Giuliano is a young Romanian boy living in Italy, trained by his gymnast father. Thank you reader Paul J for telling me about him.
Below is a link to the short video clip where I captured the above photos. I was not able to embed this movie, by request at the source. Click to watch 5 year old Giuliano do air pushups:
I used to teach air pushups in my yoga classes. Every class gave opportunity to see, try, and learn. I'd coach, encourage, even lift the students personally if it helped them try it, or feel the leverages needed. Were students excited? Inspired? Did they get strong and focused?
They might have if they tried it. They whine, stall, pout, refuse, and complain to management that my class is haaaard, and they had to connnnnnn-centrate. They didn't want any of that.
Each week new students arrive in my yoga class, holding expensive yoga equipment. Some are yoga instructors. They explain to me that yoga cures all back pain. I ask why they have come and they tell me all about their back pain that they have for 4 years and they do yoga every day (not curing anything evidently). They say they do yoga all the time and know all about it and how it gives you peace and love and concentration and good posture and strength and balance. Then they sit in terrible posture waiting for class. They get indignant when I tell them to sit well. They correct me that "class hasn't started yet." In the first minutes of class I teach standing on one leg. They topple over and refuse to try again. I have them stand on the other foot and they are flabbergasted that we are doing it again when they just spent all that time insisting to me that they can't (instead of trying). We do simple planks and they sag their back and lock their elbows. When we start hand balancing to learn the basics of air pushups, some of these yoginis have thrown full-out tantrums.
Then the next week, a new crop comes to class explaining to me that yoga gives you love and acceptance and peace and good posture. So I teach them air pushups.
Giuliano also does The Flag - To be covered in the future.
Fast Fitness - Easy Start to Mobilize Shoulder and Scapula
Friday, February 19, 2010
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - an easy way to learn and feel how to use the often forgotten serratus anterior muscles, for better shoulder mobilization, first introduced in December:
On any surface you are comfortable, go to hands and knees. Keep your arms straight at the elbow. Let your upper body sink under your weight so that your shoulder blades roll back and come towards each other. Your shoulder blades may stick out like wings, photo 1 below.
Correct that problem by pulling your upper back to a straighter position, photo 2 below.
Alternately sink and pull upward to correct the winging. Improve by increasing the number and speed you can correct. Use the hands-and-knees position to get the idea. As soon as you have the concept of how to move, use the full pushup position, called plank, to get off your knees and get real exercise.
The standing version of this drill is in my book Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery. Thank you to Dr. Johannes Ernst, who wrote in about using hands and knees to get started:
"I should mention I'm actually doing a variation of the scapular mobilization exercise which I have found to be more effective for me: basically like a push-up, but propped up on knees and elbows. That way I can extend the amplitude of the back and forth movement further than if standing up. That additional stretch does seem to make a difference, and it seems to work some muscles as I can do only about 30 or so before I run out of steam."
--- Read success stories and send your own. See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Subscribe free - updates via e-mail or RSS, upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Fast Fitness - Mobilize and Strengthen With Serratus PushUps
Friday, December 18, 2009
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Strengthen and learn to use the often forgotten serratus anterior muscles and learn a good mobilization for your shoulders so that you don't get stiff, and become stuck round-shouldered when driving or typing.
"Serratus" muscles wrap your chest below your armpits. Their sections fan out like your fingers, looking serrated, giving the name. They wrap around your sides to the front, so are further described with the word "anterior." Muscle names are often descriptive, and can be easy and fun to understand. They are important for keeping your shoulder blades in place - but only when you use them to.
My student Yash demonstrates:
1. Hold a push up position with straight not locked arms. This is often called a plank position. Keeping your arms straight at the elbow, let your upper body sink under your weight so that your shoulder blades roll back and squeeze together - photo 1.
2. Correct that problem by pulling your upper back to a straighter position - photo 2
3. Do as many repetitions of sinking and pulling upward to correct the winging that you can at once. Improve by increasing the number and speed you can correct.Coming posts will describe the serratus more and what it does, more on winging scapula, more fixes for it, and more on understanding muscle names and uses. Understanding, rather than memorizing, will help you know if claims for exercise fads and machines will help or not, and to not feel like an outsider about your anatomy and health. No medical degrees needed to understand your own body.
Here is Fast Friday Fitness - Fun rows to strengthen your back, chest, arms, grip, and torso muscles, without bending over or forward, using commonly available objects, no gym needed:
To start, leave both feet on the ground. Hold a low study pipe, branch, or overhead handle. Lean far back, body straight. Bend both elbows to pull up and lower down as many times as you can. Improve by increasing the number of times, and how fast you can pull up.
Once you can hold on and pull up, increase strength and balance by lifting your feet to the overhead support. Hold on whatever way you want that is safe. Pull up and down.
Hold your body straight, not rounded as pictured. You will work your muscles harder, involve core muscles, and train knowledge and use of healthier positioning.
Rows are great and useful exercise. Instead of standing or sitting bent over, you can strengthen the same and more muscles without loading the lumbar discs. These incline rows are fun and useful for climbing, and building ability to do pull-ups.
Readers send in your straightened photo to be featured as the Fix for this Fitness.
When you send me your photos of fixing this and other fun things, send a photo sharing link of web-size, not high resolution, instead of e-mailing photos to me. Blogger isn't letting me upload directly, and when on the road, I don't have programs to resize. Have fun.
--- Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Pectoral (Chest) Stretch - The Most Common Mistake in the Best Shoulder Stretch
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Mike Benson has sent several Fitness Fixer inspiring stories. In response to reader requests, he made us this photo set showing, "The most common mistake in the best stretch - How to not get any stretch from the pectoral stretch." I asked him to demonstrate this, because I see this mistake so often. People often "do" a stretch without "getting" a stretch.
Why is this stretch so good? Round-shouldered posture is a main contributor to neck and upper body pain and rotator cuff injury. Round-shouldered posture feels comfortable and natural when the front chest muscles are tight. A common mistake is to stretch the shoulder joint, which does not address this problem.
The purpose of the pectoral stretch is to lengthen chest muscles so that healthier positioning feels natural and comfortable. If you merely hold your elbow to the side, little lengthening can occur - shown in first photo:
Second photo below - changing the position to get the purpose - lengthening anterior (front) muscles that go across the chest. One way is to use a wall to help you press your elbow back.
Turn your body and feet away from the wall.
Your elbow is behind you, no longer out to the side.
Raising the elbow higher or lower changes the stretch.
Experiment until you only feel a stretch in the front chest and no pain or pinching anywhere in the shoulder:
Keep shoulder down and relaxed
Do not make any pain anywhere. The idea is to make things healthier, not to strain, push, force, tighten, grunt, and call that a health promotion activity.
Understand the purpose first. The purpose of this stretch is to lengthen front chest muscles so that tightness does not pull you into feeling that round-shouldered position is the norm or that it is uncomfortable to straighten. Feel the stretch in the intended area.
Use a mirror to help you connect what the position looks like with what it feels like.
Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, or in the Fitness Fixer Index.
RSS feeds still down - Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
---
Photos by and of Fitness Fixer reader success Mike Benson
Partner 1 (white uniform) does biceps curls and other lifts using partner 2's weight.
Partner 2 uses core and whole body strength and endurance to hold straight positioning. Partner 2 can face up, down or sideways, in each case using appropriate muscles to maintain straight position. Breathe normally.
This Fast Fitness can be done with willing friends, children, pets, and furniture.
Partner 1 uses core and abdominal muscles to stand with neutral spine rather than leaning backward, and whole body strength to support weight of partner 2.
It is a myth that you must lean back to offset a carried load. You get intense and functional abdominal muscle workout by using them to pull you forward to neutral standing position.
I once used this exercise of holding straight horizontal position (partner 2's part) while helping out a friend who is a stage magician. I filled in for his absent assistant for the floating lady illusion. I was too tall for the apparatus. It usually holds your body out flat using struts reaching from head to thigh. It reached only to my midback. I wound up holding my weight myself, from hips to feet - high above the stage - while trying to look hypnotized. More on this, someday, in another post.
I make posts from fun mail. Before asking more questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. Try fun stuff, then contribute! Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books, take a Class, get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy. ---
Here is Fast Friday Fitness - Strengthen your breathing muscles for easier breathing.
Blow up balloons instead of using a pump this New Year's Eve and through the New Year.
Inflate some with the quickest breath you can do. Inflate others with long slow breath.
Don't overbreathe or hyperventilate to become dizzy or force breathing or strain, which can increase blood pressure and pressure in the brain and eye. Stay healthy.
Your lungs don't have muscles, but you have inspiratory and expiratory muscles in your chest and diaphragm. They are muscles like any others that improve with training and decline without regular workouts. Breathing muscle exercise is now accepted scientifically as helpful to patients with various respiratory conditions, asthmas, and allergies.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives, and labels under posts. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
Fast Fitness - Stronger Arms and Chest, and Core, Hip, and Leg Stability With A Friend
Friday, March 14, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - strengthen inner legs, thighs, arms, and core, while practicing neutral spine with a friend. More exercise than putting hands up on a bench or exercise ball.
My students Johanna (1) and Diana (2) demonstrate the beginning of this move. Description of how to progress follows the photos:
Partner 1 lies face up with bent knees
Partner 2 does pushups on Partner 1's knees while holding neutral spine, not letting the lower back sag and arch downward. Partner 1 gets entry-level exercise hip and core exercise by holding legs stable and does not let knees wobble. Higher-level exercise is described below the photos.
To increase core and hip stabilization training for both partners, Partner 1 tilts knees slightly to each side while Partner 2 continues pushups. Try both moving continuously side to side, and holding legs stable at an angle. Do not twist your spine.
Fast Fitness - Plyometric Partner Bench Press for Valentine's Week
Friday, February 15, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Have fun together as you strengthen arms, shoulders, chest, back, wrists, and core, while practicing neutral spine, speed, teamwork, and cooperation in a fun plyometric partner bench press.
Lie face up with both arms held upward (white karate uniform) to support partner (black karate uniform).
Partner (black uniform) rests shoulders on your hands and holds straight body position on toes. Partner (black uniform) uses abdominal muscles to hold neutral spine without letting the lower back sag.
Push your partner up and down with your hands in a bench press motion. To add plyometric training, push partner strongly and quickly into the air (right). Catch them lightly, bending your elbows upon contact. Switch places and repeat.
Use common sense and springy light touch to reduce unhealthful impact in both partners. You can improve strength and speed without hurting joints and connective tissue. I will post more on plyometrics in articles to come.
--- Read and contribute your own success stories of these methods. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal evaluation. Top students may apply to certify throughDrBookspan.com/Academy.See Dr. Bookspan's Books. ---
Valentines Day is for everyone, not just couples. It is healthy to have active fun with family and friends too.
Monday's post Valentine Partner Pushups gives a fun partner exercise idea. Here are more variations for active fun with children and friends of many ages.
Babies and children love to move. They can hold their body weight. Get them started early. Don't let them lose this strength by making them sit still and eat. Get up from the table and play. That is Valentines Day love.
Try these with friends
This man is doing a partner handstand with his young daughter. It is a lot of good exercise and balance for both:
I will cover how to do this partner handstand in a future post. Send in your own photos of fun exercise with family and friends.
Exercising in social ways is healthy. Valentine's Day is this week. This week I will post several ideas for fun active partner exercise. Start with this version of partner pushups, then have fun making up your own.
Pushups give full body physical benefit when done with neutral spine.
These two Fitness Fixers explain how to tell neutral spine while holding a pushup position and how to correct an overarching lower back (hyperlordosis) to neutral spine:
Last October, Ivy from New Zealand left a comment on Fitness Fixer how she first found me while looking for relief from severe sciatica with foot drop. For 11 months, she had tried treatment and an exercise regimen from a chiropractor. Last week, she e-mailed me a funny update of improving mobility and health from a new stretch. I started writing this post just to tell of Ivy's stretch and how readers can have the same success.
I looked over my file of Ivy's comments on Fitness Fixer and her e-mails to me over the last two years - each story weaving to the next - of improving health, mobility, and joy of life for herself and people in her community. Reading them again was like sitting by a stream that sparkled over rocks on its way by, inspiring and lovely. Some are private, some I have her permission to tell.
Last October, Ivy wrote:
Ivy wrote, "I knew I should be feeling better than I was. During those months I was continually surfing the net looking for answers, then in November 2005, I discovered Dr Jolie Bookspan's "How to fix your own pain without drugs or surgery." Everything she described was ME, 69 years of bad habits had finally caught up with me.
"So began my journey to good health and freedom from pain. I began with the pec stretch, trapezius stretch, wall stand, sitting correctly at the computer without sticking out my chin, hamstring stretch, isometric abs (no more crunches), squats and lunges instead of bad bending.
You can imagine my joy when after 2 days I was free of pain. I was so excited that I contacted Dr Jolie, who in turn, took time out from her busy schedule to e-mail me giving me further advice and exercises which I might add, I follow religiously along with a daily 30 minute walk (weather permitting).
"Some months ago, I decided to follow a vegetarian diet. I feel so well and happy, in fact, I have loads of energy. I turn 70 at the end of this month (Oct 2006) and am looking forward to the next stage of my life feeling healthy and free of pain."
This year Ivy followed up when we were corresponding on making sure of healthy nutrition:
"This is the second winter that I have not had either a cold or 'flu. For someone who was always getting the 'flu, that is really something. I put it down to my healthy vegetarian diet."
Ivy used my free web site summary sheets on fixing pain, my books, and Fitness Fixer posts. Here are links to posts Ivy used:
Wall stand - this is a quick check of functional muscle tightness to see if you can use healthful positioning for normal activity. It is described in the first paragraph of the post Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain, above.
Isometric abs (no more crunches) - this one isn't up on Fitness Fixer yet. It is in my book The Ab Revolution and Fix Your Own Pain, and on my web site summary on functional use of abs to stop overarching the lower spine. Ivy sent a photo of doing this exercise. I will post it when I post about this fun, different, functional abdominal exercise.
The posts on lunges, Doorway Hamstring Stretch, and Functional Achilles Stretch, feature photos that Ivy sent me. I had written Ivy earlier this year asking if she could send me photos demonstrating what she is doing. She invited a neighbor to visit and take the photos, had them developed, then mailed a pack of them to me from New Zealand. Ivy writes:
"My dear 86 year old friend took them and we certainly had a lot of fun doing what I will call a "photo shoot." Bear in mind her age when I tell you that while I was trying to hold the pose, she would press the incorrect button and would have to start all over again. I would lose what I would call the correct form and so it would go on... I can now sympathize with models who have to hold poses for what seems an eternity."
In February 2007 Ivy sent an update, signing it:
"I shudder to think where I would be if I had not found your web site over 15 months ago. I mean it when I say "Thank you for helping me get my life back." I am fit, I am healthy, what more can one want in this life. I have passion about what I do something that I haven't had in a very long time."
Stand back-to-back, as in the photo, arms outstretched, hands comfortably linked, thumbs face upward.
Don't lean back, arch your back, or jut your neck forward. Stand straight.
One partner gently pulls arms forward, while the second partner allows their arms to stretch backward, letting the chest muscles stretch (left-hand photo).
The idea is not to yank the second partner's shoulder at the joint. Allow the front chest muscles to lengthen. It should only feel good.
Hold for a few seconds while breathing easily, then switch so the second partner who just stretched arms backward, pulls arms forward to stretch the first partner (right hand photo).
Valentine's day doesn't have to be one day, then forgotten about. It can be the start of healthy interaction between any people and for yourself, for every day, which is the idea of "Fitness as a Lifestyle."
Today 37 new students were waiting when I came in to teach yoga. I was their New Year's Resolution. Most were sitting bent over forward, rounding their back to stretch. When I walked through the gym to get to the teaching room, I walked past a gym full of New Year's Resolutions, all bent over forward straining to stretch, bent over their stair machine and bent over their treadmill. They were lying on the floor face-up rounding forward and they were standing bent over, face-down. Many were doing The Stretch You Need The Least. Everyone looked like the same unhealthful, bent-over posture that you already know causes back pain if you do it over your computer and steering wheel. I mentioned that bending over forward to stretch and exercise, although popular, and ingrained, and dogmatically and almost universally taught, is not what they needed.
What is needed is to get used to holding the body in healthful straighter ways during daily life and during exercise and stretching. In the post Better Achilles Tendon Stretch I showed how to get a better leg stretch without bending forward. Following is a nice upper spine stretch you can do while lying down to relax. Try this:
Lie on your back over a pillow or an article of clothing comfortably placed under your upper back between your shoulder blades. Start with your hands by your sides.
If this hurts, stop and see what to do in the following three paragraphs.
Don't put the pillow under your head or neck, just your upper back.
Let your upper back drop backward toward the floor.
Notice the feeling of the upper spine no longer rounding forward.
Relax and breathe. The stretch should feel good.
To increase the stretch, bring both arms by your ears. You should be able to raise your arms without arching your lower back or feeling pinching in the shoulder.
If you are not able to lie on your back without lower back pain, the usual reason is tightness in the front hip muscles. Do the Instantly Better Hip and Quadriceps Stretch on each leg to loosen the front of the hip.
If you are not able to lie on your back without upper back or neck pain, the usual reason is tightness in the front chest muscles and over rounding in the upper back. Do the pectoral (chest muscle) stretch described in Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain.
If you have osteoporosis check with your doctor before doing the pillow stretch. One of the intended benefits of this stretch is to help prevent the rounding that contributes to the tendency to fracture already thin bones.
Many people spend so much of their life rounding forward, that their spine loses the mobility to bend backward, or even, in many cases to straighten enough to just lie flat and stand straight. The point of this stretch is to "unround" the upper spine and get it to relax and extend backward (arch safely) in the other direction. This stretch helps to "undo" the constant forward rounding that tightens the upper body and contributes to many pain syndromes. It is important to regain the normal flexibility to be able to straighten the upper spine enough to stand and sit and exercise in healthful straight position.
--- Read success stories and send your own. See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Subscribe free - "updates via e-mail" upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification,DrBookspan.com/Academy. Get more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Thumbs Can Show Tightness That Leads to Upper Back Pain
Friday, October 27, 2006
Healthline
Healthy body position should be a natural easy part of daily life, not something you stop work to do as an exercise.
Unhealthy body positioning is more ingrained in daily life than many people realize. How can you tell your own positioning? Watch other people. See how many spend all day rounding their shoulders forward over their work and steering wheel, then further round their shoulders to stretch by bending forward, and do the unnecesary stretch of bringing one arm across the front of their body, then exercise by bending forward for crunches and leg lifts. The result of all this chronic forward bending is overstretching the back muscles and tightening your anterior (front) muscles. Many patients who come to see me, even those who can touch their toes and put one foot behind their head are so tight that they can't comfortably stand or sit straight. This is not just a problem of looking bad. It affects the health of your joints and muscles.
The post Breasts Causing Upper Back Pain is a Myth explained how overstretched back muscles and tight anterior muscles can promote the "forward head" and bent forward position that causes so much muscle strain and damage to the discs and joints of the back, shoulder, and neck. Many people "do neck exercises" never understanding that the exercises do not solve the problem of the chest muscles being too tight, and do not address how to hold healthy position. They stretch, believing that stretching prevents sports injuries, or that it is for doing contortions, but never know that the point of healthy stretching is to restore normal resting length just to stand and move in everyday life. They stretch in ways that exacerbates the problem they started with - rounding forward.
Try this to see if you round your shoulders:
Use the photo, upper left, for reference.
While standing with arms loosely at your sides, glance down at your hands.
Do your thumbs face each other, as in the photo, instead of facing forward? That shows that tightness in front of your chest has rotated your arms inward (round shoulders).
Does it feel awkward and unnatural to pull shoulders back so that your thumbs face forward? The point is to make it comfortable to be right, not force good positioning, which makes more strain.
To fix the problem, try this:
Check your thumb positioning while standing comfortably.
Right after doing the pectoral stretch, drop your arms loosely by your sides and glance down at your thumbs again.
If you did the pectoral stretch right, your thumbs should now be facing more forward because you fixed the tightness that rounds shoulders and rotates arms inward.
During the day, notice your thumbs when standing to see if you are rounding. Notice other people's thumbs. Watch their upper body positioning when they sit and stand and let it remind you to use healthy straight habits so that you do not get tight in the first place.
--- Read and contribute your own success stories of these methods. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books. For feedback take a Class. Top students may apply to certify through DrBookspan.com/Academy.
Probably the most common stretch I see in gyms and fitness classes, beside hurting your discs by bending "wrong" to stretch hamstrings, is bringing one arm across your body in front, pictured at left. Although this posterior shoulder stretch is one of the most common stretches, it is one of the least necessary.
You probably already have over-stretched the back of your shoulders by slouching all day over your desk, steering wheel, and other work. Sitting and standing with rounded shoulders wears on the neck and shoulder joints and is a common source of upper back and neck pain. One of the most unnecessary things you can do is to further stretch the back of your already overstretched shoulder. Going to a gym to do it does not magically make it healthy.
The best way to stretch your shoulders for health is to skip the posterior shoulder stretch. Instead, stretch the front chest (pectoral) muscles, shown in Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain to help straighten and "unround" your shoulders and upper back.
Here is a check for how well you can straighten your shoulder positioning for healthy standing and sitting:
Can you put your hands on your hips and bring your shoulders back?
You should be able to pull your shoulders back without tilting your shoulders forward, or arching your lower back, or jutting your head forward.
When you can pull your shoulders back easily with your hands on your hips, try pulling your shoulders back with your hands clasped together behind your back. Keep chin in and shoulders back.
Occasionally I give my cerebral palsy patients the posterior shoulder stretch (above left illustration) if they have an overly pulled-back position. More helpful to these patients is The Ab Revolution, a method I developed where you move your lower spine, changing too much inward curve in the lower back to the less arched position of neutral spine, reducing much back pain. The muscles that bend the spine forward are the abdominal muscles. You get a free abdominal workout just keeping healthy straighter spine position while going about your day. The post Fixing the Commonest Source of Mystery Lower Back Pain shows how easy this is.
It is rare to need the posterior shoulder stretch. Yet, notice how often you see it in fitness publications and gyms. Instead of doing stretches to practice rounded posture, use stretches like the pectoral stretch to restore healthy position. Then use the healthy positioning as a free built-in stretch for all you do so you don't get tight in the first place. That's fitness as a lifestyle.
Tuesday night is martial arts class. It had rained all day. A few students were absent. They missed class on how to toughen body and spirit because of water? Next time it pours I think I should hold class outside. In fairness, the students who missed class responsibly contacted me that they would be out.
The rest of my students were sitting in two neat rows. They had gotten their equipment out of bins in healthy ways by bending their knees with body upright and heels down. Then they sat down in their rows on the floor without using their hands. Most were sitting up straight. The rest straightened when they saw me walk in.
Each week students practice preventing the bad habit of jutting their head forward of the center line of their body during stances and moves for exercise and sparring (left photo, above left). Healthy position keeps the chin in and the angle of the lower jaw over the center line of the shoulder (right photo).
A forward head is not healthy for daily life or exercise. It results in much neck, upper back, and shoulder pain. Jutting the head forward for kicking, lifting a weight, and other movement is commonly seen in exercise magazines and videos. Watch for it and let it remind you not to do that. The forward head doesn't look tough, it looks untrained and weak and is several inches closer to the opponent making your face easier to hit. It frequently leads to upper body pain, and in case of a blow to the head, a tilted forward angle of the neck in relation to the brain and skull is more likely to result in brain injury.
A forward head is not something you can't control. Just as you can move your arm or leg, you can easily move your neck in a relaxed way into the healthier chin-in position you want. The post Breasts Causing Upper Back Pain is a Myth gave a simple "wall test" to see if you keep your head forward - stand with your back against a wall and see if the back of your head also touches comfortably. If you have to arch your back or jut your chin forward or up to touch the back of your head, you are probably too tight to stand straight and are probably standing and moving all the time in an unhealthy bent-forward position that strains the neck, back, and other areas.
The post Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain taught the pectoral stretch to restore muscle length to make healthy straight position comfortable. Use the pectoral stretch first thing in the morning and many times throughout the day. Then use your new ability to stand straight. The pectoral stretch (or any stretch) is not what fixes the problem. The stretch makes it possible for you to stand in the way that no longer strains and injures.
In the martial arts and in life, inviting a bad outcome is known as "leading with your chin." Letting your head and chin jut forward, as in the forward head, is inviting a bad health outcome. The martial arts teaches you to stop problems, not cause them. You can easily stop long-term damage through simple repositioning. You will look and feel better. That's using your head.
--- Read success stories and send your own. See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Subscribe free - "updates via e-mail" upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
The post Breasts Causing Upper Back Pain is a Myth explained that a tilted-forward position of the head and neck, called a forward head, is not the normal tilt to the neck. It is an avoidable slouch that causes much upper back, neck, and shoulder pain, and pressures the discs of the upper spine.
Do you have a forward head? Here is a test, called The Wall Test: If you can't put your back against a wall and comfortably touch the back of your head to the wall too without overarching your back or raising your chin, that usually indicates that the muscles in front of your chest are so tight that they restrict normal standing. The resulting bent-forward position of your neck creates large forces on the muscles and joints of your upper spine as it strains to hold the weight of your head forward of the supporting spine instead of above it.
Being too tight to stand and sit upright instead of slouching forward is common, even among people who stretch regularly. The reason is that they usually practice stretching forward, rarely stretching the front muscles by stretching back. In turn, holding your body bent forward instead of upright perpetuates tightness.
To lengthen the front chest (pectoral) area needed to stop the slouching-tightness cycle, use the photo above left for reference and try this:
Use the photo above as a guide. Stand facing a wall. Bend one elbow out to the side and put the inside surface of that arm against the wall, as in the left-hand photo.
Turn your whole body and feet away from the wall, letting the wall brace your bent arm behind you, as in the right-hand photo.
If you are doing this stretch right, you will feel a nice stretch in the front of your chest.
Keep your shoulders down and relaxed. Breathe. Smile.
Hold a few seconds, breathe in, change arms, and breathe out while stretching the other side for a few seconds.
Now drop both arms and turn to stand with your back against the wall again. If you did this pectoral stretch right, standing straight with the back of your head touching the wall should now feel more natural and comfortable and no longer a strain.
When you walk away from the wall don't slouch forward again out of habit. Hold the easy new healthy positioning for everything you do.
Remember that the wall test (checking if you are straight against a wall) is a test - it is not an exercise that fixes anything, it tells if you are doing the pectoral stretch and two more stretches to correctly restore anterior muscle resting length. This pectoral stretch is one of three techniques to stop upper body tightness that prevents standing and moving in healthy ways.
Three stretches together help more. After doing this pectoral stretch and seeing the results with the Wall Test, add the next two stretches to restore resting length to be able to stand comfortably:
After each stretch, check yourself again with the wall test to see if you did them in the way intended - to work. Then, remember that head and body position is voluntary. Hold your head up and shoulders back softly all the time. The stretches just make it possible YOU are the one to hold it there and retrain your body. No adjustments or bracing does that.
Do the pectoral stretch first thing every morning and several times every day to learn healthy positioning. Then check yourself with the wall test to see if you did it in a way that worked. Use this pectoral stretch and the two other stretches (nice trapezius stretch and better triceps stretch) instead of the stretch where you stand in a doorway or corner to stretch both arms at once, and instead of pulling your straight arm(s) behind you - what I call, The Stretch You Need The Least.
The three stretches will stop pain for the short term. In fact, if you don't feel improved right away, you're doing them wrong. Then for the fix, use them to allow you to hold healthy upright positioning. By not letting your head hang forward all day, you will no longer need constant pills, adjustments, or treatments for pain. You will stop the cause.
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Photo and details and complete sequence of restoring healthy body position, in the book Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery - What to do to fix many sources of pain and injury, step-by-step.
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Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Healthline
Tuesday night my martial arts students showed they had improved. When I came in they were waiting in two neat rows. I still had to cue them to sit up straight.
In the post Is Bad Martial Arts Good Exercise? I mentioned showing the class not to let their neck, back, and hip round forward when kicking. By straightening, strength and stretch are built into regular movement.
Several readers e-mailed me that they noticed for the first time that they let one leg pull forward when lifting the other (notice the standing leg in the left-hand photo, at left). They said they felt a good difference when they straightened (right photo).
If the front muscles of your hip are tight, when you lift one leg high you may find that you round your back and bend the other leg. Watch for this during kicks in martial arts and aerobics, when lying on your back raising one leg overhead to stretch the hamstrings, and ascending stairs. The common practice of allowing the other leg to bend forward perpetuates a tight anterior hip, which in turn, contributes to walking bent forward and back pain.
In martial arts, you don't want your standing leg completely straight. That is an invitation for your opponent to kick your knee, snapping it backward. But for both health and effective martial movement, you don't want to bend the leg more than a small amount. Bending the back, hip, and leg when kicking decreases force of the kick, pressures your discs, and reduces stretch on the hip and hamstrings. The rounded-under hip position keeps the hip tight, a hidden cause of groin pulls. It also looks weak and unskilled. For lying hamstring stretches with one leg overhead, it is often taught to keep the second leg bent to "protect the back." However, keeping the leg (and body) flat on the floor give a far better stretch and is healthier for your back. Even in slow easy motions of stair climbing, leaning forward and allowing the second leg to pull forward reduces the normal hamstring and hip stretch, decreases the exercise on your hip and leg muscles, and reduces the back muscle activation for holding the straight position you need for health and back pain prevention.
It is said the martial arts gives you discipline and strength. It won't if you practice unhealthy habits. When raising one leg, hold your neck and back upright. Prevent the other leg from pulling forward. You will get a built-in hip stretch, one of the places you need to stretch most. You will get back and hip exercise in the way you need to move in real life, and prevent tightness and weakness that leads to poor movement and pain. You will change from kicking like a bent over old lady to a young strong athlete. Exercise as a lifestyle is not something done "for body parts." It is built into your normal movement to make it healthy movement.
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