SHORT, 30-SECOND VIDEO:
ORIGINAL, 3-MINUTE VIDEO:
Your glutes and abs have been on vacation and it’s time to wake them up. Their purpose extends beyond vanity. They’re crucial to maintaining your alignment.
Here’s the sequence:
- Stand up.
- Squeeze your butt cheeks together.
- Flex your abs. Just imagine a child is going to punch you in the stomach. 🙂
- While keeping the abs tight, slowly sit back down.
- Enjoy your perfect posture.
Note: You have to stand when you do this. The point of flexing the butt while standing is to bring the hip into a more neutral position. And the reason you flex your abs after is because the abs lock that position. If you are seated, nothing changes. Go ahead, flex your glutes while seated, the hips won’t move. So that’s why you need to stand.
When you realize you’ve slumped back into your old position, stand up and go through the sequence again. You may have to do it many times to constantly correct your slouching but after a week or two, everything will become automatic.
And guess what… this sequence happens to translate perfectly for bracing your core during bodyweight exercises such as push ups! (It’s truly the “hollow body” position that you’re achieving which is the bread and butter position in gymnastics.)
So, you may be wondering… Why is slouching bad?
Slumping/slouching all the time is a bad habit because it weakens the lower back and stretches the ligaments in that area. What happens is you will eventually be unable to sit up straight because your postural muscles are so weak. So what do you do? You slouch even more, which weakens the back even more. It’s just a vicious cycle that you must stop immediately!
This is a huge problem in this day and age. Eventually, people do it so much their back may take the shape of the chair or lazy-boy all the time! This is something I had to become aware of and correct myself. Now you can too with this easy sequence!
Want more? Check out: Stand Evenly On Both Feet
