One of the problems with my posture is that I let my abdomen hang out instead of keeping it tight like you’re supposed to (which makes my physique look bad). I haven’t been able to correct this on my own without constantly telling myself to tighten my abdoment, which is annoying and distracting.
So, I’ve come up with an idea but I want to check here to see if people think it’s safe. To correct back posture, Mike Robertson recommended getting in the correct posture and putting a piece of tape on the back (see http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459846). The tape will stretch uncomfortably if you get out of the correct posture.
So my idea was to tighten my abdomen and put a few pieces of scotch tape completely around it. The tape is tight enough that if I don’t tighten the abdoment, I feel the tape stretch and it’s a reminder that I’m not maintaining correct posture. I tried to make it not too tight, though. It’s not uncomfortable so long as I keep my abs tight.
Am I risking cutting off blood circulation or doing anything else bad or is this a good way to correct posture? How would I know if I were cutting off circulation? Thanks!
There are these bands (they look like a heart rate monitor strap) that you can place around your gut that will vibrate when you start to “sag”. I used one and it worked well, as far as reminding you to pull in and tighten up. You would have to google it to find it (try “posture”). I got mine out of a Lillian Vernon catalog.
That sounds good. Do they make anything to help you keep your back and/or hips in the right posture too? I find I do okay if I remind myself to use proper posture but I quickly lose the posture if I do anything that requires thought or am engaged in an activity.
Do you keep proper posture at all times (e.g., tight abs, arms back so that shoulder blades are almost touching each other)–even when lying down in bed, for example?
i heard eating cheeseburgers works. my regimne is 2 cheese burgers a day for 10 weeks then cycle off pct of 2 hamburgers for 4 weeks taper off. wait at least 14 weeks before another cycle of cheeseburgers
instead of tape, get one of those studded punk rock belts and wear it around your abdomen inside out. That way, whenever you feel yourself being stabbed and gored, you’ll know your posture was slipping.
Why not do a heap of core activation work like prone and side bridges concentrating on keeping your abs and glutes as tight as possible. I’m sure this will fix your problem much better than a piece of tape. If your gut sags you have weak abs, so fix it.
[quote]Neil Mac wrote:
Why not do a heap of core activation work like prone and side bridges concentrating on keeping your abs and glutes as tight as possible. I’m sure this will fix your problem much better than a piece of tape. If your gut sags you have weak abs, so fix it.[/quote]
I agree. Activate your muscles regularly. Start your day with some core activation work and the muscles should keep their tonus for the rest of the day.
A) I do ab work about 2 to 3 times a week. My impression was that you should never work the same muscle group on consecutive days. Is this different for the abs?
B) My abdomen is pretty flat when I stand with the right posture, including standing with the abs tight. I don’t have a six-pack but it’s still flat, which is good enough for me. (It’s probably closer to a 2 pack.) My problem is that I get lazy during the day and just let it hang out unless I constantly remind myself to tighten the abs. Are you saying I’ll naturally maintain a tighter abdomenal posture if I exercise the abs more?
[quote]Bonn1997 wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. Two more questions.
A) I do ab work about 2 to 3 times a week. My impression was that you should never work the same muscle group on consecutive days. Is this different for the abs?
B) My abdomen is pretty flat when I stand with the right posture, including standing with the abs tight. I don’t have a six-pack but it’s still flat, which is good enough for me. (It’s probably closer to a 2 pack.) My problem is that I get lazy during the day and just let it hang out. Are you saying I’ll naturally maintain a tighter abdomenal posture if I exercise the abs more?
Thanks again![/quote]
I suppose you don’t move about too much during the day, since you are a student. You would benefit greatly from daily walking. Think of feeder sets. The idea is to get blood flowing, no need to go heavy. You will maintain a tighter abdominal posture if you activate your abs - all of them, not just the superficial ones.
Walking will do this and it will also increase your awareness of body composition. You could also do some kind of bodyweight excercises or use light/medium weights to target specifically your abs, if you want. In that case, think of them as feeder sets.
[quote]karva wrote:
Bonn1997 wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. Two more questions.
A) I do ab work about 2 to 3 times a week. My impression was that you should never work the same muscle group on consecutive days. Is this different for the abs?
B) My abdomen is pretty flat when I stand with the right posture, including standing with the abs tight. I don’t have a six-pack but it’s still flat, which is good enough for me. (It’s probably closer to a 2 pack.) My problem is that I get lazy during the day and just let it hang out. Are you saying I’ll naturally maintain a tighter abdomenal posture if I exercise the abs more?
Thanks again!
I suppose you don’t move about too much during the day, since you are a student. You would benefit greatly from daily walking. Think of feeder sets. The idea is to get blood flowing, no need to go heavy. You will maintain a tighter abdominal posture if you activate your abs - all of them, not just the superficial ones.
Walking will do this and it will also increase your awareness of body composition. You could also do some kind of bodyweight excercises or use light/medium weights to target specifically your abs, if you want. In that case, think of them as feeder sets.[/quote]
Yeah, I’m a grad student. I think I do more walking than most grad students but not for long distances. I have a fairly short attention span and after about 30 min of work, I like to get up and walk around a bit and talk to people.
My workouts basically follow Berardi’s Scrawny to Brawny book: 3 roughly 50 min weight-lifting workouts per week focussing on compound lifts and 2 HIIT workouts per week. About 3 times week I do 3 sets of 15 crunches on an exercise ball, I do some planks, and I use the lat pull down machine standing farther away and bringing it down to about my hips. (I was told this gets the abs well.)
If you don’t necessarily have weakness in your abs but your gut sags when you’re about to squat, bridging work immediately before you squat will help. It will activate your abs, ie. telling them to turn on, as it is probably an activation issue you have. This can be fixed by teaching your body to activate muscles in sequence.