SunnyFrog
1yr ago
An ambitious goal you could set here is being able to do a good back bridge. If you’re good at the back bridge you’ll have absolutely no trouble with being stuck in thoracic flexion. Even if you never quite make it, that sort of training will be very helpful.
Try searching around for yoga, gymnastics, or flexibility programs that have that as a North Star.
SunnyFrog
1yr ago
I have some personal experience here with respect to back pain and tendonopathy related to lifting.
I think a big mistake people make here is that they allow their pain to become part of their identity (e.g. "I have a bad back") and therefore justify avoiding certain movements indefinitely.
Avoiding a movement causes atrophy of tissue and a reduction in skill, which means that the problem gets progressively worse over time. Incompetent doctors contribute to the problem, saying that you should definitely avoid any exercise that causes you any pain whatsoever, and furthermore claiming that certain movements, such as lumbar flexion, are inherently dangerous.
Competent physical therapy recognizes that you need to train the movement that injured you. Start at a very easy difficulty, with light weight and low range of motion, so that you can do the movement with only minor discomfort. Slowly and conservatively increase weight and range of motion over time until you regain movement capacity, and eventually even exceed the level of fitness you had before the injury. No movement is inherently dangerous, what's dangerous is an inappropriate level of intensity for your body and skill level.
I have personally rehabbed severe knee and back pain by myself using basic exercise principles. Medical professionals who I've told about this are absolutely flabbergasted. Your average doctor knows extremely little about exercise science or physical therapy.
SunnyFrog
1yr ago
There was an Economist article about this sort of thing a while back: https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/07/28/hocus-focus-how-magicians-made-a-fortune-on-facebook
In summary: Weird stuff gets people to watch long enough for an advertisement to play, which earns the creators money. Weird stuff also gets people to comment, which increases reach in the algorithms.
SunnyFrog
1yr ago
What you want is specifically for your center of mass to stay balanced above the mid foot. This is not the same as having the barbell directly over the mid foot, although as the weight of the barbell becomes large compared to your bodyweight then that becomes a better and better approximation. Since you're just using a broomstick you will have to lean forwards to counterweight your hips moving backwards.
Do you still feel balanced over a constant spot on the mid foot even as you "smooch the wall"?
My feet used to do that. Then I tried horse stance with toes pointed straight forward. After only doing it a few times my feet started pointing forwards. The body is very strange.
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