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Updated with good back and abs example.

Congrats to Ashley and Michelle for a new press PRs.  Seriously, when you do your 5x5 set at your one month old PR, something is working.  Especially when Ash has been with us for a while.  Also, I talked to Jessi last night.  She is in our On-Ramp class, and has gone Paleo for two weeks.  She was a little worried she hasn't seen a weight drop.  However, she then realized she has lost TWO inches on her waist.  Two weeks.  I'll take it.

Since doing the wonderful 'Air Force 20' workout, it became very apparent, I haven't hammered this one home enough.  Let me clear this one up right now.

When doing pretty much anything, you need to have midline stability.  We talk about pushing the hips back during the power lifts.  This should not happen at the cost of letting your core go.  It will create a huge lumbar curve.  Back squatting or dead lifts like this will result in you pulling a stripper move, your hips come up faster than your torso.  Basically if your ribs stick out, things are going to go bad.  Same thing applies with the Oly lifts or their derivatives.  If you are trying to get your hips down to your heels (ass to ankles) you have to keep a flexed midline.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Check out these shots.  This is an example of what NOT to do.  There is not much good going on here.  (Give me a break, it was a rough wod...)  If you start out like this...

...or like this...

You will wind up like this...

I'm on my heels, as much as I can be.  What can go wrong if I'm on my heels?  My hips are way back instead of sitting as close to my heels as possible.  (Specific to Oly lifts.  I won't get into the power lift vs. Oly lifts discussion today.)  I'm not engaging my midline at all, stressing the spine by giving it zero support.  I've got a decent weight overhead and I am basically relying on the density of my spinal cord to hold it up.  There isn't any musculature support going on.  Here's a real world example.  Take your Starbucks cup sleeve and fold it in half.  Push down on the sides and watch it bow.  There is no support other than the cardboard itself.  This is what I'm doing to my spine here. 

How do you fix this?  Stand tall.  Chest up, gut sucked in.  Flex your abs (yes, you all have them) like you are trying to impress someone with your newly aquired six pack.  Hold your breath, down and up.  (Or up and down for the DL.) This is the first step in midline stability.  There are a lot of other things going on, but this is key for most.  If you can't maintain, it's too heavy.  Win the marathon, not the first mile.  Drop the weight and build your strength using the correct form. 

I borrowed this from CF.  Greg Amundson shows an OHS. Notice the abs are sucked in with the flat back. That's all I want to get into, but you can see the difference.