Advice on thoracic bridge series

Hello,

I have really enjoyed doing the Foundation One workouts and have seen quite a few improvements. However, I seem to be at a point where progress has stalled due to lack of mobility. To rectify that I recently purchased the thoracic bridge stretch series and after going through the video/exercises I have some questions. I have a very long athletic background which includes 20+ years of American football as well as many years of competitive powerlifting, weightlifting and CrossFit. All of this has left me very strong but also very tight with quite a few imbalances. Long story short, doing the thoracic bridge series really aggravated some of the issues I have in my neck, traps and upper back. Would I have been better served purchasing the front split or middle split series first or do I need to stick with the bridge and just do what I can until mobility improves? I imagine that I really need to just have all three (can't fit that in my budget right now...).

Sorry for the long message but I'm just really frustrated right now as there didn't seem to be any mention of modifications in the video if you weren't able to do certain movements or any talk about what to do if those movements caused pain.  Any help on the subject would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you. 

Hi John  

I would recommend to stick to the TB series until your mobility improves. Make sure never to stretch through pain, try to stretch with less intensity. Please let us know how it goes!

Hi Pauline.

Thank you for your timely response. I should probably elaborate a little bit more on my question.  My issues are not so much that I'm trying to stretch through pain or using too much intensity it's that I am pretty hyper lordotic and slightly kyphotic. My thinking was that the kyphosis is probably causing some of the lordosis and that perhaps working on my back strength and mobility would correct some of that. So I guess my question really is would it be better in you and the rest of the coaches opinion to perhaps try and correct some of the lordosis using the front split series before even attempting the thoracic bridge?  My upper body strength seems to be a bit of a limiting factor in the thoracic bridge work. I can come up into the feet elevated back bridge but cannot push up and extend my arms. I'm basically just sitting on my head if I try to do that which is probably not a good thing. Ha ha. 

 Thanks again for any help. 

Hey John,

It is totally normal to not be able to complete the whole TB Stretch Series at first. You will build the strength over time. As for your specific hyper-lordosis/kyphosis, I suggest consulting with a physio or other medical professional if you haven't already. They will be able to provide specific suggestions on how to correct these issues. 

@John Hardtke I'm right there with you, minus the strength part.

There are instructions for scaling these exercises in the Course Library section of the membership site. The videos are a little hard to find, but they'll address your questions.