4 ms·
Most white collar workers have very weak “core” muscles from sitting all day. This is basically everything between the bottom of your ribs to your thighs — abs,
by wayoutthere 7y ago
Most white collar workers have very weak “core” muscles from sitting all day. This is basically everything between the bottom of your ribs to your thighs — abs, obliques, and everything in the pelvic area. It’s pretty obvious how changing from a life that requires us to stand / walk / run to one where we sit for long periods of time would work those muscles FAR less than sitting at a desk.
Weakness in your core leads other muscles — like those in your back — to overcompensate. For me, it started as hip pain, for others it’s knee pain (yup, weak core muscles can cause knee issues too!) But back pain is probably the most common, and is usually caused by weakness in the obliques putting the weight of stabilizing your head / torso almost entirely on your back muscles.
Fortunately treatment is easy. Bridge poses, crunches, kettlebell workouts (particularly good for the obliques) and yoga are probably the best exercises to work your core. Consider your PT a personal trainer: one your health insurance carrier is more than happy to pay for given the link between physical fitness and overall health.
- agent008t 7y agoBarbell squats and deadlifts are probably a more direct and effective way of making your muscles stronger, including your "core" muscles.
- maxxxxx 7y agoI know you mean well but let’s not optimize too much. If you do something, really anything, you are already way ahead.
- wayoutthere 7y agoRight but those require a lot more equipment. Deadlifts and squats all day if you know how to do them safely.
- leksak 7y agoWell, not necessarily. If you have a muscular dysfunction then performing a big compound lift might just exacerbate the issue. I'm speaking from experience. Hanging out on HN, it is not surprising that I have a desk job. And, I do have a very weak core (despite having a very short back). Why? Because I have tremendous trouble activating it as other muscles take over. Case in point, whenever I started doing back squats my hips would start (still happens sometimes - which is when I reincorporate my rehab/prehab-exercises) to hurt. Specifically my right side, near my hip flexor. After visiting numerous physios that just told me that back squats probably weren't for me I found one that identified that I wasn't flexing my abdominal muscles properly during the movement and instead my hip flexor was trying to take over and stabilise my core at that point. I could have continued with deadlifts and squats, but would probably have torn something. With exercise, I find that we need to adopt several modalaties to see the greatest benefit. Kind of like how we should have a varied diet, your training should include strength, mobility, and activation work. Yoga is dope, it'll open up your thoraic spine, which will let you do overhead squats. Just trying to do overhead squats if you lack the prerequisite mobility is not ideal...