Take a look at the picture.
While it maybe humorous, it is alarmingly close to the truth (as all good humour is..)
The last image, the guy sat at the desk, hunched over a keyboard is how many of us spend 8 hours or more every day. Imagine the havoc that will play on your posture.
Now, ok, you go to the gym, but really is an hour in the gym going to undo 8 hours of sitting at desk? And is your program helping or is it hindering your progress?
I’m not going to go inot the ins and outs of program design here, but I will pass on a tip I have on good authority with regards to program design:
Pull more than you push – Eric Cressey (www.ericcressey.com)
That means all you bench press addicts better add in some chins, Dumbell/Kettlebell cleans and rows into your routines quick sharp.
But for ongoing general shoulder health we have to take basic good habits out of the gym and into our daily grind. We have to be concious of our posture, no matter how good we think we are, it will drift. So every now and again, stop what your doing (which is most likely updating your facebook status anyway..) and reset your posture, set an alarm if you have to.
Better yet, get up off the chair and move around. If you can find a quiet corner do a few Scapular Wall Slides, which are demo’d below. If you watch the short video clip, you’ll see how the forearms are pulled down the wall untill the elbows are tightly pulled into your sides. This will force the chest to lift and stretch, extend the thoracic spine (upper back) and activate the lower traps and other scapular retractors. It is these rtractors that will keep the shoulder blades from winging out and allowing the shoulders to slump, rounding forward.
You can even do these at your desk after some practice, you just look like your yawning….
Anyhow here’s the vid:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG6VOxDOq8g&hl=en&fs=1]
Regards Dave