Packing in the Neck – Trickle Down Biomechanics and How to Not Wreck Your Neck

Today we will examine our friend Leo’s two hand swing and turkish get up. Let’s see if we can’t help out our buddy Leo.

Remember, technique critique is a way for everyone to gather free and valuable feedback from both myself and the COS community. It is my responsibility to point out any technical flaws that I find, but ultimately your responsibility to figure out how to fix them. Different correctives work better for different people, and as much as I would love to, I really just don’t have the time. It’s just not humanly possible. I can only cast light onto the problems and to help to set you in the right direction.  And often times that’s really all that folks need, is to know what they need to work on, so that they can go forth and work on it. It’s hard to know what you don’t know. And that’s what technique critique is here for.

But of course I will always take the time to offer my recommendations in the comment section to any specific questions anyone has regarding potential correctives.

I realize I am incredibly backed up on technique critique, and my most sincere appologies for the delay for all of those who have sent me videos! The response has been awesome and please keep sending your videos in!

If you want to be on technique critique shoot me an email @ HardstyleKettlebells@yahoo.com with the subject line of technique critique. I will do my best to get at least two technique critiques up this week.

Now, let’s see if we can help our friend Leo out with his swing and get up.

The Two Hand Swing

Here’s a few of the things I see, post your comments and suggestions for Leo below!

@ :30 seconds – Hips need to be set lower at the set up – Although the exact position will vary slightly from individual to individual, hips should always be higher than your knees, but lower than your shoulders (In Leo’s case his shoulders are lower than his hips). There is also some mild rounding in the lumbar (lower back) and the tailbone is tucking under. Furthermore, there is an excessive amount of capital and cervical extension going on (looking up and cranking the neck back). See video above on the importance of “packing in the neck”.

@ :32 – the flexion and rounded back problem becomes more apparent once under load. Funny because even with Leo looking up and trying to pull himself into cervical extension, this actually does not seem to initially trickle down into his lumbar. Sort of like reverse trickle down biomechanics. Interesting… Hmm… Hmmmm

Regardless, I believe a proper set up with his hips a bit lower will go a long way for correcting this, as his initial hike-back will be deeper, his spine hopefully more neutral, and in turn his tibia (shins) a bit more vertical.

@ :33 And we have the lockout! Leo has a nice explosive hip snap, but the lockout needs a little cleaning up. Starting from the ground up – Leo’s knees look like they are coming a little short of full extension. Quads short be forcefully contracted even at the top of the lock out – knees fully extended, and knee caps even “pulled up”. From there Leo seems to actually be compensating for lack of knee extension with mild overextension of the hips. Fix the knees and I believe it will also help to fix the hips. Hard to tell with the clothing but lumbar looks fairly neutral at the top, my primary concern is now with Leo’s cervical region – as he has the classic “chicken neck” head position going on – which is when folks tend to leave their head behind and end up in an awkward position of cervical protrusion (pushing their chin/head forward).  Learning to pack the neck will do a great deal to solve this.

All of the aforementioned problems continue to occur throughout Leo’s set of two hand swings.

Note that overall Leo’s foundation is very solid. He no doubt understands that the swing is a posterior chain driven power movement, as he has a very clearly defined hip drive. Schweet.

The Turkish Get Up

@ 1:20 – Major valgus collapse (inward bowing of the knee) on the planted foot. Also a great deal of trying to “sit/crunch up” into the first position of the get up, which in turn has led to a considerable deal of flexion throughout the spine. Rather this first portion of the get up should be a tactical roll (pushing from the heel of the planted foot and pulling from the planted elbow) and not a modified sit up or crunch. You want to lead with your sternum, and not with the arm that is bearing the weight, as this will lead to the shoulder coming forwarding and unpacking which is the case here.

@ 1:22 – Back arm elbow is lacking full extension and planted too far behind and out of line with the hip. As you will see, this will make Leo’s sweep through his hip bridge considerably more difficult than it has to be.

@ 1:27 – Ah yes, just as I predicted! Leo is unable to sweep his leg back far enough to get his knee in line with his planted hand – again a consequence of what went on @ 1:22. This led to Leo having to jump his hand forward (and give up a point of contact fromhis base) to place it back in line with his knee and some major instability/wobbliness. Again, it all goes back to taking the time to invest in and find the most appropriate set up position for the structure of your body.

@ 1:28 – Leo sort of twists/contorts into the lunge position. A lot of folks are able to get away with this when using a relatively lighter weight, but this will not be the case once the big boy and big girl weights come into play. Rat
her one needs to sit down into that L-position first before “windshield wiping” the back leg and utilize hip flexion and extension in order to come into the lunge position. See video below to see what the freak it is that I’m talking about.

@ 1:39 – On the descent again Leo is reaching his arm behind him, rather it would behoove him to reach it out more in line with his hip.

@ 1:46 Elbow breaks before it should and his shoulder is being yanked back into more extension than necessary.

What else do you see? What recommendations do you have for Leo to fix his swing and get up? Please share your thoughts in the comment section!

I will save my critique of Leo’s snatch and clean and press for another date, as Lola now requires my full attention, but please give Leo your feedback on these techniques as well in the comment section!

Overall, I must say great job to Leo. Remember technique critique is not here to beat people up, but rather to lift them up, commend them for the awesome job they’ve done, and then help them improve. Because nobody is beyond being able to improve. And it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there like this, and that alone is rather commendable. Thank you Leo for doing

As always share love in the comment section.

– Pat