Fixing he
om uter Gu Po ture
Lo er back/ ip s abili y Let’s look at ideal posture for a minute. Look at your profile in the mirror. Cha ces are you’re gonna find that you head is jutting forward, or that your shoulders are slumped fo ward coupled with a hunchback posture, or that your lower back i so arched that your stomach pr trudes for ard, giving you the “skinny gut”. P ople are under the istaken im ression tha working o t hard in the gym will fix this. Let’s make ne thing cl ar - what y u do in the gym only cements what you have. If you have bad posture, hea y lifting makes it worse. If you have good p sture, heavy lifting ma es it better. Of c urse there are exceptions to this, but for the majority of the population, that’s the norm. This post is about a terior pelvic tilt, the m st common posture dy function. I ill address posterior pelvic tilt in another post. How do you know i you have an anterior pelvic tilt? Look at your belt. If you belt points tow rds the floor, you have an anterior pelvic tilt. Or, look side ays in the mirror. does yo r butt stick out? Chanc s are that y u have an nterior pel ic tilt. I’m g nna break b d posture i 2 sections, lower body and upper body. The lower body i fluences the upper body, b t upper bo y doesn’t always influence the lower body.
The classic bad guy in APT are ight hip flexors coupled with a ti ht rectus f emoris (qu ds) and lumbar erectors (l wer back). The weakened muscles are the glute max, h mstrings and the abs (mostly the rectus abdominus and external obliqu s). Most pe ple think that the hamstrings are tigh in this position and str tch the heck out of them, but the hamstrings are actually in a lengthe ed state – tretching t em will onl make it w rse. Due to antagonist ominance, the glute m x will not fire to its ma imum capacity and to ick up for t is slack, the adductor agnus and the hamstrings will be forc d to step in. this leads to hamstring pulls and groin pulls. Have you ever he rd of an athlete suffering from glute pulls?
Steps
1) Lenghten t e Hip Flexo s 2) ctivate an strengthe the glutes 3) Lower back stretching 4) Strenghtening abs
Lunge S retch Lengthen the hip fle hip fle ors
30 seco ds per leg
Move hip, not lower ba k. Squeeze bu t of leg of leg behind you. Push hips f rward, rota e hips slightly fro side to sid .
Hip Circ it Hip Mobility
10 circles in both directions 10 abductions (mov leg sidewa s) 10 supe dogs (kick l g up) Glute Bridges Activate and strengt and strengt hen the glut es.
Move hips up by squeezing glutes.
15 slow movements up and dow and dow n Cook Hi Lift Advanc d glute d glute acti ation.
10 for 10 for e e ch leg
Clam Hip Mobility
10 for e ch leg
Half squ Half squat Half Dea Half Dea lift Activati g posterior chain
10 for e ch leg
Ke p tennisball between leg and rib age. Squeeze other glu e. Raise several inc es. Isolate lute fro lower back/hamstrings. Keep your spine in one line, raise upper le focussing on the gl te muscles.
Be d over/squ t down untill you asume this posiition. Move up by usi g hips.
Do not stretch the back via traditional flexion stretches like the toe touch stretch. Although it is a decent lumbar stretch, it puts a lot of pressure n the spinal discs and can make a bad b ck worse.
Cat and Camel Stretch Stretch t he lower ba lower back
10x
ull bellybut on i wards. Pull knees and arms up. Lower l ft leg and right arm. Alternate.
Dead Bug Train/ti hten abdo inal muscle inal muscle .
10 repetitions
Knees should have a very slight bend in them. You abs should be tight with a slight arch in the lo er back and the butt should be squ ezed hard.
Plank Train/ti hten abdo inal muscle inal muscle .
60 seco d plank
Foam R lling
Hips Quads Calves IT Band
Fixing he
om uter Gu
Lo er back/ ip s abili y Before, I talked abo t the anterior pelvic tilt and how to fix it. If you haven’t rea that, please do. This post shall be a out the up er body dysfunction th t normally accompani s the lower body issues. But let’s get ne thing st aight – you can fix the pper body as much as ou want, b t unless the low r body is o timally aligned, the up er body will not be. Th upper body is a slave to the lower b dy. Fix the llower body and the upper body gets a lot better. Fix the upper body and the lower b dy will not necessarily ollow. I hope you understand this. Most people in today’s soci ty have the “Qu simodo” lo k, the bent upper back with slu ped shoulders and a n ck that juts out. This can be lead to a lot of tensi n in the u per traps and the l vator scapulae, can le d to the ope mouth breathing, and in some cases, can lead to migrain s. The tigh muscles in this scenario are usually the pec minor, the lats and sometimes, the upper abs. The stretched out muscles are the rhomboids, the mid an lower traps, and the thoracic exte sors. Reme ber the amstrings rom yester ay’s article? The leva ors and tra s are the e uivalent of the hamstri gs, as in, they are in a s retched position. Look at this picture of the he d jutting forward. The levators have t always be ctive, or else the head is gonna succumb to gr vity. Stretc ing them will only mak the matter worse. The rick is to get the thoracic spine back into its na ural curves, nd to get t e head into a more neutral positio – “floating on top of the body.
Foam rolling Thoracic Spine DeFranco's Upper b Upper b dy warm dy warm‐u
10 times centered 10 times left 10 times right
Extendi g thoracic pine Thoracic mobility
10 reps
eparate scapula nd foam roll upper ack, 10 tim s entered
Extendi g thoracic pine Thoracic mobility
Put arms on low bench, pus down the chest.
10 reps
Wall Pe Stretch
Grab doorledge r column. ently push chest forw rd during stretch
45 seco ds each ar
Lats Str tch
Hold beam, lean back till lat stretched.
45 seco ds per arm
Shoulder Stretch
Hold for 60 seconds
Shoulder dislocatio s
15 reps
Scapula Wall Slide Scapula depression and retraction and retraction
10 reps
Chin Tu k Deep neck flexors flexors 10 reps
Hands back. Slide body forwards till stretchy fe ling in shoulders is felt.
Start wide, use rope or broomstick. Tilt arms around till you tu h your butt. Grip tighter when things loosen up.
M scle activatiion mid‐bac . Get th elbows as low as possi le wi hout overa ching the lo er ba k.
Chin Tuck : Stand with back and head gainst wall. Kee ing back of head to wall, roll chin down to ards neck. It is a very small movemen .
Reverse Crunch
Prevent lordosis/kyphosis Strengh en Abs en Abs 3*max Lie b ck on the floor. Flex yo r knees. Raise your kne s against your hea by crunchi g your abs. Keep feet d wn, legs squeezed and head on the floor. Put pelvis on floor after each rep. Work abs, not flexors. Don’t let legs come past perp ndicular.
