Back pain settles in and takes over.

Running, jumping is out of question. Walking is a challenge. Any movement is difficult.

What happened?

Yes, there are many reasons for back pain but one of the more common is muscular back pain.

This type of back pain can come unexpectedly and bring us to a complete halt.

Muscular back pain is so common because of Increased Inactivity

Increased inactivity in turn leads to:

• Weak back muscles back
• Improper functionality and biomechanics
• Faulty movement that overworks some muscles and bring in tension

Weak back muscles and improver pelvic alignment lead to back pain.

The solution?

To put it simply: Move more.

• Move as much as you can
• Stand in stead of sitting
• Walk as much as you can
• Avoid sitting at all cost (Get a standing desk if you do computer work)

Stick with these few rules and you will forget what back pain is.

Happy moving!

If your shoulders are not happy, even simple things will cause pain…

Lack of mobility, rounded shoulders, shoulder elevation, pain…

Even a little bit of deviation from proper bio-mechanical alignment overtime can lead to pain and injury, especially if you trying to be active.

As I started my Kettlebell Sport training at the end of 1980s in Russia, I remember my coach telling me proper way to stretch my shoulders and how to quickly improve shoulder’s range of motion (ROM) and mobility.

Those who were able to attend my courses and seminars got that information first hand.

Now you can learn how to improve your shoulder flexibility, mobility, reduces shoulder pain and improve your quality of life.

Simple stretches that will change your life.

Better shoulder flexibility means:

• Play tennis, baseball, basketball again
• Reduced chance of injury
• Improve shoulder mechanics and help reduce pain
• Lift anything you want overhead without fear of injury
• Improved posture and alignment
• Workout with no worries about hurting your shoulder

Our new e-book “7 Minutes to Happy Shoulders” is now available for pre-sale.

How much is it?

Well, I’ll tell you how much it isn’t.

It isn’t $94.95

It isn’t $64.95

It isn’t $44.95, although it is a fair price for this type of information..

You can have your copy of this book for $14.95

Important Notes:

• This ebook is short and to the point. It contains 7 stretches that we found to be most effective

[Tree climbing?! Are you insane? Do I look like a monkey to you?!]

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to get used to odd looks (disbelief?) from my clients when I ask them to do certain things like climb a tree.

Why do I ask these nice people who trust me with their health and fitness to regress to a monkey-like stage?

You see, tree climbing is a shockingly effective test of body strength and function. Not only that, tree climbing is a downright fantastic way to further develop strength (especially upper body strength), function, and flexibility.

Can you climb a tree? If the answer is ‘probably no’ then you need to work on your strength, flexibility and function.

What exactly do I mean by ‘tree climbing’?

There are few ways of doing it.

• My favorite way to Tree Climb is to climb around a tree without touching the ground (see the video below, featuring one of my clients, Paul Dickinson – black belt in Aikido, currently living in Tokyo, Japan)

• You can also literally climb a tree so that your feet are resting on a branch
• You can go around a tree (see that video) but without using your legs. Think of using the tree as glorified monkey bars
• You can also do all of the above with a kettlebell attached to you (fun, fun, fun… trust me on that one)

Enjoy!

[What?!]

Your favorite exercise is harming you by throwing your body out of balance.

The key to this seemingly crazy statement comes from understanding posture and muscle balance.

Depending on your posture, some exercises will be easier to do. Those tend to be our ‘favorites’. Our bodies, like water, always look for the path of least resistance.

Let me give an example to clarify my mumblings:

an average guy loves exercising upper body and consistently neglect legs.

[Why?]

Guys have a tendency to have a higher center of gravity. An average guy loves doing upper body exercises because it is easier for him, literally. Working out lower body takes more effort (it’s farther away from center of gravity) and therefore is hard and often neglected.

Most women, on the other hand, have lower center of gravity. As a result, lower body training is much easier for them. This is why most women hate upper body routines. It much harder than exercising legs! The result? You guessed it, many women forgo upper body training or spend very little time on it resulting in weak upper body.

Ok, well, that is very generic. How is your specific favorite exercise is harming you?

Lets say that you are a guy who loves push ups (or bench presses – anything that you get to press away from your chest is a ‘like’). It’s your favorite. You do it often and enjoy it. You are good at it.

When one does that much pressing, chest muscles become strong (no surprise there). It is bad news, however, since now we have a muscle imbalance to deal with. Chest muscles overpower back muscles. As a result, shoulders roll forward and stay there, pulled by chest fibers.

[Yeah, well, just go work on the back!]

Yes, that is the answer, the problem is that at THIS point working on the back is very hard and uncomfortable. Because of strong pull of chest muscles, back muscles fibers become stretched and weak. At this point you would have to select back exercises very carefully and focus on proper technique. Even a pull-up would not be very effective, as the person with chest/back imbalance would be much more likely to use their arms to pull themselves up and the back would be neglected yet again.

What to do

• Choose variety of movements
• Do exercises that are ‘hard’
• Focus on ‘big’ movements involving many muscles

The best thing you can do for your body is to provide variety of movement.

What do I mean?

• Get out of the gym and go climb a tree
• Play with your kids on a jungle gym
• Play basketball
• Use kettlebells
• Do yoga
• Try pilates
• Hike
• Climb things (trees, rocks, be creative)
• Have fun

Little by little your body will balance itself out and you will find yourself doing thing with ease.

What’s your favorite exercise and how do you think it is harming you?

Best way to avoid bad posture is not to have it in the first place.

Bad posture happens due to inactivity and lack in variety of movement.

That fact is important. It implies that not all movement is equal and that repetitive movements will cause muscular imbalances, compensations, tension and pain.

The best way to avoid bad posture (are you ready?) is to be active and to do variety of movements throughout the day.

Variety is the key word.

If you stick to one type of movement there is a good chance that imbalance will peek it’s ugly head and plant seeds of pain.

Lets take tennis as an example. It is a fun and popular game, yet the movements involved are very repetitive and bring much pain and frustration to unsuspecting tennis lovers.

Constant rotation to one side (we play with either right or left hand) sprouts imbalance, tension, pressure and pain. Ever heard of a ‘tennis elbow’? Very painful and takes a while to heal. Lets not forget torn muscles, knee and shoulder injuries.

Best way to avoid bad posture

• Stay active (move!)
• Engage in variety of activities and movements
• Yoga
• Pilates
• Kettlebell Training
• Play on a playground (I bring my kids as an excuse)
• Hang on pullup bars and do monkey bars regularly
• Hike
• Climb things (rock climbing, jungle gyms, anything else that you can think of)
• Swim
• Relax, think happy thoughts and have fun

Now what?
Comment and subscribe. Like this post? Link to it!

Increase your Workout IQ, read

• How To Fix Bad Posture
• Is Bad Posture Permanent?
• Why We Have Bad Posture And How To Fix It

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