So the exercise we're looking at now, we're looking at exercises for the lower cross syndrome.
And one of the exercises we're going to focus on is the weakness of the abdominals.
So it's just going to be your basic crunch.
So your client is going to be
again, on a mat on the ground
in a nice position. Knees are going to be bent up.
And so there's variations of where you can put your hands in terms of the intensity that you're going to want to do.
So the first one we're going to do is
you're just going to have the hands in behind
the head,
but it's not pulling on the head, it's just as a position.
So the hands are going to come in behind the head.
So that the head's going to lift up
but when we do the crunches we don't want to be tucking
our head forward.
What we want to do is we want to keep our
head in this position looking straight up.
Then we want to bring the
shoulders up off the mat.
So as we bring the shoulders up and crunch
we're going to hold that for a two-count and then come back down.
So it's up and down.
In getting your client to go through the exercise you want to get them into this same position for
the crunch.
So they're lying on their back,
knees are bent
on a mat on the ground so they're nice and comfortable.
The hands are going to come in behind the head.
Again, looking straight up at the ceiling you want to make sure that that gaze remains going straight up to the
ceiling and you're not tucking your chin forward working on the neck, you want to be focused on working on those abdominals.
So you want to come up for two seconds
and down for two.
Come up and down.
So you want to be able to focus on contracting the abs
and making sure that you're bringing the shoulders up,
keeping the head steady.
Making sure that you're breathing
as you're exerting.
We're going to do a set of ten,
so we've got three more. Good.
How did that feel? >>Great. >>Good.
So again you want to do three sets of ten reps. Take a thirty second break in between each of those
exercises.
So a variation of the crunch
which could be a little less intensive
is instead of bringing the hands in behind the head, is we're going to bring the hands onto the top of the thighs.
So now as you bring yourself up, keeping the head straight, is you're just taking your hands up your thighs
to as high as you can go
as your shoulders come up off the ground.
So you continue doing this the same as you would the other exercise.
Up for the count of two,
with a squeeze, contracting
the abs and
making sure that you're breathing all the way through. Good.
The next exercise we're going to focus on
is strengthening the glutes,
which is another muscle that can become weak with the lower cross syndrome.
So the exercise we're going to do is called the bridge.
So with this exercise,
again you're lying on the ground, feet
firmly on the ground, knees are bent.
Hands are going to come beside you
loosely on the ground just for support and stability, not using them to press up. So what you're going to do
is engaging your core but tightening your glutes is you're going to bring your glutes up off
the ground
so that you make a bridge with your body.
It's going to come up and it's going to look like that.
And then you bring yourself back down.
So over the course of the exercise you're going to come up, you're going to squeeze for two
and then come back down.
So it's up and down.
Up, squeezing for two
and back down.
And as you squeeze you should feel the glutes tighten up
as you come into that position
and then bringing it back down.
So moving your client through this exercise
you're going to get them into the same position. So they're lying on their back.
They're comfortable on a mat on the ground.
Feet are firmly on the ground.
Knees are bent.
Hands are placed beside them just for stability again, not using them to press up.
What you're doing to press up
is you're engaging you core and you're tightening up your glutes to bring them up, so you're focusing on strengthening the glutes on this.
So you're going to bring it up
and you squeeze, hold for two and then back down.
And up,
squeeze and back down.
All the while you want to make sure that you're breathing,
or your client is breathing as they go through the exercise.
Nice steady pace. Get that squeeze is what's going to really engage the glutes and tighten the glutes up.
And you'll run
through a full set,
ten reps.
So we've got three more.
And one more.
How does that feel? >>Good.
>>So again, looking at engaging the glutes, tightening up the glutes to strengthen them up.
Looking at doing three sets, ten repetitions. You're going to take a thirty second break in between each set
and you're going to do this exercise once a day.
Another variation on the crunch
going more intensive
is bringing in the exercise ball.
So the exercise the ball. The small of the back is firmly on the ball,
knees are bent, feet are firmly on the ground.
And now we're doing same form as before. Hands behind the head.
As we come up
we're bringing up,
shoulders coming up, head staying straight up in the air.
We're looking at focusing on that crunch. It's working on the core and stability as well at the same time
by bringing in the exercise ball.
So another variation of the bridge which is going to make it more intensive,
so again depending on the nature of your client and what they can do this can be a bit more advanced,
is you're going to be bringing in the exercise ball.
So now lying on their back,
hips are bent up.
Now the feet
come firmly planted on the ball.
And that's what we're going to be using as part of our stability. So it works on the stability as well as the core,
as well as engaging the glutes. So the movement of the exercise is the same. We're driving the hips up,
we're tightening the glutes at the top.
We're looking at stability and engaging
the core which is always going to be key,
but also focusing on those glutes as we come up and strengthen
and tighten the glutes on the way up.
We want to make sure that we're breathing as we come through
and everything else remains the same with regards to the exercise.
The next thing we're going to look at is a stretch for the iliopsoas.
The iliopsoas is a hip flexor
and those muscles with lower cross syndrome
can become short and tight.
So one of the remacs we're looking at is
elongating
the iliopsoas.
So for this exercise
the side that you're going to be stretching
is
the side that's going to be down. So right now we're looking at stretching our left iliopsoas.
So left knee is down.
We take a step forward with our right foot,
enough so that as we lean forward we're going to get enough of a stretch,
but not too much,
but enough so that the knee is also not going to come past our toes as we go into our stretch.
So as we take our step forward we lean forward into the stretch.
We should feel the stretch coming
right up through our iliopsoas and through here.
Once we get to that stretch we want to hold that
and then what we'll also want to do is we'll want to tuck our pelvis underneath just to further intensify the stretch.
So we do a little tuck of that pelvis underneath which is going to further intensify and locate that stretch
on the iliopsoas.
And we want to breathe as we go through it and we want to hold that stretch for thirty seconds.
This is a stretch you hold for thirty seconds, you take a thirty second break and you do it again
for another thirty seconds. And this is a stretch you can do twice a day, every day of the week.
So in demoing get your client to go through the exercise.
You want to get them into position. So the left knee is down if they're stretching the left iliopsoas.
Right knee is up. Foot is on the ground.
Good step forward, she's going to be out enough to engage the stretch
and also enough so that as she comes forward
the knee is not going to come past the toe.
So as she's doing that
she's getting a stretch. Are you starting to feel the stretch? >>Mhmm. >>Good.
So then what we'll do to further intensify and locate is we want to tuck that pelvis underneath,
making sure that we're breathing and engaging, you're feeling a good stretch.
And that stretch is going to come
right up through here, through the iliopsoas.
And your client is going to hold that for thirty seconds.
And they're holding that, they're breathing. After the exercise they take a break for thirty seconds, they're going to do it again.
And they're going to do that exercise
twice a day, every day of the week.