Supple Sunday, March 16th - "Baby Got Back"

Today's post focuses on your spine. Your spine is a masterful piece of biomechanical engineering! It's the bony armor that houses and protects your spinal cord. It bends forward, backward, side-to-side, and rotates. Without getting too "sciency," you need to know that your spine starts at the top of your neck (about ear-level) down the bottom to your tailbone. Your spine has three main regions of consisting of 24 articulating (moveable) vertebrae.

• The Cervical spine has 7 vertebrae (C1-C7), that you know as the neck bones. If you touch your chin to your chest and put your hand at the bottom of the back of your neck, the bump you feel sticking out is your C7 vertebrae.

• The Thoracic spine has 12 vertebrae (T1-T12). T1 is at the top of your ribcage and T12 is at the bottom of your ribcage.

• The Lumbar spine has 5 vertebrae. You know this region as your lower back.

I use "Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner," to help me remember the numbers.
You have breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, and dinner at 5.

Sorry for the anatomy lesson, but you need to understand how your body is built if you want to improve its performance. You'll often hear your coaches mention "neutral spine" or "flat back." As you can see from the picture above, each region of the spine has its own curve. The picture shows what a neutral spine is supposed to look like. When a coach tells you "flat back," they don't want you to have a perfectly flat spine, because your spine naturally has these curves. That being said, you should not have any change in you spinal position when you are performing your WODs. Watch this MWOD video about the "One Joint Rule." Basically, there should not be any change within the curves of your spine.

Your spine is the chassis for the two main movers of the body, your hips and shoulders. If your spine is in a bad position, then your hip and shoulder power output will suffer accordingly. Get your spine organized first, and you will set up your hips and shoulders for better performance. Watch the video below to get a better understanding on how a properly organized spine affects your performance. When you go back to the box, try to get into, and maintain proper spinal position when performing your WODs.