ExRx.net

great, thanks

guys i have a problem... the gym in my area does not have squat cages/power racks or even stand-alone squat stands.. only Smith Machines!

the following exercises in part 5 use a squat cage:
rack pull
box squat
kneeling squat

if I do these exercises with a smith machine, i will only have vertical motion, which i guess is bad...

what should i do? any way to modify this?? thanks

Assuming that finding another gym is not an option, you have to adapt. Personally, I would just do deadlifts and step ups as my main leg exercises. I know some people do squats on a smith machine but it always feels unfamiliar and unsafe to me. Rack pulls can be done on a smith machine but usually the safety mechanism involved rolling to bar to disengage it which is a little weird.

(i found a gym with a squat rack)

i am nearing the end of the last part of the program and I really am not seeing improvements with my lordosis :( it looks like i am going to have to endure jokes about me having a "fat ass" forever....

the best I can do is, when standing next to a mirror, is squeeze my glutes as hard as i can, which tilts pelvis posteriorly by a few degrees. Unfortunately this does not translate to passive posture correction it is impossible to keep this tension on my glutes the entire time without turning psycho and even less possible while actively walking around (would make me look even more unnatural when I walk)

my forward head posture also remains completely uncorrected.. there seem to be no good exercises to address this (im doubting the ability of exercises to correct anything at this point, sounds like a bunch of bull$h1t to make people with $h1t genes feel better)... the best I can do is actively PULL my head back as hard as I can in the horizontal plane, which makes me look goofy (chin recedes), stiff necked, and is extremely exhausting to maintain for any period of time, requiring great concentration....

Harpoon, it is very frustrating for those of us who aren't blessed with perfect genetics. Correcting some things might not even be possible, but you may be able to make a marginal improvement that just might be all it takes to ward off a injury at some point in the future. Of course you'll never know if it works.

I always thought my posture was OK until I injured my sholder. The pysiotherapist noticed right off that I rounded by shoulders and that probably contributed to my injury. I spent 20 sessions on electrostimulous and she spent as much time on my rhomboids as on the shoulder itself. I point this out for 2 reasons. 1: It's hard to tell what's important and 2: it takes a long time to see results.

Your lordosis will take a long time. If what you're doing on your own isn't working, you might want to see a physiotherapist to help, or at least give you some guidance. A movement screening would probably help too.

On the other hand, you may have made progress but you can't tell because it occurred over small increments. Did you take any pictures when you started? If not, take some now and keep exercising. You could check again in a month to see if you have any improvement.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Yeah. Don't give up. When you finish the "formal" NNM routine, work some of the NNM exercises into whatever you do next. Come back to NNM for a few weeks at a time a couple times a year. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint! And try to do things to increase your conscious awareness of your posture. An hour in the gym a few times a week can't be expected to compete with the hours and hours that we tend to spend in bad posture all week long (pulling back my scapulae as I type this). The more time you spend moving as close to good posture as you can, the easier it will be to stay that way long-term. There's a lot of material out on the web in addition to NNM. Google it, and check out other stuff--you may find something that is particularly helpful to you.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Not that I'm an expert but, I'd advise against trying to overexert yourself holding strange upright postures, just try to sit or stand tall and comfortabley. Instead do exercises to help the muscles that should be holding you up more, for the forward head I'd do isometric retractions, strengthen cervical extensors by applying resistance to the back of your head with bands or hands, with chin slightly tucked. Also for general posture and flexibility, wall scapula slides are brilliant.

I don't think anybody is advising that he hold "strange upright postures" just that he try to consciously stop slouching/slumping as much as possible. 1 hour of exercises 3 or 4 times a week won't win over the many hours many of us spend in bad posture.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

sorry for the previous negativity :)

1. the thing is, if i stand up straight "comfortably", my posture is still wrong
I have to (in this order).. 1. Tighten glutes 2. pull up and suck in my abdominals 3. Push the chest up and pull the shoulders back 5. Pull my head backwards horizontally (hurts my c-spin/ upper traps) . 6. Microadjust so I dont look retarded, and am balancing in the center of my feet, and have some attempt of a straight line going from ears/shoulders/knees/feet.
lots of work, quite tiring and yes its "strange upright posture" because most people have naturaly straight upright postures because of their skeletal design.

maybe il post some pictures later

2. sitting also... i have to spend a lot of my time sitting because I use books, computers, sit in class, etc... other people can slouch all they want and their postures are still intrinsically fine. If i sit up really straight in my chair with my head level like I'm in the back of a rocket ship it looks, again, retarded....

3. On a different note, can I throw in biceps isolation work (dumbell and barbell curls) or is this a no-no for caveman posture?

You can do bicep curls but do them after your rows so that you get adequate stimulus for your back muscles. Your rhomboids are the ones that pull your shoulder blades together and most people need to work on those.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

chest supported row day or seated pulley row day or it doesnt matter?

also i wonder why theres so many exercises for the upper delts??

You have a separate day for 2 different rows? Just don't do biceps before you do your back exercises. There are no "upper" delts, there's anterior (front), lateral (side), and posterior (rear). I assume you mean anterior. The anterior delts are used both in horizontal pressing and vertical pressing so there are lots of exercises that involve this muscle. That's why people pay specific attention to the other 2 heads as they don't get the same attention.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

oops meant posterior delts ok

sorry about the tighty whiteys, but the waist band is a good indicator of pelvic tilt

#1: natural, totally relaxed posture: this is when im fv(k up, tired, just got out of bed, or just not paying attention

#2: posterior chain, lower abs, scapulae retractors, neck flexors all contracted

I look a lot like #1, just fatter
While it's cerntainly not ideal, I expected you too look a lot worse bases on the concern.