I apologize for the lackluster audio quality, but turn the volume up as high as you can b/c K-Star is dropping some excellent knowledge

We’ve been working with a few Intrepids on learning to properly engage their abdominal musculature and the importance of bracing. Like most things we do in the gym we want you to take things learned in the gym and apply them in “real” life. Whether that’s lifting your kids up from the ground, putting something away on that top shelf, or sitting at our desks day in and day out, we have a number of opportunities each and every day. In the above video I particularly like how Kelly Starrett mentions the importance of having the abs engaged to about 20% (with 100% being braced for a max deadlift) whenever you’re sitting. This helps keep the lumbar spine in better position, which helps makes it much easier to the keep the thoracic (middle and upper) spine in better position, and ultimately the cervical spine. I’ve discussed proper sitting posture in this past post, but it didn’t really hit on the importance of keeping tension in your abs to help maintain your posture.

Pay attention to how you’re sitting this weekend and try to catch yourself sitting sloppy and slouched, or overextended with a huge sway in your back. Without really realizing it the cumulative time we spend in a seated position in a given day is astonishing. Think about it:  we sit when we drive, we sit when we eat, we sit and watch TV, we sit and mess around on the computer, we sit and play video games, we sit after our heavy work sets…you get my point. With all the time we spend sitting let’s do some work to ensure we’re treating sitting as a skill just like lifting, running, and gymnastics. Proper sitting takes some practice and effort but the benefits will extend to better performance and better quality of life.

WOD 05.21.11

1500m Row
25 Hands-Ups PSU
25 Box Jumps
25 Wall Ball Shots
1000m Run
20 Ring Dips
20 OH Lunges
20 Pullups
500m Row
15 HSPU
15 Front Squats
15 T2B