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Writer's pictureDr. Nicolas Torres

Why should you reach more in exercises?

If you’ve done any exercises with me, you know I love me some reaches. I love to include the movement of one or both arms reaching while we are performing an exercise. The reason behind that comes back to the stacking of the ribcage and pelvis. I always stress the fact that we want to create a vertical position of the ribcage. This allows the diaphragm to track up and down, through the thoracic cavity and down to the pelvic floor like an elevator would go up and down in a building. Imagine if that elevator was not moving in a straight vertical plane of motion. Seems very inefficient, right?


So the million dollar question is how do we create and then maintain the verticality of the ribcage? The answer is through reaching. A reach allows the shoulder blade to move forward in space, but what we use it for is actually moving the ribcage backwards in space. This is where all the gold is! If we move the ribcage backwards in space, we are reversing what many ribcage are stuck in. EXTENSION. You may have heard about the idea of a “ribcage flare”. This is when the ribcage is flared outward in the front, and this then causes the back of the ribcage to both tilt backward and extend forward. Let’s go back to that elevator analogy. If that elevator was moving up and down in a backward tilt, you think it would move efficiently? That’s your diaphragm in a ribcage flare position.


So back to the idea of reaching. The reaching movement action will shift the lower ribcage backward via the serratus anterior muscle. That will now reverse the rib flare position and with that, will create a vertical alignment of the ribcage.


If you reach with one arm, you are shifting that side of the ribcage further backward. So this becomes important in people that are stuck in a rotation within their alignment. You can also vary the reach based off the angle of the reach. If you perform a high reach, you are focusing on shifting the upper middle portion of the ribcage backwards. If you reach in a low angle, you are shifting the lower ribcage backwards.

This is important if you are dealing with low back pain VS upper back pain.


Last question is when should I reach. And the answer is, as often as you can. Do it while you squat. Do it while you hinge. Do it while you are doing floor core exercises. Do it while you are sitting, if you are having some back pain. Do it into the floor and challenge the serratus anterior muscle against gravity. Guess what’s that called ? A plank.

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