Standing lighter

New year - new aims. If weight loss is on your list of goals for this year, add extra standing time to loose calories and tone up without exercising. A study into standing desks versus sitting desks showed that students used approx. 1/3 more calories standing than sitting (Reiff, C, Marlatt K, Denge DR, J Phys Act Health. 2011 Oct 5. [Epub ahead of print]).

Get a standing desk for your computer (i.e. a little nested table/box on your desk), stand when you talk on the phone/text/facebook, when you visit and chat to friends, when you iron, wash up, while you read or watch TV.

My standing desk upstairs in a nice and quiet spot.

2 hours a day extra will add up to the equivalent of an hours exercise class during the week in terms of calories and you prevent back pain, muscle shortening in the back of your leg and improve circulation.

Start with 10 min and see if you can stand in alignment without tiring, if not, just being able to stand for 10/30/60 min a day in alignment without leaning onto something or sitting down is a desirable goal. After all, standing using your muscles correctly should be a natural skill everyone has.

Stand with feet hips-width apart and outside of your feet parallel and all your weight in your heels. Ears, shoulders and hips stack plumb over your heels.

If you are interested in learning more about standing and walking in alignment and how to replace exercise with whole-body movement throughout the day, visit Katy Bowman's blog. Her classes and courses are an absolute eye opener.

Lower Back Pain Buster

Lower back pain has been the pain of my life, literally. Especially after having two children and no tummy muscles to speak off. 

Poor alignment is one of the major causes of lower back pain. We stand with our body weight in one leg and hips tilted to the side or with our hips forward or carrying baby on the hip. All of the above will pull the spine out of alignment and put excessive pressure on the lumbar vertebra or the sacroiliac joint, where the lumbar spine joins the pelvis. I have some lovely photos of these positions and what they do to the spine, but that will have to wait until another time.

The hanging bridge is an exercise that will help reposition the pelvis and lower spine into neutral alignment, reducing pressure and pain in this area. It also strengthens the hamstrings at the back of the thighs.

Start with lying on the floor in neutral alignment.

Bring your arms to the side of your body with palms facing up. Now push through the heels to lift your bottom of the floor just high enough to fit your fingers underneath.

Lift and lower slowly several times and lift and hold. Try not to use your buttocks but just the back of your legs. To check if you clench your buttocks, clench them and then release. You don’t want to lift as far as in the picture below. There I clench the buttocks and tilt my pelvis. The aim is to let the pelvis and all the muscles around the lower spine and pelvis relax. 

NOT LIKE THIS:

Once you have worked the back of the thighs enough and you would like to relax the lower back a little longer without having to hold yourself up, try a supported relaxation.

Take a pile of cushions, a block or bolster and rest your hip on the support. Make sure you waist is not supported. Release tension in your lower back and let the spine drop further towards the floor as you release. Breathing and releasing is all that is needed in this position. Don’t force the spine to the floor using your abdominals. Ideally, your lower leg should be a little more vertical than in this picture. 

Coming soon: Hanging bridge on the ball, single-legged hanging bridge