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| We need an appropriate balance between strength and mobility in our hips. This is true if we want to squat or deadlift more weight, jump higher or sprint faster. A world-renowned philosopher by the name of Coolio may have said it best: "You can't have da' hop if ya don't have da' hip!" It’s no surprise that athletes in sports like Olympic lifting, powerlifting and sprinting have amazing overall development in both flexibility and strength of the hip musculature.
We see tons of injuries to the hamstrings and lower back, but rarely encounter any sort of injury to the glutes. The fact of the matter is that most athletes are tight in the hamstrings, lower back and hip flexors. This collection of problems is related to a lack of strength and motor control in the gluteal muscles. When the hip flexors (antagonists to the gluteus maximus) are overactive, the gluteus maximus becomes weak via a mechanism known as reciprocal inhibition.
Furthermore, when our "butt" muscles aren’t up to the task, the hamstrings and erector spinae muscles are forced to work overtime to compensate. This is known as synergistic dominance. This unfortunate cycle often results in injury, or at the very least, sub-optimal levels of performance.
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| After reading Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, you've probably come to grips with the fact that you have a greater resemblance to Cro-Magnon man than you previously thought. Now, what are you going to do about it?
The program outlined below is designed to keep your current strength levels intact while correcting the muscle imbalances holding back your strength and physique. We have two primary goals:
1) Hit the global muscles hard and heavy with a four-day per week program.
2) Hit the local muscles daily (or at the very least on off days) to take advantage of the motor learning effects produced by frequent, low-intensity training.
What are "global" and "local" muscles? Local muscles (also known as the deep muscular system) are extremely important when we're discussing posture improvements. The primary roles of the deep muscular system are motor control, segmental stabilization, and fine-tuning of movements.
On the flip side, you have the global (or superficial) muscle system. The primary role of the superficial muscle system is to produce movement, power, and torque. As a general rule, when you have significant postural issues, your global or superficial system is overactive and the deeper system is inhibited or weak.
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| After covering all the "what's" and "how's" of the most common postural problems in Part I, we focused on some self-assessment tools in Part II. Those self-assessments are certainly valuable tools, but they can sometimes be too subjective if you aren't accustomed to assessing these problems. With that in mind, use the results of those tests in conjunction with the cases studies featured in this article to really get an idea of how significant your problems are and how to correct them.
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| After reading Part I you're probably thinking to yourself, "Maybe my posture isn’t so great after all, but how do I know?" Well, if you completed your homework assignment from last week, you should have been waiting for this week's update with a bunch of photos in hand. Time to put them to good use!
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| Disclaimer: What you're about to read is some very technical, very geeky stuff, but don't panic if you don't have your kinesiology degree just yet. In the future articles in this series, Eric and Mike will break it all down for you and show you how to fix your posture and improve your physique. For now, take off that poseur trucker hat and put on your thinking cap!
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