Movement snacking is a great way to get the body moving little and often. It's movement nutrition for the body, mind and in this case, a healthy spine!
Give this a try - The concept Natalie is using here, is to;
1. Choose a move
2. Choose a song
Then all you need to do is press play & nutritiously move for the entire track or two.
It's simple, easy and very meditative. PLUS it takes the pressure of ‘I’ve got to move’ to ‘wanting to move’ mindset - making it a much more enjoyable process.
Heres The Breakdown
Natalie is using a 3kg medicine ball to help with traction of the movement as she move's into each position.
Here are some of the benefits
- Using an external load will help to build strength & resilience of the spine.
- The external load will also help with decompression of the spine whilst opening up more range of motion as we move into the final pike stretched position.
- It will also help to work on improving spinal awareness, flexion of the spine and encourage spinal segmentation.
Which are all important components that make up a healthy moving spine. By gaining better movement control over your spine, will improve all other motor abilities.
Plus there is a lot more movement goodness going on than just the spine as it will get your posterior chain working too. Not including the deep squat benefits, which we will cover another time.
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Don't go too heavy with the weight as this can limit ROM (range of motion) and turn it into a pure strength training exercise and not a mindful stretching recovery movement. We want the weight to guide us into deeper ranges and pull us through a particular movement path.
1. Start by standing on a stable surface that will give you enough space to increase your ROM. Shoulders are relaxed and away from the ears. Legs are locked and quads are engaged.
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2. Tuck your chin and slowly start to roll down, as if your rolling yourself into a newspaper allowing flexion of the spine, letting the traction of the weight pull you all the way to the bottom until you reach your pike position. Note this is not a hinge movement. Pike position - shown in the picture below.
This is the pike position
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3. From the pike position you want to pull your glutes to your heels, keeping your chin tucked until you reach a deep squat, arms are relaxed and long - shown in picture below.
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4. Now you just have to reverse the movements
From the deep squat, back to the pike position and lock legs. Engage the quad muscles to help facilitate this.
Then from the pike position, start to initiate the spinal roll up.
1. First you want to squeeze your glutes whilst in the pike position.
2. Then from the base of the spine, start to slowly roll up vertebrae by vertebrae, until your back to your standing start position.
Keep repeating the movements slowly and mindfully, using your breath until the track has finished. If you feel fatigued before the end of the track, then stop.
This is not the intention of this exercise/movement - Otherwise it's no longer a mindful stretching recovery movement and becomes a pure strength training exercise. It just means you need to build up tolerance for this movement. A great way to build up the movement tolerance is to sprinkle it in to your weekly movement snacking routine.
