I shared this video of one of my favorite weird exercises a few months ago, but I thought I would share it again and talk a bit about what’s happening when you do it!
When I shared this originally, I talked about how I often use it with my students that tend to hyperextend their elbows.
And to be clear, I’m not saying that hyperextension is bad. It’s a thing that some bodies do, and as long as those joints that hyperextend have muscular support, it’s probably fine!
It’s that whole muscular support of the joint thing that’s the issue.
Hyperextension often takes us into a place where we lose muscle engagement, and end up kind of shoving the bones of the joint together to try to create stability.
Not really a great long term strategy!
In the case of the elbows, the muscle that tends to lose engagement is the triceps. Specifically, the long head of the triceps that attaches all the way up on the scapula.
But if you look at this picture, you might notice that there’s a lot of stuff there other than the triceps. And when muscles are next to each other, they tend to have cooperative relationships.
In the case of the elbows, the muscle that tends to lose engagement is the triceps. Specifically, the long head of the triceps that attaches all the way up on the scapula.
But if you look at this picture, you might notice that there’s a lot of stuff there other than the triceps. And when muscles are next to each other, they tend to have cooperative relationships.
If one is working, the others are too. And if one ISN’T working, chances are good some of the others aren’t either.
This weird exercise is creating some rotation of the humerus, which is getting the teres minor more engaged. It’s also shifting the position of the humerus a bit so that the teres major can be a little more connected.
And when those guys are on board, it makes it a lot easier for the long head of your triceps to work. So when you go into a position like on your hands and knees and you straighten your elbow, your triceps are working as it straightens. The result is that you may notice that you’re not hyperextending the same way you normally do!
If you found this interesting and/or relevant, this is EXACTLY what my upcoming class series Experience Anatomy is going to be all about!
I’m going to talk about anatomy and common patterns that I see in all of the different bodies that I work with, and then we’re going to do some exercises to experience how it feels and how it could be different.
If you’ve been thinking about signing up, time is running out. We get started on April 9th, this Wednesday!
