Bridging and Spinal Health (diary entry)

My client has had a lot of time off training for various reasons. He has a shoulder injury from squash and years of lifting have overdeveloped certain muscles causing problems stemming from his neck. The latter issue was my main concern. I am not nor have I ever pretended to be a physiotherapist, but I hold the profession in high regard. Physiotherapists have helped influence a lot of the way I train and their individual attention can provide an excellent basis to tailor an injured student’s regime. A rounding of the shoulders can be a problem in many strike-based martial arts, particularly the stand-up sports of Muay Thai and Western Boxing, so it is something worth looking out for when teaching these arts. Stand-up martial arts develop strong shoulders just as clinch martial arts, like Wrestling, develop strong backs and legs. However, training specifically can cause certain imbalances and weaknesses that must be taken into account. This hasn’t been the case with my client, as these issues are longstanding ones, but an awareness of them is important so as not to aggravate them. We looked at a series of warm-up/warm-down mobility exercises to help promote better all-round spinal health. Although I am not the world’s greatest fan of orthopaedic practices, they’re often a damn-sight better than chiropractors, and Jarlo Ilano clearly knows what he is talking about in this article.  We used these exercises separately and then as a flow drill. I believe that fluid combined flexibility and stability exercises, which are found in modern Yoga and Gynastica Natural, are superb accompaniments to martial arts training. Martin Rooney’s series of muscle activation exercises are also good for overlapping specific movements. Today I decided to focus on ground work with a good number of supplementary exercises. In fact, we used a supplementary exercise as a launch pad for the series of techniques to be covered. After our warm-up of spinal health exercises we looked at various resistance-band exercises in addition to the prescribed physio exercises. I then had him perform overhead squats with a supinated grip to help correct his posture and also do a series of hanging exercises, eventually incorporating reverse shrugs. We finished with glute raises, an essential exercise for spinal health whilst actively engaging the right muscles that used in a vast array of martial arts techniques.

The most obvious occurs when bridging from the ground. From here we looked at bridging to snaking and recovering a guard position. In addition to the glute raised I showed a variation involving an around-the-world medicine ball movement. From guard we moved through the basic series of submissions using the legs – arm-bar, triangle choke and oma plata (shoulder lock). We will continue with this approach in the next of his lessons. For now, I would like to encourage all readers to look deeply into spinal health. The term the "core" has become something of a sickening cliche in our circles, as most people use it describe doing abdominal exercise. The core is really all the associated muscle, ligaments and tendons surrounding the spine, from the cervical vertebrae to the tail bone. The spine is the core of the core, so to speak. Keep it mobile, get it universally strong and don't over-work it.