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sandbag half moons

Mountain Athlete Rob gets his guys doing a challenging ab / core move sandbag half moons . Sandbags are great.



He got the move from Catalyst Athletics

Begin with a sandbag lying flat on the ground at one side of your feet. Squat and twist to grab ahold of it, lift and accelerate the bag up and overhead, lowering to the opposite side of your feet. Attempt to maintain as close to a neutral spine position as possible.


I'm not sure what my posture gurus would make of it!
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Rounded backs in both videos are a sure sign that neutral posture is not being monitored and coached. With flexion and twisting combined under load these poor backs are being broken down, not strengthened.

Are these people spending money for this?
December 1, 2008 at 6:35 PM
Chris said…
Anon....I'm actually tempted to agree with you. Given the posture template I'm thinking about now, this doesn't seem natural.
December 1, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Dan Hubbard, M.Ed. said…
I agree with the first comment. Loading the spine and taking it to end range of motion in flexion and rotation. I have seen people hurt their backs with similar movements (ie using medicine balls).

Why is everyone so intrigued by 'extreme core training?" I have clients with a history of low back pain and they try to avoid these movements at all costs.
December 2, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Chris said…
Dan thanks for the comment. As I was hinting in my comment re posture, I am tending to agree with you too.

In fact I'm wondering if I should actually leave this post up, as it highlights a move that I would not do myself for fear of injury....
December 2, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Anonymous said…
Chris, since posture is a point of interest for you I thought I'd send you this URL for your (and your reader's) edification. There is a lot of excellent information on this site.

http://www.healthline.com/blogs/exercise_fitness/
December 2, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Dan Hubbard, M.Ed. said…
Chris,

I think one issue with training, and more specifically 'core' training is people want to feel the muscles work. If people don't feel certain muscles burning, hurting, soreness, etc., then they feel like the exercise is not effective. In fact, this is a conversation I have with clients pretty regularly. People don't understand that the torso muscles are always working, if they didn't, we wouldn't be able to use our extremities. Also, preventing rotation/flexion/hyperextension is more valuable than actually moving through those movements, in my opinion. If your sport requires rotation, golf, baseball, etc., then maximize hip and shoulder flexibility first. Once that is established, then train the torso to resist rotation, or deceleration. Finally, use light loads that you can throw (to remove the loading at end range of motion).

Great postings on posture.
December 3, 2008 at 5:28 PM
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