Thoracic Bridge questions (again!)

Hi, Thoracic Bridge Stretch Series keeps me questioning about where to reach for mastery on some exercises, can you tell me for the following ones?

- Supine Shoulder Extension Walk 

- Seal Stretch/Seal Rock

- Supine Thoracic Band Pull

- Prone Thoracic Band Pull

- Elevated Cat/Inverted Cat

- HS Shoulder Flexion Press

- Bridge Wall Walk with Hands (Is it a back walkover?)

- And for elevated bridge, I suppose the goal is to do it feet on the floor?

Thanks for your help!

Hi Étienne,

Great question as always!

There is no 'mastery' for the exercises in the stretch series. There is always room for improvement in all these movements. Even when you reach the 'final goal' which is the thoracic bridge, all these exercises are still extremely helpful to use in order to keep your body strong and balanced. As your thoracic extension improves, the goal will be to perform the bridge from the floor. However I find the elevated variation great to begin with not only because it helps you get into the correct position but also because it helps you build a lot of strength. A good bridge (from the ground) is necessary in order to be able to do a back walkover. 

I hope this answered your questions, keep them coming

Thanks for your reply @Pauline Taube! I understand your point, I just read somewhere that when we reach the desired goal, we don't have to do the series as often.

I still have some form questions though.  It helps me to know how to work at it correctly.

 - Supine Shoulder Extension Walk : Ideally, do we have to bring the arms completely to our sides?

- Seal Stretch/Seal Rock : Do we have to do it until we don't feel our low back anymore? Is there a point where we can't go further?

- Supine Thoracic Band Pull : Just to progress with stronger bands? 

- Prone Thoracic Band Pull : Where's the final point?  In the video, they only bring the upperback up, but do we have to go further behind like a bridge?

 - HS Shoulder Flexion Press : Then this, more of a form check question, but how far from the wall our shoulders must be?

Thanks again

For the supine shoulder extension walk, your arms should be to your side at the bottom position, this happens naturally as you walk out and lay flat on the ground.

For the seal stretch you can always make this more challenging. You can try to squeeze your heels together while doing these stretches. It will definitely come to a point where these stretches become less intense. But as you continue with your strength training your back will need some stretching/limbering. 

For the supine thoracic band pull you may use a stronger band.

For the prone thoracic band pull you are only supposed to lift your upper back as this will isolate your thoracic specifically. A very common mistake here is to arch through the low back because of a lack of thoracic extension. You don't need to pull further up for this, what may happen is compensating by arching the low back.

On the HS shoulder flexion your shoulders should nearly touch the wall in full flexion, the further away your hands are from the wall the more intense the stretch will feel in your shoulders. 

Do you have any more questions?

It confirms many things I was wondering.  It's clearer now!

Thank you for your help Pauline!

8 minutes ago, Pauline Taube said:

For the supine shoulder extension walk, your arms should be to your side at the bottom position, this happens naturally as you walk out and lay flat on the ground.

For the seal stretch you can always make this more challenging. You can try to squeeze your heels together while doing these stretches. It will definitely come to a point where these stretches become less intense. But as you continue with your strength training your back will need some stretching/limbering. 

For the supine thoracic band pull you may use a stronger band.

For the prone thoracic band pull you are only supposed to lift your upper back as this will isolate your thoracic specifically. A very common mistake here is to arch through the low back because of a lack of thoracic extension. You don't need to pull further up for this, what may happen is compensating by arching the low back.

On the HS shoulder flexion your shoulders should nearly touch the wall in full flexion, the further away your hands are from the wall the more intense the stretch will feel in your shoulders. 

Do you have any more questions?

Always welcome, Étienne

In shoulder extension walks the goal is to only raise off the ground (from your max supine shoulder extension) the absolute minimum to complete the walks.

These were next to impossible for me until Coach pointed out the contribution of tight forearms.

Seal stretch can be progressed ny depressing and retracting the scapula and bringing an active thoracic extension into play. No need to exaggerate the lumbar contribution here

15 hours ago, Jon Douglas said:

In shoulder extension walks the goal is to only raise off the ground (from your max supine shoulder extension) the absolute minimum to complete the walks.

These were next to impossible for me until Coach pointed out the contribution of tight forearms.

Seal stretch can be progressed ny depressing and retracting the scapula and bringing an active thoracic extension into play. No need to exaggerate the lumbar contribution here

Hi Jon,

Good tips there!

I suppose you're talking in full shoulder extension for the walks?

On the seal stretch, I understant that the lumbar part should be use minimally, but isn't it the point to this exercise?  To do it until no further low back stretch?

That's correct, but this one can be taken to extremes which can result in problems with pinching. The lumbar arch is the first aspect; adding further thoracic arch (not replacing one with the other) is taking it further by making it slightly more complex

Ok, so, as I understand, we can't really remove the lumbar pinching but we can go further into stretch adding retraction of the shoulders.  I suppose it helps to the pinching to drop down into full bridge?

19 hours ago, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

I suppose it helps to the pinching to drop down into full bridge?

Exactly. Great tips in this thread