Travis Mash - Dysfunctional Patterns in Weightlifting

Travis Mash talks about the importance of thoracic spine mobility in weightlifting.

Transcript:

“Now we’re going to talk about thoracic movement. Very important part of movement as far as Olympic weightlifting is concerned: everyone talks about shoulder mobility but really what they’re talking about is thoracic spine mobility. Because, you know, the shoulders don’t require a lot of movement if you do everything right, especially if you can get proper movement in the thoracic spine/scapula region, then you don’t need a ton of shoulder mobility.

We’re going to do quadruped extension to rotation. Let’s put your left hand behind your head Morgan. Open up and do full extension. Now take your elbow and try to get to your {other} elbow or even more. Try to get full range of motion there. Now open up; extension; and then rotation. Good. You would do like ten per side {...}.

Yes you can foam roll your thoracic spine, but, once again, I’m going to be honest, whether it’s foam rolling or whether we’re doing the quadruped extension to rotation, the best way to get movement in the thoracic spine is {to} simply do the movement that you want to {be able to} do. It’s just like this, it’s like when you play basketball, when you first started playing, you probably couldn’t shoot that far, you know, the three point line seemed like a mile away, and you practice and you practice and you practice, and guess what? The next thing you know, by the end of the summer, you’re dropping three pointers like no problem. Did you get stronger, or did your body become more efficient at the movement pattern? Did you get more mobile? You might have, but it’s probably because your body is learning how to do the movement and feeling better about letting you travel through full ranges of motion. Olympic weightlifting is exactly the same thing.”