30/10/2025
Ever been told to lift with your legs, not your back? Whilst this advice is well meaning and has been used in manual handling guidance for decades, it is based off largely outdated ideas that flexing/bending the back is a major cause of lower back pain and injury.
The spine is made up of many joints with lots of muscles, and is designed to bend and flex in all sorts of different directions. Whilst you might be stronger by using more legs when lifting, you can still bend your spine without risking serious injury. In fact, lifting without flexing your spine (even when it appears straight from the outside) usually results in a fair bit of spine movement under the surface!
So if you want to be prepared for the inevitable spine flexion you are going to encounter day to day, you might want to try some movements that train spine flexion, like the Jefferson Curls demonstrated by Josh here. These movements are the sort of thing you want to build up to gradually, not jump straight into with heavy loads - Josh has trained this sort of movement for years so has built up a fair bit of tolerance to this movement! But star with some light weights and build up slowly, in time you’ll be bending and sending it like a pro!
If you want to see a real spine bendy pro, check out Dixon Health sponsored athlete his world record seated deadlift.
