How To Test Your Exercise Posture Using A Broom Stick
One of the biggest concerns I have about prescribing exercises over the internet is that what I demonstrate in my videos or pictures and what people end up doing can sometimes be two totally different movements.
What should end up helping to correct someone’s movement patterns, may end up actually reinforcing a bad movement pattern.
Of particular concern to me is posture during the exercises. Over the last few years I have become more aware of the importance of teaching correct posture during movement as it can have a big effect on an athlete’s efficiency and can affect thing like core or trunk stability and also injury prevention.
I generally say when you are performing an exercise “brace your core, keep your chest up and shoulders back” and that will go a long way to improving your exercise posture. But there is an even better way…
Enter The Stick
Something I have started using more frequently is to check your posture is to use a dowel or broomstick to gauge your performance whilst performing an exercise. When trying this you may be surprised at how different your posture is to what you thought.
You can do this with exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts, pushups, rows, planks, etc.
Basically you do the exercises holding the broomstick down the length of your spine. It should touch at 3 points throughout the movement
- Back of the head
- Back of your thoracic spine (upper back)
- Back of your hips
Note: You shouldn’t tilt your head up to touch the stick. Instead push your chest out and tuck your chin. Also there shouldn’t be an excessive curve through your lumbar spine (lower back), you should be able to put you knuckles between your stick and back, but not your whole hand.
In the video I show you a number of exercises you can do to test your movement posture using the stick. If your posture is not up to scratch, start adding these movements into your warm up using the stick to improve your posture.
Hopefully you can understand now that posture plays a critical role in your training. Make sure you always focus on not just lifting heavier or faster, but on making sure your move with excellent posture. Your body (and spine) will thank you for it!
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