15-Minute Yoga Sequence To Improve T-Spine Mobility
“It's not the will to win that matters. Everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win.” Paul Bryant
Slow down footage of any of the top DH or Enduro riders coming down the hill, and look at the body positions required to keep the bike upright over that terrain, at those speeds. Then ask yourself honestly, can your body do that—comfortably, quickly and with precision? If not, then I’m afraid no amount of interval training, protein shakes, gym time or new tyres are going to deliver you the performance that you dream of!
Angel Suárez Alonso demonstrating phenomenal strength and range of motion at high speed, Maribor World Cup 2020. Photo: Boris Beyer.
Alive time or dead time?
There’s nothing more satisfying than chasing Strava times, practicing wheelies or buying shiny new parts for your bike, but unfortunately, all that counts for nothing if you don’t have the range of motion you need to get into these body positions. And right now could be the perfect time to work on those areas where you lack flexibility and strength at your end ranges so that you're fully prepared and conditioned to put yourself in the running when events come back online in 2021.
Bulletproof Athlete
On my site, I have a brand new series of 15 yoga videos that are designed to prepare athletes for whatever your sport demands of you biomechanically. And over the next few months, I am going to share some full-length videos with you from this collection. Starting today…
15-Minute Thoracic Spine Mobility
This is a beginner level sequence that is designed to improve mobility in your thoracic spine (mid back) to alleviate pain in the neck, upper back and in between the shoulder blades. You can practice it at any time of day and it takes just 15 minutes.
Poses (and what they do)
Cat-Cow-Child—mobilises the spine.
Puppy—stretches the lats, shoulders and triceps.
Locust—activates the muscles that support your shoulder blades.
Ragdoll—loosens up the neck and shoulders.
Revolved Standing Forward Bend—improves mobility in the thoracic spine.
Half-Twisted Scorpion—opens up the chest and fronts of the shoulders.
Crocodile—trains deep, diaphragmatic breathing.
Equipment
- I encourage you to pick up a proper yoga mat but for this video, you could actually get away with any kind of fitness mat.
- I also recommend a yoga block for Revolved Standing Forward Bend (below) if you have tight hamstrings but feel free to improvise with household furniture.
Tricky pose
The only really difficult pose in this sequence is Half-Twisted Scorpion—a fantastic shoulder opener that, unfortunately, may be inaccessible if you have shoulder issues. For those of you who can get into it safely, here are some more detailed instructions.
15-Minute Thoracic Spine Mobility
You can repeat this sequence a couple of times a week to keep your upper body loose and alleviate recurring pain in between the shoulder blades.
And if you’re serious about using this time to condition your body from head to toe, I’m offering a 30-day free trial on my site to access over 140 videos for athletic performance and recovery designed to help you fulfil your potential as a rider!
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I'm trying to fathom your thought process. Like you saw the article thumbnail and had a tingly feeling in your pants, got offended on Abi's behalf by your own *naughty* thoughts, then, to alleviate your own weird self-imposed anti-sexuality guilt you went straight to the comments to scold all of the people that might think like you, but there turned out to...not be any. Not even in the below threshold comments.
So, like some homophobic-slurring closeted evangelist pastor, you've 'softly' berated a bunch of people who haven't commented, for the comments they haven't made, while achieving your real goal of martyring yourself for a cause that everyone already commenting agrees with?
Clearly you’re young, you have yet to realize that every generation goes through this adjustment.
Your parent taught you right when they said “just ignore them”.
Thick skin and the ability to adapt is essential. Being a snowflake is not an example of adaptability.
*looks at left shoulder, recalls separation in july 2019, terrible collarbone break that required a plate in feb 2020, and minor fracture of same collarbone in sept 2020*
This is my time to shine...
I would also mention that if you do take general yoga you do tend to bounce better without hurting yourself also.
One thing I have learned though over the last year is most "common" yoga exercises will only make the sciatica worse. It might feel better at the time, but ultimately you still pulling on the nerve and irritating it. (Most hamstring stretches)
I would highly recommend finding a physio that specializes in sport. Hopefully you can find someone who rides as well. They can properly diagnose the problem and ease you back into rehab if its possible, direct you to a good surgeon if needed and help you out post surgery.
Lastly, I would recommend keeping a daily journey of your pain and your movements. Log what you do movement/training wise, also note your pain level and the location of your pain. This will allow you to actually look back and see what may be causing your pain and what is helping it. Do your best to do a few basic movements for one week. Same sets/reps. Then after week, if the pain hasn't increased, try adding another movement.. log and monitor. Repeat.
Its a very long and slow recovery. It is extremely frustrating that most "sources" state that this will be gone in 6 weeks. Total lie.
Be patient, rest as much as you can, and find a positive head space. The darkest point of my life was the months leading to the surgery.
So many folks think that (especially after injury) they need to spend forever getting more flexible before they can lift. The reality is that, pending specific cases of course, strength work often comes first or at least at the same time as mobility/stretching. Eccentric loading in particular is crazy effective at rehabing tendonitis and muscle strains. Often folks get told resting and stretch. It works, but also results in strength loss, longer recovery and increased scar tissue (if muscle tear) which in turn limits future flexibility and increases chances of re-injury.
Same for really pushing oneself on heavy lifts. There's no need for most people to bother with 1 rep maxes and a mistake can really screw you up. Triples have their place for some lifts (deadlift for sure) but fives seem to strike the best balance for training purposes.
That's a ton of kb swings. I'd almost rather row a 2k test than do that, almost. How do you break it down?
You're welcome.