His deadlift is square: No shifts to the side, no one hip higher than the other, no bulging spinal erectors on one side. So how would this yield (or contribute to) low back soreness on one side?
A variation on a new glute bridge variation
While glute bridges seem like an easy exercise (lie on your back, lift your butt up. how hard can it be?), the reality for many is that they feel glute bridges everywhere but their butt. When I ask clients where they feel a glute bridge, I often get some combination of hamstrings, back, quads, and abs. This is not everyone – some people do glute bridges and feel their glutes – but it is more than the minority.
Bend at the hips, not the knees, and definitely not the back
If you can’t bend over to the point where your back is almost parallel with the floor while keeping the dowel touching those 3 points, then that’s a problem. Because really what it means is that when you bend over doing normal daily activities, you’re probably bending in your low back. And for many people, doing that hundreds or thousands of time (365 days per year – how many times a day and how many years – it multiplies up!) is a big problem for their back.
Crunches, Leg Raises and Planks, Oh My!
Meanwhile working just the abs makes no sense at all! Especially for those of you who have desk jobs – you’re sitting on your butt, trying to turn it into your best impression of a pancake, but then when you go to work your core, you don’t want to work that too? Instead you only work the muscle that’s getting shorter and tighter with every hour that you sit at your desk? Which will just contribute to further shortening, which will actually do great things for the Montgomery Burns posture you’ve been working on. And let’s face it Bill Gates has the same posture, so it might not be a bad thing to work on.
The 4 Things I Know About Sports Injuries
You know how your mom told you you can do whatever you put your mind to? She was wrong. Or maybe she was lying, but you can sort that detail out with your shrink. The reality is, we are all built differently, and some of us aren’t built for the activity we love.
The one truly horrifying image that will make you reconsider wearing heels
There are often articles that pop up in newspapers and blogs, and on the health segments of television news shows that explain the health problems people who wear high heels will likely face. Inevitably they include a stylized x-ray image of a woman’s foot with highlights of the pain and damage points. Probably the people who write, produce, and share those images and articles think it will scare women into wearing more sensible shoes. I wonder if anyone has been convinced by those messages? My guess is very few.
Maybe there’s a better way. What if this was the message:
Dr. Ho’s infomercial product was tested by Dr. McGill?
“In our investigations on various scientific issues related to back pain we were apprised of the Dr Ho’s device. Specifically in our work with the device on patients, we did quantify reductions in perceived pain as claimed by the manufacturer.”
Why deadlift?
But deadlifts are a different kind of awesome. They are functionally awesome. Everyone deadlifts. In life, that is. And because everyone deadlifts in life, virtually all of my clients deadlift in the gym. Whether you are 16 or 76, if you train with me for long enough, you will deadlift. And odds are, you will probably love it.
Do corrective exercises work?
Without proper cueing and instruction, it’s entirely possible that the exercise given to correct a dysfunctional movement will encourage that dysfunctional movement if done poorly.
Back-friendly snow shoveling tips
Before heading out, start with a warm-up in the house. It doesn’t have to be long, but make sure you get some movement in your legs, your hips, and thoracic spine area. I have two warmup options for you, each one takes between 5 and 10 minutes: