Arch Body Holds

[Alexander Egebak]

Hi all!

 

Just a little sales speech from me!

 

I have previously had lower back problems, not as a chronic and uncurable injury, but as a problem which might have risen because of a bad movement pattern, muscular imbalances from lifting and decreasing mobility.

 

I self-diagnosed myself with the help of people on the mobility board, and the conclusion was that I had tight hip flexors. Years ago when I visited my physiotherapist he assigned me some stretches to loosen up the tightness which seemed to originate from the lower back, not hip flexors. So the problem remained with only little change...

 

What I am doing now is trying to loosen up the hip flexors with the "Thomas test" stretch (lying on the back, pulling one leg strongly towards stomach while the other leg remain flat on the ground). This stretch has been helping A LOT. Furthermore I recently started doing arched body holds to better activate the glutes. This exercise... it is a gift from the gods! 2 x 1 minutes of stretching each side of the hips and then (as of right now) 4 x 45 secs of ARCHED FREAKING BODY HOLDS.

 

After 2 weeks everytime I do this isolated program before bedtime my lower back stiffness is almost completely removed, pain is not being felt at any time unless provoked through standing/walking for many hours. And then, of course, I have gained some nice strength before moving on to planche training and arch ups again.

 

Just to recap; lower back problems/occasional pain. 2 weeks. Hip flexor stretch. ARCHED BODY HOLD! Pain gone.

 

All this happened because I chose to do fundamental strength training instead of recklessly going back to training levers and planche as I did before a shoulder injury occured.

 

So, if you have some back pain from sitting, walking, standing etc... Hip flexors stretches and arched bod... I mean ARCHED BODY HOLDS might be your way out.

 

Happy training to you all from a happy guy who is greatly relieved from having alleviated a long term injury so "easily".