Who does not have poor posture?

There are 3 common postures that we do every day that can lead to pain and injury.

Let me show you what they are.

3 Pain Creating Postures

CLICK HERE to watch this on YouTube

Being in these postures or exercising in these postures could be hurting you.

You could be in these postures in the gym, at work or at home.

Pain Posture #1 – Sitting

The first posture that leads to pain and injury is sitting.

Sitting at work, driving, watching TV or sitting down to have coffee all put greater stress on your back, mid-back, shoulders and neck.

Sitting ends up putting about 40% more pressure on the lower back.

It only increases if you are not in ideal posture. Especially if you bring your head forward or you roll your shoulders forward.

Pain Posture #2 – Flexed Lower Back

The second posture is, being in a posture where your are flexed in the lower back.

That rounded forward posture in the low back is a problem.

You could be rounding out your lower back when sitting. Instead of sitting nice and upright,  you could be rounding in that low back, which puts a lot of stress and strain in that low back.

Another time that your lower back might round is during exercise. Instead of moving at the hips, you might end up moving at the back in order to do the exercises.

One other common time is when standing and I am relaxed in the abdominal area.

Pain Posture #3 – Twisting to the Side

The third ends up being standing and twisting to the side.

This could be an exercise done in the gym like a med ball rotation. Twisting in the back ends up putting high load on the spine.

I could end up twisting in the back when sitting and rotating while working on the computer or reaching for the phone.

As you move throughout the day, look to see if you are getting into these postures.

If you are, they could be causing your pain, they could be slowing your recovery down or setting you up for pain in the future.

Do what you can to get out of them or minimize them.

Your body and pain will be happier if you do.

This is Rick Kaselj from ExercisesForInjuries.com and Fix My Back Pain

Have a pain-free day.

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I wanted to chat about how the plank exercise is the reason why you ended up having back pain and tweaks that you can do to turn the plank into a good exercise from a back pain creating exercise.

CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube

#1 – Two Common Plank Mistakes

I am going to get Orsy to demonstrate a poor plank.

Bad Plank Positions

Two common mistakes you see is the seat is too high or when you drop the hips too low.

The big thing for both of these mistakes is there is a change in the curve of the back.

We want to maintain that curve in the back and we want to activate the abdominal area, plus the muscles around it in order to keep the spine in neutral.

#2 – How to Fix the Plank Exercise

What I get people to do is I get them to start from their knees when it comes to the plank. In that kneeling position I get their pelvis and back into a good position and then move them into the full plank.

Good Plank Position

How to do the exercise fix:

1. Orsy is in a plank position, from the knees.
2. Then what she can end up doing is rock the pelvis forward, rocking it back and then she finds what’s neutral for her.
3. Then she tightens the abdominal area like she is bracing for a punch.
4. She lifts her knees of the floor. Now she is in good alignment.
5. Then she can engage her glutes maximus and then she can engage her lats in order to protect that spine even more.

Then how long I get people to hold the position?

I usually start off with  5 second holds for 5 repetitions. Then I can increase it to 10 seconds hold and 10 repetitions.

If you end up doing the plank and the plank leaves your back feeling funny, give a go; trying it from the knees, setting your pelvis in a good spot, locking that position by activating your abdominals, lifting the knees off the floor, and then bringing in the glutes and the lats.

If you do have back pain and are looking for a program to help you overcome it, check out Fix My Back Pain:

Rick Kaselj, MS

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LAST DAY to save 60% on fitness professional CECs/CEUs, click here to get details.

I got a question from a reader named Rachel:

“Hello, I recently re-injured my back and therefore purchased the Fix My Back Pain. It’s amazing. I almost got an immediate improvement in my back pain. I am wondering once I am free with back pain, can I resume doing stretches or Yoga poses which have me curved and round out my back?”

CLICK HERE to watch this video on YouTube

Rachel, thank you very much for sending in your question.

Now my approach is I hate when anyone tells me you can’t do something or you will never be able to do something. And I hate to say that to someone else.

But when it comes to Yoga, when you go back to Yoga after recovering from your back pain you just need to be a little bit smarter when it comes to doing Yoga.

You must:

• Know what your limits are.
• Know what you can do.
• Slowly go back to what you were able to do before.

You are not going to be able to jump in and do what you were able to do multiple months ago. It is going to take you some time to get back.  It will take time for your body to get the movement, for your muscles to remember what you are doing, for your mind to feel more confident in what you are doing and for you to reach the level that you ended up doing before.

And the last thing that I would really mention is when it comes to movements and if you had a previous back injury, try to look at having the movement happen in the hips. The more you can keep the lower back neutral, the better.

With a neutral back, what I mean is that curve in your lower back is maintained. You are not rounding it out or flattening it out. You are trying to maintain that curve and have the movement happen from the hips.

Rachel, I hope I gave you the answer that you are looking for. Yes, you will be able to get back to Yoga. Just remember that it is going to take some time for your body to get back to where it was. Really try to work on that movement coming from your hips and keeping your back in neutral.

Lastly, there’s a lot of research showing that there is benefit in doing Yoga when it comes to low back pain relief. Research out there says that doing Yoga once a week ends up having a benefit on low back pain, so it is something to think about.

Now if you are suffering from low back pain, I strongly suggest you checking out Fix My Back Pain :

 There you go, this is Rick Kaselj from ExercisesforInjuries.com saying take care and bye bye.

Rick Kaselj, MS

P.S. – If you would like to ask a question about your injury, you can leave it on my Facebook Fan Page wall.

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NOTE: If you are a fitness professional and would like to save 60% on CECs, click here.

I wanted to go through 2 Must Do Exercises that you have never seen before.

Both of them are really important in order to protect the body from injury.

CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube

#1 – 90/90 Hip Flexor Stretch with a Tweak

I am going to go through a hip flexor stretch, a 90-90 hip flexor stretch with a little bit of a tweak.

I will get Orsy to go through the 90-90 hip stretch.

The front leg is at 90 degrees and back leg is at 90 degrees.

Then the tweak that we are going to do is, you are going to bring the heel out on the back leg.

What that’s doing is rotating that thigh inwards and intensifying the hip flexor stretch.

The other thing Orsy is remembering to do is to contract the glutes and bring her hips forward and intensifying that stretch.

You can put your hand on a bench or wall because I am not worried about balance because I want to focus on the stretch.

Look at that tweak when you are doing the hip flexor stretch to really intensify and target things, especially if you don’t feel very much when you are doing the regular hip flexor stretch.

#2 – Seated Mid-Back Stretch

I am going to get Orsy to have a seat. This stretch is really going to loosen up that mid back and loosen up that thoracic spine.

She is genieing, genie as I call it, and then she is going to rotate to where she gets resistance and then she is going to side bend. Then come back, then rotate to the start and then the opposite way.

She is going to the point where she feels light resistance and then side bending in that mid back.

This is something that you can easily end up doing at work, just to loosen up your mid back. Loosening up that mid back decreases the stress that you end up having on your low back because a lot of times stiffness in the mid back will end up leading to low back pain.

Remember, with every repetition you are trying to go a little bit further and a little bit further.

So there you go.

Those are 2 must do exercises that you probably haven’t seen. Make sure to give those ago. You can do them throughout the day, you can do them after your workout and I know they will make your body feel a lot better and help loosen things and decrease the stress and strain on your back.

If you have back pain, make sure to check out Fix My Back Pain. If you sit a lot check out Fixing Tight Hip Flexors.

Take care and bye bye.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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IMPORTANT – If you are a fitness professional, make sure to check out the 60% Off CEC Cyber Monday Sale. (Plus this is the final day of the Black Friday Sale as well.)

This morning I did the 5 minute kettlebell test, it was brutal!

I felt great for the first 20 reps and then after that it was all about the burn.

I got an article below on the burn.

It is from a trainer from Australia that lives in New York, Kate Vidulich.

Enjoy!

~ Rick Kaselj

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We’ve all felt the familiar burn that come with the last few reps of a difficult set of exercises. That burning feeling is all thanks to lactic acid.

But if you can push through the pain of intensity, you can accelerate fat loss by significantly boosting your body’s lactic acid level.

Hang on, what is lactic acid training and why should you use it?

The Science Behind It…

I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible.

Lactic acid is the by-product of energy production in the absence of oxygen. Your body breaks down glycogen (stored carbohydrates in your liver and muscles) for energy, which causes the burn.

Seeing as oxygen is NOT available, the glycogen breaks down into different compounds, including pyruvate – which later turns into hydrogen ions – the real trigger of the burn.

When training at this higher intensity, the build up of lactic acid will cause you to slow down. The time to muscle fatigue will depend on your fitness level and lactate threshold, which increases as you specifically train this energy system.

#1 Myth About Lactic Acid Training

You may think this type of training makes you sore. But don’t be fooled, lactic acid buildup does not cause delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)…

DOMS is caused by muscle fiber damage, during the eccentric portion (lowering phase) of the movement. The slower tempo causes lactic acid buildup, forcing the muscle to fail on a chemical, cellular level. NOT because the fibers are weak.

And this makes a huge difference to your rate of recovery. You won’t feel insane muscle soreness the next day even though your workout is exhausting and your muscles burn during the workout.

So why is Lactic Acid training so effective?

I’m so glad you asked.

Lactic acid is the precursor to Growth Hormone (GH), which means the more lactic acid present in the bloodstream, the more growth hormone (GH) your body releases. That’s key, because GH causes muscles to grow and attacks stubborn fat stores.

This presence of growth hormone also means you can maintain your muscle mass, even on a low calorie diet.

But in order to spike your lactic acid production, you will be doing long sets and short rest periods. Yes, it’s hard work because…

The tempo is different.

This will increase the time under tension, which drastically increases the amount of lactic acid produced. And make your workout extremely challenging. You rest long enough to slightly recover, but not long enough to clear the lactic acid from your system.

More lactic acid is produced during the concentric phase of the lift (upward motion), and that is the portion of the exercise we want to slow down. You extend the amount of time it takes to lift the weight, and decrease the time lowering weight. For most exercises, you lift the weight over 3-4 seconds, and lower quickly but safely (like 1 second).

Remember, when doing lactic acid training you MUST reduce the weight by 20-25% below your normal lifting weight. As your body gets accustomed, you can bump it up.

This style of training will help you get rapid results, particularly if you train in a fasted state. Seeing as I love you, here is a cool workout straight out of the 21 Day Accelerator Rapid Results Plan, you can try today.

No kidding, you will burn calories just looking at it.

Lactic Acid Training Workout B

Dynamic Warm Up

Do this circuit once, no rest between moves:

• Single leg glute bridge x 10 each leg
• Hip Flexor Stretch x 15s hold
• Bird/Dog x 5 each side with 10s hold
• Jumping Jacks x 20

Accelerator #1: DB/BB Fat Loss Accelerator

Choose a weight you can lift overhead for 10 reps. Perform each of the following in order, with no rest between exercises and without putting the weight down. At the end of the circuit, rest for 60 seconds and repeat for a total of 4 rounds.

• A: High Pull x 8
• B: Romanian Deadlift x 8
• C: Push Press x 8
• D: Alternating Reverse Lunge x 8 (each leg)

Lactic Acid Training

Perform exercises with a slow tempo, as listed next to the exercise.

Workout Set #1: 3 rounds

• 1A: Prisoner Squat x 15 reps (1-0-5) — drop fast, 5 seconds up

- Rest 10s

• 1B: Close Grip Push up x 10 reps (2-1-3) — 2 seconds down, 3 seconds up

- Rest 10s

• 1C: Stability Ball Leg Curl x 12 reps (1-0-3) — 1 second out, 3 seconds in

- Rest for 45s at the end of the circuit and repeat this circuit twice more time for a total of 3 rounds. If pressed for time, do 2 rounds.

Accelerator #2: Bodyweight Fat Loss Accelerator

Perform each of the following in order for one round.

• A: Explosive Push Ups x 10

- Rest 15s

• B: Low Box Jumps x 10

- Rest 60s

Workout Set #2: 3 rounds

• 2A: Inverted Row x 15 reps (1-0-3) — 1 second down, 3 seconds up

- Rest 20s

• 2B: DB Squat thrust to Deadlift x 10 reps (1-0-3) — 1 second down, 3 seconds up on the deadlift

- Rest 20s

• 2C: DB Overhead Press x 10 reps (1-0-2) — 1 second down, 2 seconds up

- Rest for 45s at the end of the circuit and repeat this circuit two more times for a total of 3 rounds. If pressed for time, do 2 rounds.

But wait… you’re not done yet.

There is another quick bodyweight Accelerator to keep metabolism cranking until Christmas Day.

Get the entire workout PLUS 21 Day Ab Accelerators System here:

Ab Accelerators is an aggressive 21 day workout plan that gets rapid results, with intense circuits to rev your metabolism and the best ab exercises to put your belly fat into submission.

Finish 2013 with a bang, click here to take on this 21 day challenge and get visibly defined abs.

Rock on!

Kate Vidulich, BSc, ACSM-HFS, MCTT
Author of the Ab Accelerators System

I am about to get ready to head to the college to do some teaching.

I am teaching a group of personal trainers on how to design exercise programs for people with knee and shoulder injuries.

It is going to be a great day. Now what I have for you today is a quick 3 Minute Bodyweight Workout that targets your abs from Kate Vidulich.

Enjoy!

Rick Kaselj

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3 Minute Bodyweight Ab Workout

CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube

Hey, I am Kate Vidulich, Metabolic Training Expert here at AbAccelerators.com. Today, I am totally pumped because I have an awesome Ab Accelerator workout. You can use it to replace your current Ab training even before you workout or at the end.

I use it with my clients at the beginning of the workout so that you’ve got your core activated and strong to use for the rest of your training session. But whatever you like, the most important thing is you give it a shot.

These ones are bodyweight only, so you don’t need any equipment and we’ve got three different moves coming up.

Let me show you how it goes:

#1 – Bird Dog Plank

You are down on the ground in a plank position with hands underneath your shoulders. You are going to extend your right arm and your left leg and then you are going to switch with left arm and right leg.

Bird Dog Plank

You are going to repeat this for 8 repetitions. If you can’t do the Bird Dog Plank without you keeping on falling, just regress down and do a Regular Bird Dog.

Regular Bird Dog

Hands under your shoulders, bracing your abs, extending your right knee, right arm and left leg, and then alternate. You want to make sure with both of these exercises that you are engaging your abdominals the whole time, bracing your core as hard as you can as like someone is going to punch you in your stomach. That way you are making sure you are doing the move correctly.

You are going to take your rest and then you move to the next exercise.

#2 – Side Plank with Rotation

You are going to start with the side plank, elbow on your shoulder. Squeezing your left glute, you are going to reach under and then up.

Side Plank with Rotation

You do 10 repetitions on each side. Again engaging this whole lateral side, weighing the outside with your left leg and you lift over.

Then you can take your rest and then move into the final exercise.

# Body Sword

You get down to a plank on your elbows and you slide as far forward as you can then slide back as far as you can.

Body Sword

Make sure again that you keep your body in a straight line and you are engaging your abs, you are not letting your hips come up or drop down.

You got to do each of these 3 exercises in order with no rest in between the moves. Now the end, you are going to take 30 seconds break and you are going to repeat that for 3 rounds.

As you can imagine it gets challenging because that 30 seconds rest is very short but as you can see it is going to help you get flat and sexy abs.

If you loved this workout, then make sure to check out the other 21 Ab Accelerator Workouts that you can use to replace your current Ab Training, here. It is going to help you to get flat sexy abs and build a real solid strong core.

I am Kate Vidulich, have an awesome day.

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Chris Lopez:  Hi I am Chris

Rick Kaselj: I am Rick

Chris and Rick: ”And we are here to help you out.”

Chris Lopez: We just thought that was kind of funny because we are a little relaxed. We are in New Brunswick right now, just finished some fitness meetings, helping each other out. If you don’t know this is Rick Kaselj from ExercisesForInjuries.com. I am Chris Lopez from KettlebellFinishers.com.

And we are going to ask each other questions because Rick ironically enough has a back pain Kettlebell training question in his customer service inbox right now. And I wanted to talk to Rick about back pain and since that is a kettlebell question.

Rick Kaselj: And I want to talk to you about kettlebells on what else this person can do when it comes to the recovery of his back surgery because the common thinking out there is that “just because you are in injury or pain, you should do nothing. You should just lie down and rest and not move again.” And that is the worst thing you can do in the world because even with professional athletes, none of them will sit and do absolutely nothing. There are very few conditions where that is required and where movement is not recommended.

Let me read Jeff’s question:

Rick, I just started kettlebell training and really like it. Before my lumbar fusion operation in November of last year I bought and did the lumbar fusion exercises you put together and you answered some of my questions concerning weight training like could I ever do a dead lift again.

So I have a specific program called Lumbar Fusion Exercises and it’s a program for people that have had a lumbar fusion. It includes things to avoid and things to do to help overcome lumbar fusion. But once again that is a part of the process of recovery because just like with Jeff he wants to get back to doing what he did before and he can, he just has to train smarter.

Now the Second Part of the Question:

The question is when I can resume Kettlebell training? I have been doing some weight training but I would like to get back to kettlebell training. Is there any exercise routine with Kettlebells that I should avoid?

Well, Chris will cover that part.

I was nowhere near starting double kettlebell training which is quite advanced, but I would like to at some point in time. I am not trying to be, I am not looking at getting certified. I just want to lose some fat and become more defined. Okay so that is Jeff C. Thank you for your question.

So would you like to cover the part where he asked – “Are there any exercises that he should avoid, that Jeff should avoid?”

Chris Lopez: Anything that has to do with potential flexing of that lumbar spine, he should definitely avoid it. He wants to get back into swinging and we have spoken about this before, the Swing is the foundation of movements for all hard style training.

And it’s a great movement but you have to make sure that you have tightened up your hinge pattern. By hinging what I mean is that the swing is a hip dominant movement, it’s not a squat move and you can tell it by just using your kettlebell because it will give you great feedback.

If you got a squatty swing then the kettlebell nine times out of ten will be drooping down because you are coming from a low position on the ground to a vertical position.

Whereas if you got a proper hinge pattern when you are swinging a kettlebell, then that means you are getting it to what we call a Point C which is back wall and when you hinge or explosively extend your hips, the kettlebell will float out to the horizon or maybe even flip up.

Jeff if you are doing your training right now and you are noticing that the kettlebell is drooping down then that means you have got a squatty swing probably and you should really work more on hinging your hips. We are talking about a vertical shin angle where your shins are straight up and down. You can bend your knees slightly but you want your butt as far back as you can get it, where your spine is either in neutral or probably in a better situation because that’s spinal fusion then in an arched position and that’s ideally what you want to do now.

The double kettlebell swing is actually a different niche because it lowers your anterior chain a little bit more. So you have got a wider stance and that is why it is a more advanced exercise because with the wider stance you are not able to get into that posterior chain as much so you really again have to emphasize to get deep into that hinge as far as you can because the handles are so big, you have got to get them through the knees.

Rick Kaselj: But it’s one of those things, it’s not that you cannot do it forever, you will need to progress to it. With injuries, you will need to kind of slowly progress through things and just be smarter. You can’t just jump into it like you are nineteen and master it in five minutes. You have got to be a little bit smarter.

And then the other thing I like about kettlebell swinging is that it teaches that hip hinging that you highlight which is so important because when we start getting flexion or curling of that lower back, it puts way more load in that spine.

If you have a sensitive back, back pain, a back injury or a lumbar fusion, you would want to keep that spine in neutral and eliminate that flexion because it increases the risk of irritation, injury or even worse injury.

The other thing I like about the hinge is you are building strength and endurance throughout different ranges of motion of the body.

So with the hinge you are building hip strength through various ranges of motion, you are not isolating a specific range and then you are also building core strength through different ranges of motion. And probably the most important thing is the endurance side of things.

I find a lot of people who look at other exercise programs they don’t do enough hip hinging exercises and the kettlebells are a great one. They don’t work on building that strength throughout the whole range of motion and then building core strength and endurance throughout the whole range of motion. Yes, you might be great at doing the plank and doing the plank for five minutes but then as you start adding hip flexion into it the activation of the core totally changes.

Chris Lopez: It’s good.

And Jeff another thing that I wanted to say was that you really would want to make sure you have an excellent T-Spine or Thoracic Spine stability as well.

If you go by a joint by joint approach which I and Rick talked about in an interview before, your joints will alternate. Usually they alternate from joints of stability to joints of mobility and with your spine fused in your lumbar area now, you have lost a lot of mobility so you got to make sure that you’ve got almost excessive mobility in that upper back area.

Rick Kaselj: Yeah, I think excess may not be the word but you are looking at trying to get as much thoracic movement as you can throughout that thoracic spine. Some people might have greater movement or mobility more in the lower thoracic spine and less in the upper thoracic spine so trying to build that movement in the thoracic spine but also balancing it without going crazy with it. Meaning, you are doing a hundred repetition of thoracic mobility a day and then you start getting into the overused side of things. It could be harmful as opposed to beneficial. It’s that balance that people need to find.

Rick Kaselj, MS.

You might be getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Before you go eat, I got a workout for you to do.

If you have not started to cook the turkey, you can use it in the workout instead of a kettlebell.

Enjoy the workout and have a great Thanksgiving.

~ Rick Kaselj

P.S. – If it is not Thanksgiving for you, then have a great Thursday.

P.P.S. – Watch out for tomorrow’s email on my Black Friday Sale

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Hey it’s Chris Lopez of Kettlebell Finishers. This is a workout for my buddy Rick Kaselj and all of his friends over at Exercises for Injuries.

Kettlebell Core Finisher Workout

CLICK HERE to watch the video on YouTube

Today, we are going to do the Metabolic Stimulation Finisher. It sounds like a Fat Loss Finisher but in essence it is very much a core finisher, something healthy that I like to get all of my clients to do. It really helps build spinal stability.

The reason why we do that is because it involves loaded carrying. We got a Kettlebell in a Rack Position. If you heard about Dan John, Master of SFG talks about this a lot, holding the kettlebell in a rack position and going for a walk.

What that does is that forces you to off-set a lot of your weight and really try to stay straight because that kettlebell is loaded on the one side. When it is loaded on the one side, you are really making the obliques work.

You are going to do that on both sides.

In addition to that, I am going to get you to do a Spiderman Crawl and Sprints as well. So this is the Metabolic Stimulation Finisher. I hope you guys enjoy it and let me know how you like it.

Here’s how it goes:

#1 – Walking with Kettlebell in a Rack Position

I grab my 28 kilograms kettlebell and I am going to clean it up. Make sure that it stays nice and locked in. It is really heavy. I am crash gripping the handle and bracing my abs nice and tight.

Walking with Kettlebell in a Rack Position 

And then we go for a walk, a lot of ab work here especially with the obliques. Once you get to the end, you are going to put it down safely and clean it up to the other side. I am really crash gripping the kettlebell here, bell goes down.

Then I will do the Spiderman Crawl. Stay nice and low, keep your hips down and don’t let your butt come out. Right from the end you are going to Sprint back.

Spiderman Crawl and Sprint

So that’s the Metabolic Stimulation Finisher. My suggestion is to go 3 to 4 rounds for a total of 4 to 5. Make sure that you are resting out for at least 2 minutes in between especially because you got some sprinting in there. It is really a great finisher and great to increase your metabolism. I will see you guys in the next finisher.

If you would like 33 more kettlebell workouts like this, check out Kettlebell Finishers, here:

Chris Lopez

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