarative discs or something.
The body responds to the stressors that you provide it. Good load management combined with safe technique is likely the best way with which you can prevent pain and injury like that referenced in this thread.
Pars fractures and hernia are not traumatic injuries, it’s not “one bad lift” that snaps your shit up. These types of injuries come from repeated exposure to inappropriate loads via poor positioning and improper programming.
Additionally, people need to consider that pain is not necessarily related to your structure/anatomy. Pain is a complex product of your structure, movement mechanics, psychological state, social network and environment. I have one herniated disk, a fibrillated hip labrum, one bulging disk and left knee cartilage degeneration and I’m totally okay. Pain is more than what you look like on an MRI.
Given these facts, your mindset:
Is likely to predispose you to chronic pain if you were to do these lifts and experience some type of mishap. If you choose not to do them, that’s your choice, but know that it isn’t the lift itself that’s dangerous.
McGill doesn’t like people going into spinal flexion during reverse hypers, and gets his clients to maintain a neutral spine, if not a slight arch. It needs to be differentiated that this is for people with disk issues who are typically extension-tolerant. In contrast, people with pars-fractures are extension-intolerant, and thus should not be doing reverse hypers in such a fashion.
Is this possible? I mean when it’s pulling your legs under you can you physically do it without flexing your back?
You don’t want to use momentum in the reverse hyper. You shouldn’t see the weight pendulum pass through the front of the apparatus. So, when you use it, lead with the heels and arch your lower back, squeeze glutes/hamstrings, then return under control to vertical. Rinse, repeat.
What? No, that’s absolutely false. That’s the opposite of how it is supposed to be used.
Here is a video of the man who INVENTED the machine showing how it is to be properly used.
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Yes, I know it was Louie who invented it. Now, if you take the time to study her form, you’ll see the pendulum is not flying out in front of the machine. If you just let it swing uncontrollably, it is literally doing nothing. The whole point is strength/prehab and rehab depending on individual circumstances.
I’m not talking about ‘swinging uncontrollably.’ But momentum is obviously used here, the pendulum never stops. and the weights DEFINITELY go past the front of the machine on every rep, did you watch the video? The way you described it, it sounds like you should come to a complete stop at the bottom, something I have absolutely never seen done with this machine when used properly. I also haven’t ever seen anyone just go to vertical on the down motion, they always go past that. The degree to which you pass vertical varies, of course, depending on leverages and mobility. But this absolutely should be thought about as a controlled swinging pendulum motion. Not up, control down, stop at the bottom, repeat.
My apologies. I should have clarified. You are correct - there is no stoppage at vertical and I misspoke when typing. If you allow the pendulum to swing far fast the front, you are literally allowing your low back to enter massive amounts of flexion, which, under heavy loads, is never a good thing. Yes, the machine is a flexion distraction piece of equipment, but not to allow the body to literally bend that far.
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Not really, no, but ‘neutral spine’ is a range allowing slight deviations into both flexion and extension. The idea is just to minimise spinal motion as much as possible
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