In a serendipitous moment, I finished a training session at a local gym and sat down to sip some water, cool off, and do what everyone now does - check email. I found a question from a reader regarding spinal compression while using a Roman Chair and it just so happened that that very day, I had witnessed the Roman Chair was in nearly non-stop use.
So, I had no choice but to write about it.
First up, a young woman perhaps mid-twenties, performed a rapid bending motion toward the floor followed by an such an aggressive extension of her spine that I thought she might break in two. I know it's uncouth to stare but I couldn't look away. It was the most Gumbyesque of movements. Finally she stopped, hopped off the devilish thing, and went on her way with no ill side effects. Yet.
Next, was a man in his 50's, carrying at least 30 lbs. of unproductive weight (that's PC for fat). My first thought was to intervene and suggest that perhaps he should re-direct his efforts into something that might be, well, better suited to him. But, I decided to just wait and see if he might need some help or a 911 call.
He climbed onto the chair like a someone mounting a horse for the first time. His face started to turn red. He tried to place his hands behind his head but he couldn't grasp his hands so he placed hands across his chest and proceeded to bend and straighten. He did about 8 reps and quit. I thought his face was going to explode like some nasty pimple. "Please don't do anymore or I'll have to say something and I'm sure it won't come out right," I thought. Thankfully, he rolled off the machine onto the floor, his chest heaving, and rested.
The Roman Chair serves no useful purpose other than to place your spine at risk for injury. It should be banned from all gyms. There are a lot of other ways to improve the endurance of your spine muscles, hamstrings, and gluteals without the same degree of risk as a Roman Chair.
Now, for the question from our reader:
I recently came across your article about the roman chair and the superman. How did you determine the spinal compression force as being over 1000 lbs for these two exercises? Wouldn't glute exercises that require you to press your leg up behind you cause similar compression, eg glute kickbacks? Or would the fact you're only doing one leg at a time reduce the compression force?
The determination of compression force was originally reported from Stuart McGill, PhD and his biomechanics lab. And, you're right that glute exercises that require you to press your leg up behind you create less compression partly because you're only lifting one leg and that leg is bent at the knee, usually, which reduces the effective weight of the leg and because your other leg and both hands are in contact with the floor providing a firm, stable, counterforce to the movement.
Skip the Roman Chair. Do forearm planks, side planks, full planks, and walk-up planks instead (a walk-up plank starts in the elbow plank position and you then "walk-up" to the full plank position and back down). These exercises are great drills for your core with low spinal compression loads.
