Yesterday, our coach (former member of the Corean National Greco team) had us do a unique bridging exercise. I thought I would share it with all of you since I have never saw it before.
One person bridges (belly up). The other person stands "above" his head. The bridger grabs his partner's legs and curls his body towards his partner. As the bridger rolls completely over (when starting he was belly-up, when the movement is finished he should be belly-down), he lands with his one foot on each side of his partner. The bridger then kicks his legs back over and lands back in the starting position.
We went straight back, left, and right. We did 30 repetitions. It was pretty grueling.
Any thoughts, variations, or comments about how dangerous this is?
bridging INCORRECTLY bugs your neck. A grappler avoiding bridging is like a deer hunter avoiding the woods.
Bridging is primarily a leg and lower back exercise, with some assistance from the neck. Anyone that thinks the bridge is a neck exercise is not doing it correctly.
What if the deer hunter has a REALLY good rifle and a REALLY accurate gun though? :)
In any case, not bridging doesnt seem to hurt the grappling success of many of the people i've ever met. However, this is not the first broad generalization made by Kansetsuwaza on this forum as of late.
You don't offend me personally, i would just hate to start skipping over your posts because of their tone, especially since you are obviously a smart guy.
Not to mention their are hundreds of ways to bridge, with varying degrees of involvment from the neck. I see plenty of wrestlers moving the head a LOT in a bridge, in fact some VERY good wrestlers. During a normal static hold, the neck muscles seem to have a role analogous to the spinal erecters in a back squat.
"bridging INCORRECTLY bugs your neck. A grappler avoiding bridging is like a deer hunter avoiding the woods."
Bridging -at all- bugs my neck. And yes I know how to bridge. I don't avoid it when it's necessary, but I do avoid doing it for workouts. It may not be a neck exercise, but you're still putting a lot of weight on something that's not made to carry a lot of weight.