CORE

The Role of Posture in Health and Sports Performance
Your CORE and upper body play an integral role in your posture for health and performance. And while most of us think about someone telling us to “stand up straight” when we hear the word posture, it is not just a matter of appearance. When our body alignment fatigues, we wind up over stressing our body and compromising our efficiency. Unfortunately for most of us, our lifestyle these days has us slumped and hunched, and practicing and reinforcing and practicing poor positions. Its time to break the cycle, and build the postural endurance you need to breather better, feel better, and perform better.

The purpose of this series is to link your core and upper body with your foundation below. The goal isn’t just to master an exercise, but to ensure your build the SKILL of postural control that transfers into the activities and sports you love, to keep you getting after it day after day. The best way to integrate these exercises is to pick 1-3 each session. While performing them you should focus on 2 things:

  1. Keeping your torso stacked overr your hips. When your upper body is stacked and in-line with your lower body, you’ll feel equal weight between your heel and the ball of your foot and your MOBO will remain quiet and still through each rep. If you find yourself wobbling, back off the range of motion a bit until you can master a smaller motion. Your body will learn better position by finding and feeling it!

  2. Integrating our arms, shoulder blades, and spine to move together. Your sport doesn’t care about how many crunches you can do, but it does care how well you integrate control within your entire body.

Posture isn’t about standing straight, but rather about building awareness and muscular endurance to help you maintain your best position for all the things you love to do

 

OVERHEAD PRESS: Grab a 5-15 lb weight, or a full milk jug from the fridge and stand on your MOBO. Hold the weight in your left hand, and press it overhead for 5 reps, then pass the weight to the right hand for 5 reps, back to the left for 5 reps, and then finish with 5 more reps on the right hand. Your goal is to keep your posture centered (no arching as the weight goes overhead) and the MOBO stable. Now flip the MOBO over and work the left foot in the same way.

BAR BAND TWIST: Lots going on here to challenge rotational control through the foot, hips, and trunk….all layered onto a squat pattern. Anchor your resistance band behind you and wrap the opposite end around a ski pole or broom. The band should be coming from your left side. Now step up onto your MOBO with your right leg and your left leg elevated behind you. Next, drop down into a lunge keeping your knee and foot pointing straight ahead, and twist your trunk to the right, and then back to center and up. This is one full rep. Do 2 sets of 15 each foot.

CLEAN + PRESS: This single leg clean variation covers a lot of bases in one move. Step onto your MOBO with your left foot and a weight or gallon of water in your right hand. Now push your hips back into a lunge, and drive back up again, bringing your weight up to your chest and then up overhead. Aim to keep the MOBO quiet, your hips and shoulders level, and avoid arching your low back as you drive the weight overhead. Lots of coordination going on! Do 2 sets of 15 each foot.

MOBO PLANKS: place fins in the EVEN slots, and set the board in front of your so that it tilts right/left. Place both hands on the board and aim to keep it as quiet as possible as you perform the following sequence: Left leg up, Right leg up, Left knee to chest, Right knee to chest. Repeat this for 3 sets of 30 seconds.

TIPPY LAT ROW - Attach a resistance band to something in front of you approximately shoulder height and grab the ends with both hands. Space your MOBO appropriate distance from the wall so that you can hinge into a tippy bird position with some tension on the band to start. Aim to keep your hips LEVEL as you row your elbows into your hips and then straight again. Perform 2 sets of 15 reps on each foot.

SHOULDER EXTENSION: Attach a resistance band to something in front of you approximately shoulder height and grab the ends with both hands. Stand on your MOBO, and aim to keep the board quiet as you keep elbows straight and row from front to back. Your weight should be felt evenly split through your entire foot as you row. Perform 2 sets of 15 reps on each foot.

PRESS + ROW: Attach a band in front of you and grab the end in one hand, and hold a weight in your opposite hand. Aim to keep your MOBO still and quiet as your row the band into your hips and press the weight overhead at the same time. Ensure your ribs stay stacked over your hips as you row and you don’t flare your ribs and arch your back on each rep. Do 25 reps on each leg.

3 POINT STAR: Tie a loop into one side of your band and thread it through the open fin slot in your board. Step onto your board, and with straight arms, aim to keep your MOBO quiet as you hinge. forward while extending your arms overhead. Ensure hips stay level as you hinge. Perform 25 reps on each foot.

POSTURE DRILL: Your posture matters in terms of durability and performance. This simple sequence will teach you to FEEL the skill of better position for a better run! Practice early and often to ensure your core training TRANSFERS into your sport.