Have you been told that your T-Tapp flat back isn’t really flat? When you check your flatback in the mirror or in a photo is your bottom far behind your heels? Even if your form looks perfectly wonderful you still might be able to kick up your muscle activation by playing both ends against the middle.

When standing in flatback, rather than trying to put your back into a straight line by trying to lift or drop it I'd like you to try to elongate your spine all the way through your head and neck to literally pull your head forward. Doing so will lift your head into line with your spine and tend to straighten your back. (If you have a rounded upper back it may take some time for this “traction” to pull it straight but over time it will straighten out.) In order to effectively elongate anything you always need an opposing “something” to pull against and that brings me to the next correction I want you to work on.

I'd like you to stand in T-Tapp basic stance with shoulders over hips, bend as deeply as you're able, tuck (without clenching) as deeply as you can, press your knees to little toe and then bend from your hip crease to move toward flat back while making every effort not to allow your bottom to move backward behind your feet. It's going to have to move a little bit but I want you to fight it by pulling your head forward as if you were trying to stretch your spine to make it 2" longer. Another visual would be slipping a foam spacer between each of your vertebra.

When you hit it right you'll feel it in the hamstrings. You won't have to fight to hold your stomach in because your transverse abs will be super tight and you'll also feel your lats.

Your tendency will be to roll your weight forward onto the front of your feet and that's ok as long as you sink the weight evenly into the ball joint behind the big toe, the area between the last two toes and your heel, while lifting up on your insteps. Your toes should be free and relaxed and wiggling them should be easy.

If you don't have someone to watch you perform these actions and provide you with feedback you can use a blank wall for feedback.

Stand with your back to the wall, about three inches from it. Then take T-Tapp basic stance and reach forward an out as you fold from the hips into a flatback. If you're pushing your glutes back you'll bump into the wall. Then stand facing the wall far enough away that your head will be 3-5" from the wall when you fold into flatback. Once you've taken the flatback position reach forward from the base of your spine through your head trying to touch your head to the wall. The wall will act as a safety net preventing you from losing your balance and falling all the way forward.

Another way to get the feeling of spinal elongation is to lie on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat and in alignment. Tuck your bottom and imagine that you're slipping foam spacers in between your backbones, one at a time. It's ok to wiggle your head and shoulders as you attempt to stretch your spine taller and taller. It's also ok to stretch your arms overhead (on the floor) as far as you can in order to stretch the spine. Then lower the arms to your side without losing the spinal stretch.

Elongating your spine in this way activates much more muscle than just straightening your posture or simply stacking your shoulders over your hips. Your postural muscles gobble up glucose so this type of elongation can also kick up your calorie burn.

But most importantly this kind of elongation gives you a stable torso area you can use to "pull" away from in order to beef up results in the upper body. (More on that later.)

Once you’ve gotten a feel for this elongation in flat back and on the floor try holding the elongation during standing moves and finally in balance moves on one foot.

When elongating your spine while standing you can the drop of your tailbone as an anchor to pull up against. Doing so will help prevent you from pulling right up out of your plie. It will also help keep your shoulders over your hips rather than behind them if you tend to be a backward leaner.

When performing balance moves it will keep your core stable, which will allow you to work the movements more deeply to challenge your balance even more than you thought possible.

Yep, all that and more and all you did was work both ends against the middle.