When a personal trainer talks about correct pelvis positioning and alignment, it sounds strange doesn't it? Pelvis alignment really is "all that and a bag of chips". Having correct pelvis alignment can lead to decrease; back, knee, and even foot pain. Think of your pelvis as the support beams of a building; if the beams are miss aligned, then the weight distribution throughout the building would be faulty.
A pelvis can have an anterior tilt (lordotic back), posterior tilt (flat back), forward shift (Swayback), or neutral tilt (perfect posture). The majority of people will have an anterior pelvic tilt. With a pelvic tilt an individual's body will adapt, without fixing the problem, to re-allign the body. This re-allignment will cause the head, shoulder, knee, and foot too reposition itself. Eventually the joints will become stressed to the point where discomfort, or pain, will arise. The problem worsens as the pelvic tilt lingers. An individual will start using certain muscle groups more and compensating certain movements with the specific muscle groups. The compensation of muscles will lead to a muscular imbalance. Who would of thought the hips were that important? The question now is, how do we fix the problem?
Think of your pelvis being in the middle of a "tug a war" match between the Quadriceps, Abdominals, Gluteus Maximus, and Hamstrings. If a muscle group becomes too weak the opposing muscle group will tilt the hips. In juxaposition, if a muscle group is tight or short, the hips will be pulled toward the tight and or short muscle group. Fixing a pelvis alignment problem is all about balance. While strengthening the weak muscles, it is also important to stretch and lengthen all four muscle groups. Below are a couple of movements and workouts that can help fix a pelvic tilt (directed towards anterior pelvic tilt).
Bridging:
Bridging is an exercise I would recommend for anyone. Honestly, you might get annoyed by how often I discuss and recommend bridging, but bridging engages the abdominal and gluteus muscle groups. As stated before, the hips are in a constant game of "tug a war", and the abdominal and gluteus muscle groups are usually the weak players. Strengthening both muscle groups by bridging can, and will, help transition your hips into a more natural position.
Core Press
Core press will help strengthen both the abdominals and gluteus by anti rotational work. The body, during a core press, is constantly fighting the urge to rotate towards the cable machine. To stay in neutral position, the individual flexes their abdominals and fires their gluteus.
AB rollers
Ab rollers are a very effective abdominal core exercise. Unlike core press, ab rollers are resisting thoracic extensions . It is important to keep the buttocks in posterior tilt; this will reduce stress on the spine and increase stress on the abdominals.
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