Core muscles

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friendlygirl316
friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Lately I've noticed that when I'm riding the bus I have to repeatedly sit myself up. At first I thought it was the lap belt not holding me up. Now I'm wondering if it's from weak core muscles.

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  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    Probably not due to weak core but is caused by repeatedly sitting with poor posture which you are now starting to notice. You're doing the right thing in continually correcting yourself, eventually the better posture will become natural to you.

    Best wishes.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    edited March 2016
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    What you're noticing is that you're losing your reflexive spinal stability and then you're having to consciously correct it.

    Best advices: google the McGill 3. Guy's a professor of spine biomechanics and did a bunch of research on the best bang-for-buck exercises that increase reflexive stability for up to 3 hours after performing them. Added to this, the effect is cumulative, so repeating the exercise sequence day after day leaves you with an ever greater baseline reflexive stability.

    One thing to note, there's a bunch of random youtubers and the like "demoing" the M3, but they butcher Stu McGill's specific instructions that make these so effective over the host of other similar exercises that they he also tested. Seek out videos of McGill explaining them himself or demoing them with a volunteer.

    He tried these exercises on everyone from chronic back pain patients to elite athletes. They work across the board and are simple to perform and quick to do.

  • friendlygirl316
    friendlygirl316 Posts: 40 Member
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    I've noticed it's only on the bus that I have to repeatedly sit myself up. I've also noticed that when I'm at customer service and there's no customers I tend to hunch over.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    friendlygirl316 wrote: »
    I've noticed it's only on the bus that I have to repeatedly sit myself up. I've also noticed that when I'm at customer service and there's no customers I tend to hunch over.

    So basically when you're not consciously trying to stabilise your core (you consciously "straighten-up" for clients, etc) is when you start to slump.

    You need to build in a reflexive capability so that you're not reliant on constant checking and readjusting your posture - see my previous post.

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