I had an interesting experience yesterday that I would like to share with you. While performing Turkish Get Ups (a kettlebell strength exercise), for the first time I felt a strong connection between my hand (the one holding the bell) and my lower abdominal area. Why is this important? Because as soon as I felt that connection, the weight immediately felt 50% lighter!
And already this morning, I’ve noticed a practical benefit. I used to hate having to open jars or bottles, because the twisting motion really irritated my lower back. As my general core strength has increased, this is not as big a problem – but today I had a tough, stuck bottle to open! What did I do? Practiced reproducing the feeling I spoke of above – connect the lower abdominals with the hands – and the bottle opened right up.
I realize this is hard to describe in words… I think it is similar to the “unbendable arm” method that aikido folks use. There is this sort of rigitidy along the whole length of the arm that extends into the core.
How did I learn how to do this?
Well, first I practiced Pavel Tsatsouline’s yoga method of visualizing energy radiating from the elbow both up the arm (pushing the weight to the ceiling) and down the arm (pushing the shoulder into the socket). Next, through doing qigong practice and janda situps, I “got” the connection from the lower abdominal area to the shoulder. Put it together, and voila! – stronger and safer in everyday lifting situations.
Just goes to show that strength is not about bodybuilding, spending hours in the gym, or raw screaming power; rather strength = tension + sensitivity + practice.
And that’s good news for us “back” folks – because with patience, perseverance and our doctor’s permission, our bodies can learn to be strong again!
I had an interesting experience yesterday that I would like to share with you. While performing Turkish Get Ups (a kettlebell strength exercise), for the first time I felt a strong connection between my hand (the one holding the bell) and my lower abdominal area. Why is this important? Because as soon as I felt that connection, the weight immediately felt 50% lighter!
And already this morning, I’ve noticed a practical benefit. I used to hate having to open jars or bottles, because the twisting motion really irritated my lower back. As my general core strength has increased, this is not as big a problem – but today I had a tough, stuck bottle to open! What did I do? Practiced reproducing the feeling I spoke of above – connect the lower abdominals with the hands – and the bottle opened right up.
I realize this is hard to describe in words… I think it is similar to the “unbendable arm” method that aikido folks use. There is this sort of rigitidy along the whole length of the arm that extends into the core.
How did I learn how to do this?
Well, first I practiced Pavel Tsatsouline’s yoga method of visualizing energy radiating from the elbow both up the arm (pushing the weight to the ceiling) and down the arm (pushing the shoulder into the socket). Next, through doing qigong practice and janda situps, I “got” the connection from the lower abdominal area to the shoulder. Put it together, and voila! – stronger and safer in everyday lifting situations.
Just goes to show that strength is not about bodybuilding, spending hours in the gym, or raw screaming power; rather strength = tension + sensitivity + practice.
And that’s good news for us “back” folks – because with patience, perseverance and our doctor’s permission, our bodies can learn to be strong again!