TheBroBrah's Guide To Correcting Excessive APT.

[svartberg]

My background: I have chronic pain everywhere; I have for years. I'm 35 years old. Been weightlifting for 22 of those ...

...

Many thanks to everyone who contributed here, especially Svartberg. Will keep you guys posted.

You're most welcome mate, looking forward to hear of your progress !

Svartberg what is your opinion on this article? Apparently you shouldn't stretch hip flexors with APT, this article has good points, what do you think about it? http://b-reddy.org/2012/10/08/you-sh...have-hip-pain/

Ah no bro pretty sure that article is for people with hip pain not APT, that's like completely different

[Aaronn]

You're most welcome mate, looking forward to hear of your progress !



Ah no bro pretty sure that article is for people with hip pain not APT, that's like completely different

True but it does mention APT at some point in the article.
Also, as I mentioned before I've clearly got APT when stood up relaxed but when I walk I seem to go into a posterior tilt which is weird, it looks like my legs are walking too far in front of my body, any ideas?

[Aaronn]

Also Svart, I still don't fully understand that ABC x3 workout you made for me, like which to do on what days etc?

[svartberg]

True but it does mention APT at some point in the article.
Also, as I mentioned before I've clearly got APT when stood up relaxed but when I walk I seem to go into a posterior tilt which is weird, it looks like my legs are walking too far in front of my body, any ideas?

Ye it mentions it's not about APT bro

No clue, I did get PPT at some point, though it was more obvious than that
I'd say just keep muscles somewhat balanced both ways and you'll be fine

Also Svart, I still don't fully understand that ABC x3 workout you made for me, like which to do on what days etc?

Let's say you workout Mon/Wed/Fri, that's A,B,C.
You do 6 exercises per workout
However the first 3 exercises you only do the corresponding day (e.g. SLDL only on Monday, Benchpress only on Wednesday, but front planks every workout)

[Countdooku666]

Lul ive just read on this swedish site haven´t found any english site yet about this.

But the site says:

Spank yourself or hit yourself hard in the Butt to activate / WAKE Up the Glutes is this true or will it at least help ?

Or will the Glute/ass get Stretched out if i hit it like it would be if i foam rollled it or stretched the Glute / ass.


Im Willing to try this its kinda awkward and can only do it when no one is around but if anyone can confirm this helps i will add it to my routine.


I will hit myself in the ass With PVC Pipe or hand if it works lol cannot believe i say these words but if it activates my glutes and heal my back / apt im willing to try anything!



This is no trolling if u can use translator on the site someway you will see



Link to site :


hxxp://iform.se/traning/styrketraning/smiska-dig-sjalv



PS: Smiska-dig-själv means spank yourself in swedish

[Countdooku666]

Lul ive just read on this swedish site haven´t found any english site yet about this.

But the site says:

Spank yourself or hit yourself hard in the Butt to activate the Glutes is this true or will it at least help ?

Or will the Glute/ass get Stretched out if i hit it like it would be if i foam rollled it or stretched the Glute / ass.


Im Willing to try this its kinda awkward and can only do it when no one is around but if anyone can confirm this helps i will add it to my routine.


I will hit myself in the ass With PVC Pipe or hand if it works lol cannot believe i say these words but if it activates my glutes and heal my back / apt im willing to try anything!



This is no trolling if u can use translator on the site someway you will see



Link to site :


hxxp://iform.se/traning/styrketraning/smiska-dig-sjalv

PS: Smiska-dig-själv means spank yourself in swedish

[Countdooku666]

Sorry accidentally double posted now triple post can i remove one of them somehow `?

[svartberg]

Lul ive just read on this swedish site haven´t found any english site yet about this.

But the site says:

Spank yourself or hit yourself hard in the Butt to activate / WAKE Up the Glutes is this true or will it at least help ?

oh lawd I give up

[chamelious]

[QUOTE=Countdooku666;1291577381
Spank yourself or hit yourself hard in the Butt to activate / WAKE Up the Glutes [/QUOTE]

If this was true. My girlfriends ass would be so awake it'd have developed a rudimentary intelligence by now.

[jumboliah]

Quick question. I've been working on APT/kyphosis for a couple years now. Semi-srs stretch+roll and slight emphasis of upper body pulling, glute, and ham work in my programs.

I plan on starting a heavily focused APT/kyphosis routine this week (as well as super srs stretch+roll). Now this is where my question comes in. Prior to this year, regarding upper body, I always thought the higher pull-push ratio the better. But I keep seeing information saying tight pecs/ant delts AND lats will hurt shoulder posture. And you want more rear delt/mid back as opposed to lats. Should I still try to get a sht load more pulling than pushing in my program? Or will this lead to too much lat work (not efficiently fixing shoulder posture)? I plan on only doing front squats for quads (still APT friendly), only ohp and/or incline bench for pushing, and nothing really low back dominant. Then trans abs/glutes/hams/pulling out the ass.

[Ion33]

I read a few of the beginning/end pages of this thread (will read the rest later) but I noticed you only mentioned light deadlifts where you can really feel it in the glutes. I noticed one of the main exercises Bret Contreras recommended was the 'American deadlift' (along w/ hip thrusts and planks). His American deadlift essentially mimics the same ROM that a rack pull would have. Would a rack pull be a viable exercise for the shoulder/apt issue? I know it'll hit the lower back pretty hard but it'll absolutely thrash the upper/mid back while also leading to hip extension/glute activity, which seems great for this. Not sure if it's worth it though. I was thinking of switching out conventionals (more flat back, more lower back work, not an apt friendly exercise) for rack pulls for the time being. Thoughts?

edit:

[Ion33]

Also, I saw something similar to this on the previous page. But what would be a recommended lifting program (already have the corrective/stretching/rolling work covered for outside of gym) for both kyphosis and apt be? Currently I'm just doing a P/P/L w/ only only one quad exercise, one push exercise, and no lower back coupled with a lot of pulling/glute/ham/transverse abs. Like what jumboliah said. Not sure if this would be fine for efficiently fixing both issues (coupled w/ the outside of gym stuff mentioned above) while not hurting actual physique progress/muscle gain. I read a post in a misc thread of a guy saying he stopped lifting just to fix these. I'd like to avoid that at all costs, lol. Sorry if something like this was covered for both apt/kyphosis, I have yet to finish reading the thread.

[SirSitAlot]

Hey, I can't embed my pic cause of 50 post count thing but I've attached it.

Could you guys tell me what's wrong/needs correcting with my posture?

Some info:

-Gamer/sedentary lifestyle for a number of years.
-My Ass/gut sticks out, not sure if my ass is just fat in comparison to my small upper body? or if I have some APT?
-I feel like my head might be held forward & my lower neck/upper trap area is tight/tender when pressed with my finger.
-During the periods I've lifted in the past I never felt much glute/hamstring engagement with squats/deadlifts.
-Weak hamstrings, just holding my leg out straight whilst sitting down kicks the sh!t out of my hams.
-My knees are pretty knackered.

[7055]

Hey, I can't embed my pic cause of 50 post count thing but I've attached it.

Could you guys tell me what's wrong/needs correcting with my posture?

Some info:

-Gamer/sedentary lifestyle for a number of years.
-My Ass/gut sticks out, not sure if my ass is just fat in comparison to my small upper body? or if I have some APT?
-I feel like my head might be held forward & my lower neck/upper trap area is tight/tender when pressed with my finger.
-During the periods I've lifted in the past I never felt much glute/hamstring engagement with squats/deadlifts.
-Weak hamstrings, just holding my leg out straight whilst sitting down kicks the sh!t out of my hams.
-My knees are pretty knackered.

anterior pelvic tilt is what it is, it is also causing your shoulders to slump forwards instead of being held back because more curve in lower spine = more curve in upper spine. This also explains the lack of hamstring engagement and weak hamstrings. Work on fixing it.

[GCagent]

While foam rolling may seem beneficial prior to a workout, there is no evidence that long-term use will help correct any muscle imbalances or help with overall flexibility. So, your copy-paste article was only partially correct.

"TheBroBrah's Guide To Correcting Excessive APT." So I thought it was implied that this article contained opinion, not scientific study. Now that I review the article I also notice:
"Can you compeletely correct APT?
No."

This article correctly gave us his opinions and never claimed otherwise.

[That70sShowDude]

Hello APT brothers. I've been meaning to post here for a while now. I have a pretty long history w/ APT that I wanna share. Sorry for the length. And I have a few general questions for svartberg or whoever. Speaking of svartberg, you do great work in this thread

2007-2009: Average day = sitting for 7hrs at school followed by bent over sitting for 11hrs at home playing Cod4. M/W/F I had fitness practices with hundreds and hundreds of sit ups/push ups (as well as other BW things). Sleep a few hours and repeat. It makes me cringe now, lol.
2010: Made a thread in January in the misc asking why my abs stuck out so far. I don't think APT was mentioned at all. The main piece of advice was more chest work. Ohlawd. However, Josef Rakich had a 10/10 post in that thread making an emphasis of transversus abs. OG Rakich. (APT got worse at this bodyweight than the pics in this thread. Also note that odd gap between upper abs and chest). http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121452261
2011-2012: Found out it was a postural/APT problem. But I followed a poverty posture routine which had multiple static hamstring stretches in it. Also, I didn't adjust training in favor of mid/upper back, glutes, hams, or transversus abs.
2012-2013: Knew what I was doing APT wise but I didn't put all that much emphasis into it and really started focusing on powerlifting. The squat/bench/dead progression was a recipe for disaster. Especially considering I have long femurs and my lower back is involved more than the average person in squat/dead. Bench being my best lift never helped either. As a result, my posture was worse Jan '14 than mid 2012 (was almost 30lbs heavier though).
2014: Cut for the first time in a couple years 190 to 165 (slowly). Squat and deadlift went to sht (Not sure how some people retain most of their squat/dead strength. Mine flies out the door, which I assume is b/c of the posture. Losing the strength benefited APT though). Very slowly started reducing push/quad/low back work while increasing glute/ham/inner abs/pulling. For the past month I haven't back squatted or deadlifted, maybe did a chest press once or twice, and haven't missed a day of rolling/stretching/corrective exercises. I've lost a lot of interest in powerlifting and am finally back to caring about the physique, lol. And my routine for the past month in the gym has had a heavy emphasis on the posture muscles.

I couldn't find many pictures of my APT over the years b/c I'd immediately erase any pictures of it from existence. No flexing done anywhere in any of the pictures below.

Before Took the worst screenshots I could. Headless = low 180s morning bw (2013). Head = high 180s morning w/ more stretching/rolling (January 2014). Heaviest I've ever been.


After Taken an hour ago. 165-166lbs morning wt. I think the APT looks worse irl than in these and I still have a lot of work to do. I've only had a big APT focus for a month now. I tried moving my arms out of the way to get a look at the pelvic/low back area but it seems like that made it look better than it actually is. (Note the difference in pant line on the first photo to the others)


Questions:
1. Is a lot of ab protrusion during planks normal? All I do is flex my ass hard while doing planks. But if I look at my abs during this, they're sagging much lower than the rest of my body. Abs lower than obliques.
2. Someone quoted a kelei post ITT from 2013 talking about hamstrings and APT. His post was in a different thread but it was pretty much ignored after it was posted here. Any comment on his points? http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1079808791
3. My one side's adductor/hip flexor (adductor one was slightly present prior to this as well. Possibly from a groin strain 1.5yrs ago) started getting minor irritation after a couple weeks of daily stretching. I'd mostly feel it in the morning the next day when I'm walking. Especially if flexing the glute. I feel a very slight pull in the adductor during fire hydrants. I think they slightly improved but anything to add about this?

I can list some basic things I do now if anyone wants to know.

[redlegged]

yeah

[That70sShowDude]

I can list some basic things I do now if anyone wants to know.

yeah

Not sure if this was in reference to that but ...

I attribute more of the progress thus far to cutting weight and losing strength on the APT promoting exercises (squat, bench, deadlift). My bench (or chest in general) is my strongest lift out of everything. And as mentioned before, my long femurs bring my lower back into squats and deads much more than the average person. Combine that with short-ish arms and my correct form conventional deadlift has my back virtually parallel to the ground. Getting weaker in these specific movement patterns was key.

Daily routine:
Order: Upper body roll, stretch, exercises, lower body roll, stretch, exercises. Done while watching youtube subscription vids. It makes the time fly by.

Upper body roll: Lacrosse ball pecs, foam roll lats, sometimes foam roll thoracic, use hand to mimic umbrella for upper traps. I used to foam roll the lower back but haven't done it in a while due to people advising against it.
Upper body stretch: 1st, 2nd, and 4th stretches in Kelly Starrett's simple 5 way shoulder. Although I don't use bands for two of them. And I put more of an emphasis into the pec one.
Upper body exercises: Matt Ogus' "one minute shoulder warmup" on youtube. I've done this prior to upper days for 3 years now. Contains rotations, prone shrugs, Ys, Ts, etc. And then prone cobra, wall slides (on floor), and just started chin tucks.

Lower body roll: outer/front/inner quad, hip flexors, calves/achilles
Lower body stretch: Basic quad stretch while prone, couch hip flexor stretch, wide stance hips open style squat hold for adductors, basic calf stretch on a step
Lower body exercises: Isometric glute bridge hold, dead bugs, planks

Other things:
-I try to focus on staying upright all day. I used to pull my shoulders back too much which overdid it and gave me lower back pain. I do flex my ass all the time though.
-I'm pretty much always barefoot or wearing minimal support shoes. It gave me strong arches.
-I took the memory foam cover off of my bed b/c I sank into it too much causing poor upper body posture. I should upgrade the bed too.
-Forced myself a long time ago to sleep on my back every night
-Avoid sitting as much as possible. Thankfully I have a job where I'm on my feet/walking all day.
-At the moment I'm not completely avoiding any muscle group even though it'd probably benefit me. Each push day I either do an overhead press or a non-super heavy incline bench for a couple sets and each lower day I've only been doing beltless front squats for quads for a couple sets (Explained why here: http://goo.gl/SbZeSo). Then lots of posture supporting muscle volume.
-Used lack of big quad/push volume to add more work to smaller muscles I wanna bring up like side delts, biceps, and calves

I haven't been doing all of these every day for too long so I could be overlooking things.

[SirSitAlot]

Hey man, your APT doesn't look to bad in those recent shots, although like you say it might be to do with having your arms raised as the 1st pic does seem to highlight more of a tilt, definitely better than the before pics though I'd say, so gj on the progress dude.

In regards to your question: "2. Someone quoted a kelei post ITT from 2013 talking about hamstrings and APT. His post was in a different thread but it was pretty much ignored after it was posted here. Any comment on his points?"

Interesting points, the knee flexion tightness is exactly what I get & mentioned in my last post so I'm interested if anyone else agrees with his suggestion of adding lying hamstring wall stretches as I was under the impression that stretching our hamstrings was a no go for APT as well, but Kelei points out that there's a difference between stretching the knee flexion/hip extension aspect of the hamstrings, the former being appropriate.

--

On another note I've got a link to share with you guys: (I can't post links yet, just remove spaces)

h ttp://w ww.reddit.c om/r/Fitness/comments/1prg6b/update_to_the_anterior_pelvic_tilt_fixing_thread/

This dude seems pretty clued up on the subject and his write up has some great videos/articles linked, defo worth a read IMO.

[Countdooku666]

Hi it was a while ago and i also would like to thank Svartberg for all the great help you do here.


Anyhoo recently im really worried because of this and need help:


Usually only my left hip flexor is Tight, i try to stretch right hip flexor no matter how i position my left leg in front and right leg behind me i bend here and there but almost doesnt feel anything on my right hip flexor stretch some times little but almost nothing i think.

What could this be ? have i fixed my Right hip flexor or is my legs uneven due to scoliosis or uneven hip flexor stretching ?

Or could ive been having leg length difference all the time or developed it due to stretching and foam rolling and no contact on the right flexor ?



Also in the gym a couple of times now i only get pain in my Right ass and my right leg my right trap and so on mostly =(((


So im getting very worried what im doing wrong can this be due to i have stretched left hip flexor too much or that i cannot seem to find my right hip flexor while stretching ?


I dont think i had this before ? or might my right leg and right arm be taking all the focus on the gym ?



if i dont get contact in both i guess i can destroy the body for good ?








PS Very important forgot to mention this!!

my Right flexors gets a snapping sound, sounds really loud but its not tight at all ! but my left hip flexor is tighter than a 100 year old wheelchair senior WTH is this =(((

[That70sShowDude]

Hey man, your APT doesn't look to bad in those recent shots, although like you say it might be to do with having your arms raised as the 1st pic does seem to highlight more of a tilt, definitely better than the before pics though I'd say, so gj on the progress dude.

In regards to your question: "2. Someone quoted a kelei post ITT from 2013 talking about hamstrings and APT. His post was in a different thread but it was pretty much ignored after it was posted here. Any comment on his points?"

Interesting points, the knee flexion tightness is exactly what I get & mentioned in my last post so I'm interested if anyone else agrees with his suggestion of adding lying hamstring wall stretches as I was under the impression that stretching our hamstrings was a no go for APT as well, but Kelei points out that there's a difference between stretching the knee flexion/hip extension aspect of the hamstrings, the former being appropriate.

--

On another note I've got a link to share with you guys: (I can't post links yet, just remove spaces)

h ttp://w ww.reddit.c om/r/Fitness/comments/1prg6b/update_to_the_anterior_pelvic_tilt_fixing_thread/

This dude seems pretty clued up on the subject and his write up has some great videos/articles linked, defo worth a read IMO.

Thanks mate.
Even though I'm in the earlier stages of a bigger posture focus, I haven't seen a ton of upper back rounding improvement. But I have seen improvement in my shoulders being pulled back a little more. I just remembered one of svartberg's posts saying rear delts (what I've been focusing a lot more on) help pull the shoulders back but don't work as efficiently for rounding. And rounding is more mid/lower traps. Time to add more volume rowing to the upper abdomen and add something like prone shrugs/prone Y raises.

It may have already been mentioned ITT but I started rolling my upper traps with a barbell rather than the umbrella method. And I like this so much more. I can't find a good video on it at the moment but I just started doing something similar to the one below. And I roll the barbell along the trap.


And I agree, that reddit article is one of my favorites.

[Ion33]

Is a weighted hip thrust supposed to mimic this type of lockout as well? This video made me think I was extending too far at the top of my hip thrusts in the gym. I've been going like as high as possible while squeezing the glutes. My body is generally flat at lockout but it's a lot more of a lockout than this vid. Maybe this is why I hate hip thrusts so much, lol.

[Bender1990]

Ok finally bought a foam roller, i'm ready to fix my APT!

just to be sure, is this the foamroller pdf in the OP --- http://www.performbetter.com/wcsstor...FoamRoller.pdf ---

because his link is dead, ty.

[LiftingDoctor]

Is it just me or are most of the people posting in this thread free of postural problems? Most of these pictures have been people who are skinny fat who suffer from lack of muscular tone rather than postural problems. If you have an anterior pelvic tilt, then your lumbar curve will be excessive. If you just have the gut without the excessive lumbar curve, then you just have a gut because you're high body fat, or you're low body weight with little to no muscle, or you need to work on transverse abdominus to strengthen the core.

rippednfitDOTcom/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Anterior-Pelvic-Tilt-Guide-and-Treatment1.jpg

ericcresseyDOTcom/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/anterior-pelvic-tilt.png

Take a note of your lumbar curve and compare to see if you have APT. Otherwise, you're A) Skinny fat B) High BF

[SirSitAlot]

Thanks mate.
Even though I'm in the earlier stages of a bigger posture focus, I haven't seen a ton of upper back rounding improvement. But I have seen improvement in my shoulders being pulled back a little more. I just remembered one of svartberg's posts saying rear delts (what I've been focusing a lot more on) help pull the shoulders back but don't work as efficiently for rounding. And rounding is more mid/lower traps. Time to add more volume rowing to the upper abdomen and add something like prone shrugs/prone Y raises.

I've got my lower body gym days sorted as per that reddit article suggestions (my choice, sumo-deadlifts, single-leg romanian deadlifts, barbell glute bridges, reverse crunches & weighted planks) but have yet to come up with an upper body equivalent, but from what I've researched so far I was thinking along the same lines as you with the added rowing volume & rear delt work. As for my day to day foam rolling/stretching for upper body I'm following the 2nd part of this posture correction PDF: h ttp://kaasplateau.c om/stretches.pdf not sure if you've come across this one as well? although I can see you're doing a couple of the exercises from it like wall slides/chin tucks, not sure about the rest, possibly some other stuff you could take from it & add to your routine?

It may have already been mentioned ITT but I started rolling my upper traps with a barbell rather than the umbrella method. And I like this so much more. I can't find a good video on it at the moment but I just started doing something similar to the one below. And I roll the barbell along the trap.

My upper traps are tight as hell & tender under pressure of my finger, gonna give this method a shot, ty for the vid.

Ok finally bought a foam roller, i'm ready to fix my APT!

just to be sure, is this the foamroller pdf in the OP

because his link is dead, ty.

You don't need the OP's foamroller PDF, just google the necessary part body & you'll be golden (quads, hip flexors, lower back, calfs, IT bands)

Is it just me or are most of the people posting in this thread free of postural problems? Most of these pictures have been people who are skinny fat who suffer from lack of muscular tone rather than postural problems. If you have an anterior pelvic tilt, then your lumbar curve will be excessive. If you just have the gut without the excessive lumbar curve, then you just have a gut because you're high body fat, or you're low body weight with little to no muscle, or you need to work on transverse abdominus to strengthen the core.

rippednfitDOTcom/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Anterior-Pelvic-Tilt-Guide-and-Treatment1.jpg

ericcresseyDOTcom/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/anterior-pelvic-tilt.png

Take a note of your lumbar curve and compare to see if you have APT. Otherwise, you're A) Skinny fat B) High BF

Do you think I have APT, my pic is just 1 page back? (I'm 80kg/176lbs in that pic) Really confused now as to whether I need to continue with APT corrective exercises or if I simply need to lose some body fat or what??...

From my POV:
-My mid/upper back is rounding & shoulders are forward.
-Gut & ass sticks out.
-Belt line is angled down.
-Tight/weak hamstrings.
-Tight quads/hip flexors when stretching.
-Tight lower neck/upper traps.

And as I mentioned before the last few years I've been leading a very poor lifestyle, lot's of gaming/sitting around and a lack of physical activity (work/exercise).

[LiftingDoctor]

Do you think I have APT, my pic is just 1 page back? (I'm 80kg/176lbs in that pic) Really confused now as to whether I need to continue with APT corrective exercises or if I simply need to lose some body fat or what??...

From my POV:
-My mid/upper back is rounding & shoulders are forward.
-Gut & ass sticks out.
-Belt line is angled down.
-Tight/weak hamstrings.
-Tight quads/hip flexors when stretching.
-Tight lower neck/upper traps.

And as I mentioned before the last few years I've been leading a very poor lifestyle, lot's of gaming/sitting around and a lack of physical activity (work/exercise).

Number 1: you have forward head posture. Your ear should be in line with the middle of your shoulder. Your ear lags out infront of your shoulder. That alone is enough to cause the problems you have with regards to your posture:
legacyclinicofchiropracticDOTcom/images/posture1.jpg

Number 2: If you want to know if you have a pelvic tilt, locate your "anterior superior iliac spine" then locate your "posterior superior iliac spine." Stand sideways infront of a mirror and measure the inclination between the two points. Is it a straight line? No tilt. Is it tilting forward? APT. Symptoms of APT include lower back pain. Do you have that?
youtubeDOTcom/watch?v=6vKDBmI7McM

Chances are you probably do.

Regardless: You definitely have postural problems so your main goal is to fix them. Whether it's forward heard posture, or anterior pelvic tilt, or both...it doesn't matter. Do stretches for both postural problems. Get on a weight lifting program too because body composition makes a difference.

[SirSitAlot]

Thanks for your informative reply man.

Number 1: you have forward head posture. Your ear should be in line with the middle of your shoulder. Your ear lags out infront of your shoulder. That alone is enough to cause the problems you have with regards to your posture:
legacyclinicofchiropracticDOTcom/images/posture1.jpg

Yeah I was pretty sure my head was out of wack, it just feels wrong & looks weird in the mirror + my tight neck/upper traps, which I guess is form stabilizing my neck/head in that position?

Number 2: If you want to know if you have a pelvic tilt, locate your "anterior superior iliac spine" then locate your "posterior superior iliac spine." Stand sideways infront of a mirror and measure the inclination between the two points. Is it a straight line? No tilt. Is it tilting forward? APT. Symptoms of APT include lower back pain. Do you have that?
youtubeDOTcom/watch?v=6vKDBmI7McM

I haven't tried this test yet but when I look in the mirror I'm pretty sure I have a forward tilt, my shorts/jeans etc rise higher at the back and the waist line angles down towards the floor going to the front.

Chances are you probably do.

Regardless: You definitely have postural problems so your main goal is to fix them. Whether it's forward heard posture, or anterior pelvic tilt, or both...it doesn't matter. Do stretches for both postural problems. Get on a weight lifting program too because body composition makes a difference.

Yeah definitely man, this sh!t is depressing & it's heavily effecting my confidence & ability to just get on with normal daily activities, gotta get it sorted!.. think I'll start a journal here to keep me accountable & for motivation.. is anyone else in this thread keeping a journal?

[jumboliah]

Number 1: you have forward head posture. Your ear should be in line with the middle of your shoulder. Your ear lags out infront of your shoulder. That alone is enough to cause the problems you have with regards to your posture:
legacyclinicofchiropracticDOTcom/images/posture1.jpg

Number 2: If you want to know if you have a pelvic tilt, locate your "anterior superior iliac spine" then locate your "posterior superior iliac spine." Stand sideways infront of a mirror and measure the inclination between the two points. Is it a straight line? No tilt. Is it tilting forward? APT. Symptoms of APT include lower back pain. Do you have that?
youtubeDOTcom/watch?v=6vKDBmI7McM

Chances are you probably do.

Regardless: You definitely have postural problems so your main goal is to fix them. Whether it's forward heard posture, or anterior pelvic tilt, or both...it doesn't matter. Do stretches for both postural problems. Get on a weight lifting program too because body composition makes a difference.

Would you stick with one of the basic program set ups/exercises (full body, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, etc) recommended around here? Or in what ways would you modify them?

[SirSitAlot]

Would you stick with one of the basic program set ups/exercises (full body, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, etc) recommended around here? Or in what ways would you modify them?

I'm sure the doc will have a good reply to this but thought I'd chime in as well. I'm basing my answer as per the advice given in this article: htt p://w ww.reddit.co m/r/Fitness/comments/1prg6b/update_to_the_anterior_pelvic_tilt_fixing_thread/

The author states:

Second thing I’d like to stress that it is fine to lift when having a bad case of APT. You just have to be careful about extending through the hips, not overarching the lower back and pushing through the heels. That being said, use your judgment. If what you’re doing is hurting you, you should probably stop and figure out why.

So basically as long as you're mindful of your form & you aren't hurting yourself, any program suited to your level of lifting experience should be fine.

Having said that, the author of the article goes on to suggest what he recommends APT suffers should include in their workouts, such as:

1) Lots of lower ab and external oblique work.
2) Lots of hip extension/hip hyperextension work.
3) Lots of stabilization work.

So what you could do (which I'll be doing as well) is modify a basic system like SS or upper/lower, and switch out some exercises with those suggested in the article, for instance:

1) Reverse crunches, leg raises
2) (HE) Front squat, deadlift variations, lunge variations.
2) (HH) Single-leg reverse hyperextensions, barbell glute bridge, hip thrusts
3) Planks/weighted planks, any of the single-leg work linked in the article.

Program Example: (A,B,A - B,A,B)

Workout A
3x5 Front Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Sumo Deadlift
2x10 Barbell Glute Bridge or Hip Thrusts
Reverse Crunches / 3x30's Planks

Workout B
3x5 Front Squat
3x5 Seated OHP
3x5 Row
2x10 Barbell Glute Bridge or Hip Thrusts
Reverse Crunches / 3x30's Planks

+ 2x a week 2x10 rear delt raises

I'm no expert but based on that article this should be fine/beneficial to do with APT & for upper body postural issues the rowing/rear delt work should help.. although I'm not 100% sure if benching/ohp'ing is ok to perform? ..

[LiftingDoctor]

Would you stick with one of the basic program set ups/exercises (full body, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, etc) recommended around here? Or in what ways would you modify them?

ANYTHING works. Yup, that's the truth. However, whatever program you get on, it should consist of the following:
Compound lifts such as bench press, squats, deadlift, and overhead press
At least 3x week
Progressive overload (try to add weight or reps each time)
Enough volume (your workout should be at least 45 minutes to an hour)

Nothing else matters as a beginner to you in a weight-lifting program. Choose whatever you want. Personally, I like the 5/3/1 program. You can customize it too, and do any of the many available versions on the forum like "Who Was CNS version"

Yeah I was pretty sure my head was out of wack, it just feels wrong & looks weird in the mirror + my tight neck/upper traps, which I guess is form stabilizing my neck/head in that position?

Yup, the problem is in your upper back. Just search stretches on the Google and type "How to fix forward head posture." You'll find a number of exercises for stretching the muscles in your upper back and in your neck. Do that along with the stretches for anterior pelvic tilt. Do this everyday first thing in the morning. Come back in 2 months.