This blog post was inspired by recent injuries that I have developed through compensation patterns over the very short period time I’ve been in the strength and conditioning realm along with (powerlifting). After meeting with Dr. Bob Newhalfen at Northwest Indiana Chiropractic Health, it brought a few concepts full circle for me and I want to share my shortcomings that you all may not run into the same issues.
A few years back, I went to a Kabuki Strength seminar. This presentation put into words, and showed mechanically, a topic that was rattling around in my mind for some time prior. This topic was pelvis position and how it affected what your back was doing while under load. There was a lot of information from several different movement backgrounds (clinical side) that was agreeing with these suggested anatomical fixes and the Kabuki presentation finally made sense to me. Unfortunately, I zeroed in on one particular fix and took it to the extreme which then caused other areas to be inefficient to create and sustain what they called a “stacked position”.
A stacked position, in my very basic understanding, is hips over rib cage over the shoulder. This concept has caught wind in our industry and has been further developed and coached over the past several years.
Since my previous inklings were brought to light at this time, I knew I had to pay attention and take these cues. I focused in on one concept hard, that being glute activation to initiate and maintain this stacked position. I worked that cue into my own training and squat, activating my glutes hard at the start and during the entire squat movement to maintain the “stack.” As it’s come to pass a few years later, I’m learning that (glute activation) alone is not efficient, or sufficient enough.
Recently another puzzle piece was added to the stacked and braced position that I hadn’t implemented before. Although I am very good at breathing and bracing, my ability to activate and contract my lower abdominals was lacking significantly. This piece affects and aids in correcting an anterior pelvic tilt. The diagram I have in the video shows the way we can adjust our pelvis.
Over the last several months I’ve been working with a movement specialist who has brought to light my inefficiencies in the lower abdominals and has taught me a few more things in efficiently creating and maintaining a healthy position while under load. Below are some of the things I have learned which have aided me in 1- shutting of my overactive erectors and 2 - locking in a more efficient brace under heavy load. Both of these exercises will give some relief to back tightness before, during, and after training. Overactive erectors could be a sign that your ability to activate the lower abdominals is lacking. Give these exercises a try and let me know how they work out.
As the title states, we must have a choice. Your body needs to be able to use your glutes to adjust pelvis position AND, unlike me, be able to do it with lower abdominals as well. Do not just settle for one fix and rely on it. Just like strength training, our weaknesses need to be trained along with our strengths. If your glutes get the pelvis corrected don’t abandon doing it but learn how to add to the correction with more muscle groups. This addition will never hurt: more muscle used = more stability = more strength.