Desk jobs — or any extended sitting — are a unavoidable reality of modern life.
Upside: we can maintain attention for long periods and earn in comfort.
Downside: sitting damages posture.
We end up with:
Forward head → compromised respiration & core stability (diaphragm inhibition).
Slumped shoulders → decreased overhead range, higher shoulder injury risk .
Tight hips → weak glutes , shear forces on lumbar spine, back pain.
So on Swings, instead of hips driving the movement, the lower back overcompensates . A common “fix” for tight hips is hip flexor stretches . When I first discovered this in 2001/2, it worked well—until it didn’t. The looseness never held. Research shows hip flexor stretching temporarily enhances deep abdominal activity, but it diminishes when training ends. Sitting then perpetuates tightness, creating a loop. 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 reduces shear at the lumbar spine but increases hip compression by 8–12%. It also reduces hip-knee flexion and elevates 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 tore both labrums after years of stretching and bracing.
The Fix: Restore Anticipatory Control
In a healthy body, the deep core engages milliseconds before moving an arm, leg, or kettlebell. This pre-activation , or anticipatory postural adjustment , is also called reflexive stabilization.
Studies show the Transverse Abdominis and Multifidus fire early in pain-free lifters but late 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 Training specialized training exercises that re-train feed-forward activation.
One of the top is the Dead Bug, proven to restore proactive balance. We use this and supplementary moves in the Stability phase of the SSP Model (Stability–Strength–Power) from Systematic Core Training for Kettlebells.
The prescription:
A short 5-minute session of stability training before KB sessions.
10 minutes after.
Then move on to Strength and Power.
This reboots the deep abdominals, reinforces them with the pelvic floor and diaphragm, and restores the ability to create intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) to protect the spine in Swings, Cleans, Squats, and Snatches.
Should You Ever Brace?
Yes—on maximal , slow lifts like Deadlifts, Squats, and Presses. But bracing should complement reflexive stability, not take the place of it.
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.