Starting Now to Prevent Injury

Training Bodybuilding
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For the thoracic stretch I just lay curled on the foam roller to get into position(right below the scaps) then I hug myself, press tongue into the roof of my mouth and let myself drop back naturally with no force. As you do this at first you may stay in the crunched position but eventually you’ll begin to fall back more and more and feel your scapulae roll back.

Forcing it usually winds up doing more harm than good in my experience, tightening the lower back or even missing the thoracic spine altogether leaving it tight.

Use the elastic that comes from broccoli bunches. They’re usually quite thick and have decent resistance. I like to do them at the end of workouts for 3 sets of 20, doing both hands at the same time. I even do them when I’m reading on the computer or watching tv. Experiment with different angles of holding your elbow when doing it like straight out in front or bent 90 degrees in front.

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I just did another session of static stretches from the ‘Hardcore Stretching’ Part II article. I did 3 sets of every single exercise for about 20 seconds with like 30 sec break in between and it took an hour. But now I feel just overall very relaxed and tension-free I guess. Hope this will all help and be worth it in the future.

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[quote]walrus wrote:
For the thoracic stretch I just lay curled on the foam roller to get into position(right below the scaps) then I hug myself, press tongue into the roof of my mouth and let myself drop back naturally with no force. As you do this at first you may stay in the crunched position but eventually you’ll begin to fall back more and more and feel your scapulae roll back.

Forcing it usually winds up doing more harm than good in my experience, tightening the lower back or even missing the thoracic spine altogether leaving it tight.

Use the elastic that comes from broccoli bunches. They’re usually quite thick and have decent resistance. I like to do them at the end of workouts for 3 sets of 20, doing both hands at the same time. I even do them when I’m reading on the computer or watching tv. Experiment with different angles of holding your elbow when doing it like straight out in front or bent 90 degrees in front.[/quote]

I just did the thoracic stretch on the roller last night as you described along with my rolling all parts of my leg and I made sure not to go too low into the lumbar region.

I laid where it felt comfortable under my upper back and I tried to do a reverse crunch looking thing as if I were trying to touch my shoulders to the ground. Do you take your butt off the ground throughout the movement?

Anyways, on my way back up I felt my spine in my upper back pop a couple times (in a good way) and felt good with 0 pain with I got up. Was it bad to have this happen or was that the goal of the exercise? I have yet to try the elastic bands. Thanks!

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Don’t neglect stretching and supplements such as glucosamine and chondroiten.

If you feel sore in a joint, take time off from using it. There is nothing hardcore about wearing your body out if you want to be lifting years down the road.

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[quote]IronDude17 wrote:
I just did the thoracic stretch on the roller last night as you described along with my rolling all parts of my leg and I made sure not to go too low into the lumbar region.

I laid where it felt comfortable under my upper back and I tried to do a reverse crunch looking thing as if I were trying to touch my shoulders to the ground. Do you take your butt off the ground throughout the movement?

Anyways, on my way back up I felt my spine in my upper back pop a couple times (in a good way) and felt good with 0 pain with I got up. Was it bad to have this happen or was that the goal of the exercise? I have yet to try the elastic bands. Thanks![/quote]

Yes, the spine cracks feel great and alls thats happening is you’re mobilizing the joints that get stiff so they crack. I usually get mines mid stretch though.

Do not lift your butt off the ground at all through the movement. Position the roller so its just below the tip of the shoulder blade. Simply lay on it and very, very gently let yourself fall back, do not assist the movement much if any at all. You might not even move at first but as you get more flexible in the thoracic region, you’ll fall back more and more, don’t force it. This is suppose to be a nice relaxing static stretch.

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[quote]walrus wrote:
Yes, the spine cracks feel great and alls thats happening is you’re mobilizing the joints that get stiff so they crack. I usually get mines mid stretch though.

Do not lift your butt off the ground at all through the movement. Position the roller so its just below the tip of the shoulder blade. Simply lay on it and very, very gently let yourself fall back, do not assist the movement much if any at all. You might not even move at first but as you get more flexible in the thoracic region, you’ll fall back more and more, don’t force it. This is suppose to be a nice relaxing static stretch.[/quote]

When I said my spine cracked when I got up, I meant when I was still mid-stretch but coming up from the lowest position. Good to know I was doing it correctly since I got the targeted response. I assume as I keep doing it, my spine won’t need to crack anymore. Good exercise.

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[quote]IronDude17 wrote:

Does anyone know if there are these exercises on video floating around?
[/quote]

Irondude,

Excuse me for taking so long to reply to your PM, must have missed it.

On EliteFTS you can(since very recently)find videos or pictures of how to perform various foam rolling drills :

asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?tid=115&__N=Rehabilitation%20Exercises

There are also many other Rehabilitation Drills you can find when you follow this link.

I’m not that familiar with foam rolling(I used a wooden rolling pin for bread, can you believe it ?)(of course this hurt like hell), but I’ve got some knowledge about the various mobility drills, and which ones are most effective.(of course I don’t do the entire mobility workout I posted above every training, but “some” of the drills, together with some muscle and nervous activation drills, like bearcrawls, pushups, etc.)

Tips I can give you up front …

  • Perform some kind of total-body activation drill before every training, no matter what you train. The body works together, and such an exercise will actually place the tension more over your entire body, muscles and joints, instead of just the ones involved. If you isolate a muscle, the body will inhibit that muscle to some extent, in order to not develop an imbalance.

Full-body exercises before(preferably with bodyweight, and open-chain, AND barefoot), will prevent this to somewhat.
I know this sounds backward, especially for a bodybuilder, but this is a great tip I learned from an athletics coach.

  • Do a lot of things barefoot. After knee surgery my proprioception and balance sucked ass, and I improved it most by walking in the mud, barefoot, with a sled behind me. The more things you can do barefoot, the better.
    Your feet transfer force throughout your entire body, the more stable they are, the stronger you are and the less likely it will be for you to get injured.

  • Stretch your hip flexors. This was listed above. Hip flexors are almost ALWAYS tight. Stretch them every day, if possible.(I know I don’t do this … but I should)

  • Before a workout : hip mobility and dynamic mobility for the muscles you’re about to workout, after a workout static stretching. Your hips are perhaps the only muscles you actually SHOULD stretch statically before a workout.(but don’t overdo it)
    Your rear delts too, perhaps.

  • Switch stuff up ! My mobility is awful, and I’m still very young. Cause of this is my concentrating on the powerlifts for years, often not using a complete range of motion, injury, training through that injury, re-injury, etc …
    The more variation you can bring into your training, the better.

Crossfit IS a very good program if you look into it. The variation and concentration on all aspects of physical preparedness will keep you feeling good for years to come.

I’m impressed that you want to put the effort in already, before you have to. That’s the best way to go, and I wish I had done the same.

If you aren’t troubled by my sorry English too much, you’re welcome to pose any other question you might have.