In this week's episode, Scott and I discuss my new prism glasses! Why I got them, where I got them from, and how they are going to improve my posture.
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Back Pain From Rowing
As a personal trainer and fitness coach, one of the common complaints I get is back pain after rowing workouts. Especially if the workout is longer or particularly intense. The problem I see is less with the technique and more with the individuals ability to hinge and extend the hip. When we clean that up, their rowing technique improves and the back pain goes away.
In this video, I show you a simple and effective breathing exercise inspired by the Postural Restoration Institute to feel abs and get some expansion into the upper back.
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The Best Exercise for Sitting At Your Desk
Since the start of the pandemic, many people have been forced to work from home, spending hours on end sitting at their computers. The chief complaint from these new circumstances is tight neck, shoulders, and back muscles. I have the fix for you!
In this video, I review a simple exercise inspired by Bill Hartman (iFast). To execute this exercise properly remember (especially if you have significant muscle tone through the pecs, neck, and lats):
Continue to reach away
Inhale softly
Fully exhale until you feel the lower abs engage
As a bonus, this is a tremendously effective exercise for clients who need to improve their front rack position.
If you are looking for a more personalized touch to your mobility routine, I'm here to help! Click below to set up a free assessment today!
Diaphragmatic Breathing For Aging Athletes
Over the last 7 years, I have utilized exercises to improve breathing mechanics (Postural Restoration Institute) for not only warm-ups and cool-downs but for progressing athletes and clients in advanced movement. Take the back squat for example; you are trying to simultaneously flex the hip and knees while supporting a load on the back of the shoulders (axial loading on the spine). This may seem like a simple and easy thing to do, but as we look at what it takes to progress the squat in load and get the most out of it, we see that the position of the ribcage plays an enormous factor in whether or not the movement is being used properly. To improve squatting, pressing, and hinging mechanics, we must create a solid foundation to build on. Enter diaphragmatic breathing.
Diaphragmatic breathing is something we are born to do. However, we learn compensatory breathing patterns through our modern day living that ends up ruining what we are biologically made to do. Take a look at a baby/infant breath, move, squat, etc.. This is how we are born to move. The more we sit in chairs, avoid primal moving patterns (squatting, hinging, crawling, pressing), and overuse certain movements/exercises the deeper these new patterns are ingrained.
Fortunately, we can relearn how to properly move, and it starts with understanding optimal breathing to access the widest capacity of movement (NOTE: NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST SINCE BEST IS SUBJECTIVE). It's not as simple as sucking air in and pushing it out. If we focus only on those actions, we are not addressing the root problem: What strategy are we using to execute inhalation and exhalation. In this video, I review breathing mechanics we use for postural exercises (influenced by Zac Cupples, Bill Hartman, and The Postural Restoration Institute), including points of emphasis for aging athletes. Aging athletes tend to have less mobility in the ribcage (influenced by aforementioned activities) and need special consideration when relearning how to use the diaphragm in breathing.
The biggest take away: practice your breathing mechanics daily and you will see your mobility (both upper and lower body improve) and chronic pain diminish. Need a personalized touch to your mobility routine? I'm here to help. Click the link below to see up a free assessment today and let's move toward the best version of you.
side plank variations for back pain
If you have followed me for a bit, it should come as no surprise that I believe a weak core is a precursor to lower back pain and injury. But what does “weak core” really mean? An assessment tool I use to determine the strength of a client’s core and how at risk they are is the side plank hold. My gold standard for my clients is a 90 second side plank per side. From there I increase the variation and difficulty depending on the needs of the individual.
The side plank is so important because the muscles that are targeted (internal and external obliques) are primary respiration and postural muscles. When these muscles become inactive and weak, they have a hard time helping us breathe and stabilize the spine. Integrating side planks into your workout routine is a must for aging athletes and youths alike. Below is a video compilation of some of my favorite side plank variations. Toss them into your next work to test your core!
Need help with exercise selection and a training program that works for your specific needs? I am here to help! Click the link below to book a free assessment today. Your back will thank me later!
Is Pain Your Enemy?
Though it was 6 years ago now, I remember it like it was yesterday. I slept like crap the night before, which was normal for me at this point, and I was jacked up on god knows how much caffeine. As I walked into the gym to train, I was my usual crabby self, getting agitated at anyone breathing the wrong way. I knew I had a big workout in front of me. In my mind, there were numbers I “needed” to hit in order to convince myself I was improving, that I was worth it. The universe had other plans that day as I blew out my back on my final set of deadlifts. How bad was it? As soon as it happened I was on the floor writhing while my buddy Jason sat by me trying to understand what the hell just happened. The first thing that went through my mind? “How am I ever going to train if I need surgery?” The pain was a 10/10. In looking at the situation now, yes, there was an acute injury, but it was the fear that subsequently released and intensified the pain ten fold. Jason had to carry my out of the gym that day, reluctantly of course, and I owe him greatly for that. Lucky for me I didn’t have to have surgery, but I was sidelined from training for two months. It was during this time that I had to face the facts:
I was dealing with more than just physical pain
I was completely identified with being an “elite athlete”
Unfortunately, I was on the inside of the proverbial coke bottle and I couldn’t see the label from the inside that everyone could from the outside. However , a close friend recommended a book, The Divided Mind by Dr. John E. Sarno. My buddy knew that it was time for me to read this book.
The long and short of The Divided Mind is that Dr. Sarno, a world renowned spine surgeon, worked with thousands of patients in his career who have come to him with neck and back pain. Most of the patients he saw had gone to multiple doctors, had scans, injections, and surgeries without relief of their pain. The common denominator in most of them was that their pain was exacerbated or completely manifested by repressed feelings and emotions, and that their back/neck pain is psychosomatic. Furthermore, their physical pain was their so they didn’t have to deal with the deep emotional pain that they were carrying. I was intrigued by the notion that people would actually rather have debilitating back pain than to acknowledge that they had experienced trauma, or that they were unhappy with their lives. Lastly, the simple act of making his patients aware of the truth about their pain relieved most of their symptoms completely, or at the very least, alleviated them. Some patients with severe pain symptoms however, were referred out to psychotherapy, as awareness alone was not enough to completely cure these patients of their pain.
After reading Dr. Sarno’s book, it was clear that my next step in my recovery was to work with a professional to address past trauma in my life. It was a challenging step, and I had no idea how I could afford it as I could barely pay my bills at the time. I knew I couldn’t live my life the way I was anymore, so I set forth an intention to at least start looking for a therapist. Luckily enough, I fell into a great situation, with an unbelievable therapist, and the best part was it worked perfectly for me financially.
We should rarely ignore pain (both physically and emotionally), and that’s something that I coach to my clients. Pain is a great teacher and will guide you on a path if you listen and are open. If you are dealing with pain, it doesn’t have to be that way. Whether working with a coach to address physical limitations and structural deficiencies, or mental health specialist (or both) there is another way.
If you’d like to talk more, I’d love to help. Click the link below to book a free assessment today. You won’t regret it.
A Quick Fix For Lower Back Pain During the Bench Press...
I started sneaking into the health club when I was 12 years old. I say sneak in because I wasn't old enough to be allowed into the weight room on my own, you had to be 13 years old. I would puff up my chest and look like I knew what I was doing. News flash, I didn’t know what I was doing. At the time, I knew you had to be good at bench press if you wanted to be considered strong. When I learned to bench press 20+ years ago I had a huge arch to my lower back and I was way up on the balls of my feet like a ballerina. Through sheer grit and thousands of repetitions, I eventually hit some pretty impressive bench press numbers (275lbs. for 8 reps and 305lbs. for a one rep max @ 175lbs. bodyweight). The issue was that the bench press didn't translate to better overall athleticism on the field and it exacerbated my already overextended posture.
After years of going at the bench press haphazardly and trying to lift as much weight as I could, I broke the movement down and built back up again. I started with my foundation: ribcage and pelvis (breathing mechanics and form). From there I slowly built back up. I am not lifting as heavy as before, but I feel stronger with my upper body pushing in almost every other way, and I don't have the same lingering lower back issues when going overhead or after movements like push-ups or burpees. Take it from me, bench pressing enormous weight is not worth it, especially if it leaves your lower back aching.
In this video, I show you a quick fix to take away some of the lower back strain of bench pressing: elevating the feet. Elevating the feet so the thighs are more perpendicular to the ground takes away some of the pressure on the lower back. As you learn how to use your glutes and abs to hold your pelvis in position, you can start to slowly lower your feet back down from there. Keep in mind however, elevating the feet is only a quick fix, and if you want to really improve your bench press it takes technique, specific corrective exercises that are built for your needs, and a coach to keep a watchful eye on things. If you are ready to improve your bench press, I am here to help. Click the link below if you'd like to book a free assessment to see how we can move your bench press in the right direction!
This Common Ab Exercise Is Making Your Lower Back Pain Worse...
It has been ingrained in us since grade school (see the Presidential Fitness Test) that the sit-up is the most important ab exercise you can do. If you have lower back pain however, I would avoid the sit-up like the plague.
"Blasphemy!" my gym rats bro-science experts will say. "You need a strong core!" First off, what do you consider your "core." Secondly, relax, this is just an article written by a guy who thinks the movie Borat is my generation's Citizen Kane. I digress. When you say core, I are assuming that you are talking about the muscle that support all ranges of motion of the trunk/pelvic AND your ability to respire (breath in and out). The sit-up, that targets the rectus abdominis, does a pour job at both these objectives. The rectus abdominis's primary motor function is controlling spinal flexion in the sagittal plane (back to front bending), and it actually has an insertion point that is anchored to the sternum, preventing the sternum from elevating during inhalation when active (that's bad). It's like watching Chris Farley wearing a jacket that's too small.
Your sternum gets pinned down by your rectus and without the expansion things get ugly really quick. You are soon compensating by extending the lower spine, further exacerbating stress on the lower vertebrae and muscles.
If you have lower back pain, and the sit-up is your primary core strengthening exercise, do yourself a favor and give the sit-up the ol' 86!
In future posts, I will be writing about my favorite ab exercises for alleviating lower back pain. You don't want to miss out, so make sure you click the link below to join our mailing list.
Looking for your own workout routine to improve your core and get rid of lower back pain? Click the link below to sign-up for a free assessment and I'll help you feel better, TODAY!