Lunge Row with T-Spine Rotation - Move of the Week 4/4

This week's Move of the Week is a Lunge Row with T-Spine Rotation.  We are going to simplify things a bit to allow us the opportunity to work on some fundamentals of a good lunge, proper form, and achieving a solid t-spine rotation without over rotating and turning the hips.

This movement is fairly simple, but does require a degree of coordination.  Remember, coordination is practiced, and as adults we don't have a lot of opportunity to work on coordination the way that we did as kids.  Playing on the play ground at recess provided us with tons of coordination practice.  So we want to keep practicing coordination while also dialing in on these fundamentals.

In this movement we are going to focus on maintaining elevation through the ribs while lunging.  In other words, maintaining strong posture as we move through the lunge positions.  We are also going to work on proper stride length.  When we do a lunge our goal is to be able to create a 90 degree angle at both knees when in the full range of motion of the lunge.  When we open up the chest in the rotation we are going to put a lot of focus on maintaining our elevation, rotating through the thoracic spine (the part of the spine attached to our ribs) and avoiding any rotation through the hips.  Keeping our tailbone tucked throughout this movement will help us keep our lower abdominals engaged so that they are prepared to help us maintain stability and strength throughout the movement.

As an added bonus, this movement is going to help us in connecting our glutes with our opposite side lat.  When we move in daily life our glute on one side of the body and opposite side lat work together, and this movement is also going to provide us with practice at engaging our glute as you raise your body up out of the lunge, and simultaneously rowing with your lat on the opposite side. 

It takes time to feel these connections, so I encourage you to focus on which muscles are working in this movement, and imaging the glute of your back leg working hard to stabilize you in the "standing" portion of the lunge while your lat is working through the row on the opposite side.  In time you'll feel these connections and will be ready to coordinate your lats and glutes to enhance movement both inside and outside of the gym.

4/4 Lunge Row with T-Spine Rotation- Movement of the Week Explainer by Allison Hopkins

Here's your checklist:

1) Start in your best lunge.
2) Hold onto the resistance band with your arm fully extended on the same side as your front leg.
3) While in your lunge, rotate through your t-spine with your free arm, opening up through the chest while maintaining tailbone tuck, elevation, and hips forward.
4) As you return to center from the rotation, come up out of your lunge, using your back leg glute to stabilize you, and pull your into a row using your lat.
5) Repeat....and have fun!