by Cori Lefkowith

Last week, I was fortunate to attend a body weight workshop in San Diego.  Max taught us a variety of cool exercises, progressions and drills that will be a great addition to IR.  One of my very favorites was the sit thru to thoracic bridge.

Let’s face it…Most of us have pretty crappy posture from sitting hunched over a computer all day. And because of that crappy posture, many of us have back pain. To reverse that pain we not only need to stretch, but we also need to ACTIVATE inactive muscles.

The Sit Through to Thoracic Bridge is a great stretch AND activation move to fight against our rounded, forward posture and the pain it causes.

To do the Sit Through to Thoracic Bridge:

1. Set up on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and lift up onto your hands and toes.

2. Then lift your right and bring your left leg through and place your left foot flat on the ground.

3. Rotate your hips up toward the ceiling, squeezing your glutes to lift them up as high as you can.

4. While your lift your hips, reach your right hand down toward the ground, rotating your chest toward the floor.

5. Feel your glutes working to keep BOTH hips up, while you reach your hand down. We have a tendency when we rotate to drop that hip down. Make sure both stay up.

6. You should feel a nice rotation and stretch through your spine. You are twisting almost like someone wringing out a towel.

7. Then drop your hips and step your foot back through while placing your hand back down on the ground .

8. Rotate to the other side, bridging your hips up as high as you can.

This is a great move for anyone with back pain because it stretches out your tight muscles from sitting all day while activating your glutes.

You can also simplify this move by doing the Thoracic Bridge by itself. To do this, start in a seated position supported with one hand. Then bridge up and reach your other hand toward the ground. Make sure both hips stay high.

Cori is a personal trainer in Costa Mesa, CA and a valued member of the Innovative Results family.

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