Posture - in front of PC

[coolcolj]

well after months of sitting in front of a PC, my posture was stuffed. Pecs, traps and delts were really tight

Well I had some deep tissue massage done one me, and now I feell much better, free again. Painful though!!

But I did some research into how one could minimise the bad effects, and I found that sitting on a swiss ball or even better a Sissel SitFit does the trick. They are kinda unstable so they work your abs and lower back and keep you moving in a good way. removes spinal stress etc and forces you to sit properly

something to look into - a stronger core and better posture while infront of the PC is cool by me

http://www.sissel.com/

 

[jeremys]

haha, good idea i think

 

[Fatty4You]

Yeah, i work in front of a computer all day and i am sure my posture i suffering. I went to my chiro and he said i lost 60% of the curve in my neck. But he also said that not just from sitting all day. He said it also from lying down while reading or watching tv.

-fatty

 

[coolcolj]

It works

It was recommended to me by Chris Thibaudeau and a sports trainer friend of mine.

It activates your core, and because your in an unstable situation, one must sit straight and it keeps the muscle active so you don't stick in one posiiton and shorten them

My friend said, once you get on it for a while your vertical jump will go up

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Cool,
good looking out.

 

[bignate73]

gimmicky, but effective if you arent accustomed to paying attention to your lumbar region. pelvic tilt is the biggest key, learning and maintaining awareness of whether you are not neutral. neutral pelvis is an indicator of whether or not there is the proper length tensions between opposing muscles.

throughout the day make sure to stretch your spinal erectors and hip flexors since those tend to get shortened.

as for your upper body, the swiss ball will not do much for whether or not you protract your shoulder girdle. periodically stretch your chest and lats and from time to time retract your scapula. when sitting be aware of your neck and its position. most people tend to jut their head forward, by simply tucking your chin you can alleviate a great deal of strain and tension in your traps. look at home too whether or not you sleep on your back with a pillow. best bet is if you sleep on your back, ditch the pillow otherwise you are in a forward head...even in your sleep. it makes you wake up, looking down. if you sleep on your side (just to go back to the chest/shoulders), prop your head high so its situated as it is if you were standing upright and sleep with a pillow against your chest so your arms dont cross so much in the front (closing your chest)

oh yeah..postural correction...bring it on baby! hehehe.

 

[coolcolj]

Well guys I bought something called Dyna-Air from Togu, same thing as the SitFit but differnet company, cheaper too

All I can say is WOW!!! As soon as I sat on it, my lower back relaxed for the first time in many years!!. Damn relief at last.... this is gonna have some huge impact on my general well being and lifts...

My lower back feels like its being massaged, while my abs are working harder than before.

 

[coolcolj]

I've just realised that all these years, I've been doing one big static contraction on my lower back and erectors due to bad neural patterns from sitting on my ass!
I felt sapped of energy, and everytime I bent over my lower back felt really tight. I'm surprised I was even able to do any sort of Oly lifts and deadlifts!!
And now I know why my lower back would ache upon landing from a jump.

after a few hours with this "SitFit" device, I feel 100% better, its like I can stand properly now without hyper-contracting my lower back, and when I bend over I feel nothing but a nice lose and free lower back!!! I have tons more energy already, because I'm not wasting neural energy contracting my lower back muscles without reason.

amazing - its all in the neural patterns and programming. And the arch in lower back when standing has seemingly been reduced by a fair margin!

I'm now FREE!!!!

 

[Madd Hatter]

Where do I get one of these Dyna-air things? Not in retail stores I assume.... website?

 

[bignate73]

you probably notice when you stand up, that you have a slight contraction in your glutes now, where your glutes were totally relaxed before due to the arch in your lower back.

hip flexors and spinal erectors. biggest tension areas for desk jockeys. spinal erectors tilt the hips forward, tight hip flexors inhibit the glutes. neat huh?

 

[coolcolj]

Where do I get one of these Dyna-air things? Not in retail stores I assume.... website?

Well I bought the Togu Dyna-Air at a local sports store (Rebel Sports) The Sisel SitFit (same thing ) you cna buy from the net at the above link. There are various brands, you should be able to find one at any place that sells swiss balls.

Its also a nice thing to use for doing split squats to hammer the VMO. Put the leg lead on the device, and the unstable motion recruits the VMO like crazy! If your training to improve your 40 yard dash you need to do this exercise.

Thanks Bignate
At work today I couldn't believe the difference in energy levels, especially when bending over to lift things, no excessive lower back tension, more in the hams and glutes though, where it should be.

It'll be interetsing to see how it effects my squats and oly lifts today!

It's like one big chain reaction - fix the weak spot and all of a sudden things start falling into place.