no one mentioned lunges. they definitely help
Good Mornings and Rack Pulls = Enormous round ass.
Who doesn’t like getting more ass?
On a more serious note:
Go to youtube, search SquatRx.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Enormous round ass. [/quote]
That is a great quality in a woman.
[quote]Chewie wrote:
Who doesn’t like getting more ass?
[/quote]
hehehe…it’s about time someone said it. 
[quote]katzenjammer wrote:
Edit Edit : Just looked at your pictures. If i’m speaking out of place, just ignore my post. But, to be honest, if I were you, I’d focus on larger issues first - and actually, by doing so you’ll go a long way to larger glutes. I’d be willing to bet that part of the “butt” issue is related to postural issues, and that your glutes are therefore inhibited/atrophied. You might want to check out the Neanderthal series if you haven’t yet done so. Cheers. [/quote]
Not out of place at all. My posture sucks and it has definely become an issue in life and in sport. i have been trying to fix it for quite some time and i am really not sure what the “larger” issue truly is.
The obvious answer would be to get my shoulder girdle functioning correctly to get my shoulders back and down where they should be. However, i feel like my upper back is only part of the issue and the real problem lies further down the kinetic chain in the pelvic/hip region.
From what i have read and researched i assume that i have a flat lower back due to a posterior tilt of my pelvis; most likely from VERY tight hamstrings (which i have had all my life).
Essentially, my lower back rounds way too easily and it feels as if i cannot disassociate the movement of my lower back and hips. The lack of curvature in the lumbar region is forcing my thoracic spine to compensate and overarch making it hard to extend/mobilize the area and scapular disfunction ensues.
Sounds right?
My reasoning for the glute thing is in hopes of getting them firing correctly the other muscles; hamstrings and lower back, will relax a little bit because i am sure they are overcompensating for the glutes. I am hoping that this along with some more core work will allow me to extend my spine and get the shoulder where they out to be.
Related to this there are certain exercises that after doing them i always feel dramatically better: Side bridges, one legged RDL and regular RDL, dumbell swings (just cause i think they get my core so fired up),scap pushups and some kind of face pull type exercise. I usually find myself feeling taller and in much better posture after these. Howvever, the DOMS to follow usually make me feel worse but it is probably only temporary.
Does anyone have any other insight on this as to what to work on and where to begin? Thanks to all posters thus far
[quote]Chewie wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
Enormous round ass.
That is a great quality in a woman.
[/quote]
Too bad they don’t do them.
You don’t have posteriorly rotated pelvis. If anything, it is anteriorly rotated.
Weak pancake glutes may be caused by gluteal amnesia. MAY BE. This may be however your genetic hand that you have been dealt.
Have you a tennis ball?
Roll the piss out of the bottom of your feet and your glutes and learn to stretch your suboccipital muscles. roll the ball along the whole side of your thoracic spine. You’ll know where to stop and hold, it’ll hurt like hell.
Foam roller?
roll The crap outta your butt, hams, quads up to your hips, IT band. do crunches laying on the foam roll or two taped tennis balls as demonstrated in Mike Boyle’s latest excellent article.
Catholic school girl windshield wipers: Lay on your back, hips and knees at 90 deg., hands between your knees, or if you have a small ball or towel the width of your two fists stacked. If you can do this, then also lay with your elbows at 90 and your shoulder at 90 degrees abduction, in other words, a straight line from elbow to elbow through your shoulders, elbows bent at 90, with your thumbs then pointing to the ground, then make a fist. In other words, at the 90/90, have the side of your fist in contact with the ground, side of index finger and thumb downward.
keeping tension on squeezing your knees together, see how far you can separate your feet, internally rotate your femur. IF you are using the towel or ball, also drive the fist into the ground without lifting the elbow. You can also do the scapular wall slide like action with the fist, downward force with the fist and elbow, sliding the arms up and down the floor in such a way that the forearm is in the same vertical plane as the body at all times, go as far down and up as you can while maintaining an even force with the floor and forearm,fist,elbow and even contact with the floor throughout your back.
90/90 hip stretch.
This you’ll have to google. It’s worth it
Supine bridge. this you should do a lot of. Not hyperextending your back. brace your abs and squeeze a tube of toothpaste (metaphorically, unless your into that sort of thing), with your butt cheeks. You can add the alternating knee extension while bridges, or do one leg at a time with the other ankle crossed over the active knee.
Keep doing the face pulls.
Scapular wall slides while seated. sole of foot to sole of foot. While going up and down the wall, make sure your knees aren’t moving up and down.
There is a lot of work you should do, Just a matter of how bad you want improvement.
pistols and single limb deadlifts are great. Just learn to brace your abdominals.
edit: forgot a good one
rotational work. ball between knees while standing, wooden dowel behind neck, semi-squat position. squeeze ball firmly between knees, holding a pole behind the neck in a squat position. Brace abs heavy, rotate the shoulders keeping constant pressure in the squeezing of the ball. This may be done better with a witness. Find out which side is limited and double the rotations to that side. What you are trying to do is rotate the thoracic spine without rotating the lumbar spine at all, hence the squeezing of the ball and hard abdominal brace.
[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
You don’t have posteriorly rotated pelvis. If anything, it is anteriorly rotated.
Weak pancake glutes may be caused by gluteal amnesia. MAY BE. This may be however your genetic hand that you have been dealt.
Have you a tennis ball?
Roll the piss out of the bottom of your feet and your glutes and learn to stretch your suboccipital muscles. roll the ball along the whole side of your thoracic spine. You’ll know where to stop and hold, it’ll hurt like hell.
Foam roller?
roll The crap outta your butt, hams, quads up to your hips, IT band. do crunches laying on the foam roll or two taped tennis balls as demonstrated in Mike Boyle’s latest excellent article.
Catholic school girl windshield wipers: Lay on your back, hips and knees at 90 deg., hands between your knees, or if you have a small ball or towel the width of your two fists stacked. If you can do this, then also lay with your elbows at 90 and your shoulder at 90 degrees abduction, in other words, a straight line from elbow to elbow through your shoulders, elbows bent at 90, with your thumbs then pointing to the ground, then make a fist. In other words, at the 90/90, have the side of your fist in contact with the ground, side of index finger and thumb downward.
keeping tension on squeezing your knees together, see how far you can separate your feet, internally rotate your femur. IF you are using the towel or ball, also drive the fist into the ground without lifting the elbow. You can also do the scapular wall slide like action with the fist, downward force with the fist and elbow, sliding the arms up and down the floor in such a way that the forearm is in the same vertical plane as the body at all times, go as far down and up as you can while maintaining an even force with the floor and forearm,fist,elbow and even contact with the floor throughout your back.
90/90 hip stretch.
This you’ll have to google. It’s worth it
Supine bridge. this you should do a lot of. Not hyperextending your back. brace your abs and squeeze a tube of toothpaste (metaphorically, unless your into that sort of thing), with your butt cheeks. You can add the alternating knee extension while bridges, or do one leg at a time with the other ankle crossed over the active knee.
Keep doing the face pulls.
Scapular wall slides while seated. sole of foot to sole of foot. While going up and down the wall, make sure your knees aren’t moving up and down.
There is a lot of work you should do, Just a matter of how bad you want improvement.
pistols and single limb deadlifts are great. Just learn to brace your abdominals.
edit: forgot a good one
rotational work. ball between knees while standing, wooden dowel behind neck, semi-squat position. squeeze ball firmly between knees, holding a pole behind the neck in a squat position. Brace abs heavy, rotate the shoulders keeping constant pressure in the squeezing of the ball. This may be done better with a witness. Find out which side is limited and double the rotations to that side. What you are trying to do is rotate the thoracic spine without rotating the lumbar spine at all, hence the squeezing of the ball and hard abdominal brace.
[/quote]
Thanks a bunch. A lot of those exercises i am already familiar with but a few look like they could really help…Why is foam rolling my foot such a good idea? I recently picked up I/O and i know it included but just wondering.
Also, i think alot of my posture stuff may also just be related to lack of muscle mass all over…essentially, i am weak everywhere. With this in mind i finally got a copy of Starting Strength and plan to go through the routine as outlined (but prolly with more “pre-hab” stuff along the way).
All the movements seem very basic, natural to human movement and the progression if done without the ego in the way, seems very reasonable for a newbie. Would recomend against this or should i be ok. I fgure it is for HS kids so if i cannot do it i have some serious issues
I guess what i am also kind of asking is when is is it ok, from a postural standpoint, to start using basic multi joint movements for strength and muscle gains? Some seem to think all the prehab stuff fixes posture while some feel as if just taking the body through a loaded full ROM multi joint does it as well. Anby thoughts?
[quote]cskolnick wrote:
jp_dubya wrote:
I guess what i am also kind of asking is when is is it ok, from a postural standpoint, to start using basic multi joint movements for strength and muscle gains? Some seem to think all the prehab stuff fixes posture while some feel as if just taking the body through a loaded full ROM multi joint does it as well. Anby thoughts?
[/quote]
Sure, squats and other large muscle building movements will also be great for your core - but you may not be ready for them. There’s no way for anyone here to tell whether you are or not. Study good form and go try some front or overhead squats with just a bar and see how ya like it.
If I were you, however, I’d spend a few months focusing on the posture-related stuff you and jp have been posting about. Then, once you have a base, then work in towards multi joint stuff. You’ll be much better off, imo.
You’re less likely to get injured and you don’t risk exacerbating the posture issues, which can happen with the weaknesses we’ve been discussing. Moreover, you’ll get to know some great pre-hab stuff that you can use for the rest of your life.
However, the trick is, you’ll really need to assess exactly where you are at present so you can develop a program. You might consider hiring a really good personal trainer. If you’re going to do it yourself, you’ll have to do some research. Have you read the Neanderthal series here on T-Nation? I think it would help a lot.
Some exercises you want to be sure to hit to build up your entire posterior chain: Box Squats (varying heights), Good Morning Variations, Full Olympic Squats (If you can do them comfortably), Front Squats, Deadlift Variations (Including Rack Pulls), Glute Ham Raises, Reverse Hypers, Single Leg work.
If you hit all of these things on a consistent basis, I’d imagine in even as little as 8 weeks you will start to notice a difference.
[quote]novagreg wrote:
Some exercises you want to be sure to hit to build up your entire posterior chain: Box Squats (varying heights), Good Morning Variations, Full Olympic Squats (If you can do them comfortably), Front Squats, Deadlift Variations (Including Rack Pulls), Glute Ham Raises, Reverse Hypers, Single Leg work.
If you hit all of these things on a consistent basis, I’d imagine in even as little as 8 weeks you will start to notice a difference. [/quote]
I am familiar with these exercises but as a beginner, and someone trying to improve overall strength/mass and posture are these not a but much? My understanding after reading Starting Strength ( may not be the end all be all but it seems right as a place to “start” as the title suggests)is that someone should the basic, core exercises and safely perform them correctly within a full ROM, period.
Even if it only with a broomstick at first. Only after progress has stalled and weaknesses are shown does one need to add in other accessory exercises in the mix.
So for instance, if my shoulders are rounded forward as they are and my upper back is visible from the side it can be said that i need more strength in my upper back while stretching the chest…roughly. But why is my upper back weak? Is it contained to that area specifically or should i look further don the kineteic chain for a possible cause/influence?
i would imagine so and it usually comes back to the “core” or trunk musculature which for me has always been my weak link.
Rack pulls would blow the upper back up but would it really do the job better than a full DL or squat that will force me to maintain the upper back positioning for a full ROM? Just some thoughts.
[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
You don’t have posteriorly rotated pelvis. If anything, it is anteriorly rotated.
Weak pancake glutes may be caused by gluteal amnesia. MAY BE. This may be however your genetic hand that you have been dealt.
Have you a tennis ball?
Roll the piss out of the bottom of your feet and your glutes and learn to stretch your suboccipital muscles. roll the ball along the whole side of your thoracic spine. You’ll know where to stop and hold, it’ll hurt like hell.
[/quote]
Regarding the suboccipitial muscles, never heard of them before but did some research and it seems they are indicated in forward head posture where they are overactive and shortened in relation to the deeper neck flexors. Correct? I came across this article that talks about how stretching these muscles can actually lengthen the hamstrings. Crazy
And regarding the not posteriorly tilted pelvis…If it is actually a slight anterior tilt, then my lower back rounding at the bottom of squat would be on the hanstring tightness, right?
[quote]cskolnick wrote:
novagreg wrote:
Some exercises you want to be sure to hit to build up your entire posterior chain: Box Squats (varying heights), Good Morning Variations, Full Olympic Squats (If you can do them comfortably), Front Squats, Deadlift Variations (Including Rack Pulls), Glute Ham Raises, Reverse Hypers, Single Leg work.
If you hit all of these things on a consistent basis, I’d imagine in even as little as 8 weeks you will start to notice a difference.
I am familiar with these exercises but as a beginner, and someone trying to improve overall strength/mass and posture are these not a but much? My understanding after reading Starting Strength ( may not be the end all be all but it seems right as a place to “start” as the title suggests)is that someone should the basic, core exercises and safely perform them correctly within a full ROM, period.
Even if it only with a broomstick at first. Only after progress has stalled and weaknesses are shown does one need to add in other accessory exercises in the mix.
So for instance, if my shoulders are rounded forward as they are and my upper back is visible from the side it can be said that i need more strength in my upper back while stretching the chest…roughly. But why is my upper back weak? Is it contained to that area specifically or should i look further don the kineteic chain for a possible cause/influence?
i would imagine so and it usually comes back to the “core” or trunk musculature which for me has always been my weak link.
Rack pulls would blow the upper back up but would it really do the job better than a full DL or squat that will force me to maintain the upper back positioning for a full ROM? Just some thoughts.
[/quote]
As someone who is a beginner overall, I would try Dan John’s One Lift A Day program. If you set up something like the following:
Day 1: Back Squat or Front Squat
Day 2: Row Variation
Day 3: Overhead Pressing Variation
Day 4: Deadlift Variation
Day 5: Bench Press Variation
Day 6: Chin Up/Pull Up Variation
Day 7: Off
If you followed something along those lines for the first 6 months to a year, you’d be getting what you’re looking for. What are your current a stats, nutrition plan, and supplement plan like?