What can you do to counter the effects of too much sitting? Last month we discussed how the human body was engineered to be moving. We also discussed how postural problems related to too many hours in the seated position can have adverse effects on your health such as low back pain (LBP), rounded shoulders, forward head position (FHP), respiratory problems, range of motion restrictions and butt muscles that simply don’t work.
Does this sound like anyone you know?
The obvious suggestion one would expect from a fitness trainer is to incorporate exercise into your day to counter balance the forces of your workday. So let’s get it over with… We all need to make exercise a regular part of our day. Unfortunately, all exercises are not good exercises for all people. In fact, some exercises can actually make you worse off than if you hadn’t exercised at all.
Here are some exercise tips for people who spend too much time at the desk…
Avoid the temptation to “crunch” your abdominals to death. It’s human nature to tend to focus on improving on what we already do well. Men with strong chests like to show off their wares with a bench press. At the same time those same men with buff chests and skinny legs ignore the all too important squat.
If you observe any group exercise class sooner or later the group will eventually engage in some sort of “crunch” exercise. For many people the crunch exercise should literally be the last exercise on the list. Why? Because the crunch, which targets the rectus abdominus, is working a muscle that’s already hypertonic. It LIKES to do the work anyway on its own.
What’s wrong with having an over developed rectus abdominus? How about adverse changes to your posture, such as forward head position, forward shoulders, reduced respiratory capacity, and reduced range of motion of the neck and head, to name a few. Eventually they will all lead to chronic problems down the road, such as a dowagers hump (hump back), poor balance that increases the chances of a nursing home bound fall, headaches, back pain.
Exercising the abdominal muscles is a great idea. As long as there is balance in your routine. Most people have VERY weak lower abdominals (because the hip flexors, another group of hypertonic muscles, usually do the real work) and nearly as weak oblique musculatures.
As far as the deep abdmoninal wall is concerned, the transverse abdominus (TVA), forget it. For most people have this muscle is completely shut off.
If you’re going to design your own exercise programs here’s a couple of simple rules to follow:
1. Perform abdominal exercises at the end of your routine. If you exhaust your abdominals in the early stages of your workout, how are how going to stabilize your spine when performing your squats? (Don’t answer with a “belt”, please!)
2. When exercising the abdominal, always work the muscles in the order from weakest to strongest: Lower, Obliques and Upper abdominals. If you run out of time or energy, skip the upper abdominal exercises! But don’t skip the lowers…
Avoid the temptation to over develop your chest muscles. This is really the same rule as the first. Don’t exercise muscles that are already strong (and short) at the expense of other muscles that are long (and weak). Men in particular, love to hammer their chest muscles. No doubt, a great chest is a key element for the beach scene. But if the opposing back muscles are not equally strong your shoulders will be pulled forward because your weak back musculature is unable to counter balance the short, tight chest muscles.
Maintain neutral alignment of your head during exercise. If you sit at your desk most of the day chances are that you’ve already been "programmed" to lean your head forward. A forward head position (FHP) can lead to many undesirable secondary problems such as headaches, range of motion issues and respiratory problems. Avoid the temptation of tucking your chin or tilting your head back. You’ll have all day at the desk to reinforce bad postural habits… don’t do it when exercising too.
Sitting all day can make your butt go to sleep. Our butts, also known as the gluteus maximus, are the most powerful muscles in our bodies. They were designed to propel our UPRIGHT bodies over land, such as walking and running. If you sit on them all day the natural tendency will be to follow the golden rule: If you don’t use it, you lose it.
To maintain a properly functioning butt, as well as an aesthetically pleasing one, be shore to incorporate judicious amounts of squats and lunges (aka, butt busters) into your fitness routine.
If you’re under the false impression that you don’t need a functioning butt, but you think the one you have looks good, think again! What do you think you are doing when you get out of your car? You open the door, plant your outside leg on the ground, and perform a single legged lunge to raise yourself out of the seat. Do you think that “lunge” is going to get any easier as you grow older? By the way... If your butt isn't working it won't look good. It'll be FLAT!
You might have seen those advertisements for the device to help elderly people get out of a chair. Basically it looks like a seat cushion that the person sits on. When they want to get up the seat cushion has a motorized or spring-loaded mechanism that helps the person stand up out of the seated position. If you’re doing your squats properly, you might avoid ever needing any aids to stand up.
Stretch those stiff muscles after a light warm-up. If you’ve already identified the muscle groups that are chronically tight congratulations. You’ve already overcome the temptation to stretch your naturally long muscles. Before going into your stretch make certain you’re thoroughly warmed up. Warmed up muscles will not only give you better results when stretching, but you will also be less likely to pull a tendon or muscle. Of course, never bounce even if you are warmed up. Bouncing, or ballistic stretching, is a short-cut to injury.
Form is king. This should be your exercise mantra. Your golden rule. The rule that rules… We’ve already mentioned that fact that choosing the wrong exercise can yield worse results than not exercising at all. Worse yet, performing an exercise with bad form is like programming a computer to remember that 1 + 1 = 3. Once your brain has been improperly programmed it is much more difficult to retrain it.
In his book Motor Learning and Performance, R. H. Schmidt (Human Kinetics, 1991) states that it takes between 300 and 350 repetitions of an exercise before it becomes part of our brains natural process. You might have heard someone tell a new exerciser in a gym setting to develop a “groove” when performing a bench press. When an exercise has been repeated 300-350 times, that movement becomes a motor engram… or neurological program.
Would you like to test yourself for a motor engram? Interlock your hands together as if you were praying in church. Do it without thinking… Look at your hands and determine which index finger is on top of the other. Now interlock your hands together except this time do it the opposite way as you did the first time. If your left index finger was on top before make your right index finger on top. Doesn’t it feel awkward? Your brain is so deeply engramed with that when you perform the same grip “backwards” it doesn’t even feel right.
Now here’s the real kicker… It only takes 300-350 repetitions to learn an exercise in the first place. Once it is learned, with good form or otherwise, it will take 3,000-5,000 reps to “unlearn” it. Have you ever tried to learn a new golf swing from a golf pro after hacking away at the game for 5 years? Pretty tough right?
Once you’re learned an exercise incorrectly, your brain will THINK you are doing it correct. To add insult to injury (little pun), if you’re trained by a professional exercise specialist how to properly perform the exercise, your brain will think you’re performing the exercise incorrectly.
Bottom line: Learn all new exercises correctly in the first place and always exercise with perfect form.
Remember, if you’re new to exercises you should consult with your doctor before engaging in any new fitness programs.
In next month’s issue we’ll be discussing things you can do DURING your workday to battle issues related to too much sitting. In the meantime, watch what you eat and get your daily dose of exercise.
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Mission Statement: Desk Jockey Fitness is a wellness facilitation center, teaching our clients how to feel good—both in body and in mind. Our clients’ successes are based on their strong desire to restore their self-confidence, to improve their body image, and to live productive, pain-free lives. Our clients provide the determination; Desk Jockey Fitness provides the tools in a private, non-judgmental setting. We accomplish measurable results through a holistic mix of functional exercise instruction, nutritional counseling, and lifestyle coaching, a dash of motivation and copious doses of accountability. Looking for a “new you?” It’s time to discover the Desk Jockey difference.
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Charlotte, North Carolina 28226
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