00:30 – How to become a world class expert in spinal mechanics and back pain
08:04 – Studying spines in the lab and what that tells you about spines in athletes
13:56 – Disc herniations and pain
19:30 – Dr McGill’s work with Olympians and elite athletes
23:48 – The athleticism of MMA fighter George St. Pierre
29:43 – Principles for avoiding back pain injury
34:27 – The power of the neutral spine
45:12 – The advantages and dangers of developing power through spinal rotation
50:52 – How elite strikers hit so hard
54:16 – Posture and spinal position in jiu-jitsu
1:00:55 – Hip morphology and leg flexibility of great jiu-jitsu fighters
1:05:54 – Books and other resources by Dr McGill

Back pain is incredibly common in sport, including all combative sports like jiu-jitsu, MMA, boxing and judo. That is why I was thrilled to talk to Dr Stuart McGill, one of the world’s leading experts on back pain.

Dr McGill spent 30 years researching and teaching spinal mechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has published more than 300 scientific papers, written 3 textbooks, and has worked to improve sports performance with countless athletes from almost every sport.

His book, “Back Mechanic: The Step-by-Step McGill Method to Fix Back Pain” has become a classic manual for living a painfree life and “Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance” is a guide for many coaches to bring their athletes up to the next level of performance while avoiding a debilitating back injury.

Injury is the enemy, and avoiding injury is the key to a long and successful athletic career, so I hope you enjoy this episode!

You can also catch my conversation with Dr McGill on episode 301 of The Strenuous Life Podcast in audio-only at the links below:

The Strenuous Life on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/strenuous-life-podcast-stephan-kesting-grapplearts/id320705565?mt=2

The Strenuous Life on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2tlc3RpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=

The Strenuous Life on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5NTGdrtMZv8JcxpUBcdREx

The Strenuous Life on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stephan-kesting/grapplearts-radio-podcast

Cheers,
Stephan Kesting