Post: #1

These pictures describe it best:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9G...GAeZc5dRZg

http://taylorednutrition.tripod.com/site...stures.jpg

I have APT and I want to fix it. Currently doing some reading... Seems I need to stretch my hip flexors more and strengthen lower back, glutes, and hamstrings.

Does anyone have experience with this? Maybe you have dealt with it in the past and figured out a way to correct it. It seems like this is a big problem, where most people that have it aren't too aware of it.

Post: #2

with all the sitting people do a lot of people have it

Post: #3

Egoscue is the truth for posture and being pain free.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie...CCwQvwUoAA

Post: #4

I have it. It is a nightmare to fix, requires daily dedication and specific weight routines which have been annoying to me considering my regular training.

This thread lays everything out:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread...=130876763

Basically strengthen abs/hams, Stretch hip flexors and quads (foam rolling is awesome for this as well as static stretching).

Post: #5

(04-03-2013 11:07 PM)Bricks Wrote:  I have it. It is a nightmare to fix, requires daily dedication and specific weight routines which have been annoying to me considering my regular training.

This thread lays everything out:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread...=130876763

Basically strengthen abs/hams, Stretch hip flexors and quads (foam rolling is awesome for this as well as static stretching).

I was actually reading this thread about an hour ago.

Think doing some basic planks, and plank variations at the end of workouts, and adding in some hip flexor stretches and foam rolling, and doing this at the end of every workout would fix it over the course of a few weeks?

From what I understand some of the issues that cause APT include weak hams and glutes.. but I don't believe that is the case, as I have been doing squats consistently for several months and I always feel it the next day, mostly in my glutes and hams, meaning I have targeted them well.

I think it is due to poor hip flexor flexibility on my part. If I am correct, then hopefully a few weeks of dedicated hip flexor stretching should make a big difference..

Post: #6

The half measures dont work for this unfortunately. The issue is muscle imbalances. Your quads are stronger then your hams (squats are primarily a quad exercise), Your back is stronger then your abs. Strong muscles are generally tight.

Stretch and roll your quads, hip flexors and lower back. Strengthen your glutes (glute bridges) Hamstrings (Romanian Deadlifts/Straight legged deadlifts) Abs (Planks). Foam roll and stretch everyday. Add lifting where it is applicable.

Squats for me have always felt like they are working out my glutes but the gains made in the quads always outweigh the glutes.

That thread is the most comprehensive thing on the internet about the subject. Believe me i have searched ha.

Post: #7

Egoscue will correct it like nothing else. Can't stress this enough.

Post: #8

whats the best way to tell if you have it? the thread says if your belt is pointed down at an angle?

Post: #9

(04-03-2013 11:34 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  Egoscue will correct it like nothing else. Can't stress this enough.

Can just finding their exercise videos and following along be effective if you don't live near one of their clinics?

Post: #10

I have it - bad. Way too much sitting for years improperly. Sitting improperly or too much is literally the worst thing you can do for your back outside of lifting improperly.

In the meantime, if anyone out there is sitting a lot, I picked up one of these chairs which is helping.



It is called the Swopper. I picked it up through Amazon. It isn't cheap, but considering what I have spent on chiropractors over the years it's a bargain if it can help keep me out of their office.

If you are sitting a lot in your job, don't get some ergonomic chair that makes you feel good but encourages you to develop weaknesses. Screw the Herman Miller. Pick up one of these. I know buying a chair isn't going to correct an anterior pelvic tilt alone, but if you want to practice good posture and active sitting, this is the best I have found. I wish I had it years ago.





You can also hear more about it in this video at 5 min 25 seconds in if you don't want to listen to the whole video about what happens to your body when you sit too much.





I appreciate the info in this thread and I'll keep you guys posted on my progress.

Post: #11

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread...=139256073

Post: #12

Damn, that chair is expensive.

Quote: whats the best way to tell if you have it? the thread says if your belt is pointed down at an angle?

Do you feel your gut sticks out more than it should? Do you have difficulty doing a full squat without rounding your back? Play around with your pelvis a bit (....) tilt it forward and backward, try to find what seems neutral or in between a full posterior and anterior tilt. How much does your normal stance deviate from this neutral stance?


And Jaylow that link is great. Once again points out the hip flexor issue with the APT. Today I did some foam rolls for the first time on my quads and entire thighs really to get some stretch. Also did some hip flexor stretches, and did some glute bridges. I also tried to consciously correct my tilt as I walked around and stood this morning, but it takes a lot of effort and it causes me to be contracting my abdominal group the whole time. Not sure if this is ideal.

Post: #13

yeah i have this pretty hardcore. goodnight sweet prince

Post: #14

Before game teachings I used to sit constantly playing on the computer for majority of the day. When I walked I was constantly slouched, back pack or not. I don't know exactly if what I'm going to share can help but three things that really fixed my posture were...

1. Forced myself to stand straight whenever I was concious of it, and puff my chest out. To be honest, for the first year and a half, my back would hurt doing this because my body felt more natural slouching, but I continued, because slouching while walking looks lame.

2. Sit ups. I'm not certain if these correlate or not, but sit ups seemed to help ease my back a lot after a year of not doing shit exercise wise, I started getting into fitness and started feeling like sit ups correlated with my back being straighter in a more natural way.
3. Forcing myself to sit straight during school time. This was harder than both steps only because again, I was so accustomed to slouching over, but in a way, I try to line the center of my back up with the chair I am sitting in, and if I don't feel the chair touching the center, I sit back until it is so I am sitting straight again.

Now I naturally stand straight, and slouching is the thing that feels abnormal now when I walk.

Post: #15

A rough way to tell if you have anterior pelvic tilt:

Stand straight with your back against the wall. See if you can fit your two hands on the space between the wall and the point where your back is the furthest from the wall. If you can fit more than this (like a wine bottle or two, for example), then there's a good chance you have a significant degree of anterior pelvic tilt.

Sitting is a huge problem that weakens the core and shortens the hip flexors. I rarely sit anymore. I personally work standing up (standing desks are expensive, so find a way to make your own elevated platform; here's an example: http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikea-Standi...llars.html) or kneeling on a pillow. There's a lot of advice that says "sit with proper posture", but no matter how hard you force yourself to sit up straight, you'll body posture is going to relapse once you stop paying attention to your posture; thus, such advice is useless. Avoid sitting or the last video posted by durangotang gives advice that might work if you want to try, but standing or kneeling is my routine now.

Although there may be different cases, anterior pelvic tilt boils down to two main parts:
1) Weak glutes/abs
2) Tight hip flexors (to check if you have tight hip flexors, google "Thomas Test")

Look up exercises for these. The danger, however, is if your glutes/abs are chronically tight and have trigger points, then strengthening exercises will make things worse. However, that's a different discussion. I would recommend seeing a good physical therapist with at least knowledge of trigger point therapy to see what the best routine would be (and to see if you even have anterior pelvic tilt), though finding a good one is difficult.

Post: #16

A lot of people have to work in front of a computer all day. There is no way around this depending on the type of work you do. You might not think this is a big deal at 20, but try it for a dozen or so years and throw in some injuries for good measure.

A standing desk is probably better than sitting but is still not that great. I previously realized that sitting was destroying my back so I would try to buy a more comfortable office chair (big mistake). Then I tried to eliminate sitting and found a treadmill off craigslist and spent about $150 on lumber and built a custom standing desk over a treadmill. I wouldn't recommend it, you can only walk comfortably while typing for so long. Standing for too long in front of a desk sucks just as bad as sitting for too long and you begin to tense up in different ways - so I wasn't using it that much.

If you can believe it at one point I even tried buying a recliner and hooking my computer to an HDTV and using a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have tried everything. Guess what? Sitting for too long still jacks your back up.

In reality you want to alternate between sitting and standing. The height of the desk should be able to go up and down to alternate the position of your arms, which affects your shoulders and neck. The height of the screen should be able to be moveable which also affects your neck and shoulders. For that you need an external monitor and VESA arm. You should be able to stand or sit, and when you sit the chair needs to be able to absorb some of the weight of your torso and encourage good posture (the muscles in your core). The swopper chair is the best I have found.

In my search for the perfect workspace I came across the GeekDesk. It has motors that can lift 275lbs. on the desktop up and down from 23" to 49" at the touch of a button. The only problem is that it has a cheap veneer top. Fortunately you can order the frame only. You can find butcher block countertops to mount to the geekdesk frame - although I wouldn't recommend ordering from LubmerLiquidators (mine came in pretty fucked up). I got the idea from this guy's site. Here is what the finished product looks like:









I have the GeekDesk in my garage right now and I am almost finished planing and sanding the top. I can't wait. Next weekend I'll have it totally finished and the countertop mounted to the frame. I am mounting my display to a monitor arm (just like the pictures). I realize this is probably way too much for the average guy here, but if you have back problems and need to work in front of a computer all day I have tried everything and this is where I have ended up.

Anyway, good luck.

Post: #17

(04-03-2013 11:44 PM)the_conductor Wrote:  

(04-03-2013 11:34 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  Egoscue will correct it like nothing else. Can't stress this enough.

Can just finding their exercise videos and following along be effective if you don't live near one of their clinics?

Yes. Air chair and static back worked best for me. When I get some extra money I'm going to go get evaluated by one of them and get my own custom "menu". It's not just posture. It's about body alignment which correlates to organ function and over well being. I feel the difference after I do the exercises. I usually like to start my mornings off with static back. Than air chair. Than some of there arm circles followed by ankle circles and there downward dog type exercise.

Post: #18

This is why i love this place.

OK, It's been 3 weeks, and I thought I'd forward my experiences.

For ages, without knowing the actual cause, i've suffered from periodic acute lower back pain and I know brought on by tight hamstrings thinking it was not much more than that. Then I see this thread.

Yup, it was me.

Followed the BB forum guidelines, and like magic everything fell into place. It was all occuring due to me previously being overweight and stuffing up my hip flexors, as well as the sitting all day and sleeping on my stomach.

So I really concentrated on my HF as well as glutes, so crunches, deadlifts and lunges, and I think extremely importantly, a lacrosse ball or foam roller on my hip flexors.

I can not state enough how everything just started to work better. Flexibility, my hip flexors affecting my squat form meant I could squat more, and just this tightness now I see affected my well being.

With the tightness disapating, my back pain has diminshed (I am not all the way resolved yet), my tilt is less pronounced, my posture looks better, and once again my general well being is through the roof.

My test for anyone wondering, wear tight pants with elastic, it will leave a line in your flesh around your hips. if the line isn't parallel with the ground, your pelvis is tilted. Get it fixed

Post: #19

Isn't this the same as lordosis (swayback)? Much more info out there if you search for lordosis exercises rather than anterior pelvic lift. For example http://www.livestrong.com/article/24157-...-lordosis/

Post: #20

(04-21-2013 08:42 PM)Lemmo Wrote:  Isn't this the same as lordosis (swayback)? Much more info out there if you search for lordosis exercises rather than anterior pelvic lift. For example http://www.livestrong.com/article/24157-...-lordosis/

They are the same thing. Back in the game in terms of fixing this now. Started doing a core day.

Post: #21

(04-21-2013 09:12 PM)Bricks Wrote:  

(04-21-2013 08:42 PM)Lemmo Wrote:  Isn't this the same as lordosis (swayback)? Much more info out there if you search for lordosis exercises rather than anterior pelvic lift. For example http://www.livestrong.com/article/24157-...-lordosis/

They are the same thing. Back in the game in terms of fixing this now. Started doing a core day.

I had good results when I stuck with the exercises (lessening it, can't fix it completely). It definitely takes discipline to do 2-3 lordosis exercises on top of your usual workout.

Post: #22

I have this issue, apparently it's come about because in my lower back I have to joints on the spine which are very weak and the rest of my back has been compensating for this, been referred to an osteopath via my private healthcare

Post: #23

i think i have this a little, too, and my hip is definitely way too tight! then i discovered cossack squats, and after doing a couple, my hips instantly loosened up. my squatform massively improved on the spot and i have almost no pain while doing bodyweight squats anymore. i will start doing a couple of these as warm-up before everytime i squat now! have yet to see how my squats with heavy weight will turn out, i'll update later!

Post: #24

Great thread. Anyone since making progress?

Post: #25

Not really.

But I think a factor for me having some APT is due to more fat in my gut than normal.

What I mean is, I am considerably average body fat (maybe around 18%) but my body stores it mostly around my centre gut and obliques.