Negative Effects of Sitting on Sports Performance

At present, sitting is compared to smoking in its harmfulness and impact on the human body. While it may sound comical or look like a media-inflated bubble, unfortunately it is. A world-renowned expert who deals with the issue of obesity and sitting Dr. James Levine even sees sitting as more dangerous than smoking. Other leading American experts on the effects of sitting on our body associate sitting with an increased risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, back pain, headache and other orthopedic problems.

I would like to talk about, among other things, how bad sitting affects body settings during exercise in the gym. But let's take everything in order, so that you have at least a little idea of ​​how everything is intertwined.

I know many of you may be concerned, but we need to finally get the seating area right. Yes, exercise is a very nice tool for compensating sitting. Unfortunately, few people know what and why they do in the fitness center or anywhere else. Do you sit and exercise on machines? Do you do sit-ups in the belief that your back will stop hurting? If so, you are only deepening your current "pains" and muscle imbalances.

If we take it nicely from the beginning and look at the composition of a normal working day, it will look something like this. After waking up in the morning, we sit down for breakfast. We sit in the car on the way to work. We sit in the office during working hours. On the way home or anywhere else again the same. At home? Surprisingly sitting again. Except for a few bright moments, when we have to come up with something, for example, we simply really sit all day. The resulting time will be somewhere around 10-12 hours of sitting. Which is an alarming number if I put it in the context of months or years. If we sit in the wrong setting for several years, then logically we can not be surprised by back pain, headaches and other problems. And I almost forgot to sit in the gym on machines. I generally do not recommend machines to clients for several reasons. The first one is clear - a sitting, that's what the whole article will be about. Another is the predetermined mechanics of motion. You only involve targeted muscle groups and you also train the muscles in a predefined range and path of movement. What's worse, machine motion is far from natural. Translated into practice, the machines will not prepare you physically and will not improve your motor skills, which you need to use in everyday life. Examples are lifting heavy objects from the ground, working in the garden, etc. Machines have their place and purpose in training, but in my opinion, they should not be a priority for ordinary visitors with restrictions. Instead of machines, I recommend working on motor control, mobility, stability, body settings and then using, for example, kettlebells, dumbbells and other aids. But everything must have a clear meaning and a specific reason.

The human body was created to move, not to a long-term static position. Walking and movement have disappeared and we have reached the current state, when not only the back hurts about 90% of adults. Even worse, adolescents have back pain and poor posture too. It is also a certainty that top sports teenagers without adequate care will suffer from any pain and injury in the future. It's even worse there that the pain doesn't come right away, but only after a few years. ("When nothing hurts, I don't solve anything.") Correcting a long-ignored problem is much more complicated and time-consuming than proceeding preventively. I even met a client who had an intervertebral disc prolapse at the age of 15. It was shocking to me personally.

What happens to our body during sitting?

When we sit for a long time without any change, some of our muscles simply begin to "be lazy", while others work more than they should. At the same time, the body automatically begins to adapt to a long-term preferred position (sitting), and soft tissues, fascia and other structures are subject to this. Of course, they will also affect the spine. It all starts slowly and gradually. Here and there the thoracic spine hurts. Occasional pricking in the lumbar spine begins to become part of the day. The peak can be states when a person is not able to function normally. The body simply turns the switch and the whole system is paralyzed. It doesn't have to be if we take care of our own body. If something hurts, it is a signal that there is an unresolved problem somewhere on the body. But we often let our bodies reach or beyond congestion. Disc herniation, acute spinal cord injury, chronic back pain are just the result of overlooked signals.

Clients often argue that they compensate for sitting, for example by running, cycling or swimming but I usually answer as follows: "If you sit down most of the day, the body of the session adapts and is logically misaligned for both running and swimming. ”This is undoubtedly the case when sports are practised for a long time and with great intensity.

The body takes over the movement pattern from sitting to standing, and if there is no targeted correction, then "healthy" running can really be harmful and only deepen the current problems. Although endorphins suppress pain for a while, they do not solve the real problem.

The pan is tilted forward. This causes pressure on the intervertebral discs in the lumbar spine and limited muscle function in the torso area. Another problem is the contraction of the lumbar thigh muscle (iliopsoas). I would say that everyone knows this muscle. It is really important due to its position and function, it is also one of the most problematic in terms of influencing the pelvis and body settings. The "bend" in the lumbar spine must logically be compensated elsewhere. Where? In the thoracic spine. Here are a few things to describe. In such a position, the thoracic spine together with the thorax will be "extended" forward and the diaphragm will again not have optimal conditions to create the necessary stabilization. I'm not talking about the position of the shoulder blades, shoulders, neck and head.

Selected problem positions during exercise in connection with bad sitting

Deep squat

One of the most frequently addressed topics anywhere on the Internet or in the gym. In general, deep squats are one of the basic movement patterns. This is a very complex movement and the individual body segments must be optimally prepared. Thanks to sitting, however, it is not so easy, because it is precisely the parts that we need to have moving that we have rigid because of sitting. How to get out of this situation? Simply work on mobility and constantly include regressions / progressions leading to successful mastery of the squat position without load.

Overhead press

Do you exercise CrossFit and have shoulder problems? It hurts, they're stiff and you don't know what to do with it? The reason will again be, among other things, the sitting, if I do not take into account other factors (injuries, etc.). During sitting in the "hump", the protraction of the shoulders, the shortening of the pectoral muscles and the entire area, from the shoulder blades to the cervical spine, is promoted. I definitely advise you to start working on the mobility and strength of the stabilizing muscles of the shoulders in general. It pays off, even though specifically here it is a long way - it depends on the condition of your shoulders.

Tips on how to fight sitting and not lose

A quick help will, of course, be to limit the sitting and "break" long periods of time without changing the position. No sitting is good for the body, not even the "ideal". For example, for every 30 minutes of sitting, I recommend using 2 minutes of exercise. Take a walk around the office, stand up, etc.

Learn to sit properly and gradually adjust the body differently during the session.

Include compensatory exercises during the day. You can work out at short intervals during the day and the results will come soon.

Learn to breathe properly. Diaphragmatic breathing helps and relieves back pain. In the wrong setting of the body, it is almost impossible to use this type of breathing.

Change the approach to exercise. Replace machines with natural movements (squats, lifts, pull-ups, etc.). Replace flexion exercises with corrective stabilization-mobilization exercises.