Sitting at a desk — or any extended sitting — are a common challenge 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 → limited airflow & core stability (diaphragm inhibition).
Slumped shoulders → decreased overhead range, higher shoulder injury risk .
Tight hips → weakened butt muscles, shear forces on lumbar spine, back pain.
So on Swings, instead of hips initiating the movement, the lower back strains. A common “fix” for tight hips is hip flexor stretches . When I first learned about 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 reinforces tightness, creating a loop. At the same time, I relied on abdominal bracing for core stability. Which worked —until it didn’t. A hard brace raises hip joint forces. Research shows strong bracing lowers shear at the lumbar spine but increases hip compression by 8–12%. It also reduces 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 well-functioning body, the deep core activates milliseconds before moving an arm, leg, or kettlebell. This feed-forward activation , or anticipatory postural adjustment , is also called reflexive stabilization.
Studies show the Transverse Abdominis and Multifidus activate promptly 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 best is the Dead Bug, shown 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:
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, re-strengthens them with the pelvic floor and diaphragm, and restores the ability to create intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) to shield the spine in Swings, Cleans, Squats, and Snatches.
Should You Ever Brace?
Yes—on heavy , controlled lifts like Deadlifts, Squats, Strength and Presses. But bracing should complement reflexive stability, not take the place of it.
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.