Last nights' Kettlebell Class was a real eye-opener for me. We had a small class, and of the class 2 of those in attendance had seriously inhibited hip flexibility - this translated into an inability to maintain a straight back (as opposed to upright) during the Kettlebell Swing. As a means to try and increase their awareness of where their back was at, so to speak, I had them do squats facing and as close to a wall as they could. Both of the pupils also had weak abductors and this was extremely evident from the manner in which their knees tended to collapse inwards during the downward phase of the squat.
I sent them both home after the class with some homework to complete before the next class, chiefly consisting of lots of wall squats!
Anyway the above led me to consider that probably 70-75% of the irish nation cannot maintain a straight back if required, certainly not in a situation where they are flexing from the hips! So that rules out sitting down, picking up the shopping, driving etc. everytime somebody with poor back posture does any of these they are compounding their problem and making it worse! It truly boggles the mind that we would let this happen to us.
So how do we resolve this? Well, by becoming more aware of our back, and what it is doing as we go about are day to day lives, sounds ridiculous I know, and worse it's something which doesn't come naturally. Certainly in my own experience it was through introduction to deadlifts and squats that I became more aware of the importance of our hips and backs in day to day life and also more conscious of the position my back was in. Since I have discovered Kettlebells I have found my posture has not only improved dramatically but also my back strength and my hip flexibility and it just keeps getting better!
So, if you're reading this with a sore lower back, what are you waiting for?
GET KETTLEBELLING! (under instruction of course!!)
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