What do you think of this exercise? Has anyone here tried it?
Picture this: The great Olympic weightlifter Vasily Alexeev�??s ponderous body draped over a gymnastics long horse with his feet wedged between the stall bars of an unbelievably archaic training gym in Moscow�??s Lenin Institute of Sport. With four hundred pounds precariously perched behind his head, he explodes for five reps of back raises.
There is virtually NO hip extensor involvement, only pure erector spinae contraction. That means 1) tremendous low back limit strength and speed-strength is developed far beyond what any other low back exercise could possibly accomplish, and 2) virtually NO trauma to the tenuous intervertebral discs of the lumbar spine, which is something no other low back exercise ever conceived can claim.
So, I see that most of the flexion occurs at the thoracic spine and I guess that despite flexion of the lumbar spine, end-range lumbar flexion is avoided, right?
The only possible issue with an exercise like this would be excessive shearing forces. Since the loading would be perpendicular to the back, compression would be limited, but you may have to worry about shearing forces.
Seems like it might be a decent supplemental exercise.
I remember reading that article a few years ago. I tried it on a Roman chair/back extension bench. Even with light weights (135 lbs), it was extremely difficult to keep the bar in place on my back. With 405, I suspect this becomes sketchy exercise to set up.
I suspect it does about the same as seated good mornings in terms of erector isolation.
Come to think of it, isn’t all spinal flexion shear?
Also, wouldn’t the shear stress be only on the thoracic spine, since the lumbar spine is supported?
