The Waiter's Bow
The sit and reach test stinks. Why? Well, it does not allow one to discriminate between hip and lumbar spine flexion. It tells you NOTHING. The initial testing position puts the hip/torso in 90 degrees of flexion to start; that is an end-range hip flexion position for many. For most, this is only a tortuous test of lumbar flexion. Ever had the pleasure of making a wrestling room full of 9th grade boys try to sit up against the wall while keeping their knees extended? I prefer to use the Waiter's Bow as a assessment tool, and as a warm up or cool down exercise. My goal is to create hip extensor mobility in the context of the neutral spine. The Waiter's Bow is a weight-bearing, AROM test of flexibility that allows you to discriminate hip flexion from lumbar spine flexion. The Waiter's Bow is, in my book, a basic movement comprehension skill everyone should learn. It lays a foundation for advanced training skills and the neutral-spine body awareness that is critica...
Comments
Can you explain exactly how this bar was loaded incorrectly? It looks like the collars aren't snug enough against the weights or is this just crappy training plates that warp (or both)?
Alex
If you are going to repeatedly lift < 40 kg from the ground, you should use good 5 kg and 2.5 kg training plates (Hitechplates, Eleiko, Werksan) that hug the collars of the bar and support the weight of the bar when it is on the ground. Good training plates allow the bar to sit evenly on the ground for lift off. The rubber 10 lb plates/plastic 5 lb plates are not structurally sound enough to support the weight of the bar. This is is especially true of the weight is going to be repeatedly dropped or left overnight on the bar. This will eventually destroy the skinny 10 lb/5 lb plates.
Other than that, proper loading of the bar means the heaviest bumper/iron plates are always loaded first, then the lighter iron plates are added in sequential order, with the number side facing out. Weight should always be stripped from the barbell after use.