Was at the gym yesterday and watching youtube while walking on the treadmill and found this really informative set of videos about mobility and correct posture by Kelly Starrett. He is the owner of a Crossfit gym in the San Francisco area and runs the WOD Mobility channel on youtube.
I found it through a search of mobility excercises after a shoulder injury a few weeks ago. I really like the in depth explanation of a lot of correct and functional way of doing excercises. Why is this relevant to authors? Authors spend an enormous amount of time in front of the computer screen, sitting, and oftentimes head down in incorrect postures. This leads to a host of problems such as neck strain, back problems, and prolonged sitting can contribute to motion and walking problems. If your posture is not optimal overall movement is much harder and more difficult.
This is why I do recommend watching his videos as he has a few about the problems and corrections to proper sitting positions, excercises and stretches you can do to alleviate the problems of prolonged sitting.
All that being said have a look at a few of his videos, I will provide some links to some of his pages and work.
I have seen his videos on correct sitting posture and two main thins I took away are to make sure you can have your feet flat on the ground, and if your going to sit for a prolonged period of time I would also advise you take a break every hour at the very least. I used to be able to go for hours sitting in the same position, however, in recent years I noticed that I can sit for much further and still be somewhat comfortable if I force myself to take breaks every hour or so.
Some more possible solutions to prolonged sitting are be aware of how the body mechanics of sitting works, stretches to help with sore muscles and possibly get a desk such as a standing desk or even a treadmill desk. If possible a TRX would be great. I may do a post on that.
All that being said, regardless of what a lot of physical therapists and doctors say, sitting is a necessary side affect of the modern world. I believe its difficult to stay away from, you can’t change your job if it requires you to sit at a desk all day, so its much more effective if you can find work ways to improve a less than optimal situation when writing. I know many authors have desk jobs and then come home at night to sit more, which is not great for your eyes or neck.
So, here it is, check it out:
Here is the youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/sanfranciscocrossfit
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