The way our heads rest on our bodies shapes our postures.

The weight of your skull sits firmly above the spine, balanced by the muscles below.

Any deviation will tense one side and weaken the other.

This strength offset is a rock in your shoe that eventually turns into pain. Image
Some of your neck muscles pull your head back, others slide your chin forward.

The balance between these two groups is a significant factor in your head posture.

An alarming amount of people lack the basic neck strength to support their heads.

Fix this immediately:
Weak scapular muscles are also widespread amongst people with pain and posture issues.

Your shoulders slouch and pull your head forward along with them.
You outsource your abdominal muscles’ job to a chair by sitting all day long.

This weakness places an excessive amount of pressure on your lower back and pulls your head forward.
I’ve seen many people struggle with Split Squats because the front of their hips were so tight the stretch “burnt” too much.

It’s crazy to think how they held all this tension while walking around.
People have so much wasted potential behind their legs.

The most powerful muscles in your body lose their tone when you sit on them all day long.
The ankles and the feet are also typical Achilles heels.

Your head will never stay in place without well-grounded soles.

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More from @mythoughtfood

18 Oct
How to resolve or prevent chronic joint pain:

- Stand/walk more during the day

- Find and strengthen your weakest muscles ( Hint: most of them are on your rear side)

- Narrow the strength-gap between your left and right limbs

- Train your feet daily

- Fix your sleep
1/ Stand and walk more

Sitting for too long numbe the muscles from your upper back down to your spine and your legs.

Stand and walk often during the day to keep them loaded and prevent them from becoming too weak to support you.

You’ll also love the extra brain power.
2/ Find and strengthen your weakest muscles

All your muscles work together to execute a movement.

A link in the chain that fails to pulls its part will force others to compensate and cause pain over time.

You’ll never improve without fixing the source. Find the weak link.
Read 6 tweets
17 Oct
6 Tips to Improve Your Neck Mobility:
1/ Strengthen Your Serratus Anterior

This typically neglected muscle anchors your shoulder-blade into your rib cage.

A weakness there puts excess pressure on your neck when you move your arms.

Do more Scapular Push-Ups to assess and strengthen the boxer’s muscle.
2/ Strengthen Your Lower Trapezius

Many lifters have a much stronger Upper than Lower Trapezius muscle.

They can shrug a heavily loaded barbell yet can’t lift a light dumbbell past their ear during T3 Raises.

This dysfunction pulls the shoulder-blades up and stresses the neck.
Read 7 tweets
15 Oct
Our necks have a vital mission, move and protect the head.

The extension of your core bridges body and brain.

Train your neck as much as your abdominals and you’ll be more stable than ever.

This thread presents exercises to steady the weight of the world on your shoulders.
1/ Chin Tucks

You weaken your extensor muscles when you look down at a screen all day.

This exercise will balance the front and back of your neck to give you some much needed support.
2/ Neck Supports

A similar movement as the first except with more resistance.

You push your head into the exercise ball, which then tries to shove you right back.

You’ll feel power jolt through your upper back muscles after this one.
Read 9 tweets
23 Sep
Few exercises expose bad hip mobility better than the Split Squat.

You should see how many people who consult me for pain and posture issues fail this movement.

They either lack the balance or their hips are too tight to go through a full range of motion.

Can you do 12/leg?
Start with your front-foot elevated if you have terrible hip/ankle mobility and weak knees.
Split Squats combined with Unilateral Hip Thrusts will repel the ill effects off sitting on your lower back.
Read 6 tweets
30 Aug
Our wings weigh more than we think, and few have the strength to support them anymore.

The modern world weakens your scapular muscles without training, unable to steady the thick bones on your back.

You compromise every arm motion once you lose this support.

Act now.
One of the most failed exercises I find in my Muscle Assessments.

Many people have poor control of their lower trapezius and lack the mobility to use them through a full range of motion.

Not good.
Read 8 tweets
29 Aug
Our calf muscles protect our knees and ankles, yet most people ignore them in their workout routines.

They are your posture’s first vertical pillars from the ground and must be up to par.

Train them well to withstand the physical demands of your life. Image
You can train your calves anywhere, standing or seated, without the need of equipment.

Take a pause at the bottom of each rep to stretch all these tissues.

Weighted calf exercises will enhance this mobility effect. Image
Do one and two legged exercises. You’d be surprised how much weaker one side can be compared to the other.
Read 5 tweets

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