During the beginning of each semester of my exercise science course at Montclair State University, we review spinal alignments & postures with their effects on health.
When we sit for prolonged periods of times this essentially freezes your body into a specific position: a flexed (rounded) lumbar spine (lower back) that works its way up the chain flexing your thoracic spine (upper back) and neck.
Standing posture puts 100% load on the lower back, the sitting posture mentioned above can put ~190% load on the lower back.
Compare that to proper upright sitting that only puts 140% load on the lower back.
It is reported that ~80% of adults have had at least one incident of lower back injury.
Jobs that require sitting for prolonged periods aren’t a recipe for good spine health. Here are 3-ways we can fix our sitting posture for better health:
#1 Adjust your position
We need to be conscious of our posture when we’re sitting…NO SLUMPING. Sitting as upright as possible with lower back support that provides a slight curve is most optimal. It could be as easy as putting a pillow behind your lower back. Compared to sitting in a slumped back or hunchback position.
#2 Get up & move around (preferably outside)
Set a timer for every ~60 minutes to get up and walk around. Try to hit between 150-250 steps per hour! Especially with the climate of today’s work world where many adults are still working remotely from home, there’s less activity. Grab some fresh air, take a walk to the restroom, take your dog outside, walk up and down the stairs, etc
#3 Do these exercises
Once you’ve gotten up to walk around, before you sit back down try these three exercises out: • Supine Bridge: 15 reps. These will gets your glutes activated since they are not being engaged while sitting. *Hold on to a table or wall for assistance, if needed!*
• Quadruped T-Spine Rotations: 12 reps per side. These will help open up your front side and extend your upper back.
• Split Squat: 10/side. Due to the 1-legged nature of the movement, this will take stress off the spine compared to a 2-leg squat.
We listened to the survey responses over the summer. As a token our gratitude in believing in us with your athletes development, we would like to extend a FREE 2-Week Trial to our semi-private, adult fitness program! We still have a few spots open who want to lose weight, gain muscle, look & feel better, and dial in their nutrition.
The free 2-week trial will include 6 semi-private training sessions at 7am, 1 health & performance assessment, and 1 nutrition consultation.
REPLY directly to this email or click the link below to redeem your FREE 2-week trial!
Stay fast,
Connor
P.S. If you’re still not sure, simply respond to this email and I’m happy to get on a call with you to see if it’s a good fit for you.
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