Online Fitness Training & Movement Rehab by a Qualified Physiotherapist & Personal Trainer.
THE BENEFITS OF OVERHEAD PRESSING AFTER ROTATOR CUFF INJURY
YOUR CHILD'S IPAD POSTURE
DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH PULLUPS?
DO YOU GET LOW BACK PAIN WITH DEADLIFTS OR KETTLEBELL SWINGS?
Perhaps you are compromising your back as a result of poor hip movement...
Studies done on low back pain show that the pain is often caused by losing the ability to move through the hips. I see this all the time in clients and always have to re-pattern their hip movement to save their backs!
Dr Stuart McGill strikes again: “This is why the hip hinge is known to be a superior movement pattern for low back pain clients. Learning to hip hinge is paramount for both injury prevention and optimal performance.”
Too right Stuart!
Learn how to move before you learn how to be strong!
If you'd like to learn how to hip hinge correctly, check this out.
If you feel like you need to work on your hip mobility then follow one of our hip mobility videos here.
Don't sacrifice your lower back for Deadlifts or Kettlebell Swings unless the movement has been broken down and taught to you effectively and you can carry it out extremely well.
CORE EXERCISE #1 : BREATHING
Four of my top core exercises everyone should make a part of their exercise regime...
First up is...
BREATHING:
The first being BREATHING:
Before you laugh, yes, I did say breathing!
Simple right? Not really. Most of us (myself being a culprit at times) are dysfunctional breathers, this being due to stress; injury; emotional issues; poor health etc. We breathe around 20,000+ breaths per day, that is a lot of opportunity for dysfunction.
We use our core muscles for breathing; simplified our diaphragm & pelvic floor contract together on the inhale to create Intra Abdominal Pressure (IAP), this stabilises our spine & we recruit our remaining core muscles on the exhale.
The dysfunction comes in when we either hold in our stomachs for long periods (females being biggest culprits) or start taking shallower breaths. This makes it extremely hard for normal functional breathing and requires us to recruit our neck and chest muscles with every breath.
To learn how to work on your breathing keep reading. I would highly recommend ANYONE with lower back pain to focus on their breathing especially but really EVERYONE should be doing it...
Visit our exercise library and have a read through our Stability Exercises the first 3 exercises that come up which are about BREATHING.
MYTHS OF ISOLATING CORE MUSCLES
FROM HIGH HEELS TO FLATS
Don't sacrifice your body for fashion
It is no secret that excessive use of high heels will lead to not only foot and lower leg conditions but it will have a negative impact throughout the whole body. Walking in high heels shifts the natural posture of your spine and creates an increased lumbar lordosis (natural curve in the lower back). It also shifts excess weight into the knees and does not allow your calf muscles to elongate fully back to their natural length, therefore creating a shortened position of the calf muscles over time. Not to mention the changes in the feet from being scrunched and jammed into tiny shoes that are usually quite narrow towards the forefoot.
Some of the common conditions that develop as a result of wearing high heels too often.
Even Victoria Beckham has hung up her high heels in exchange for more natural footwear.
More and more celebrities and ladies alike are moving towards flat shoes to save their overall health. Read more about it here. Just disregard the part in the article where Doctors suggest a one or two inch heel. This is rubbish and makes no sense!
I personally cannot remember the last time I found it necessary to put a pair of heels on.
Barefoot is how I spend most of my time these days. I am lucky enough to work in my own studio space where myself and all my clients remove their shoes as they walk in. The best footwear you can have is none at all.
If you are looking to wean yourself off the heels and try to return yourself to a more natural state of being then here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling:
1. Spend more time barefoot
2. Invest in some comfortable flat footwear that will compliment your usual attire
3. Spend time every day rolling out your feet...instructions can be found here
4. Find confidence in who you are without feeling you need heels to achieve this
5. Date a shorter guy ;-p
If you need help with your posture or suffer from foot or leg pain, whether or not you are a high heel victim, then we can assess you and design a specific programme that you can carry out at home to move you out of pain.
