The Brooklyn Bridge.

What’s shakin?  Spending a little time in NYC this week before taking the Postural Restoration Institute’s ‘Postural Respiration’ course.  We have had an awesome time so far – yesterday it was an 11-mile trek from Prospect Park in Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge and all the way back up to 34th St where we are staying.  We stopped in Chinatown for a noodle bowl that was about the size of my head – it was awesome!

Speaking of Amazing Structures….

Think about how much time you spend sitting during the course of a day.  Let’s say you are awake for 16-hours everyday – do you spend half that time sitting?  Think about your time at work, in the car, at school, at home, etc.  It adds up doesn’t it?

Posture Becomes Structure

Thomas Myers has a saying that goes something like this ‘habit becomes posture, posture becomes structure’.  This means that your body will adapt to the positions it is commonly placed in.  If you are sitting with flexed hips for eight hours per day – the structures in the front of your hip will start to take on that shortened position.  You are telling your body that is the dominant position for that joint.

Now think of your position when you sleep – are your hips flexed – more reinforcement.

Now think of your sport – do you play hockey where your hips are flexed when you are on the ice and the rest of the time you are sitting on the bench?  More reinforcement.

How Tight Hips Zap Your Speed

If your hips are tight, you will either have a shorter stride, which will decrease your speed potential for sports requiring running or skating…OR you will compensate for tightness in your hips by extending through your lower back which eventually will lead to lower back pain, hip flexor strain or even sports hernia.

One Thing You Can Do Today…

So here is one thing you can do today to make it a little bit better….

If you cannot see the video in the player, just click here – http://youtu.be/raS7Xa5eBB0

Start with 10 reps on each side every day.  You can do it twice per day if you really want to – that is okay with me 🙂

Cheers,
Maria

PS – the HockeySTRONG 2014 program is now open for preregistration.  The program starts the first week of May, but you can save $$ and reserve your spot with just a $50 deposit before May 1st.  Space is limited and returning players will get priority.  So if you want to join the top off-season hockey training program in London, ON — CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE