Finally, part three of this series of lessons.
This is on the breath. Without it, the other two don’t matter.
Funnily enough, often I see people holding their breaths or ‘forgetting’ to breathe.
So I will keep this simple.
“By holding his breath, he loses it. By letting it go he finds it.”
-Alan Watts
To hold on you must first let go.
If you wish to inhale, you must first exhale.
You cannot have one without the other.
Alright, now that we’ve taken a quick and simple knee correction, the next place we want to address is the shoulder because that is the other really common place of (self) injury. And it’s not what you may think. Weak rotator cuff muscles are almost never the cause. That’s right.
So doing those theraband external rotation exercises will not fix the problem. All that will do is plug up the hole in the dam wall with bubble gum. It doesn’t matter if you do them standing up, lying down, with a towel in your elbow, without a towel.
If there’s one thing they taught us in anatomy 101 is that rotator cuff muscles are stabilisers. So it follows that their job is to stabilise. That is how you want to train them. Whereas those theraband external rotation exercises are designed to work them as movers!! See the difference. That is why you should stop wasting your time on them if you are trying to train your rotator cuffs. And no matter what, do not do front raises. They are those weird looking exercises where you start out holding some kind of weight in your hands then keeping your arms straight, bringing them out to the front of your body or thereabouts. There are all kinds of variations like dumbbells, weight plates, standing, sitting, uneven surfaces. NO!!! Not functional at all and much more dangerous than pressing.
You are better off learning how to raise your arm properly, which is not as easy as you may think. Keeping your arm below 90 while you recover will only lead you to lose mobility. So keep it mobile. Once you have that sorted, proceed to carrying something overhead so that your rotator cuffs then work as, you guessed it, stabilisers! But please do NOT arch your low back or hyperextend any other joint in your body when you do this.
This brings us to another thing. Your trunk stabiliser muscles. What is commonly referred to as the core. They are designed to stabilise. So train them as stabilisers not as movers. So that means planks and carries rather than crunches, sit ups, or any other variation. The other common thing people like to utilise when they run out of ideas is either to add weight or make the surface more unstable but are they really functional? Sure, being able to stand on a swiss ball may look impressive but I’ve never seen anyone have to do that in real life or sport, unless you work in a circus.
Again, the rule of training specificity says that train them in a specific manner.
Ok so I promised a lesson on connection so here it is.
A commonly heard cue that people like to give when they encounter collapsed knees upon a squatting/lunging style motion is “push your knees out”. That’s the equivalent of trying to pull your shoulders back when you find yourself collapsing, which hopefully you have a better understanding of now that you’ve read my last post. If not go back and read the alignment lesson first.
So firstly, let’s review some anatomy. The knee is what is known as a hinge joint.
Yes, just like a door.
So imagine now if your door, say on your fridge, were to come off the hinges and fall off/collapse.
But imagine simply pushing the door upwards. That will merely keep the door at an ‘odd’ and misaligned angle. And you will not be able to close the door properly.
Instead learn to realign the knee by training yourself to realign the hinge of the knee back into the anatomically correct spot.
So what is the exercise solution?
You fail if your answer involves training any of the quadricep muscles. Yes your quadriceps may be a bit weaker but they are only so because of how you have learnt to use or not use them. Strength will take care of itself once you rediscover the alignment.
Instead learn to perform the lying hip hinge properly, that means driving up through the ground to raise the hips. Which means no arching the back to do so. And definitely not driving up with the thigh muscles. These latter muscles are supporting the bigger, stronger gluteal complex. Track the knees over the toes. Sorry for the lack of illustration but I cannot find a good picture as almost all the ones I see involve a back destroying arch.
Instead I will provide some instruction. Lie down on your back face up as if you were about to perform a sit up or crunch. But keep your torso down and push through your feet to bring your hips up towards the ceiling until you are in a upside down plank from the knees up. Make sure your spine remains straight throughout the movement. Then lower and repeat.
Yes, this is the deadlift action but lying down. So for the rest of you who don’t collapse your knees but do not know how to deadlift properly this is a great way to learn. It is also fantastic if you think you are supposedly ‘quad dominant’. Again, refer to previous posts if in doubt.
That’s all I have time for today so hope that helped with your achey knees. The other popular exercise that I see performed poorly is the humble pushup partly because of the misconception it is purely an ‘upper body exercise’. I will address this powerful movement in part two coming up.
Many people believe that how we sit stand and breathe are just mindless activities that get in the way of their ‘more important’ activities. These people are too interested in becoming ‘human doers’ than ‘human beings’.
Then there are some well meaning but ultimately misguided folk who offer their versions of what good posture is. This even includes people and organisations that purport and appear to be experts/professionals but who do NOT know what they are talking about(read on for some examples). Some are serial offenders and I want to address some of these alignment myths here because if we can all learn to sit, stand and walk better then our lives will be much better. I’ve been through some of these in the past and they were fruitless endeavours.
The answers, as always, are simple, powerful and easy once you know how. But before we can learn we must first unlearn. I am still in the thick of that process but hopefully some of what I share can prove to be of value to you.
As I stated above, most things I see and read on the internet about alignment and posture are simply wrong so I have to share when I come across something simple to understand and good:
“The perfect standing posture should be one in which the earth lifts the structure of the body effortlessly so that the body is not under particular tension, because the tension between the front and the back, the left and the right, the inner and the outer, is all balanced and therefore minimal. That way the muscles are relaxed and the bones are ‘floating’ in liquid like soft tissues (myofascia). In this case the body is receptive and has awareness and energy flows, which is the essence of health…
The body aligns itself to displace gravity and thereby creating lightness/levity/lift. This is when the transfer of energy from the earth starts upward from the soles of the feet through the body and out of the crown of the head, unbroken.”
What we can learn from this is that good posture is actually effortless, natural and does not require tension. The ground supports us if we allow it, hence Mother Earth. It is not about collapsing into a heap like a worrier, or taking the opposite end of the spectrum and tensing to attention (a TENSION) like a soldier on parade. The soldier is still worrying but now he his worrying about worrying! Remember the spine shape we want is a J not a C or an S.
Some people refer to the latter as a power position but true power is relaxed. Coming to attention is mere overcompensation and shows a lack of true understanding. Be ready not tense or collapsed.
This first article is in contrast to a sea of misinformation like this:
“Sitting—like standing—is one of the most technically challenging things we do. Yet most of us are clueless when it comes to sitting well. In order to stabilize your spine in a neutral position, you have to get organized while standing by following the bracing sequence.”
No it is not technically hard, but you are obviously one of the clueless when it comes to sitting and standing, Mr Starrett. Because you do NOT have to brace. Remember, correct alignment is often effortless. It is about structure not strength.
As if that opening shot wasn’t bad enough, he goes on here: “Once seated, you need to keep at least 20 percent tension in your abs to maintain a rigid spine.”
Your spine should NOT be rigid. No joint should be, otherwise we would not have evolved to have a joint there. Joints are designed to permit motion, some less than others but there is supposed to be some give/movement/play in them. The spine should move gently when you breathe. This is a slight undulation akin to the tides. And this also suggests to me that Kelly could also benefit from work on his breathing patterns. Which is even more foundational. All alignment begins with breathing but I do not wish to be sidetracked here.
And then he goes on here which really makes me wonder about him: “Maintaining a stable position, on the other hand, takes extreme focus and abdominal endurance.”
No it just takes the right alignment and awareness. Do not collapse but do not be rigid. That’s like trying to prop up the Leaning Tower of Pisa by leaning it the opposite way! No, just stand it up in the middle!
You are worrying in both collapsed and rigid positions. One that the world is out to get you, and in the other you are worrying about being worried.
The secret is in relaxation but not in the way the modern world sees it. Relaxation isn’t about switching off or falling asleep. It’s about being. It’s an act of embodiment which is very hard to teach others if you yourself cannot find it. If you’re not sure what I mean look at a cat or a baby. They are masters at being strong yet relaxed. It’s like a Zen koan, you have to feel it.
There’s plenty more in this piece by Kelly but I’m not his teacher. I will ask you to take a look at the final picture where he demonstrates the belly whack test and just notice his head position change in the two pictures. Doesn’t it seem a lot like what I wrote about here. This from a so called expert in making you a supple leopard. Since when are leopards tense? Tension is the opposite of suppleness! But he is not the only one. If you just go into any modern gym you will see most people are trying to get to this position.
So how are they supposed to then build their bodies when their basic structure is out? Sitting and standing are easier than moving.
Buyer beware!
And then there is this other piece which actually starts out talking the good talk:
“Good posture is as important as eating right, exercising, getting a good night’s sleep and avoiding harmful substances. Without good posture, you can’t really be physically fit and over time your poor posture will cause you to develop problems such as a painful back, aching neck and shoulders, joint pain and it will also have negative effect on your knees. Not standing and sitting up straight can set you up for some surprising health problems such as tension headaches, fatigue, reduced lung function, gastrointestinal pains and it also makes you look older than you are.
The benefits of good posture may be among the best kept secrets but the good news is that almost everyone can avoid the problems caused by bad posture and you can make improvements at any age.”
But they can’t back it up with the walk:
“Ideally, your posture would be considered good if you have a straight back, squared shoulders that are not rounded, eyes looking straight ahead, chest out and stomach tucked in. It’s like drawing a straight line from your ears through your shoulder, hip, knee, to the middle of your ankle”
Chest out, stomach in is NOT what you want. That is that tense military posture again.
You can ignore all their so called remedial exercises too as they are just a waste of time for realignment.
I’ve been shaking my head in dismay over articles like this for a long time now. Some of the remedial videos are even worse and have even been made by popular rehabilitation and fitness gurus as well as medical doctors.
This is one such example of someone with a “Doctor” in front of their name who is sadly misinforming people. There shouldn’t be tension in the low spine nor should the chest be pushed up. Can you see the arched back in the video? He has merely put the student here in a military posture as we encountered before except that in this example the student is hinged at the hips. Pulling the shoulders back is simply the opposite of rounding the shoulders forward and just as wrong. I showed this to a few people today and they were very surprised when they let go their need to pull their shoulders back and found that their upper back was more relaxed. Remember that just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. And just because someone is recognised as a doctor or a ‘rehabilitation specialist’ doesn’t make him or her right either.
Many like Naudi Aguilar of Functional Patterns still prescribe bandaid approaches like foam rolling and stretching for relief which can give you symptomatic relief but which doesn’t fix the problem as it fails to address the cause. Nothing wrong with bandaids but if you keep having to use them then maybe you should stop cutting yourself with a blade first. I’ve read his book too looking for answers and found it very, very disappointing as it’s more of the same. You’d think someone with the name ‘patterns’ would address those but no, still waiting. There’s many more and I could write a book on this (keep your eyes out) but I could be here a while.
So let’s recap. Good alignment is important and it is NOT about exercise but awareness and having someone show you so you can feel it and understand it in your bones. It takes time, practice and awareness. Don’t give up because it’s worth it. And even small changes reap benefits right away. And like interest, they do compound!
If you need some inspiration:
“Relaxation and breathing are the foundations of posture and movement. Many martial arts use standing posture holding and standing meditation as a way to perfect posture. They will stand in one place for up to an hour using as little muscular tension as possible to hold their posture. In the long run, this saves time and energy. by taking the time to release the emergency breaks in the body, it gives them the alignment to move quickly, issue power and sustain crushing blows without injury. Without relaxation and breathing, even daily activities become dangerous. Muscular tension pulls the body out of alignment. People often undergo surgery to align vertebrae that are only held out of alignment by their own muscular tension. In many cases, removing the tension is enough to allow the spine to find its natural alignment. Most people are stronger than they know, they are just living with tension.”
Yes it’s as simple as relaxing and finding the line. And you know what, you will then see your body relax. It is a cycle.
Or you can just brace and tense and ache and brace and tense some more. Which cycle you want to ride is up to you.
Because alignment and breathing are more than just mindless activities. So learn to perform them better. Be a warrior not a worrier.
(And keep your eye out for more lessons, there will be one on breathing and connection coming up)
Align Breathe Connect 