Coach Sonnon & others: Is this excercise dangerous?

[hugojkd]

Coach Sonnon, please help me, I need guidance. Is this excercise bad for your back? I am particularly interested in your opinon because of experties in body mechanics & joint health.

Doing 1-legged back bridges on an excercise ball with your back/shoulders/head flat on the ground & 1 leg pushing off the ball. The leg pushing off the ball causes your glutes/lower back to rise off the ground while the other leg is held in the air above the ball.

Is this excercise safe with a sandbag held across your hips/lower abs? When you go to bridge with the 1 leg, the sandbag rolls towards your upper abs/chest.

I imagine this would help with grappeling bridging & escapes, but is there possible long-term damage to the lower back & disks?

Obviously you'd start with a relatively light sandbad (50 lbs or less) & maybe do double or single reps per leg to avoid fatigue & possible injury.

I tried doing this with a 50 lb sandbag & felt soreness in my glutes & hamstrings. My lower back got seriously sore, & I figure I should get some advice before I go on with this excercise. Especially since I had herniated disks a couple of years ago.

I posted this on mma.tv, but I really would like to hear your opinion, so I figured I'd post here as well.

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advanced,

Hugo

[Scott Sonnon]

Hugo, welcome to the Tribe! Please stop by the "Welcome Mat" and introduce yourself.

How did you come up with this exercise? It seems very complicated, yet remains a very simplistic movement - the bridge.

What unique benefits were you told this exercise delivered? Typically balls are for rehab, balance, flexibility and somewhat agility. Sandbags for muscular (and sometimes cardio) endurance. Bridging for range of motion. However, the sum of the parts here appear to compete for training value rather than complement each other into making a whole greater than the individual parts.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm fully supportive of creativity. However, this strikes me as a complicated simple exercise. You would probably do yourself greater justice in training value by dedicating to one or two attributes at a time in a cycle OR sophisticating a simple exercise rather than complicating it with apparati.

[hugojkd]

Thanks for the advice Coach Sonnon.

How do I get to the welcome mat?

Hugo

[Doug Szolek]

The Knuckledragger Tribe Welcome Mat (http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13) is at the top of the list of forums on the main page.
Or click the above link :)