Losing your gut… Anterior Pelvic Tilt
Posted August 13, 2007 at 02:45 PM by Stephen Antel
Section: In The News, His Fitness, Injuries & Rehab, His Health, Physical Health
Losing your “gut” might be a little more than stripping down the fat at your waiste line. There might be more involved. One of those factors could be something called Anterior Pelvic Tilt. What is it, and how do you get it?
The term Anterior Pelvic Tilt is pretty self explanatory – the top of the pelvis is tilted forward. In order to fully appreciate APT, you have to understand the musculature of the lumbopelvic region. Your hip flexors, rectus femorus, abs, glutes, spinal erectors, TFL, and hamstrings (just to name a few) are all involved with the positioning of your pelvis. If any one muscle is over active or under active, you’ll have some form of anterior/posterior tilt.
APT is far more common due to our ever increasing sedentary lifestyles. Sitting is a major culprit in the development in APT. Sitting for long periods tends to shorten your hip flexors. Since your hip flexors attach to the top of the pelvis, when they shorten up, they pull the pelvis forward. I like lists, so here’s a list of common causes for APT.
- Shortened hip flexors
- Weak abdominals – particularly the transverse abdominus (TVA for future reference)
- Weak/under active glutes
- Lengthened hamstrings
- Tight spinal erectors
Here’s another list with some common effects of APT.
- Protruding stomach and butt
- Over pronation of the foot
- Poor hip mobility
- Thorasic extension
- Low back pain
Now that you know a little bit about APT, let’s take a look at some ways to fix it.
Identifying APT and fixing it
There are a few ways you can check to see if you have APT. Take a look at the bottom of your shoes. Is there wear on the inside edge of the sole? If so, it could be caused by APT. The easiest and most telling way to look for anterior tilt is the belt test. Stand next to a mirror, looking at yourself from the side. Pay attention to the position of your belt. If the font of your belt is lower than the back, then that’s a pretty good indicator of anterior tilt. You’ll want to make sure that your beltline is at hip level. If you pull your pants up to your belly button, this test won’t work, so pull your pants down a little Irkle.
So you have APT, what do you do about it? A few simple stretches and exercises performed as part of your warm-up or as a separate routine on your off days can go a long way. I don’t like prescribing reps, so do as many as you can with good form for 45 to 60 seconds. These are the main areas you should focus on and why.
Hip flexors – allows the top of the pelvis to tilt back into place.
- Lunges with long strides. Lower yourself until your back knee touches the ground, relax your back leg, move forward an inch or so to lengthen the stretch, then return to the starting position. Be sure to keep your torso upright throughout the entire movement.
- Twisting lunges. While performing a lunge, if your left leg is forward, twist your torso to the left. This stretches the right leg’s hip flexors.
Abs – pulls the bottom of your pelvis forward.
- Hanging leg raises. Hang from a chinup bar, keep your torso stable, and raise your legs. Beginners should keep their knees bent. If you’re a little further along in your training, try to keep your legs straight.
- Front planks. Assume a pushup position, but instead of being on your hands and toes, position yourself on your elbows and toes. Keep your head up, and hold this position for time. If you can’t hold it for 45 seconds, hold as long as you can. Eventually, work your way up to 2 minutes.
- Side planks. Like a front plank, but on your side. Your weight will be on one elbow and the outside edge of your foot. Same rules apply here as the front plank. Hold for time, then switch sides.
Glutes – pulls the top of the pelvis back
- Glute bridges. Lay flat on your back with your knees bent. Using a yoga block or small medicine ball placed between your knees, squeeze your knees together, contract your glutes, and raise your glutes/low back off the floor.
- Bird dogs. Get on all fours, knees under hips, and hands under your shoulders. While keeping your torso stable, kick one leg straight back, squeezing the glute at the top of the movement. Don’t allow your shoulders to shift, and don’t allow your hip to drop. The only movement should be your leg kicking back.
By doing some or all of these exercises on a daily basis, you should have less low back pain, better lower limb positioning (as evidenced by the wear on your shoes), and most importantly, lose that gut! Well, that is assuming you don’t have a bunch of fat around your midsection, but that’s another article.
Happy lifting!
For resources and more information: [picture1]; [picture2]
Tags: anterior pelvic tilt, back, glutes, gut, hip flexors, losing your gut, low back pain, pelvic tilt, pelvis, sitting, tilt
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