Swiffer Yourself...I mean...Check Yourself
There's only one way to know for sure if you're doing your lifts (squats & deadlifts) in a way that are going to protect your low back from getting injured.
You can use a PVC pipe or a Swiffer handle. You're going to take your hand and put it against your low back, then take the PVC pipe/swiffer handle and hold it in your hand behind your low back. The other hand is going to hold on to the swiffer handle behind your head.
You have to maintain four points of contact:
- the back of the head
- between the shoulder blades
- the back of your hand touching your low back while gripping the PVC pipe
- touching your tailbone
In this position you're going to hinge forward to do a squat or deadlift.
As long as you can feel all four points of contact, then you know you're doing your lifts safely.
If you go forward and you feel the PVC pipe come off your tailbone, you know you've messed up. If you go forward and you feel your shoulders pull away from it or your low back pull away from it, then you know you've messed up.
This is the only way to know with certainty that you're keeping your back safe when you're doing lifts.
