If you want to move better and feel better, you need to move more throughout the day. You also need to make sure that your workout program includes a proper warm up routine.
The more you can stretch out and loosen up everything that gets tight from sitting hunched over a computer all day, the better you are going to feel and move while also preventing and alleviating injury!
Below are 5 Quick Stretching Flows you can use throughout the day or if you are in need of a quick warm up. Do not skip your warm up just because you are short on time! A proper warm up is essential to helping you move better and get the most out of your workouts. (more…)
Many of us spend far too much time hunched over our technology.
And as a result…
Well…
Our posture sucks!
And this “desk job,” “too much texting” posture can lead to aches and pains!
It can also create mobility restrictions, compensations and imbalances that result in INJURIES when we workout!
For example, ever feel your lower back or neck get achy after you say….do an overhead shoulder press?
Well because you sit rounded forward all day, chances are your thoracic extension and shoulder mobility are limited. You probably also have that forward head posture all too many of us get.
So, as a result, when you try to press overhead during your workout, you compensate to replicate the movement. Basically, your body takes the path of least resistance.
When an area isn’t as mobile as it should be, like our thoracic spine (mid and upper back) and shoulders, we seek out mobility from other areas, like our lower backs.
What does that mean?
Your lower back ends up feeling achy because you’re arching it to press the weight overhead because you’re lacking proper thoracic extension!
That is why we need to take steps to relax those tight muscles, which means starting our mobility sessions with FOAM ROLLING!
We want to foam roll tight and overactive muscles, stretch tight and shortened muscles then activate underactive ones!
Below are 10 Foam Rolling Moves Everyone With A Desk Job Should Do.
While foam rolling alone won’t complete reverse our bad posture, it is the best place to start. It can provide some temporary relief AND allow us to get better results from our stretching and especially our ACTIVATION!
So before I dive into the 10 moves you want to do to reverse your desk job posture, I want to explain a bit more about when to foam roll, how foam rolling works and why it’s that first step in the prehab process!
It is a muscle group that many of us want to work on for…well…aesthetic reasons. Whether we want to make it bigger or smaller, rounder or firmer, most of us want to change it.
It is also a muscle group that most of us SHOULD be giving more attention and love to because it isn’t firing as efficiently or effectively as it should be!
When our glutes are underactive, we may not be getting the full benefit of all of those squats and deadlifts and lunges we are doing!
Ever noticed your quads seem to grow but your glutes don’t change?
Or maybe you’ve noticed that you all too often only feel your lower back and hamstrings working NOT your glutes?
When our glutes aren’t firing efficiently, we recruit other muscles to carry the load. Not only does this mean we aren’t actually WORKING our glutes as well as we could be…so all of those moves we are TRYING to do to change them aren’t going to pay off, but we also increase our risk of injury because other muscles, that really can’t handle the load, take over.
That is why it is so important to get your glutes activated and firing BEFORE your lifting session, runs or rides!
Here are 10 Mini Band Moves to get your glutes activated and help you build a better, stronger!, butt. These moves will work your butt from every angle to get your glute maximus and glute medius working especially!
To properly warm up for your workout you need to do more than just walk or jog on a treadmill for five minutes.
Warming up isn’t just about getting the blood flowing.
It is also about creating mobility and making sure the proper muscles are ready to do work.
A great warm up includes foam rolling, dynamic stretching and locomotion to make sure that you are loose and mobile in the muscles and joints that you are going to use for your workout that day.
