a.k.a - THE best stretch youre NOT doing for your posture! EVERYBODY should be doing this multiple times a week. From my years of being a PT, Ive noticed a trend in clients and people in general - EVERYONE HAS TERRIBLE POSTURE, whether it be from office jobs or favoring chest exercises or kyphosis (think hunchback) or just the general day-to-day living of always moving forwards and hunching over to use tools / lift things. Muscles are reciprocal and typically have an agonist / antagonist relationship. As such, being hunched over creates tightness in the chest, which results in a slouch and from sitting and long periods of sitting / running creates tightness in the hip flexors which results in lower back pain. When one muscle / group is tight the opposing group becomes stretched and then comes the ugly onset of back pain. Why? This exercise is great for safely forcing you out of a slouched position and into an arched / stretched position. Really helpful for correcting posture and relieving all the tight / sore and weak / stretched muscle groups in your upper body, mainly the chest and lats. How? 1. Position the foam roller perpendicular to your spine and right up against you in a seated position 2. Slowly lean back and place your elbows / forearms on the roller 3. Straighten your arms, lift your bum and roll yourself down the roller until it is beneath your shoulder blades (too high and you wont feel a stretch, too low and it will be painfully uncomfortable) 4. Place your bum back on the floor and your hands supporting your head with interlocked fingers, make sure your elbows are no wider than shoulder-width apart 5. Relax, focus on meditative breathing, close your eyes if you like, and let the weight of your head weigh down your arms and in-turn arch your body - do not force this stretch just relax and let it happen! Note how as I relax my head goes lower and lower and eventually touches the floor. Dont try and get to the floor if you cant stretch that far! Hold this for 1 minute AT LEAST - the longer you hold this the more your posture will be corrected! Once you have had enough, slowly engage your abs to lift your head back up and then roll out into a seated position. Practice and give this a go and if you do this for at least 1 minute, 3x a week you will have noticeable changes to your posture and day-to-day living.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:42:16 +0000
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