T-Spine Rotations in Break Point

One of the episodes in the Netflix docuseries “Break Point” centered around the romance between Ajla Tomljanović and Matteo Berrettini. At the time, they were the “it couple” of professional tennis. A video montage of Tomljanović’ featured her doing an exercise in the training room that I am going to charitably call a “Quadruped Thoracic Spine Rotation with Reach.”

This exercise targets the thoracic spine, which is the upper and middle part of the back. Rotating the spine and reaching increases mobility in this area which is critical for stroke production in tennis. These muscles are particularly involved in the serve and overhead. This exercise also increases mobility in the shoulders.

It is a great exercise for warming up the shoulder muscles before training or competing. I believe that to be the context for Tomljanović in this case. She is either very relaxed in the clip or lacks intensity. The soundtrack the producers placed over that sequence may contribute to that overall impression.

The “Quadruped Thoracic Spine Rotation with Reach” (or T-Spine rotations) starts in a quadruped position with the hands below the shoulders and the knees under the hips in a comfortable position. In Tomljanović’s variation, she alternatively removes one arm from the mat and reaches that arm upwards allowing her gaze to follow the arm. That arm is returned to the mat and the exercise is repeated using the other arm.

An alternative version is to sweep the arm from the raised position all the way back down and under the body to reach in the opposite direction before returning it to the mat. That variation provides a much fuller range of motion than the one that Tomljanović is seen performing.

Strengthening and increasing the flexibility of the muscles in the T-Spine can reduce the chance of injury and support better performance on the court. It is a great exercise for tennis players.

I found the following short YouTube video that is a great illustration of the technique.