Movements Afoot’s Blog

by Lesley Powell

How do you know if you are using your abdominals correctly?

If you are sitting/standing in a public space like a subway or restaurant,
practice pulling in your abdominals narrow, in and up.  

If you do it wrong,
it will shorten you and pull your head forward like a chicken.  

Correctly,
you should appear taller
and with ease in your spine.

Decades ago, I was the movement trainer at a high-end club.  Clients would come to me after their sessions for stretching or to help with an injury.  A man came to me about his back.

I had just observed him doing a hundred crunches.
His form was terrible with his cranking his head to perform the crunch,
bulging his belly out and activating his hip flexors.

I asked him to pull up his abdominals in standing to improve his posture.
He DiDn’t have a clue how!

Your new practice of hollowing your abdominals in will change your posture and the quality of your workout.  Every exercise you need to be hollowing the abdominals in to have the best and strongest ab workout.  Doing more incorrectly is not the answer.  Watch Our Podcast how to change how you use your abdominals.  The hollowing is like creating your own natural corset.