Office work — or any chair surfing — are a necessary evil of modern life.
Upside: we can focus for long periods and work in comfort.
Downside: sitting harms posture.
We end up with:
Forward head → limited airflow & core stability (diaphragm inhibition).
Slumped shoulders → restricted shoulder movement , increased chance of shoulder injury.
Tight hips → weak glutes , excessive strain on lumbar spine, back pain.
So on Swings, instead of hips initiating the movement, the lower back overcompensates .
A common “fix” for tight hips is targeting hip flexors. When I first learned about this in 2001/2, it felt great —until it didn’t. The looseness never stuck . Research shows hip flexor stretching temporarily enhances deep abdominal activity, but it declines when training ends. Sitting then perpetuates tightness, creating a loop. more info At the same time, I relied on abdominal bracing for core stability. Which helped—until it didn’t. A hard brace increases hip joint forces. Research shows strong bracing lowers shear at the lumbar spine but increases hip compression by 8–12%. It also limits hip-knee flexion and raises ground reaction forces, shifting stress to hips instead of glutes.
Combine tight hip flexors, weak glutes, and max bracing, and you get aching backs and damaged hips. That’s how I damaged both labrums after years of stretching and bracing.
The Fix: Restore Anticipatory Control
In a healthy body, the deep core activates milliseconds before moving an arm, leg, or kettlebell. This anticipatory response, or anticipatory postural adjustment , is also called reflexive stabilization.
Studies show the Transverse Abdominis and Multifidus fire early in pain-free lifters but delay activation in those with back pain. Conscious bracing can’t substitute—once the bell moves, you’ve only got milliseconds. If the reflex is off, shear forces hit when load peaks, often causing that “lightning shock” in the lower back. So, how do we restore it? With specialized stability drills that re-train feed-forward activation.
One of the top is the Dead Bug, proven to restore anticipatory control . We use this and additional exercises in the Stability phase of the SSP Model (Stability–Strength–Power) from Systematic Core Training for Kettlebells.
The prescription:
Five minutes of stability training before KB sessions.
A brief 10-minute period after.
Then advance towards Strength and Power.
This reactivates the deep abdominals, reinforces them with the pelvic floor and diaphragm, and restores the ability to create intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) to safeguard the spine in Swings, Cleans, Squats, and Snatches.
Should You Ever Brace?
Yes—on heavy , controlled lifts like Deadlifts, Squats, and Presses. But bracing should build upon reflexive stability, not replace it.
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.