i've done bridges for over 20 years and haven't had any problems. i do other neck exercises too. this is a highly underestimated area in strength training.
i liked stew smith's book too although its alot of work if you're also training in a sport. his buds "warning order" programs would probably be better suited for someone who is doing other training.
maxcondition wasn't as good as i thought it would be though....
pc
There's actually a pose in yoga where your bridge on your head. It's the Astanga style of setu bandasana.
It's important to develop the neck with a lot of preparatory poses though. And I'm not talking about just keeping your hands down. Matsyasana (fish pose), Ushtrasana (camel pose) and chakrasana (wheel pose, gymnastics bridge) just to start with. Your whole spine has to arch not just the neck. It's an active pose. Relaxing your neck or your torso or legs can bust something.
You need a lot of strength, especially for those who weigh a lot. All that weight is on your head.
Ushtrasana and Chakrasana can hurt your lower back if you don't do it right also.
I would say, don't do it. Instead you should do something like Rajakapotasana and Dhanurasana for instance, where you are facing downwards and arching your back to bring your feet and head up. They are safer. Still incredibly challenging. Lots of variations to those poses as well. If you can't do them well, you aren't strong enough to bridge onto your head anyway.
"I know my neck feels a lot better when I bridge frequently.I have no pains and it feels stronger.I think it is in form.If you are arched up enough and on your forehead your neck is not compressed.It is actually stretched."
Your neck is being compressed at any point in a wrestlers bridge. I know because i used to do them, and every time i did i would come away with a big red "pinch" mark on my neck where the back of my head met the top of my neck. You dont get pinch marks from stretching. ;)
"Your neck is being compressed at any point in a wrestlers bridge. I know because i used to do them, and every time i did i would come away with a big red "pinch" mark on my neck where the back of my head met the top of my neck. You dont get pinch marks from stretching. ;)"
The less flexible your back is, then the more flexible your neck has to be. Which is what's so dangerous about doing it.
ed2002
should I be hearing an Australian accent when I read your posts? Or am I off base?
Andrew
Stew Smith's book is great but I don't think there's enough emphasis on leg development other than running. I had one of my instructors use his program to get ready for BUD/S a few years back and even though I told him he was getting enough leg work in my classes, he didn't slow down on the distance running portion of the training.
I told him every single day that he was doing TOO MUCH running but he was intent on graduating at the top of the class (bit of an ego problem) and within the first two weeks of arriving at BUD/S he developed ITB which was a key factor in his decision to drop a month later.
I wasn't too particularly fond of his latest book either but that doesn't mean there wasn't some good info in it.
Just my $.02
SCRAP
"should I be hearing an Australian accent when I read your posts? Or am I off base?"
You're spot on, as usual. :)
Cheers,
Ed
Below, Furey's seemingly (indirect) response to this very discussion or to the fact he read Scott Sonnon's article on dangers of bridging ... it is from his daily e-mail ...
"I do NOT recommend bridging, across the board, for everyone.
Never have. Never will. But I do believe and know it will
help many, many people, just like Hindu squats and Hindu
pushups will help most. So beware the naked man who offers
you his shirt. Beware the entity who says bridging is bad for you,
then sites some bogus "Russian" group as his evidence.
Flip open an Iyengar Yoga book someday if you doubt what
I have said. As well as many other yoga books. You will find
bridging in various forms and guises being taught over and
over again.
Combat Conditioning is NOT yoga, but there are elements that
are similar in structure just as their are elements in gymnastics
and dance that look and appear similar to yoga. My point is
that yoga has been around for a long, long time - and so, if
bridging was "bad for you" - don't you think they'd have thrown
it out a long time ago?
Bottom line is this: Bridging helps many, many people in ways that
no other exercise can. Evenso, it's important that you check with a
physician prior to engaging in any exercise program, including mine."
Please check out the link in my INTERESTING THREAD thread. Scott addresses Furey's "points" directly and without back-peddling or recreating the past. SCRAP
Very interesting. I enjoy such 'discussions' and find them educational. However ...
Matt is a marketer and personally I don't think Scott should take any seemingly personal attack on his own system to heart. In fact, by replying to Furey's response, he is actually feeding Furey's business. Matt knows how to create attention for himself that is for sure!
While people do benefit from Furey's products, it is more by association with others who have gone before showing him the information that has been effective for them, that his CC has been so effective. I guess when he brought it out he didn't really think of any of the health ramifications of the 'King of all exercises'!
I've taken a lot of useful info from Furey and have enoyed it but unfortunately many seem to be blinkered when it comes to Matt. I'd rather amalgamate sensible advice from guys like Scott with my love of BWE thus still being able to enjoy old time training methods in a safer way. Just because someone bridged 100 yrs ago on their nose means nothing (necessarily) now.
As I said to begin with this is just another aspect for Matt of his internet business. He has other sites also, he's now promoting Maltz's mind techniques (an excellent book), he's also got Catch wrestling, and of course the fitness element of it, which has caused the controversy.
Sweet breakdown of the bridge by Scott and it's potential for cervical compression, look forward to viewing more of his material.
Tim
LOL @ the neck stretching comment.
If you are stretching one side of the neck you are compressing the other side, no matter witch way you roll it. At pressure on top of that and you can have some dangerous results.
-doug-
Slaughtered,
If Matt is simply a "marketer" then he should stick to simply marketing other people's products and remove himself from the pedestal of "fitness expert" he's placed himself upon.
While Furey seems to thrive on negative attention, Scott would be foolish to ignore attacks on the training methods he promotes. Thankfully, more and more people are seeing professionals like Scott challenging the crap that Furey spews out there, going to his website and reading the comic book style marketing ads, and seeing Furey for what he really is: a money grubbing hukster who is willing to promise anything to anyone in order to make a buck.
I had a disgruntled client send me Furey's Gama Fitness last year after his wife flipped out at the cost of it. Actually, she didn't flip out at the cost, she flipped out when she saw it was a 3 ring binder with one-sided pages that he bought for several hundred dollars (the 40-page book that comes with my Mod. 1 has almost as many pictures in it as Gama Fitness does). Again, with these types of discussions, I seriously doubt that people are going to plunk down $400 for Matt's "latest and greatest" crock of bullshit.
While I think it's great that you've gotten great stuff from Matt, I also think it's YOU that's been blinkered by him. The people who dislike him are the ones who have watched him do everything he can to make a buck over the years. The guy has hopped from one "guru" to the other and burned every single bridge he's created in his life to this point. I was almost saddened to see Psycho-Cybernetics become associated with Furey's ilk because it's only a matter of time before he screws that up as well and comes out with his own "new and improved" mental training program while denouncing Maltz's work in the process.
Well, that's enough of my ranting for now. ;)
Keep training hard,
SCRAP
Scrapper
"If Matt is simply a "marketer" then he should stick to simply marketing other people's products and remove himself from the pedestal of "fitness expert" he's placed himself upon."
I agree, but I guess what I was trying to say is that the discussions re safety, validity of exercise protocols etc ... do NOT mean as much to Matt as they do to Scott. In fact it is just another angle for sales for him, while for Scott he is genuinely concerned that the bridge (in this instance) is dangerous.
"I also think it's YOU that's been blinkered by him."
For sure. At least initially. I have got benefit from CC, but it's certainly not Matt's creation, and subsequently have altered much of my training to encompass so much more.
Tim