At some point over the course of history our great ancestors
learned to stand upright, why we stopped doing that is cause for alarm.
Lucky for you, it doesn't have to be this way. For this reason, I
challenge you to read the rest of this article with good posture. That
means 90 degrees at your hip, 90 degrees at your knees, with a neutral
spine and neck.
As athletes and CrossFit gurus, we put a heavy emphasis on neutral spine during our lifts, but as soon as we hit the seat of our car to drive home we abandon these principles, and hunch over. All of us have the flexibility, strength (deep down) and endurance to sit upright, but we need to put added awareness into maintaining this posture throughout our day-to-day activities.
Maintaining good posture in the gym is vital for all power lifts, that will make lifts more explosive as well as infinitely safer. This good gym posture does not necessarily transfer to sitting or even standing. For many of us, good posture is a constant battle with your body, and the hours spent in bad posture dramatically outweigh the time spent in the gym with good posture.
Whether it's your laborious hours developing Excel Spreadsheets for your boss, FaceStalking an ex, watching the Bachelor or whatever your other guilty pleasures may be, you are spending way more time brutalizing your posture than your one hour at the gym is doing to correct it.
So let's start by focusing on your current posture. In the one paragraph since I challenged you to focus on your posture, have you maintained it? Don't worry, I haven't either. Make sure your hips and knees have about a 90-degree bend with neutral spine.
Pretend there is a wall behind your chair, and place your head on this imaginary wall. Now check out what you are looking at (probably your computer or Smart Phone). Is it level with your eyes, or are you looking down? And if you are looking down, is it greater than 25-degrees below eye level. If it falls below this range, you are more likely to start sacrificing your spinal posture not long after you start.
What if you can't do it subconsciously, what should you do? You can start be setting yourself constant reminders. This How-to-Geek link breaks down how to set reminders and can be an effective tool used to generate awareness. Set yourself a computer reminder once an hour, or use the calendar app on your smart phone to set similar reminders.
Do this for a week. By the end of the week, estimate how many times you were maintaining good posture at the time your alarm sounded. You can lessen, or even get rid of these reminders when you posture begins to improve.
While in the gym, focus on core endurance workouts. Do back extensions on the GHD, play with your deadlift, power cleans, pull-ups and anything else that will activate your posterior chain, in particular anything between your glute and scapula. While doing these exercises, focus on positioning which are critical for your explosion, endurance and safety. The most common injury in CrossFit is back pain, and the #1 thing you'll hear me say in Factum CrossFit is "STRONG BACK", probably because it seems to be the most common body mechanic that the typical CrossFitter compromises. Likewise, what I don't want to see, is a frat-boy-like emphasis on your abdominal wall. What good is a six-pack if you can't walk?
Finally, focus on your post-workout nutrition. Replenish your body with amino acids as quickly as you can following a workout. Any meats, seeds and nuts will do. This will regenerate your muscles and heal them after your workout, which, over time, will increase your posterior chains endurance, allowing you to hold neutral spine, shoulders back and extended hips.
Even as I wrote this article, I attempted to maintain perfect posture through-out, and honestly, it's exhausting. But focus on it anyway, because your posture is an investment that will pay off in long-term dividends as you carry on to a better life, with better posture.
As athletes and CrossFit gurus, we put a heavy emphasis on neutral spine during our lifts, but as soon as we hit the seat of our car to drive home we abandon these principles, and hunch over. All of us have the flexibility, strength (deep down) and endurance to sit upright, but we need to put added awareness into maintaining this posture throughout our day-to-day activities.
Maintaining good posture in the gym is vital for all power lifts, that will make lifts more explosive as well as infinitely safer. This good gym posture does not necessarily transfer to sitting or even standing. For many of us, good posture is a constant battle with your body, and the hours spent in bad posture dramatically outweigh the time spent in the gym with good posture.
Whether it's your laborious hours developing Excel Spreadsheets for your boss, FaceStalking an ex, watching the Bachelor or whatever your other guilty pleasures may be, you are spending way more time brutalizing your posture than your one hour at the gym is doing to correct it.
So let's start by focusing on your current posture. In the one paragraph since I challenged you to focus on your posture, have you maintained it? Don't worry, I haven't either. Make sure your hips and knees have about a 90-degree bend with neutral spine.
Pretend there is a wall behind your chair, and place your head on this imaginary wall. Now check out what you are looking at (probably your computer or Smart Phone). Is it level with your eyes, or are you looking down? And if you are looking down, is it greater than 25-degrees below eye level. If it falls below this range, you are more likely to start sacrificing your spinal posture not long after you start.
What if you can't do it subconsciously, what should you do? You can start be setting yourself constant reminders. This How-to-Geek link breaks down how to set reminders and can be an effective tool used to generate awareness. Set yourself a computer reminder once an hour, or use the calendar app on your smart phone to set similar reminders.
Do this for a week. By the end of the week, estimate how many times you were maintaining good posture at the time your alarm sounded. You can lessen, or even get rid of these reminders when you posture begins to improve.
While in the gym, focus on core endurance workouts. Do back extensions on the GHD, play with your deadlift, power cleans, pull-ups and anything else that will activate your posterior chain, in particular anything between your glute and scapula. While doing these exercises, focus on positioning which are critical for your explosion, endurance and safety. The most common injury in CrossFit is back pain, and the #1 thing you'll hear me say in Factum CrossFit is "STRONG BACK", probably because it seems to be the most common body mechanic that the typical CrossFitter compromises. Likewise, what I don't want to see, is a frat-boy-like emphasis on your abdominal wall. What good is a six-pack if you can't walk?
Finally, focus on your post-workout nutrition. Replenish your body with amino acids as quickly as you can following a workout. Any meats, seeds and nuts will do. This will regenerate your muscles and heal them after your workout, which, over time, will increase your posterior chains endurance, allowing you to hold neutral spine, shoulders back and extended hips.
Even as I wrote this article, I attempted to maintain perfect posture through-out, and honestly, it's exhausting. But focus on it anyway, because your posture is an investment that will pay off in long-term dividends as you carry on to a better life, with better posture.
If you liked this, try these articles:
Muscle Progressing to your CrossFit Muscle-up
Kettlebell: Perfect for Posture, MMA and CrossFit
Philip Gephardt is a professional fighter and owner/founder of Factum CrossFit and MMA in Utah. Phil was a nationally ranked wrestler before switching sports and focusing on a professional mixed martial arts career turned gym owner.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Gephardt
Muscle Progressing to your CrossFit Muscle-up
Kettlebell: Perfect for Posture, MMA and CrossFit
Philip Gephardt is a professional fighter and owner/founder of Factum CrossFit and MMA in Utah. Phil was a nationally ranked wrestler before switching sports and focusing on a professional mixed martial arts career turned gym owner.
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