Double Kettlebell Exercises — Restore Your Posture Quickly With Kettlebells
Whether you know it or not, poor posture affects you in many unforeseeable ways. For example, poor posture stresses your body and contributes to fat gain. Poor posture decreases your energy because your body is wasting energy fighting to keep itself upright. Think of poor posture like having your front end out of alignment on your car. You can still drive your car with no problem, but your gas mileage will suffer and you’ll burn through your tires faster. Fix your car’s front end alignment and restore the efficiency of your car. In the same way, restore your body’s posture, and increase it’s ability to produce energy, fight stress, and burn fat.
Kettlebells are one of the best tools to use to restore your posture quickly.
There are four main areas to address to improve your posture: hips, core, thoracic spine, and shoulders. Kettlebells and the correct exercises address these problem areas. Most people have tight hips. In fact, the front of their hips — their hip flexors are tight, and the backs of their hips — their butts, are tight. The Kettlebell Swing simultaneously stretches the hip flexors and strengthens the butt.
Most people also have weak cores — the abdominal and lower back areas of the body, including the area surrounding the spine. This is major reason for lower back injuries Kettlebell swings, when performed correctly strengthen the core and prevent lower back injuries by strengthening the muscles that not only get injured, but also the muscles that should be used, such as the butt, hamstrings, and calves, instead of the lower back.
Another great exercise that is made better with the use of kettlebells, is the Get Up. The Get Up teaches you how to get up from a lying position to a standing position and then reverse it. This sounds simple until you realize that one arm is constantly held over your head while holding a kettlebell.
Most people have immobile thoracic spines from sitting most of the day. Your thoracic spine is the area above your lower back and below your neck. This becomes a problem because an immobile thoracic spine contributes to neck pain or lower back pain, or both.
When performed correctly, the Kettlebell Get Up not only strengthens the core, but also loosens up tight thoracic spines and strengthens weak shoulders.
Shoulder strength is vitally important. As we age and forget about our posture, we become more rounded — more hunched over. This leads to shoulder strains and injuries, particularly of the rotator cuff.
Kettlebells, and intelligent kettlebell training, particularly incorporating the Kettlebell Swing and the Kettlebell Get Up into your exercise program will not only improve and restore your posture, but improve your energy, your vitality, and fortify you from the chances of future lower back, neck, and shoulder injuries.
Geoff Neupert has been a fitness professional for 16 years. He has over 18,379 hours of personal training and has trained individuals from all walks of life, from professional athletes to grandmothers, and helped improve their performances and lose body fat. He uses kettlebells as the primary tool for fat loss and and teaches kettlebell training both nationally and internationally with the RKC. He also provides the most comprehensive kettlebell training resource, including fat loss with kettlebells, on the following website.
