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  • What's up, guys?

  • Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.

  • Today I'm going to show you how to fix that ugly, forward-head posture.

  • Quickly.

  • All you have to do is this:

  • Wow.

  • That worked quickly.

  • JESSE: Instantly.

  • JEFF: Was that actually you in that video?

  • JESSE: Yes, that was actually me.

  • But I swear to God, it was not my fault.

  • JEFF: Okay, concussion number 17, I think, in that video.

  • JESSE: 16, I think it was.

  • JEFF: We'll explain that at the end.

  • There will be a serious message attached to that as well.

  • However, what we're trying to do here today is fix that forward head posture and do it

  • the right way.

  • When it comes to postural fixes, a lot of times people approach it in the wrong way.

  • I'm going to show you the right way to do it, specifically the right way to correct

  • this posture problem.

  • So, you never have to deal with it ever again.

  • To set the stage for this correction, it's important that you differentiate between the

  • site of the issues that you're having and the actual source of the issues you're having

  • because they're very different.

  • I've talked about this concept before, in relation to medial elbow pain.

  • A very common source of pain for a lot of people that lift weights.

  • However, if you looked at this area alone in trying to attack the problem, maybe did

  • some ultrasound, or you massaged the area you'd be doing nothing long term to fix

  • the problem.

  • I made a whole video about how the source of this issue led all the way out here in

  • your fingers.

  • What happens is, you have to learn how to look above and below the site.

  • When it comes to the neck itself, you really can't go looking too far up overhead because

  • there's nothing there.

  • So, we have to look below.

  • It's very easy to see that because we know the spine is one, interconnected unit.

  • We know if we did something to the spine below it's going to have repercussions and compensations

  • above.

  • All you have to do is look at that example right here.

  • If I were to take a spine and put it into thoracic flexion here, like thiswhich

  • we see all too oftenwe know what's happening is not necessarily an issue with

  • the neck, but a compensation of the neck to go back into this direction.

  • Why?

  • Because we know we want to keep our eyes aligned, to be able to see what's happening in front

  • of us.

  • So, if I were to round myself down, my head's looking down, but I have to make that adjustment

  • in the neck to be able to compensate.

  • Likewise, I could go even further down the spine here into the lumbar spine and I could

  • take myself into posterior tilt.

  • As I do that it takes that thoracic area into excessive flexion.

  • What happens then?

  • In order to get my head back into that position to see right, I've got to make another adjustment

  • here.

  • So, a lot of times this site, this type of thing going on here has nothing to do with

  • what's going on here.

  • There are some things we're going to have to address from a strength standpoint, but

  • most of all, it's what's happening down here.

  • I'm going to show you exactly how we do that with Jesse, right now.

  • So, we go from that skeleton to a skeleton with a little bit of meat on him.

  • We're going to make the same correction.

  • I want you guys to do this with me.

  • You're going to feel and see this right away.

  • Everything I just showed you.

  • If we're here we know this is one connected element and this is a compensation.

  • So, if I say, “sit up straight”, try to sit up right now in your chair straight, immediately,

  • as soon as I do that, I still have this rounded shoulder thing going on.

  • We still have this thoracic rounding, but we've gotten less.

  • It's gotten less severe because we fixed the spine from below.

  • Next what I have to do is sayJesse, stick your chest out as far as you possibly can”.

  • By doing that, look what happens to the head.

  • All of a sudden, the head and neck are in proper position.

  • Why?

  • They no longer have to compensate and adjust to the positioning of the rounded thoracic

  • spine or the posterior pelvic tilt.

  • As a matter of fact, you don't really ever see people who still have this corrected and

  • then have that head that protrudes that far out.

  • That's happening only in conjunction with these other things going on.

  • So, if we could fix these things, we would be well on our way to getting rid of this

  • for good.

  • The good news is, I'm going to show you exactly what to do for that now and we're

  • going to be able to do that with a bench, just like thisor even the side of a couch,

  • if you're doing this at hometo get going on it right away.

  • All right, guys.

  • There's a two-part fix to this and it starts right here.

  • You're going to be able to do this, like I said, on that bench or even the arm of a

  • couch if you want to do this at home.

  • It's going to hit all the areas at once that we already talked about over there.

  • We want to work on that thoracic spine.

  • So, we know that this is one of the areas we need to get more extension through.

  • So, if we can use something to get us to get more into extension, we're on the right

  • path.

  • We know we can do that right here with the edge of the bench.

  • Almost acting as if it's a foam roller, or any type of mobility tool.

  • So, we get ourselves in that position.

  • Jesse props himself up while pushing the edge of this right at that point of most restriction.

  • Now, we know we could also address that secondary component here, the lower portion, the lumbar

  • spine, and get out of that posterior tilt that he's in and get into an anterior tilt

  • by dropping down.

  • So, with that combination you're in a good spot to start working on the third component.

  • That is the strength of the deep flexors of the neck that tend to get a little weak over

  • time when we stay in this position chronically.

  • So, what we do there is try to tuck the chin down and keep our headif we got all this

  • hair out of the waywe keep the head here, parallel to the floor.

  • This is an isometric contraction of the neck.

  • What you want to do is do this for one minute, three times a day.

  • Now, if you can handle this and this is something you're good at already, we can make a modification

  • to make it more difficult.

  • We take the arms and place them up over our head.

  • What we're doing is here is further challenging the extension through our thoracic spine,

  • the same way we know we can because of the interconnectivity with the spine as we would

  • with an overhead squat.

  • You get those arms up and it's a lot harder to stay 'not rounded' as your body goes

  • down into the squat.

  • So, there's an additional challenge to get more out of our thoracic extension.

  • The same thing applies here with the neck.

  • That three, isometric, one-minute contractions for one minute, three times a day.

  • The last thing we can do is make this weighted.

  • If you get to the point where you're looking for a little more of a challenge.

  • You take a weight plate, you wrap a t-shirt around it, you hold it in that same position,

  • he's working on that same spot in the thoracic spine.

  • He drops the pelvis down a little bit into anterior tilt and now he goes from this extended

  • position, from here, just back to neutral.

  • Up to there.

  • It's not a big movement.

  • It's small, but the key is you want to work on that strengthening and now we're taking

  • it beyond isometric.

  • We're taking it into a little bit of a concentric shortening.

  • So, you work on the level that's appropriate for you and challenging to you, and we've

  • got one more thing we've got to do.

  • Once we correct all this, we have one other thing to help strengthen all those muscles

  • to keep it there.

  • That is a face pull variation.

  • Guys, no video of ATHLEANX's is complete without a face pull.

  • We've learned that by now, but we already know that I've made a video about how important

  • it is to include this exercise at the end of every workout that you do, and for good

  • reason.

  • However, we've made an additional modification that I showed you in a couple videos back

  • that will help this problem even more because of the muscles it's helping to train.

  • When we take the face pull one step further, we go up.

  • What happens is, when we go up, we involve the activation of the lower traps as well,

  • whose main role is to keep those shoulders back, and down.

  • If we can get that, what are we doing?

  • Thanks, Jesse.

  • What we're doing is correcting that posture that we've been working on this whole time.

  • We're getting those shoulders from this rounded, forward position to one that's

  • back and down, which helps to correct that autocorrection of the neck.

  • Additionally, we're working the rotator cuff whose job is to keep the shoulders back.

  • We're working on the interscapular and mid-scapular muscles, and we're even working on the lumbar

  • paraspinals, all of which are going to keep us more in this position, as opposed to this.

  • We know if we can drive this position, that head is going to naturally adapt to it.

  • So, make sure you don't forget to do your face pulls with this additional modification

  • at the end of every workout.

  • Just a couple sets is all I need.

  • So, there you have it, guys.

  • There is your plan of attack that you can now instantly start to work into your training

  • program to start getting those fixes in place.

  • Guys, it's going to take consistency and if you do it, you're going to be permanently

  • fixed, I promise you.

  • You just have to make sure you're doing the right things.

  • With this video, now you're taking the right approach.

  • I did mention Jesse in the open.

  • I promised we would explain the video.

  • You've got some explaining to do, Jesse.

  • JESSE: Yeah, someone was heckling a kid on the ice at a hockey game and mom thought it

  • was me.