Q and A, plus 1 Book Review

T Spine Roll

Question Answer Time plus a Fellow Fitness Mom Reviews Baby Bump Busy Mom Fitness 

Erica asks in the Abs and Ass post

Hi Jacq,
I’m enjoying your food diary. Looks to me like you’re managing a healthy and satisfying diet that the whole family can eat. Good for you. I find that doing some cooking on the weekend (soup, chili, a large roast or chicken) helps to keep me on track for the week. It gives you a base for a fast, easy weekday meal. All you need to do is add a salad or some steamed veg.

Enough about food. I have a question about back stretches. What’s the best stretch for your lower back. Hauling around a 22 month old is giving me some aches and pains!

Erica

Answer

Erica thanks for the food tips.

The BEST low back stretches start with your T-spine (thoracic spine). This is your mid back and is usually the cause of low back pain, and neck and shoulder pain as the mid back tightens the motion gets pushed to the next joint above or below and causes instability and pain. So what to do for any back pain- start with your thoracic spine- stretches such as the CLOCK, or using a foam roller or rolled up towel at the bottom tips of your scapula and laying over this with your chest pointed at the ceiling. Never stretch or exercise by twisting your low back, but twisting your mid back with hips lined up in a stable position is great.

After mid back stretching, move to stretching your hips flexors then core stability exercises are a must- planks and side planks.

Jacqueline

NEXT QUESTION- Warmup

We started with T spine mobilization using tennis balls and the foam roller and then progressed to roller her rotator cuff muscles using a tennis ball again.  After this we progressed to the exercises listed in the Bonus Product – extra Joint Stability under Neck and Shoulder Pain.  It was apparent she was having trouble performing the popular Cat/Camel movement- reviewing back from the Pregnancy Program.  This can be a tricky exercise- it is important to initiate the movement first by isolating your upper back- pressing into the floor to protract you shoulder blades, then like a wave curl your tail bone under getting

Serratus Lift

movement into your low back and pelvis.  Without being able to isolate movements such as protraction and retraction in your scapula’sstrength exercises such as push up and pull ups can easily be performed incorrectly.  Another great exercise that we reviewed was the Serratus Ball List from phase 1 of the Busy Mom Program.

From Coach Jenn on Programs

Excellent E-books! I’m providing a review and giveaway on my site. Thanks for the opportunity Jacqueline.