I would take a bet that 9 out of 10 of you reading this right now are sitting.

Am I right?

Heck, I'm sitting down to write this.

They say that sitting is the new smoking.

I believe it.

There's no doubt that we sit too much....

Whether it's at work, at home on the couch, or driving, we spend countless hours on our fanny.

Outside of the usual lecture of "make sure you get up every 30 minutes and go for a walk" I wanted to show you a couple exercises I recommend you do daily if you find yourself parked too much.

When you sit too much there are three main things that happen...

1. Your back rounds which causes back pain, shoulders rolled forward, and general discomfort.

2. Your anterior core disengages which causes core weakness, rounded back, and shoulders rolled forward.

3. Your hip flexors get super tight, you end up getting tight hamstrings, walk in anterior pelvic tilt, which causes back pain, shoulders rolled forward, etc.

So...

That's obviously not good!

Keep reminding yourself of that age old rule of getting up every 30 minutes. That still holds true.

I like to set an alarm or a timer to remind myself to get up, and I also use that time to hydrate.

Outside of that here are a couple exercises you can do 1-3x per day to help with back stiffness, posture, and all the negative stuff that happens from sitting too much.

I would do all 5 exercises in a circuit fashion.

Lacrosse Ball Back: 30 seconds each side: This is great to loosen up any tight spots and get the blood flowing.

Back to Wall Shoulder Flexion: 10 Reps: Keep everything locked in, ribs down, don't arch the back, just move in the shoulders

Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobility: 10 Reps Each Side: Keep everything square, don't arch the back, rock forward just enough to feel the stretch and then pull back.

Bent over T-Spine Mobility: 10 Reps Each Side: Keep the back flat, follow that hand with your eyes up to the ceiling, and only move in the middle back, keep the lower back stiff.

Wall Leg Lowering: 10 Reps Each Side Keep one leg against the wall so you feel a stretch, lower the other leg down slow, brace the abs, and raise it up until you feel the stretch in the back of the leg.

Once again, I would do 10 reps of each exercise and just go through it in a circuit fashion. One round is fine. I would aim to do this 1-3x per day.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more fun :)

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling