You are either going to love this or hate it. Our upper back is called the thoracic spine. There are a couple things you need to know about the thoracic spine/vertebrae.

1. There are 12

2. Each of the 12 thoracic vertebra have a rib that inserts into them. So think about that, the ribs come out of the spine (one to the left and one to the right from each vertebrae) and wrap around to the front of the body.

3. The shoulder blades sit on top of the ribs and are attached by muscle.

4. The cervical spine (or neck) goes where the thoracic spine goes.

In this exercise, you will be arching over a foam roller, I recommend a soft one. If you don't have a soft one, click here to see the one I recommend from Amazon.

Because we most often exaggerate the forward rounded curve of the thoracic spine (hyperkyphosis), this exercise leads us into the opposite action. Instead of rounding forward, we are arching backward. It will be a stretch for many of us.

The muscles in the back of the body are already stretched out, so the stretch that most of us will feel is in the front of the body. The chest opens. The pectorals muscles stretch, especially as we add those arms.

The area you might feel the most difficulty is in the neck. You might not like the feeling of extending your head back, especially if it lives happily in forward placement.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Arch back over foam roller.

2. Use your hands to support your neck and error on the side of caution. Remember, we don't want to bring any more tension into already tense muscles.

3. Try to tuck the chin in just slightly and that will help strengthen the neck flexors a bit.

REPS:

• Do these at your own comfort. I am not going to give you a specific number because 1 might feel difficult. Increase the time you hold it.