Correcting
Bad Posture with
Abdominal Training
QUESTION:
David:
Thank you for your Q & A column - I always look forward to your next installment.
I have a question about posture and your abs! I have a very swayed back, and that
seems to affect the shape of my abs. My brother is in very good shape and he has
the same problem, though not as noticeable as me. Do you have any suggestions
on how to correct this, keeping in mind that I play hockey once a week year-round
and work as a heavy truck mechanic? I just can't seem to focus and start a workout
regimen. I eat fairly healthy and don't drink much alcohol, I'm 41 and 6'1"
tall 35" waist, about 235 lbs., 44" chest. My main problem is the love
handles and beer belly. Keep up writing your articles, they're great!
Regards,
Terry
C.
ANSWER:
I'm
glad you asked this because posture is a very important topic for functional movement
in everyday activities as well as in athletic performance, but I don't think it
has been emphasized enough.
Posture
is extremely important because posture is the position from which movement begins
and ends. If you do not express good posture, your body is subjected to undue
stress especially in your joint structures. Having ideal posture creates a balanced
environment for all your supporting structures and helps avoid helps avoid injury
and "deformation" of the body (such as the way you say your swayback
changes the appearance of your abdominal region).
From
reading your question, it's apparent that you have several issues that need to
be addressed, but first and foremost is your posture situation and what you call
a "swayback." If your brother has the same condition, then you can probably
look at your dad and grandfather and find the same postural circumstances. Sometimes
people get swayback confused with a flat back. Swayback is a condition that creates
a posteriorly rotated pelvis (pelvis tucked under tush), rounded shoulders, bent
knees and forward head posture.
Most
swaybacked people are on the tall side. They tend to look down on other people,
which contributes to this type of postural imbalance.
To
understand it more, we must look at "upper cross" and "lower cross"
syndromes. Upper cross syndrome is created by an imbalance between your trunk
extensors and your trunk flexors. The trunk flexors tend to be dominating and
stronger, thus creating a short tight abdominal region, pulling the rib cage closer
to the pelvis.
Characteristics
of this condition are forward head posture, drooping rounded shoulders and a "pigeon
chest." The knees and ankles tend to bend because they have to counter-balance
the hump-backed upper body. In swayback posture, we could easily have both upper
cross and lower cross syndrome and often do. One leads to the other and vice versa.
To
compensate for the sway and to keep the center of gravity over your base of support
(your feet), your back and pelvis tend to flatten out and drift forward. Lower
cross syndrome consists of tightening of the hamstrings and abdominals while lengthening
the lumbar erectors, thigh muscles and hip flexors.
To
correct these postural situations we must stretch the tight muscles and strengthen
the long and weak muscles.
For
example: To address the rounded shoulders - stretch the chest muscles, and perform
exercises such as the prone cobra, dumbbell bent over rows and alternating Supermans.
To
address the lower cross syndrome, we would we need to stretch your hamstrings
and abdominals and tighten the hip flexors with such exercises as like the Prone
Jackknife.
The
second part of your question was related to your recreational hockey playing.
When looking at how to structure a training program to enhance performance in
your sport, ask yourself, "What position does a hockey assume?" The
answer is, a bent over position (picture the body positioned for a slap shot movement).
This
position and movement is made up of several different movement patterns. The slap
shot is a combination of a side lunge, and upper body twist and a push. So some
exercises you would want to include would be multi-directional lunges, woodchoppers
and bent over rows.
Hockey
is also different from other sports because you get pounded into the boards. This
can result in massive structural damage to your body. There are some steps you
can take to help prepare and compensate for this type of collision. First you
must have good stability in your neck and lower back. To obtain this stability,
your conditioning program should include, but not be limited to Swiss ball neck
training, one arm C. R. A. C. dumbbell press, and supine lateral ball roll. Your
program should also include shoulder shrugs, dead lifts and high pulls. These
exercises strengthen the muscles in your cervical spine area and develop good
core strength.
The
final part of your question was, "How do I get rid of the love handles and
beer belly?" First of all, the love handles and the beer belly come from
poor eating habits. Part of your body's ability to store fat so easily has to
do with your genetic code. We carry fat as a protective mechanism to guard against
starvation.
All
body fat will decrease in response to a calorie deficit created by exercising
more and eating a little less. However, love handles and the beer belly usually
come from your body having stubborn fat deposits. These stubborn fat deposits
are fat cells that will not relinquish their energy without a fight. I'm sure
you've noticed that even as you lose weight, the abdominal fat is usually the
last place to go.
Stubborn
fat cells are estrogen dominant cells and estrogen is a fat-producing hormone.
You mentioned that you don't drink much alcohol, but take a close look at how
much is not much. Believe it or not, beer contains hops; hops contain estrogenic
compounds which help you develop that beer belly (so there is some truth to the
idea of the "beer belly" and you should minimize alcohol consumption
when fat loss is your goal)
To
rid yourself of body of stubborn fat, you should also eat more cruciferous vegetables
such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Avoid drinking anything from a plastic
container, avoid soy proteins, eat organic food as much as possible, increase
omega 3 oils (fish) and decrease your omega 6 intake.
