The Power Of A Neutral Spine

The weakest link in the chain is going to be the factor that causes you to fail a big lift. A big portion of the time it’s your mid section that lets you down when trying to perform a heavy lift.

Ensuring that your back is in a nice neutral position when performing the Squat and the Deadlift will increase the amount of abdominal pressure that you can build and help you contract your abdominals a whole lot more efficiently than when your back is in extension or flexion.

Below are 3 examples of the spine in different positions: excessive flexion, excessive extension and a neutral position.

Not only will you be in a much more efficient position that will increase the amount of load that your mid section can take on but it is also a much safer, more secure position to lift from.

The best of both worlds is achieved. It’s a much safer way to lift and it will also be something that will increase the amount of weight that you can lift. So why wouldn’t you do it? The only real reason would be because you weren’t educated about it.

I personally found that even after years of training and progressing in the Squat, as soon as i made this a major focus in my training I was able to increase the amount I could lift by over 20kgs – from a 240kg Squat to a 262.5kg Squat.