Air Squat review
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Back Squat (as a skill…work on position)
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“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit Ups
One of the comments I’ve been hearing a lot in class the last two days as we work on the air squats is “I feel this in my back”. The comment is usually one of concern, because people rightfully don’t like to have pain or discomfort in their back.
When I ask people to hold their arms overhead, no one ever seems to ask me with concern, “Should I be feeling this in my shoulders?”
The fact is, you are asking the muscles in your back to wake up and get busy. Maybe they haven’t actually been doing that very often.
Your erector muscles are those in your back that keep your spine up or erect. Consciously practicing good air squats requires that you turn these muscles on and hold them active to maintain proper lumbar position. What you should be feeling is simply engaged and working muscles that can get fatigued and tired just like any others.
It’s helpful to distinguish the difference between actively working muscles in the back and “back pain”.
If what you are feeling is much more acute, meaning more specific and localized to a specific point, that may be an issue we want to watch. If something in your spine at a particular vertebrae feels funky, especially when you move a specific way, let a coach know. That could be a small injury that we want to make sure does not turn into a larger one.
But working erector muscles are an essential part of creating a strong core. Remember, your core wraps around you like a girdle…it’s not just your awesome 6-pack abs. Of a premium beer.
Wednesday, we take what you have been working on to practice good air squats and see if you can maintain that feeling and that position under some load.
Nice work over the last two days.
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Video of the Day: