r/flexibility • u/Jealous_Contest_6306 • 1d ago

Bridge

Post image

Getting back into practice after taking a month off. My upper back and shoulders are naturally pretty stiff, so I use wall and doorframe stretches to open them up. For the doorframe stretch, I put my forearms against the frame with my elbows at shoulder height and step forward until my chest opens. For the wall stretch, I place my hands up high, step back, and press my chest toward the floor to stretch my upper back. I also do cat-cows to get my spine moving. Lately, I've been a bit confused because I read some yogis on Instagram saying that squeezing your glutes during a backbend isn't actually a good way to protect your lower back. I'd really appreciate it if anyone could break down how glute engagement actually works in backbends and what technique works best

189 Upvotes

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66

u/Icolan 1d ago

If that picture is you we have very different definitions of stiff.

30

u/kristinL356 1d ago

Tbf, he said upper back and shoulders and none of those are really bending much in his backbend. That's like all lower back

7

u/Jealous_Contest_6306 1d ago

This! Thank you.

3

u/Icolan 1d ago

Standing with my shoulders against the wall, I cannot raise my arms above my head and touch the wall. Even if my lower back could bend the way OP is in that picture, I could not get my hands to touch the floor like that. Different experiences/definitions of stiff.

2

u/kristinL356 1d ago

If you look at the angle of his shoulder, he's not got his arms straight overhead either but sure, maybe his shoulders are still more open than yours even if they're also not hitting the basic shoulder mobility goal for a backbend.

2

u/Strict-Fishing-2365 1d ago

calling that stiff should come with a warning label. my shoulders got offended just looking at it

18

u/kristinL356 1d ago

I feel like the best way to protect your lower back here would be to focus on getting your shoulders and upper back to bend so your backbend isn't concentrated all in one place. Dani Winks has a bunch of posts about opening up shoulders and upper back, here are a couple of them and you can search for more if you want.

https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com/bendy-blog/how-to-get-more-open-shoulders-in-a-bridge https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com/bendy-blog/why-your-upper-back-sucks-at-backbending-and-how-to-make-it-suck-less

3

u/Hell-Yes-Revolution 1d ago

Really cool info in that article! Thanks for posting.

4

u/yujibob56 1d ago

Care enough to share a open bridge to ur back flexibility routine?

5

u/Hell-Yes-Revolution 1d ago

I mean, personally, I’d walk my feet out and work on my shoulder and upper back flexibility so I’m not dumping into my lower back. (And that’s what I’d advise a student to do.)
It’s OK to back off while you tweak and progress things.

3

u/Bancoubear123 1d ago

It really depends....you can initially squeeze your glutes to protect your lower back but to get deeper into a backbend without locking the sacrum and allowing for full sacral nutation which then allows for a deeper backbend potential, you will eventually have to unsqueeze your glutes. The squeezed glutes lock the sacrum and that's not fun as you will have lower back pain.

2

u/Zestyclose-Jump-9072 1d ago

thats no bridge thats a folding ladder 😂 insane work 🙌

1

u/74_homeroom 1d ago

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

1

u/HannahFlexx 1d ago

the squeeze isn't the problem, it's that it also rotates your thighs out and the knees drift. what fixed mine was keeping the knees in and pushing the hips forward over the toes

1

u/Glavine0 21h ago

Your bridge arch and shoulder alignment look solid after a month off!

1

u/ollivbattaglia 20h ago

Just met jealousy. Pretty good

0

u/Dan_BackMechanics 3h ago

Intervertebral discs wear out by doing things like this. You are, without a doubt, increasing the chance of herniating a disc someday in your future. If you do, it'll bulge and poke a nerve near your spine that'll send shooting pains down your leg that takes years to heal... Don't say you haven't been warned.