Stuart McGill Pt.2

Stuart McGill Pt.2

Hi Guys! Aarvi here!

This is Part 2 of 3 Segment of my recent professional development course run by Stuart McGill. If you have not already done so please check out part 1 as you will need to read that to move onto this one. Click this link to go straight to part 1.

So in the last post we discussed who McGill is and where you can find him and more information about him https://www.backfitpro.com/. We also discussed how to do a hip hinge which is a crucial movement pattern to learn as it is transferred into every day movements such as bending, sitting, moving to the floor, picking up something from floor, the list goes on

This section we will cover how to use the movement of sit to stand whilst keeping a neutral spine

The Sit – Stand

This movement is vital and can cause a lot of repeated stress on the low back if done incorrectly, as you probably do not realize but you might be moving in the way of the pain being created from. Also it can be difficult movement to do especially when in a lot pain, so why not minimize the risk and try to incorporate other muscles to help the spine/low back out instead of loading it all on your spine.

How many times would you use the transfer sit – stand in a day

So here are the steps –

Stand to sit

1. Hip hinge – covered in part 1 (engage anterior (front) core by pushing belly slightly out – If this causes pain then you are most likely compression intolerant and avoid this step, recommended to see a health clinician to assist with this issue, but for most people this will not be an issue)Always look straight ahead not down, the floor will never move on you, this will allow the shoulders to not roll forwards
2. Once in the bottom of hinge position, push knees out slightly and now bend down from the knees until you land on the seat – Play around with foot position if feeling too much stress on knees, wider stance usually decreases range of motion therefore less squatting movement occurring. Typical stance is around shoulder width so that is a good stance to start with

Sit to stand

1. Now we do the movements in reverse. First of all wiggle towards the edge therefore its less range of movement required, get in the comfortable stance.
2. Engage anterior core (if applicable to you) and slide hands along legs until you reach above knees, push knees out slightly to turn glutes on more as they are the strongest muscle in the body so might as well use them.
3. Lift bottom off the seat and as soon as bottom is off try not to remain in that position and drive your hips straight through as we learnt in the hip hinge movement, make sure to not to drive past neutral and hyper-extend. Think about squeezing your bottom together and pushing the hips through

Here is a quick video going through the exact same steps

As you can see, maintaining a neutral spine as much as possible is essential and whenever it is, it can take a lot more load off your spine and be able to tolerate more through the day. Why not change your movement patterns now before it’s too late, if you are pain free or have a little bit of back pain why wait when it’s too late, take steps now therefore 5-10 years later down the track your back is a lot happier. Few weeks of repeating the right movements continuously will help in making the movement become second nature.

I personally keep repeating the cues in my head over and over again when doing the movement to make it stick. As the great Bruce Lee says “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

Hope this short blog post helps and hopefully gives you a better idea on how to use the Sit to stand. Just changing one movement at a time can make a big difference over the years.

Have a good day and as always….

#MakingHealthySimple

– Aarvi