any thoughts on decompressing the spine???

[carlsuen]

was checking out the chinese lifters pic thread and saw that they had some ppl hanging from a hand stand position.. and that's supposed to decompress the spine..

tho it makes sense to me that we are always squatting and pulling from the floor thus compressing the spine.. and it would be natural to want to decompress it..

any thoughts on this?

 

[casualbb]

it happens anyway overnight, I dont think you need to specifically include spinal decompression tactics

 

[silver_shadow]

was checking out the chinese lifters pic thread and saw that they had some ppl hanging from a hand stand position.. and that's supposed to decompress the spine..

tho it makes sense to me that we are always squatting and pulling from the floor thus compressing the spine.. and it would be natural to want to decompress it..

any thoughts on this?

i don't know about decompressing the spine specifically that way, but i've seen a guy at the gym do something very similar. specifically: he put the smith bar all the way up and was doing crunches in this way right after squats.

 

[Protobuilder]

it happens anyway overnight

I'd be curious to hear more about this . . . I'd never heard that.


I think there's value in trying to decompress the spine in some manner. I like to hang from the pullup bar and really relax the midsection/hips/lower back. I can feel it stretching my lower back quite a bit. Feels good. Dunno.

 

[anotherbutters]

I'd be curious to hear more about this . . . I'd never heard that.

You've never noticed you're taller in the morning than the rest of the day? Never had to adjust the rear view mirror in your car in the mornings because you can't see out of it?

IIRC, it's because of fluid soaked up by the spine during the night. This is also why you ought to wait an hour or so after waking if you work out in the mornings. I feel twinges the most in the morning, but I'm fine the rest of the day.

 

[The Shadow]

Since I always to abs with lumbar and lumbars with back...I finish my workout with:

Reverse hypers
45 degree hypers

...and then hanging (weighted) leg raises and other ab exercises



I then hang form a chinning bar with a towel wrapped around it.



The above helps to decompress, to keep ab/lumbar ratio in check, stretches the lats and gets a good grip session in.

 

[silver_shadow]

I then hang form a chinning bar with a towel wrapped around it.



The above helps to decompress, to keep ab/lumbar ratio in check, stretches the lats and gets a good grip session in.

DC actually has you do this weighted to deep stretch the lats... hang for a minute or so (pretty hard on the grip though - i've tried it)

 

[The Shadow]

DC actually has you do this weighted to deep stretch the lats... hang for a minute or so (pretty hard on the grip though - i've tried it)

Brutal actually.....I'm not using any additional weight as I am faily heavy and have a lot of weight in my legs.....


I think forearms would best with a mix of reps - so I use the hanging to get the higher TUT

 

[blut wump]

Reverse hypers can be excellent or even bending over the back of a chair and trying to stretch the parts that feel as though they need it.

I no longer feel comfortable just hanging from a bar to stretch. I had an uncomfortable movement years ago in or around my sacrum while hanging from a bar and my back has not been good since. I still sometimes hang from a bar to stretch out my upper back but I always keep my lower back under tension while doing it.

 

[Protobuilder]

Since I finish my workout with:

Reverse hypers
45 degree hypers

...and then hanging (weighted) leg raises and other ab exercises



I then hang form a chinning bar with a towel wrapped around it.



The above helps to decompress, to keep ab/lumbar ratio in check, stretches the lats and gets a good grip session in.

That sounds like a good idea overall. I *try* to finish squatting workouts (which is all of 'em actually, LoL) w/ hanging leg raises but sometimes I get lazy and blow 'em off. Probably should make sure to do 'em along w/ some hanging to stretch out the spine.

Blut Wump -- how did just hanging there cause a problem?