My coach @hyenamuaythai asked me for an exercise for upper back pain, and this is one I recommended.
Thoracic pain is common in combat sports, striking does require a rounded over posture by default, and over time this can lead to muscular pain. Add in the physical stress of fighting and potential injury, and you’ve got a setup for chronic neck or back pain.
There’s lots of way to treat pain, but the most simple is strengthening the muscles in the weakened or previously injured area.
This angel of death exercise I like to use because it trains all the muscles that get overly lengthened or neglected from fight posture: it works trapezius, rhomboids, rear delts, and your rotator cuff, all at the same time. To note, I’m raising my legs off the ground and contracting glutes as well. The entire length of your spinal erectors and glutes are working isometrically.
It’s a hard exercise, but its also not a big compound movement that will add to your fatigue from training. You could do 2-3 sets of 10 reps at the ends of a training session, and you’ll be fully recovered.
Im using 2.5lb weights in the video, you could go as heavy as 5lbs, but the emphasis is on the quality of movement, NOT the weight.
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