you're not a glassback

I'd like to remind you that this is

your blog and you are invited to ask questions

Questions you send in get saved in a notes app and provide content for

future editions

What this ensures is that this blog stays relevant to you lot and

on occasion has me scrambling to learn some stuff in order to get you

the best answers

Answers that are simple, applicable and yet still complete.

Not ramming my bias down your throat or baffling you with bullshit.

As an example or bias, incomplete thinking and a smidge of bull, there

was a comment left on a recent Instagram post.

I put out a post around the common advice the internet likes to give

where you must stop doing certain exercises once you pass a certain age.

And this was one response:

"Because discs and joints degenerate due to a lack of hormones and other

age related issues. Most exercises are fine, but barbell back squats and

deadlifts may not be great for an aging spine. You can build great legs

without risking a back injury."

First thing, do not jump onto Instagram and attack the dude, not that I

think any of you would.

But while he is right about hormonal changes and "age related issues"

being a thing, he is ignoring the bodies incredible ability to adapt.

Which is the entire point of training in the first place.

Spinal Disks get a lot of bad press, and yes, I have had disk injuries,

it was one that stopped my training full time and got me on the road to

coaching.

But disks, while they may not have a blood supply bringing nutrition to

them, they still adapt to stress.

Just like Wolff’s Law explains how the bones adapt to loading and

stress, Davis Law the muscles, our disks do similar, we just haven't got

a name or a law just yet.

There's a lovely theory I enjoy called the "squeeze and soak" theory.

As our hero suggests, disks can dry out, they can be squeezed as gravity

and load presses them. We've all heard how we're a few centimetres

shorter at the end of the day than the beginning, this is down to the disks.

Now direct axial loading, as in squats and dead, that will squeeze them more

That's bad right?

Well no, because, just as is explained by Messrs Wolff and Davis for our

bones and muscles, when we put an acute stress on a tissue, it

stimulates adaptation.

In the Disks case, when the excess load is taken away, they spring back,

soaking in fluids.

So the extra load helps squeeze out waste then as the pressure is

released, there is fresh nutrition soaked back in.

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that axial loading of the

spine (essentially strength training, but also upright endurance

endeavours, walking, running jumping etc) and movement through the

spine, which aligns with the Yogic belief "You're only as old as your

spine is flexible" cause positive adaptations to the spinal disks.

Where we run into issues, is as always, doing too much too soon.

Overreaching beyond our capacity

And habitual movement, or lack of movement.

Possibly the worst thing you can do for the back is sitting in your

office chair for hours at a time. But as that's unavoidable for most

I'll reiterate one of my most common bits of advice - find excuses to

get up and move around. Be like your pet Dog or Cat, or hamster! When

they've been immobile for a period napping, they generally have a

stretch before moving again.

This stretch is the Yoga Up and Down Dog, maybe accompanied by a shake.

I strongly recommend you do something similar, a human version of "big

stretch" when you get up after a period of immobility.

And if you are someone who does manual work, check yourself for a

repeated motion that happens over and over. This is where issues can

develop over time.

So yeah, your hormones and age do matter.

But motion is lotion, and axial loading in part of that motion.

No, you don't have to back squat or deadlift, you can squat and hinge in

any of the 100 or more ways, but you must Squat and you must Hinge as

part of a complete training plan

--

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net