What are the signs of a great upper body? Big round shoulders, a chest that resembles a roman soldier’s breastplate, traps that you could use as earmuffs, and a thick, broad back that could provide shade for small children. So what exercises come to mind when trying to build up these areas? Bench press variations, overhead pressing, along with vertical and horizontal pulling variations like the pull up and row. So you know what to do, hit those movements heavy and hard. What’s more you’re eager, in fact downright shaking with anticipation, to get into the gym and lift until your eyes bleed. Not so fast big guy, who says you’re ready or even CAPABLE of doing those movements correctly? Without enough mobility in your thoracic spine not only will you risk injury (something you should care about) but you will not be able to optimally recruit the muscles you’re trying to work (what you really care about).

With all the sitting in front of computers, televisions, in classrooms, and at work in our society it’s no wonder why everyone has a slouched posture, rounded shoulders and a corresponding lack of mobility in the thoracic spine.

               

Add in the fact that most commercial gym bros love to train the mirror muscles like the chest, biceps, and anterior shoulder and pay little attention to the back of their bodies. This muscular imbalance creates a huge pull toward the front of the body and attributes to the slouch. So how is this important to getting jacked? Try this, raise your hands and perform an overhead pressing motion with your hands. Now slouch and try the same thing. HUGE difference. Chances are your hands didn’t even get over your head. So if you can’t achieve that position without resistance do you think you could with heavy weights? Good luck buddy. What’s more, you’d start pulling in other muscles to compensate for your lack of mobility, not getting you any closer to those boulder shoulders you were dreaming of. Same goes for bench if you can’t properly arch your back to save your shoulders from injury. Did you also know that you require a certain amount of extension to properly recruit your lats on your lat pulldowns, chin ups, and rows? Bye bye barn doors, hello beanpole.

So how do you fix it?

Mobilize your thoracic spine. People with the slouch have lost mobility in the thoracic spine and have probably found that mobility in the core through core instability (not good). While it’s a start to mobilize that T-spine you have to reprogram the body to seek that stability somewhere else, in most cases that will be the core.

Here’s a video of Tony Gentilcore demonstrating a great T-spine mobilization movement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICtEOwA3r_U

These can be added to your warm up or even during your rest periods between sets as fillers.

What’s more, a T-spine extended position can be facilitated by making some slight variations to popular lifts. An example would be the front squat grip. Having the bar on the front of the shoulders anteriorly loads the lift, forcing the core to activate much more in order to keep the upright position. The T-spine must remain extended to prevent dumping the bar. 

Here are two ways to incorporate this into your routine:

Front squat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrEX5DLcyY

Barbell Reverse lunge with front squat grip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiBfSWUPLBQ

We’re meant to stand tall. A tall upright posture conveys confidence and strength so mobilize that spine and your performance will thank you.


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