Fix "Anterior Pelvic Tilt" in 10 Minutes/Day (Daily Exercise Routine)

What's up guys? It's Jeremy here, back with a highly requested video to add to my posture series. In this video we're going to talk about anterior pelvic tilt, also known as lower cross syndrome. I'm going to show you guys what exactly anterior pelvic tilt is and what causes it. But more importantly, I'll show you guys a four step solution as well as provide you with a corrective routine at the end that you guys can implement and get started with right away. I'll also provide you guys with a free PDF routine that you guys can download and I'll leave a link to it in the description box down below and I'll talk more about this at the end of the video. So for now, enjoy the video guys.

For those who are unaware, anterior pelvic tilt is a postural pattern characterized by a forward tipped pelvis that causes the hips to get pushed out back and the abdomen to stick out forward, which creates a slight curve in the lower back. Now, the root cause of this can be from a variety of factors, but is nowadays most commonly due to extended periods of sitting while in this posture. But it's important to note that a slight anterior pelvic tilt is of part perfectly normal. Research tends to show that about 85% of healthy males and 75% of healthy females exhibit a slight anterior pelvic tilt. But with that being said, problems can start to arise in those who have a more prominent anterior pelvic tilt and lift weights. Because as soon as you start performing loaded movements like the squat and the deadlift with an anterior pelvic tilt, it creates a lot more stress on your lower back and inhibits your force production in the long run. This commonly results in lower back tightness and pain and prevents you from lifting heavier weights or properly activating the glutes. Therefore, if this is the case for you, then it's definitely something that you want to look into correcting. But before we dive into the corrective routine, it's important to know the reasoning behind it. Research has indicated that anterior pelvic tilt is often the result of some muscles that have gradually become underactive and other muscles that have become overactive. Typically, it's the abdominals and the glutes that have become weakened, and it's the hip flexors and the erector spinae that become overactive. So, so to solve this, you want to focus on stretching the overactive muscles, primarily the hip flexors, while strengthening the weakened muscles, which are the abdominals and the glutes. But the routine I'll provide you, and other routines you may have seen online will be of little help if you don't first learn how to properly maneuver your pelvis. Which leads me into step one of the video. Since you've been stuck in anterior pelvic tilt, you need to first learn how to properly posteriorly tilt your pelvis. Otherwise, your body will just cheat when performing corrective stretches and exercises. One easy way to learn this is by practicing pelvic tilts on the ground. Simply lie on your back with your knees up. You'll probably notice that there's a space between your lower back and the ground. What you want to do is flatten your lower back into the ground by tilting your pelvis. This action is called posterior pelvic tilt. And when you go back to the position where there's a gap between your lower back and the floor, this is when you're in anterior pelvic tilt. So go back and forth between the two positions for around 10 reps to get comfortable with tilting your pelvis. Next, you want to progress to doing the exact same thing, but standing. Simply contract your abdominals and squeeze your glutes to come into posterior pelvic tilt. And again go back and forth between these two positions for around 10 reps. Now that you've hopefully learned how to posteriorly tilt your pelvis, we want to carry that over into strengthening exercises for both your underactive glutes and abdominals. The first exercise is the hip thrust and will mainly target your glutes, but the key is to do them properly. Basically, all you're doing is driving your hips towards the ceiling. You want your shoulder blades to stay on the bench and your feet placed so that your shins are vertical when you're in the top position. But your body will probably try to compensate by arching your lower back as you perform the movement, which takes the glutes out of the equation. You can tell if you're doing it wrong if your lower back is arched and your belly button is the closest thing to the ceiling at the top position. So instead, you want to use what you learned in step one by posteriorly tilting your pelvis throughout the whole movement. This means that at the top position, you should be able to draw a straight line from your head to your knees, and you should be squeezing the glutes and feeling them contract. You can also try glute bridges instead, where your back is on the floor and you apply the same protocol that I mentioned. And over time, you'll want to start adding weight to these Movements for better glute development. Next, we're going to strengthen the abdominals. Although there are several ab exercises out there for those with anterior pelvic tilt, you need to focus on ab exercises that minimize involvement of the hip flexors. And since they're overactive, one great exercise to accomplish this is something called RKC planks, which look like the standard plank, but EMG analysis by Brett Contreras show they exhibit much greater abdominal and glute activation than the standard plank, which is especially beneficial for those with anterior pelvic tilt. Basically, you're going to set up how you would in a standard plank, but with your hands interlocked and your feet slightly wider than normal. Activate your abdominals by thinking about drawing your belly button towards your spine. And and then again using what we learned in step one, you want to posteriorly tilt your pelvis by squeezing your glutes and keeping them contracted throughout the movement. Hold this position for as long as possible without letting your lower back arch. Next, we're going to stretch your overactive hip flexors, which has been shown in multiple studies to help reduce the degree of anterior pelvic tilt over time. The first one is called the lunge stretch for the psoas muscle, which is a stretch most people know of yet don't perform correctly. The goal is to feel a deep stretch in the front of your back leg, so to perform it correctly, simply get into a lunge position with both knees at 90 degrees. Next, you want to contract your abdominals by drawing your belly button towards your spine and move your hips into posterior pelvic tilt for a lot of you. If done properly, this position will already provide a sufficient stretch. But if you want an even deeper stretch, simply lean forward while maintaining your posterior pelvic tilt. As you shift forward, you can also rotate your upper body to the opposite side for more of a stretch. Hold each side for around 10 deep breaths. The second stretch is going to specifically target the rectus femoris, which is another hip flexor muscle and is often the tighter muscle in those with anterior pelvic tilt. Simply place your back foot up on a bench or couch with your other foot planted forward. Again, you want to contract your abdominals and move your hips into posterior pelvic tilt. You should feel a deep stretch down the front of your thigh. You can move forward slightly for less of a stretch or move closer to the bench for more of a stretch. This can also be done without the use of a bench by holding onto something for balance and then pulling your back leg up towards your butt. Hold each side for around 10 deep breaths. So to sum the video up, here is a corrective routine utilizing all of the exercises I previously discussed and as I mentioned earlier, I've compiled this information into a free PDF routine including all the exercises as well as visuals and extra tips to make sure you're doing it correctly. To get a copy of this, simply click the link I put in the description and I'll send it over to your email. And keep in mind that when it comes to correcting anterior pelvic tilt, frequency is the most important factor that will determine your success in correcting it. All of these exercises can be done at home, so try your best to do these daily and you'll quickly start to notice significant improvements.

That's pretty much it for the video guys. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Another thing I want to mention though is that you should always be aware of how your posture is during your day to day life and also in your training. You want to try your best to use what you learned today in order to maintain a neutral pelvis when sitting or standing for long periods throughout the day. So just constantly be aware of it and it'll make a big difference in the long run. Anyways, if you guys like this video then please give it a like leave a comment and don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. Thank you guys so much for all your support. I really do appreciate it. I'll see you guys next time.