I don’t think it’s earth-shattering news to you that Americans sit too much. Binge watching a new series on Netflix, sitting at your desk at work, and being on the computer all put us is a seated position more than we should be. We can adjust some of these things. Technology has helped by sending us reminders on our watches and phones that we should move or stand after we’ve been inactive or seated for a prolonged period. We can break up watching TV by taking a walk, but not everything is as fixable as that. Some jobs require us to be seated for long extended times. Accountants can’t work on your taxes standing. When your doctor comes into the exam room, would you rather she stands when speaking to you or sit? The research has said people feel better when their physician sits when they address them. So, what does all the sitting do?
There is a name for what sitting can cause: upper and lower cross pattern syndrome. In the upper body, it’s created from poor posture and creates overactive and underactive muscles in the neck, chest, and shoulders. Much of this is associated with the forward head position. This can cause problems for the shoulders. Think about how you stand when looking at your phone. Lower cross syndrome is also a by-product of poor posture and can be characterized as overactive and underactive muscles in the lower body, specifically the deep abdominals, hamstrings, and gluteus maximus and medius muscles. This tends to create back problems for people. You may suffer from issues with one or both syndromes.
Awareness
The first step is to know that there is a problem and that you need to address it. This can start simply by taking mini breaks throughout the day to stand with the correct posture. Months ago, I wrote about what neutral posture is and how to achieve it. If you missed the post here’s the link
https://jdfitness.liveeditaurora.com/blog/2023/11/09/what-is-neutral
Set an alarm on your phone to take a break for 5 minutes in the mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and before you go to bed to stand for 5 minutes with proper posture. Your goal is to maintain this as your default posture. I’ve had people fatigue while getting into a neutral posture. You want to strive to stand with good posture without having to exert excessive energy.
Address the Muscle Tissue Quality
Sitting is going to cause tight muscles and a fix for that is foam rolling. I nickname the foam roller “the poor man’s massage therapist”. Foam rolling should not be relegated only as part of your warmup before training. Foam rolling should be part of a daily self-care program. A common question I get asked is “what can I do at home?” I always suggest foam rolling. Five minutes of foam rolling for the glutes, hip flexors, and upper back can go a long way in reducing tone in overly tight muscles.
Train the Weak Muscles
This is the part where a qualified trainer can help. One of the discussions I have with men is that we’re going to prioritize the muscles of your mid-back before we address the pectorals. Men tend to want to perform dumbbell presses stressing the chest area, when that’s only going to exacerbate the tightness of the pecs they already have. Many of my members will want to focus solely on their frontal thighs from an aesthetic perspective, but our program puts a heavy emphasis on strengthening the glutes, before we address the quadriceps. A professionally designed program will address the muscles you don’t see when looking at yourself in the mirror. Those tend to be the weaker muscles.
It’s easy to advise people to stop sitting, but that isn’t realistic. A better stance is to adopt a few lifestyle changes that you can do daily that will offset the woes of sitting for too long. Take ten minutes to get 1% better every day.