Neutral Spine or Pervert Hips? Neutral is NOT Straight!

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Let’s chat quick about neutral spine. Neutral is the natural position of the spine when we’re not actively flexing or extending any segment. This is NOT straight-a neutral spine is curved.
The lumbar spine curves in one direction, the thoracic spine in the other, and the cervical spine back again like the lumbar.
It seems increasingly common to see advice to straighten the lumbar spine to achieve what’s mistakenly being called neutrality, with athletes tucking the pelvis under into the position I call, for what should be obvious reasons, Pervert Hips.
Neutral curvature distributes pressure evenly across the surfaces of the vertebrae and intervertebral discs. Straightening the spine with Pervert Hips shifts more compressive force toward one side of the vertebrae and discs, increasing injury risk.
If we’re dealing primarily with compressive forces like in the jerk, push press, press and to a lesser extent squats, neutral is a good position-Pervert Hips is a big mistake.
Some athletes do have excessive lumbar extension, and this can be reduced with ab and glute tension to achieve neutral. But don’t overcorrect-you’ll end up in a position with more injury potential.
The abs are important. The glutes are important. But the back extensors are equally important, and all trunk musculature needs to work together from all directions to stabilize the spine.
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[@JuergenNoll]

Petition to include „pervert hips“ into official medical terminology.

[@catedoge3206]

t.t

[@scottkolasinski4434]

Thank you for correcting the "tucking of the hips" or pervert hips technique. Down with pervert hips!!

[@Thefunkeemonkee]

You are one of the few ones who actually knows how to properly execute an “olympic squat”. Many get confused and execute a hybrid squat thinking that is an olympic squat.

[@emmanuelhkhawlhring2538]

100% accept this video.

[@ezioauditore5616]

simple fast and with no ads

[@emma_freerider]

In the Crossfit box i train, the coach teach the pervert hip always, and i'm like, o s#it!

[@Monsztro]

Perfectly addressed

[@smooth_space]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels, I absolutely needed this video: the "pervert" hips so many others are pushing has felt so unnatural to me.

[@miljob]

ur watching my google searches then making videos.. im on to u.

[@jeffriggins9106]

Solid as always.

[@Ahmed-vk8pv]

I was thinking about the exact same thing during my squat workout yesterday!

[@siawinkelmolen2851]

I needed this!!

[@liftingafterdark3241]

Great video!!! I’ve been told this by a few “trainers” for pills and squats! Never made sense or felt right!

[@chriscook1365]

Very interesting as I have bad pelvic tilt and back pain from over extension so am doing pervert hips to try to find neutral all the time 🤷‍♂️

[@jaromvicencio]

Same here. How can you know that your pelvis is in the sweet spot? And how do you maintain that position throughout the lift?

[@crystallaye6920]

@catalystathletics i have the same two questions here as well. Help would be so great. I def over tuck.. So how you know when you've under tucked? I find getting neutral and keeping neutral is hard. Understanding the mechanics of the torso with pelvis/hips in all positions/movements would change my life!

[@shanehunsicker103]

Thanks for the content. You have been killing it lately with these videos. I just want to add that in general I feel people should only focus on pelvic position with compound movements during rehab/prehab work in those with low back issues. And if you have a low back issue, your probably not putting a barbell over your head too often anyway. You should't need to "tuck" or "set" your pelvis in a posterior tilt before squatting or any exercise. I really like floor work with some pelvic stability and tilting, but again this is more for rehab and conditioning.

[@juviegonzalez5000]

Love this insight, so legit!🤯💥🏋🏾‍♂️🏋️‍♀️

[@bartbtsful]

You're the boss!

[@InvisibleHotdog]

I've only heard the direction to position the hips back/stick ass out, not the other way around. "Pervert hips" looks like a subtle version of the lean back for oly pressing.

[@steved2008]

Good advice but I must say I’ve never heard anyone tell lifters to tuck their hips under (pervert hips😂) Good work fella, say hi to Rob Earwicker if he’s still over there 👋

[@CatalystAthletics]

I'm in a position to receive an unusual number of questions from people about what they see online, so I inadvertently get exposed to a lot more bad advice than the average person alone.

[@kanwaljits7364]

How to improve your split jerk.. Moment and speed under the bar

[@CatalystAthletics]

www.catalystathletics.com/video/section/3/Instructional-Olympic-Weightlifting/ www.catalystathletics.com/articles/

[@olyrhys8724]

1 pervert has already downvoted this

[@erolnisic2465]

So how you do you teach tightness in lower body then? Spread feet&pull knees up? Thank you for your time, your input with proper thoracic extension has been helpful

[@CatalystAthletics]

Not sure I follow your question... Do you mean tension in legs? During a squat? Or what?

[@erolnisic2465]

@@CatalystAthletics I mean generally how do you teach your athletes to stay tight while maintaining neutral spine. I was told to press for example to sink hips forward, tense glutes, legs and screw feet. Because sinking hips causes pervert hips, I was wondering how do you stay tight in the lower body?

[@CatalystAthletics]

Focus on the trunk itself instead of looking for weird peripheral cues. If you can control tension in your lower body, why can't you do the same in your trunk directly? That is, put your spine in the proper position and lock it in with abs and back musculature (as well as pressurization). If that is set and locked, you can do any motion with the lower body independently. Your pelvis is part of your trunk - setting the back means locking the pelvis into a static position relative to the spine, which means the legs can move at the hips without changing it. So screwing feet into the ground or whatever other stuff you're looking at should have zero influence on spinal stability - it only does if you're not actually tight, or if limited hip/ankle mobility prevents maintenance of that pelvic position at the ends of their ranges (e.g. in the bottom of a squat, or a very deep hinge).

[@erolnisic2465]

@@CatalystAthletics So to stabilize trunk, I presume I should refer to the getting your air articles and videos you've made? Also, how does the screwing feet etc. differ from what you wrote about in your loose knees=loose jerk?

[@CatalystAthletics]

@@erolnisic2465 Yes the only way you can truly stabilize the trunk is by pressurizing with air. Screwing feet into floor is rotation of the leg at the hip - has nothing to do with creating tension in the quads, which is primarily where you need tension to prevent the abrupt drop in a jerk dip.

[@theylivewesee1674]

what about looking up when pulling from the floor, I feel like when I look up the moment the weights are seperated from the floor my back is in long extended position and If I look straight my hips rise faster then my shoulders and I'm being pulled forward

[@CatalystAthletics]

As long as it's not so high up that you can't maintain the same focal point throughout the lift and it doesn't negatively influence your balance, I don't care.

[@Dzware92]

Would you say the same thing for pulling from the floor? It's kind of hard to keep a neutral spine in that position, so is tucking the hips a good thing or still bad for this?

[@kamilogorek]

For pulls, you sometimes want to even exaggerate it. See "Starting Position for the Snatch & Clean" video on this channel, at around 1:03 timestamp.

[@Dzware92]

@@kamilogorek Thanks, just looked it up. Guess it's quite different from the starting position of the deadlift 😅

[@CatalystAthletics]

Unless there's a very compelling reason not to (i.e. a pre-existing injury that contraindicates it), I teach flattening of the T-spine and slight exaggeration of the lumbar extension to create a single continuous and stronger arch of the entire back. See this - www.catalystathletics.com/article/2170/Creating-the-Optimal-Back-Arch-in-The-Snatch-Clean/

[@aldolopez3557]

Just google pervert for more examples of how not to have my hips. the firs image was a greg’s, the others not so much 😦