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it potentially leaves your lower back open to serious injury if you load these newly relaxed
muscles too intensely or too soon Therefore recommend performing this after your regular
exercises or before bed Using baseballs in this way will uproot the iliac knots and expel the
tension from your lower back
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Illustration A Man pressing two baseballs into the sacroiliac joints B Man rolling lower back over a foam
cumble roller C Man using an inversion table
When baseballs are pressing into your back the pressure will change your backs normal
configuration permitting stretches in planes of motion previously blocked Take advantage of
this and perform antirigidity in these planes You can attain the same effect by placing a
football basketball or yoga block under your sacrum while lying supine
Like cankles love handles form due to dormant muscle Press a baseball thumb knuckle
or tool into the spongey dormant muscles responsible for your love handles Focus on pressing
firmly into the top ridge of your posterior pelvis Compressing and percussing these muscles
will revive them introduce new mobility in your hips and accordingly reduce fat deposition at
the site
To reduce confusion it is important for me to address the idea of localized fat loss
The majority of scientific studies have debunked the idea of targeted fat loss sometimes called
spot reduction In other words working out a particular area of the body may reduce overall
body fat but generally does not reduce fat deposition at that particular site For instance doing
a lot of bicep curls makes them bigger but does not reduce the fat content of the upper arm
However it is my conviction that rehabilitating dormant muscle using the antirigidity and
massage techniques outlined in this book can result in spot reduction have seen dramatic
instances of it on my own body and on those of my clients As the crunchy achy muscle around
your midsection is rehabbed it will become lean and trim
How to Bend Over
Most people bend over from the waist This means they hunch their spine forward from the
height of their belly button to bend down This leads to injury When bending you want to keep
your spine straight by bending a few inches lower at the hips This results in a hinge from the
hip with a straight back Hip hinging strengthens the erector spinae muscles and stretches the
hamstrings Fully engage the stomach muscles to help buffer the load on the lumbar spine Of
course if you are picking up something heavy you should squat down and lift with the knees
Otherwise lift small loads by hip hinging
Chapter Antirigidity for the Lower Back
Illustration A Improper bending from the waist B Proper hinging from the hips C Proper squatting to lift
a load
The more often you can bend over by hip hinging the better shoot for times per day
Put commonly used objects such as your phone charger on the floor so that you must bend to
the ground every time you use them
Perfecting Your SitUps
Situps are the best counterpose for any work with your spine They will reset your vertebrae
from your neck to your tailbone They place the lower back into neutrality helping protect
individual muscles from the repetitive strain that comes from being out of alignment For this
reason it is constructive to perform situps after performing the other back exercises in
this chapter
A few advanced variations to try when doing situps Place a small firm pillow or situp
pad under your lower back so that near the top of the situp you have something for your
kyphotic lumbar spine to arch against and press away from This will help ensure that you are
not stuck in lordosis during the situp Straighten your legs and rest the backs of your knees
on the ground throughout the motion Flex your buttocks as you come down from each sit
up Turn your neck and look to each side
Doing situps on the floor can irritate muscles that arent used to the intense forces This is
why recommend doing situps in bed It provides outstanding remedial rehab for the entire
spine and will accentuate all your other efforts to improve your neck and lower back Every
human should take three minutes to do at least situps in bed every other day
Illustration A Situps B Massaging the iliac crests with the knuckles C Elevating the sacrum with a
basketball into an unfamiliar position for antirigidity
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Conclusion
Remember the tense cords of muscle you found with your fingers between your lower spine
and hips at the beginning of this chapter When you compress stretch and tone these
muscles you will develop a different diagnostic marker dimples Spinal experts claim that
people with a dimple just above each buttock on either side of the spine have very healthy
lower backs The dimples demarcate mobility and strength in the sacroiliac joints used the
methods in this chapter for a whole year experienced dramatic results and still lacked these
two dimples figured the experts were wrong No was wrong After two additional years of
using these methods finally developed the dimples
Over the last five years have spent at least five minutes every day reconditioning my
lower back It was chronically painful before and now there is zero pain The alignment of my
vertebrae has changed significantly Some vertebrae were far more prominent than others
they even felt crooked to the touch Yet now they all lie in a straight line used to live in fear of
the next back injury but now a back injury seems almost inconceivable After you use the
exercises in this chapter your body will unconsciously recognize that your lower back will not
fail you If you are like me once you can trust your spine to support everything you do
immense amounts of unconscious trepidation will be relieved
Chapter Antirigidity for the Lower Back
Chapter Bullet Points
e Portions of the lower back are rarely used so they remain in a tense state of partial
contraction This leaves them susceptible to injury and causes lower back pain
e To optimize lumbar mobility use antirigidity exercises in the lumbar region by bending
extending and flexing it in every direction
e Doing situps yoga poses Pilates toe touches trunk twists hiphinging hipswiveling
deadlifts squats and lunges will all help
e These exercises should be performed with only your bodyweight at very low intensity
with many repetitions
e Bend over and touch your toes several times per day When doing so bend from the
hip not the waist
e You can employ traction to decompress the spine by using an inversion table
stretchlying or decompressive massage
e You can unlock the lumbar spinal muscles glutes hips and the entire sacroiliac joint by
massaging the area with baseballs compressing it with your knuckles or percussing it
with tools
e Put your lower back and hips into as many unfamiliar configurations as possible Rehab
these configurations from all angles using deep breathing antilaxity and antirigidity
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Chapter Endnote
Gokhale E steps to a painfree back Pendo Press
Chapter Use Optimal Posture and
Antirigidity While Walking
Walking is mans best medicine Hippocrates BCE BCE