Getting into an overhead squat takes a massive amount of mobility in your ankles, hip and your thoracic spine. The overhead squat is the ultimate test of mobility. It’s one of the first things I do with my NFL athletes or anyone for that matter because it will tell me so much about how you move and where your mobility is restricted.
I played basketball for 20 years and when I got into crossfit, olympic weightlifting, and true strength and conditioning getting into an overhead position was extremely challenging. I’m not just talking about overhead squats. T Spine Mobility is required in a ton of things:
- Overhead press
- Handstand Holds
- Front/Back Squats
- Good posture (unlike photo below)
If you want to improve your shoulder mobility with my best mobility drills and activations.
Having adequate thoracic mobility is something that just makes you feel better, better posture and ultimately move better. In today’s blog post I’m going to share with you:
- My top 6 thoracic spine mobility exercises to improve overhead position
- T spine mobility drills
- A simple test you can do to access yourself
Why Thoracic Mobility Important
To prevent any additional stress on your body and having adequate range of motion is important. We are always talking about getting your body to be “stacked” which means:
- Rib cage down
- Glute engaged
- No arching in your back (see pictures below)
If you have limited range of motion in your thoracic spine and limited mobility your body has to compensate somewhere….your lower back.
If you keep this up (assuming your lifting overhead) you are going to continue to essentially jam your joints and pinch your lower back and put you at risk for injury.
I’ll show you a step by step process to improve your shoulder mobility below but not in the blog is the this.
Keep training hard ??
P.S.
If you just want a program to follow that gives you a total comprehensive approach (mobility, warm up, core, strength, corrective exercises) and join an awesome community then join the K Squared Fitness family!!
You can take our fitness app for a spin this week. To learn more check out this page.
Other Fitness Tips
3️⃣ 3 things I wish I knew about fitness 5 years ago
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you increase your thoracic spine spine mobility?
Step one is having awareness of your posture. Are you hunched over? Change that. And you can do that by doing a few things...
...mobility work COUPLED with strengthening your upper back.
One other tip. If you JUST stretch and do not strengthen the end range of motion, your mobility will not improve. You want to foam roll, stretch the restricted muscle, strengthen and activate the end range of motion.
How do I loosen my t spine?
Get on that foam roller and go to work. Work on extension, rotation, have a "peanut" for mobility and strengthen your upper back.
By far my favorite t spine mobility drill (most people don't want to do this one) is:
- tape two lacross balls together
- put the balls right in your t spine area
- grab a 45lb weight plate and put it on your chest
- then work on extension
Like this but with two lacrosse balls.
If you have any additional questions leave them in the comments below and I'm happy to help!
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