I want to talk about the basics of my training today. 

The very basics. 

And this is about posture. 

The way the body stands and works.

Without this, the body will crumble over time. 

So, before any of the fancy stuff can be done, I feel we must learn how to control the core AND Realigning the thoracic spine. 

The two most important exercises are the TVA squeeze and the Neck Bridge

With these two exercises, I feel everything can be built from them

Any program that focuses on these muscles first and foremost is a great program – and theres only two I can think of!
Mine and the original Pilates.
But Pilates has been diluted down and away from what it was.

I once created a dedicated program called Breath Of The Warrior, which is designed for this.
I might release it again at some point if theres interest.

Without these, then all other moves are starting from a weaker base – all movements travel through the spine, so it’s usually a good idea to develop these. 

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THE NUTSHELL

Ok, thats not a fancy term for this little combo.

Basically in a nutshell, all this builds towards pulling your belly button in AND pulling your head back so it sits over your spine. 

That is it.

If you can do both of these things at all times of life, then you’re gonna be in a good position moving forward.

And remembering to do these during exercises will help you develop better too.
(This is kind of the basics of pilates, believe it or not)

Anyways, into the details . . . 

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THE “TVA”

Without going through lots of detail, the Transverse Abdominus (TVA) is a the muscle that wraps around your midsection.
Its main job is to stabilise your  body and hold your organs centrally over your hips.

It basically connect from the bottom of your ribcage to the top edge of your pelvis. 

Its pretty big and in most people, its very weak.

The simplest way of training this is by pulling in my tummy.

I call this the TVA Squeeze

Its commonly known as a stomach vacuum but I feel this is misleading as a vacuum creates the pull in rather than teaching the body to engage the TVA 

The benefits to developing this is that it strengthens the area making you stronger overall, it also helps the lower back from developing issues, AND when its strong, you can lose inches off your waist without actually having to lose fat. 
(Focus on the former reasons first though).

How you develop this is by doing the following 2 phases:

The first is to continue developing the strength of the pull in. 
Annoyingly, theres no real good way of increasing the resistance directly. 
You can start by lying on your back, then in an upright position, and finally on your hands and knees. 
Once you’ve developed it to this point where you can hold it in for 3 mins face down, then you can start the second phase. 

The second phase is an ego crusher. 
You need to remember to pull your tummy in on EVERY OTHER EXERCISE!
This is to help install good habits.
Its an ego crusher because you’ll want to reduce the resistance of all your exercises right down and start to include it as part of your “perfect” rep.
Its easier to learn this by reducing resistances down first and then  building back up rather than just adding this in to your current level.

The development of the TVA Squeeze is through doing it during all other exercises and developing the neural pathways to keeping it engaged through other movements.

It’s a bit abstract but do trust me.

So, whenever I perform or demonstrate any exercise, I make sure my stomach muscles are pulled in, otherwise I don’t count it. 

And that’s for EVERY EXERCISE!

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THE THORACIC ALIGNMENT

Ok, the muscles in question are called the Erector Spinae.

And basically, they are a number of muscles that run the length of the spine and control a movement called spine extension. 

Most people do work these a little when they do anything like deadlifts etc.

Any time theres a pull on the shoulders to the front of the body.

The issue for me is that they’re missing the top few muscles of the erectors – those in thoracic region of the spine.

These are the ones that connect the back of the neck and skull to the region between your shoulder blades. 

These are the ones that need working. 

The easy way of doing this is by placing the back of your shoulders against a wall, and then pressing the neck and the bottom of of your skull into the wall. 
Those muscle youll feel in the neck and between the shoulder blades are the bad boys we’re after. 

(You can do the balance-a-book-on-the-head trick too – I once worked with a couple of novice fashion models who said they needed training to help the clothes fit better.
I stood them up tall and, magically, the clothes fit perfectly!)

If this is hard then you’re gonna need to work on it.

(The Hump Issue)
If you have developed a tissue mass there (ie, a hump) then you’ve got lots of work to do.
Also, its unlikely to reduce the hump size BUT thats ok as long as the spine falls back into alignment. 
Surgery will be the likely route to tae for the removal of tissue, sadly, but thats no reason to not look after the body anyways. 

Developing from that basic exercise, you can go into head bridge variations or use a neck harness with weights. 

Theres lots of videos of combative athletes that do this – so have a look there for inspiration. 

The neck bridge is my favourite as I can do it anywhere.

It takes a long time to develop it BUT its worth it.

(And for all those who say its a shoulder blade issue, I think you’re wrong. Once the head is in alignment with the spine, the shoulder blades are more likely to be in their correct position).

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PREVENTION OF THEIR DECLINE

Its also worth mentioning that you should do everything possible to avoid pulling these out of alignment too.

The big hitters are sitting and standing passively, looking at anything too low down, and poor breathing. 

The first three are simple fixes – engage the muscles at all times (that you remember to do it) and keep anything you look at at shoulder height (phones, books, etc). 

Breathing is also simple.
I find a lot of people use their stomachs for their breathing. 
Get used to holding the correct posture and breathing by expanding the ribcage outwards and upwards. 

Doing it this way will keep posture intact AND teach you to breathe properly. 

It’s simple, I know, but its effective!

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CONCLUSION

So, those are the two basic exercises that everyone needs to learn, or at least include, in their program. 

They are probably THE most aesthetic AND athletic muscles to develop. 

I get so many comments on my posture but its no real secret – they’re just not glamorous exercises. 

For warriors, if you’ve got bad posture, you’ll be pulled apart by any half decent enemy.
ALSO
Your armour will likely make everything worse and cause you issues in the long term!
Helmets pull on the head and heavy body armour exacerbates bad backs so quick!

Way back when, I used to do a bridge and a TVA pull in EVEREYDAY.
Just a few minutes and not enough to get sore. 
So, my advice would be to start these 2 exercises twice a day and, once things develop, start to reduce the frequency until it becomes just part of your Strength session.
After this, it will be a case of trying to maintain these two positions in every exercise you do. 

Its this constant time under tension that will develop it – doing a full 30 mins session that includes consciously holding the positions will continue to develop your posture.

And the reason I say these are the most aesthetic and athletic exercises is because a poor posture sticks out by a mile – no matter how developed the rest of your muscles might be. 

Developed muscles and tone can be overshadowed by someone less developed but with great posture. 
And poor posture usually transfers itself to providing a weak base and structure that doesn’t hold out well to athletic pursuits too.
Theres a whole third piece to this puzzle that is to do with your feet too, but that will be for another time as it got quite in-depth during the writing of this one. 

Anyways, til next time

Matt