Hi, can you please tell me why my natural posture is like this, with my stomach sticking out causing a massive lower back arch (Pic 1) I’m fairly lean and can see my abs from the front.
Pic 2 is me pulling my belly button in and by doing so my thighs and glues are tensed and I find it difficult to breathe .
Is Pic 2 what I should look like compared to the pic 1 . My core is strong as I can hold a front lever and dragon flag but I think I have anterior pelvic tilt
Why is this a problem? Do you have back pain or find yourself prone to back injuries?
No I don’t have back pain but when I’m stood up by stomach sticks out even though I’m quiet lean. So makes me look like I’ve got a large gut
There are ways to “correct” it. Namely, focus on lifts that strengthen your ass and abdomen. Also, make a conscious effort to correct your posture throughout the day. Try to be aware of it and tighten your abs as much as possible.
Ive found stretching to be absolutely useless when it comes to things like this. Youll likely get 30 people on youtube like Athlean x and other dumb shit telling you to stretch your hip flexors. It sounds right, tighten your glutes, looses your hip flexors, but in reality its doesn’t really work. Your body adapts to the stimulus its given. 10 minutes of stretching doesn’t do shit.
This
By tightening my abs is is just a case of being prepared for a punch? Or do I actively need to thrust my hip forward and squeeze my arse. Because If it’s just tightening my abs, my lower back is still curved a lot.
Hope that makes sense
Depends. If you want to keep flexing your ass in the grocery store and watch people laugh, go for it. But most of the time bracing. Just keep at it.
Another “vote” here. I find I have to be pretty conscious of not letting my butt do no work or my lower back takes over and gets cranky just standing around. Just being somewhat mindful about stacking myself over my hips is enough.
I foresee real shoulder issues in your future if you don’t address the T spine. Mobilizations are important but you also likely are not properly activating the lower traps and are overly restricted through pec minor.
It’s a chicken egg scenario with T spine rounding and lower back overarching, so you probably have to address both. You shouldn’t have to constantly fire your glutes or clench your stomach to get into neutral posture. You’ll need to learn how to properly stack your rib cage and your pelvis so that you can just stand relaxed without the excessive S- curve.
Are you implying wait until we actually push dysfunction to an active injury to address it?
Your lower and mid back are really arched, your belly is poked out and your right foot is especially rotated out.
You’ve got “ATP” or you’re “stuck in extension.”
To counter that you need to build up some Back Flexion and some Hip Internal Rotation. Working on muscles like your hip adductors and transverse abs.
Try out some moves like “Copenhagen Planks,” “Beast Holds” and “Abdominal Sling” that get your adductors and TVA working together to take weight off your glutes and low back and let you get into a more neutral posture.
Easy Stuff
Harder Stuff
Copenhagen Plank
Bird Dog Row
Beast Hold
People training hip internal rotation with blocks and rollers.
Some guys feel that this is a chronic issue, based around the way you breath and the way your rib cage contracts and expands as you breath.
If you want to get in the weeds…
Chiropractors say that your brain’s perception of “level” and “balanced” can get knocked out of whack by a tight neck. Then your back and hips start doing all kinds of compensatory stuff to try to support your head. And you can fix that by getting your neck back in alignment, or “adjusting your axis.”
No. But its an odd issue where Ive known some strong dudes that have stripper ass anterior pelvic tilt and never have pain. Others, slight physical disparities cause all kinds of issues. If we could see OP squat, wed have a much better idea of whats going on.
I hear ya. I tend to be of the belief that they’ll have inevitable issues at some point, it’s just a matter of when. Some anomalies put it off longer.
@FlatsFarmer @jskrabac chill guys. Without more context we can’t assume this is a problem for anything other than aesthetics
Oh nice, 3 counter examples of guys with 1 in a million genetics. I’m convinced!
I heard about a few chronic smokers who lived past 90, so all that about smoking being detrimental is bullshit too. 
My suggestion is they all tolerate exceptionally high training loads and forces, and seem to be doing okay. Posture alone is not enough to predict an injury.
It’s also consistently shown to be significantly less of a risk factor for major injury than something like smoking.
I think muscular imbalances are a pretty good predictor, which to me - it appears OP has.
Looks like he could use some trap work to pull those shoulders back.
Looks like he could use some Transverse Abdominal strengthening as well.
Admittedly, it’s hard to tell if this is posture or muscular imbalance, but in either case - I think trap work and TVA work would prove helpful for OP.
