Chris Sinagoga | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 11:00AM In part 1, we talked about our three basic positions: Neutral, Global flexion, and Global extension. Today, the discussion will be pointed in a slightly different, but related, direction.
Broken or Not Broken?
For the first demonstration, we had Aly Baringer perform one of her recently developed kipping handstand push-ups.
In the first frame, we see her in a tucked position (headstand). But, as we did with Movement Shapes pt. 1, we are looking at the shape from head to hips - and we can see here that she is globally flexed. The next frame, she kicks up to the handstand push-up and finds herself in a solid, globally extended position. Butt and belly are squeezed tight and, even though she is not in a straight line, she is connected from head to toe. This connection allows her to come off the wall in an almost-neutral position (frame 3) and hold a free handstand for a few seconds.
Solid work Aly!
Naturally, since she seemed to have this skill down pretty well, we made it more difficult for her - which, in this case, meant challenging her shoulder/back mobility by moving her farther away from the wall. Her bottom tuck position was the same, but look what happened when she pressed out.
Instead of her being one solid piece that bows a little, the added distance caused her to kink in the low back. Her abs and butt shut off and she is no longer as stable.
Think in terms of a bow and arrow. You can flex and extend the bow and it still maintains the same structure. But if you were to snap it in the middle, there is no longer a connection between the two halves.
Hope that clears some things up. If you have any questions, feel free to post to comments or discuss during mobility/technique session today. Remember, we go at 1:30, 5:30, and 7:00 pm now.
