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Some folks can keep an exteneded spine, just as long as you don’t ask them to move like that. Learning to move the arms while keeping the spine extended is crucial to weight training. Many people have very weak upper back muscles and this can hinder all their weight training. Here’s how to fix the rounded back problem and build up your back strength in one exercise.

Sometimes people misunderstand when we post pictures or videos of what we’re teaching and we just want to be clear. Extending the spine during basic exercises like deadlift, squat, swing, bench press, etc. is very, very important. Unfortunately since most people sit with their shoulders slumped forwards all day, it’s extremely hard for people to correct their bad posture in an hour seminar. So when we take pictures of the people at our seminars, sometimes their posture isn’t great, not because we’re teaching them wrong, but because the people are struggling to learn how to do it correctly but they can’t yet. Other people in the fitness industry telling folks it doesn’t matter how they move as long as they’re exercising doesn’t help. How you move matters a lot! So if you see some less than perfect posture in the pictures, now you know why.

Extending the spine and keeping it there is a crucial skill for beginners to learn. Here are two exercises that will help the process. make these part of your warmup and you’ll improve every time you work out.

One of the biggest misconceptions in the mainstream fitness community is that you should use tiny little weights to do everything. This myth is spread by the women’s fitness community even though a sack of groceries weighs more than 5lbs. and you have to pick that up all the time. It’s also spread by the “form bunny” trainer community that likes to show how smart they are by not lifting any actual weights while using the biggest words they can find to impress their other trainer buddies. None of these groups understand that the weight used has an effect on the exercise performed and that in many cases, a heavier weight is needed to even develop correct technique in the first place.
Case in point, this clip:

This is a Turkish get-u…ummm….Turkish “sit-up” although I think after viewing this nonsense, the Turks might call and want their name back. The real Turkish get-up looks nothing like this of course, but then consider the source above.

When you use a teeny, tiny kettlebell that even my 6 year-old wouldn’t use (she can press the 4kg for reps and deadlifts the 12kg at 16kg of bodyweight) then you get this horrible monstrosity of an exercise. Why? Because the weight is too light, so you can do anything you want with it. You don’t HAVE to do it correctly because the weight won’t FORCE you to do it right.

I see this all the time with swings. You MUST use a weight that will FORCE your body to use the hamstrings. If you use a weight that you could raise with your front delt, then guess what will happen? The person will do a front raise. If you give that person a kettlebell heavy enough that they can’t do a front raise with it, then guess what happens? They’re forced to use the hamstrings and glutes like they’re supposed to or the kettlebell doesn’t move.

So how is the Turkish get-up supposed to be done? Take a look:

And no toy kettlebell either.

What have we been doing lately? Take a look.

We also got 30 new members in July, a record for us. We have continued to grow every straight month since opening our newest branch in April of last year! So if you’re looking for a great place to work out, come join us!

I’m getting rid of some of our older model competition and black classic kettlebells. I recently upgraded the finish but here are the prices on the old ones, available at these prices while supplies last!

12kg NT2000
16kg NT2500
20kg NT3000
24kg NT3500
28kg NT3250 (NT1250 off!)
32kg NT3500 (NT1500 off!)

Stop by the gym to pick these up!